# 2023 OFC Champions League

The 2023 OFC Champions League was the 22nd edition of the Oceanian Club Championship, Oceania's premier club football tournament organized by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC), and the 17th season under the current OFC Champions League name.
Defending champions Auckland City FC, defeated Fijian Suva to win a record eleventh title and earned the right to play at the 2023 FIFA Club World Cup in Saudi Arabia. As they also won the 2021 OFC Champions League and the 2022 OFC Champions League, they also earned the right to play at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup in the United States.

## Teams

A total of 18 teams from all 11 OFC member associations may enter the competition.
* The seven associations (Fiji, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tahiti, Vanuatu) are awarded a berth each in the groups stage, after playing a national playoff between the top 2 clubs in the league.
* The four associations (American Samoa, Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga) are awarded one berth each in the qualifying stage, with the winners advancing to the group stage.
| Association | Team | Qualifying method |
| Teams entering the National playoffs |||
| Fiji | Rewa | 2022 Fiji National Football League champions |
| Fiji | Suva | 2022 Fiji National Football League runners-up |
| New Caledonia | AS Tiga Sport | 2022 New Caledonia Super Ligue champions |
| New Caledonia | Hienghène Sport | 2022 New Caledonia Super Ligue runners-up |
| New Zealand | Auckland City | 2022 New Zealand National League grand final champions |
| New Zealand | Wellington Olympic | 2022 New Zealand National League grand final runners-up |
| Papua New Guinea | Lae City | 2022 Papua New Guinea National Soccer League champions |
| Papua New Guinea | Hekari United | 2022 Papua New Guinea National Soccer League runners-up |
| Solomon Islands | Solomon Warriors | 2022–23 Solomon Islands S-League champions |
| Solomon Islands | Kossa | 2022–23 Solomon Islands S-League runners-up |
| Tahiti | AS Pirae | 2021–22 Tahiti Ligue 1 champions |
| Tahiti | AS Dragon | 2021–22 Tahiti Ligue 1 runners-up |
| Vanuatu | Ifira Black Bird F.C. | 2022 VFF National Super League grand final champions |
| Vanuatu | Sia-Raga F.C. | 2022 VFF National Super League grand final runners-up |
| Teams entering the qualifying stage |||
| American Samoa | Ilaoa and To'omata | 2022 FFAS Senior League champions |
| Cook Islands | Tupapa Maraerenga | 2022 Cook Islands Round Cup champions |
| Samoa | Lupe ole Soaga | 2022 Samoa National League third place |
| Tonga | Veitongo | 2022 Tonga Major League champions |

## Qualifying stage
### Preliminary group

The draw for the qualifying stage was held on 1 February 2023 at the OFC Headquarters in Auckland, New Zealand. The four teams in the qualifying stage played each other on a round-robin basis at a centralised venue. The winners, Lupe ole Soaga, advanced to the group stage to join the 7 direct entrants. The qualifying stage was hosted in Apia by Football Federation Samoa.
| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | LUP | TUP | VEI | ITO |
| 1 | Lupe ole Soaga (H) | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 29 | 1 | +28 | 9 | Group stage | — | 7–1 | 9–0 | — |
| 2 | Tupapa Maraerenga | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 7 | +3 | 6 | | — | — | 1–0 | 8–0 |
| 3 | Veitongo | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 10 | −10 | 0 | | — | — | — | Canc. |
| 4 | Ilaoa and To'omata | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 21 | −21 | 0 | | 0–13 | — | — | — |
* ↑ The Veitongo v Ilaoa and To'omata match was cancelled due to the threat of a cyclone closing in on Samoa. Both teams were already eliminated prior to the cancellation.

### National play-offs

On 10 February 2023, OFC announced that 7 sets of national playoffs would take place to determine which side from those nations would take part in this year's Champions League.
| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Suva | 3–2 | Rewa | 1–1 | 2–1 |
| Hienghène Sport | 1–5 | Tiga Sport | 1–3 | 0–2 |
| Wellington Olympic | 4–6 | Auckland City | 1–1 | 3–5 |
| Hekari United | 4–1 | Lae City | 2–1 | 2–0 |
| Kossa FC | 2–3 | Solomon Warriors | 1–1 | 1–2 |
| Dragon | 3–9 | Pirae | 0–2 | 3–7 |
| SiaRaga FC | 0–4 | Ifira Black Bird FC | 0–3 | 0–1 |

## Group stage

The four teams in each group will play each other on a round-robin basis at a centralised venue in Vanuatu. The winners and runners-up of each group will advance to the semi-finals of the knockout stage.
The draw of the group stage were announced by the OFC on 23 March 2023. The 8 teams were drawn into two groups of four. Ifira Black Bird were pre-determined to play in Port Vila and so were automatically drawn into group B.

