# 2023 OFC U-17 Championship

The 2023 OFC U-17 Championship was the 19th edition of the OFC U-16/U-17 Championship, the biennial international youth football championship organised by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) for the men's under-16/under-17 national teams of Oceania.
The OFC announced on 4 March 2021 that the 2021 OFC U-17 Championship (originally the 2020 OFC U-16 Championship), which would have been hosted by Fiji, had been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Fiji would be retained to host the next edition in 2022.
New Zealand, the seven-time defending champions, successfully defend their title, by won 1–0 the final over New Caledonia and both teams qualified for the 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Indonesia as the OFC representatives.

## Teams

10 of the 11 FIFA-affiliated national teams from the OFC were eligible to enter the tournament. Solomon Islands were excluded from taking part by the OFC Disciplinary and Ethics Committee in regards to the 2018 OFC U-16 Championship.
Starting from 2020, male youth tournaments no longer have a four-team qualifying stage, and all teams compete in one tournament.
Note: All appearance statistics include those in the qualifying stage (2016 and 2018).
| Team | Appearance | Previous best performance |
| American Samoa | 9th | Group stage (1999, 2001, 2003, 2011, 2015) |
| Cook Islands | 10th | Group stage (1997, 1999, 2003, 2005, 2011, 2013, 2015) |
| Fiji (hosts) | 18th | Runners-up (1999) |
| New Caledonia | 12th | Runners-up (2003, 2013, 2017) |
| New Zealand | 17th | Champions (1997, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2018) |
| Papua New Guinea | 10th | Semi-finals (2017), Fourth place (1986) |
| Samoa | 9th | Group stage (1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2015, 2017, 2018) |
| Tahiti | 14th | Runners-up (2007, 2009, 2011, 2015) |
| Tonga | 10th | Group stage (1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2011, 2015) |
| Vanuatu | 15th | Runners-up (2005) |

## Venues

Matches are played at HFC Bank Stadium in Suva and Ba Academy in Ba.

## Match officials

The following officials were appointed for the tournament:

## Group stage draw

The draw for the group stage was conducted at the OFC Home of Football on the 28 October 2022. Teams were seeded into three pots based on their 2018 OFC U-16 Championship ranking.
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 | Pot 3 |
| New Zealand Tahiti Fiji | Papua New Guinea New Caledonia Samoa Vanuatu | American Samoa Tonga Cook Islands |

## Squads

Players born on or after 1 January 2006 were eligible to compete in the tournament.

## Group stage

All times are local, FJT (UTC+12).

### Group A

Papua New Guinea were originally drawn into position A3 of this group but were removed before the start of the tournament due to not submitting their registration on time.
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Fiji (H) | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | +6 | 6 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | Samoa | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 3 | Knockout stage |
| 3 | Tonga | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 9 | −9 | 0 | Knockout stage |

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | New Zealand | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 2 | +12 | 6 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | New Caledonia | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 3 | +6 | 3 | Knockout stage |
| 3 | American Samoa | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 18 | −18 | 0 | |

### Group C

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Tahiti | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 1 | +7 | 6 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | Vanuatu | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 3 | Knockout stage |
| 3 | Cook Islands | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 8 | −7 | 0 | Knockout stage |

### Ranking of third-placed teams

| Pos | Grp | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | C | Cook Islands | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 8 | −7 | 0 | Knockout stage |
| 2 | A | Tonga | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 9 | −9 | 0 | Knockout stage |
| 3 | B | American Samoa | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 18 | −18 | 0 | |

## Knockout stage
### Draw

The draw for the knockout stage was conducted at the HFC Bank Stadium in Suva on the 18 January 2023. Teams were seeded into two pots based on the final group stage overall ranking.
| Pot 1 | Pot 2 |
| New Zealand Tahiti Fiji New Caledonia | Samoa Vanuatu Cook Islands Tonga |

### Bracket

| Quarter-finals | Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | | Final | Final |
| 21 January – Suva | 21 January – Suva | | | |
| New Caledonia | 4 | | | |
| New Caledonia | 4 | 25 January – Suva | 25 January – Suva | | |
| Samoa | 0 | 25 January – Suva | 25 January – Suva | |
| Samoa | 0 | New Caledonia (p) | 1 (3) | |
| 21 January – Suva | 21 January – Suva | | New Caledonia (p) | 1 (3) | |
| 21 January – Suva | 21 January – Suva | Tahiti | 1 (2) | |
| Tahiti | 5 | Tahiti | 1 (2) | |
| Tahiti | 5 | | | | 28 January – Suva | 28 January – Suva |
| Tonga | 0 | | | | 28 January – Suva | 28 January – Suva |
| Tonga | 0 | | | | New Caledonia | 0 |
| 22 January – Suva | 22 January – Suva | | | | | New Caledonia | 0 |
| 22 January – Suva | 22 January – Suva | | | | New Zealand | 1 |
| Fiji | 3 | | | | New Zealand | 1 |
| Fiji | 3 | 25 January – Suva | 25 January – Suva | | | |
| Cook Islands | 0 | 25 January – Suva | 25 January – Suva | | | |
| Cook Islands | 0 | Fiji | 1 | | | |
| 22 January – Suva | 22 January – Suva | | Fiji | 1 | | | |
| 22 January – Suva | 22 January – Suva | New Zealand | 4 | | Third place match | Third place match |
| New Zealand | 1 | New Zealand | 4 | | Third place match | Third place match |
| New Zealand | 1 | | | | 28 January – Suva | 28 January – Suva |
| Vanuatu | 0 | | | | 28 January – Suva | 28 January – Suva |
| Vanuatu | 0 | | | | Tahiti | 3 |
| | | | | | Fiji | 0 |

### Semi-finals

Winners qualified for 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup.

### Final
## Awards

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament.
| Award | Player |
| Golden Ball | Nolhann Alabete |
| Golden Boot | Luke Supyk Titouan Guillemant |
| Golden Gloves | Matt Foord |

## Goalscorers

There were 71 goals scored in 17 matches, for an average of 4.18 goals per match.
6 goals
* Luke Supyk
* Titouan Guillemant
4 goals
* Luke Flowerdew
* Pharrell Trainor
3 goals
* Nolhann Alebate
* Matthew d'Hotman de Villiers
* Adam Watson
2 goals
* William Khan
* Petero Maivalenisau
* Sipane Qaeze
* Jean-Yves Saiko
* Gabriel Sloane-Rodrigues
* Ethelbert Edward
* Tiahiti Colombani
1 goal
* Jeremiah Williams
* Ibraheem Azafal
* Prashant Kumar
* Vinayak Rao
* Sailimone Ravonokula
* Jacob Seninawanawa
* Jean-Philippe Angexetine
* David Cahma
* Iwatro Hmuine
* Joseph Hnaissilin
* Anthony Levy
* Ronald Nganyane
* Simon Ue
* Niko Bruce
* Jesper Edwards
* Eden Cadousteau
* Keanan Faure
* Dylan Hutia
* Teriitaumatatini Martin
* Tuarii Rota
* Vaitea Seguy
* Ariiheivarau Tama
* Turerearii Vonbalou
* Augustine Chilia
* Delickson Judah
* Jimmy Moso
1 own goal
* Dwayne Matapo (against Fiji)
* Albert Timothy (against Tahiti)

## Qualified teams for FIFA U-17 World Cup

The following two teams from OFC qualified for the 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Indonesia.
| Team | Qualified on | Previous appearances in FIFA U-17 World Cup |
| New Caledonia | 25 January 2023 | 1 (2017) |
| New Zealand | 25 January 2023 | 9 (1997, 1999, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019) |
    $^1$ Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.