OFC Champions League

OFC Champions League

File:Ofc-champions-league-logo-(2013).png
Founded	1987
Region	Oceania (OFC)
Number of teams	12 (group stage) 15 (total) (from 11 associations)
Related competitions	FIFA Club World Cup
Current champions	Auckland City
Most successful team(s)	Auckland City (7 titles)
2016 OFC Champions League

The OFC Champions League, also known as the O-League, is the premier men's club football competition in Oceania. It is organized by the OFC, Oceania's football governing body. It has been organized since 2007 under the current format, following its predecessor, the Oceania Club Championship. Eight O-League titles have been won by teams from New Zealand and one was won by a team from another country, Papua New Guinea champion Hekari United, who won the competition in the 2009–10 season by defeating New Zealand team Waitakere United and also becoming the first Pacific team to have won it.

During the 2014/15 season, the tournament became sponsored by Fiji Airways, therefore re-naming the competition as the Fiji Airways OFC Champions League. Trophies for OFC tournaments, made by London-based silversmiths Thomas Lyte, are awarded to winners.

History

At first, this competition was played as a single playoff match between champions of New Zealand and Australia. That competition was held in 1987 and Adelaide City won the inaugural season. Then 12 years pause came, until OFC organized next, all Oceania Cup. In January 1999 Oceania Club Championship was held in Fijian cities of Nadi and Lautoka. Nine teams took part, with Australian side South Melbourne winning the trophy. They also qualified to next year's FIFA Club World Cup. Next competition was held two years later, with again Australian team winning the title. Wollongong Wolves won it, beating Vanuatu representative Tafea in final. Two more editions were held under this name and format, with Sydney and Auckland City winning titles. OFC decided to change competition format and name, so since 2007 the competition is known as OFC Champions League.

Format

Oceania Club Championship

The Oceania Club Championship was played on one or two venues, in one host country. It was played with two or three groups with single round-robin format, semifinals and final. It usually lasted about 10 days, with matches being played every 2 days.

OFC Champions League

OFC decided to change competition format, to make its main competition more interesting and more important to competing clubs.

The first two seasons saw competition with two groups of three teams each, and from the third edition onwards it consists of two groups of four teams each. Group winners progress to the final, played in double playoff format, with the winner taking the title. Unlike its previous format, O-League lasts more than a half year, starting in October and ending next year, in April. The O-League winner qualifies to FIFA Club World Cup, entering the competition in playoff round.

For the 2012–13 season O-League changed its format. At first, we saw introduction of qualifying stage, with champions of four weakest leagues compete for a play-off spot with the representative of country with worst record from previous edition of the O-League, and later we saw schedule and format change for main tournament too. That competition was played between March and May 2013 with introduction of semifinal stage and final played on neutral venue. First O-League one-legged final was played in Auckland, and was the first O-League final between two teams from the same country, with Auckland City defeating Waitakere United to win its 5th title.

OFC Champions League saw another change for 2013–14 season with group stage played on pre-determined location with semifinal and final played on home and away basis. Fiji was selected as host. Preliminary stage was played six months before group stage, and the winner entered the group stage.

Starting from 2014, both finalists of the OFC Champions League will also participate in the OFC President's Cup, an invitational tournament organized by the OFC.

Future

It has been suggested that the Wellington based Australian A-League club, the Wellington Phoenix, should take part in the O-League. This is unlikely to happen because, despite being based in New Zealand, the Wellington Phoenix are technically an Australian team. Their players are all registered with Football Federation Australia which is part of the Asian Football Confederation.

Records and statistics

Main article: Oceania Club Championship and OFC Champions League records and statistics

Finals

Oceania Club Championship era

Season	Winner	Score	Runner-up	Venue	Attendance	No. of Teams	No. of Associations
1987	Adelaide City	1 – 1 (4–1 pen.)	University-Mount Wellington	Hindmarsh Stadium, Adelaide	3,500	9	9
1999	South Melbourne	5 – 1	Nadi	Prince Charles Park, Nadi	10,000	9	9
2001	Wollongong Wolves	1 – 0	Tafea	Lloyd Robson Stadium, Port Moresby	3,000	11	11
2005	Sydney FC	2 – 0	AS Magenta	Stade Pater, Papeete	4,000	13	12
2006	Auckland City	3 – 1	AS Pirae	North Harbour Stadium, Auckland	2,000	11	10