### Group A

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | AUC | SUV | SOL | LUP |
| 1 | Auckland City | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 2 | +7 | 9 | Knockout stage | — | — | 3–1 | — |
| 2 | Suva | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 6 | Knockout stage | 1–3 | — | — | 3–0 |
| 3 | Solomon Warriors | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 3 | | — | 0–2 | — | 3–0 |
| 4 | Lupe ole Soaga | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 9 | −9 | 0 | | 0–3 | — | — | — |
* ↑ The Lupe ole Soaga v Suva match was cancelled due to injuries in the Lupe ole Soaga squad. Lupe ole Soaga SC will have all its matches cancelled and considered null and void. OFC will award victory and the resultant three points to the opposing team as well as the score of 3–0.
* ↑ The Lupe ole Soaga v Solomon Warriors match was cancelled due to injuries in the Lupe ole Soaga squad. Lupe ole Soaga SC will have all its matches cancelled and considered null and void. OFC will award victory and the resultant three points to the opposing team as well as the score of 3–0.
* ↑ The Lupe ole Soaga v Auckland City match was cancelled due to injuries in the Lupe ole Soaga squad. Lupe ole Soaga SC will have all its matches cancelled and considered null and void. OFC will award victory and the resultant three points to the opposing team as well as the score of 3–0.

### Group B

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | PIR | IFI | HEK | TIG |
| 1 | Pirae | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 3 | +4 | 7 | Knockout stage | — | — | — | 3–0 |
| 2 | Ifira Black Bird (H) | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 4 | Knockout stage | 2–2 | — | 0–2 | — |
| 3 | Hekari United | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | | 1–2 | — | — | — |
| 4 | Tiga Sport | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | −3 | 3 | | — | 0–1 | 1–0 | — |

## Knockout stage

The four teams in the knockout stage played on a single-elimination basis, with each tie played as a single match at VFF Freshwater Stadium.

### Bracket

The bracket was determined as follows:
| Semi-finals | Semi-finals | Final | Final |
| 24 May 2023 | 24 May 2023 |
| Auckland City (p) | 2 (5) |
| Auckland City (p) | 2 (5) | 27 May 2023 | 27 May 2023 |
| Ifira Black Bird | 2 (4) | 27 May 2023 | 27 May 2023 |
| Ifira Black Bird | 2 (4) | Auckland City (a.e.t.) | 4 |
| 24 May 2023 | 24 May 2023 | | Auckland City (a.e.t.) | 4 |
| 24 May 2023 | 24 May 2023 | Suva | 2 |
| Pirae | 2 | Suva | 2 |
| Suva (a.e.t.) | 4 | | |

### Semi-finals

| Team 1 | Score | Team 2 |
| Auckland City | 2–2 (5–4 p) | Ifira Black Bird |
| Pirae | 2–4 (a.e.t.) | Suva |

### Final

In the final, the two semi-final winners played against each other. The final was played on 27 May 2023.

## Statistics
### Top goalscorers

| Rank | Player | Team | Goals |
| 1 | Michael Tumua Leo | Lupe ole Soaga | 7 |
| 2 | Ryan De Vries | Auckland City | 5 |
| 2 | Azariah Soromon | Suva | 5 |
| 4 | Tamatoa Tetauira | Pirae | 4 |
| 5 | Liam Gillion | Auckland City | 3 |
| 5 | Angus Kilkolly | Auckland City | 3 |
| 5 | Emiliano Tade | Auckland City | 3 |
| 5 | Marlon Tahioa | Suva | 3 |
| 5 | Alex Saniel | Suva | 3 |
| 5 | Ariiura Labaste | Pirae | 3 |
| 5 | Godine Tenene | Ifira Black Bird | 3 |
| 12 | Kenny Iawak | Ifira Black Bird | 2 |
| 12 | Joseph Joe | Hekari United | 2 |
| 12 | Joe Naime | Hekari United | 2 |
| 12 | Rusiate Matarerega | Suva | 2 |
| 12 | Yohann Tihoni | Pirae | 2 |
| 12 | Roonui Tinirauarii | Dragon | 2 |
| 12 | Hamish Watson | Wellington Olimpic | 2 |
| 12 | Shene Wélépane | Tiga Sport | 2 |
| 12 | Yagi Yasasa | Hekari United | 2 |

## Awards

| Award | Winner |
| Golden Ball | Cameron Howieson |
| Golden Boot | Ryan de Vries |