OFC Champions League era

Season	Winner	Score	Runner-up	Venue	Attendance	No. of Teams	No. of Associations
2007	Waitakere United	2 – 1	Ba	Govind Park, Ba	10,000	6	5
		0 – 1		Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland	9,000
		2 – 2 (a)			19,000
2007–08	Waitakere United	1 – 3	Kossa	Lawson Tama Stadium, Honiara	20,000	9	8
		5 – 0		Trusts Stadium, Waitakere City	6,000
		6 – 3			26,000
2008–09	Auckland City	7 – 2	Koloale	Lawson Tama Stadium, Honiara	20,000	6	6
		2 – 2		Kiwitea Street, Auckland	1,250
		9 – 4			21,250
2009–10	Hekari United	3 – 0	Waitakere United	PMRL Stadium, Port Moresby	15,000	8	7
		1 – 2		Fred Taylor Park, Auckland	3,000
		4 – 2			18,000
2010–11	Auckland City	2 – 1	Amicale	Municipal Stadium, Port Vila	7,925	8	7
		4 – 0		Kiwitea Street, Auckland	3,000
		6 – 1			10,925
2011–12	Auckland City	2 – 1	AS Tefana	Kiwitea Street, Auckland	1,500	8	7
		1 – 0		Stade Louis Ganivet, Faaa	1,900
		3 – 1			3,400
2012–13	Auckland City	2 – 1	Waitakere United	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland	3,000	12	11
2013–14	Auckland City	1 – 1	Amicale	Municipal Stadium, Port Vila	10,000	15	11
		2 – 1		Kiwitea Street, Auckland	3,000
		3 – 2			13,000
2014–15	Auckland City	1 – 1 (4–3 pen.)	Team Wellington	National Stadium, Suva	3,000	15	11
2016		–		TBC, Auckland		15	11

Performance by club

Past winners are:

Team	Winners	Runners-up	Winning Years	Years Runners-up
Auckland City	7	—	2006, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015	—
Waitakere United	2	2	2007, 2008	2010, 2013
Hekari United	1	—	2010	—
Sydney FC	1	—	2005	—
Wollongong Wolves	1	—	2001	—
South Melbourne	1	—	1999	—
Adelaide City	1	—	1987	—
Amicale	—	2	—	2011, 2014
Team Wellington	—	1	—	2015
Tefana	—	1	—	2012
Koloale	—	1	—	2009
Kossa	—	1	—	2008
Ba	—	1	—	2007
Pirae	—	1	—	2006
Magenta	—	1	—	2005
Tafea	—	1	—	2001
Nadi	—	1	—	1999
University-Mount Wellington	—	1	—	1987

Performance by country

Team	Winners	Runner-up
New Zealand	9	4
Australia	4	—
Papua New Guinea	1	—
Vanuatu	—	3
Tahiti	—	2
Fiji	—	2
Solomon Islands	—	2
New Caledonia	—	1

Notes:

• Australia is no longer an OFC member.

All-time table (Top 10 Clubs)

• From 1987 to 2014–15.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Auckland City	65	43	14	8	176	55	+121	143
2	Waitakere United	48	25	12	11	99	57	+42	87
3	Ba	42	21	5	16	65	67	−2	68
4	Tafea	39	19	8	12	98	64	+34	65
5	Hekari United	36	14	9	13	59	53	+6	51
6	Amicale	32	14	5	13	43	37	+6	47
7	Magenta	25	10	6	9	48	32	+16	36
8	Pirae	18	9	1	8	48	36	+12	28
9	Wollongong Wolves	7	7	0	0	43	2	+41	21
10	Lautoka	12	6	2	4	18	19	−1	20

All-time table (Countries)

• From 1987 to 2014–15.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	New Zealand	135	80	32	23	344	136	+208	272
2	Vanuatu	75	33	13	29	144	117	+27	112
3	Fiji	77	34	10	33	125	148	−23	112
4	Tahiti	71	22	11	38	137	149	−12	77
5	Solomon Islands	64	21	9	34	121	143	−22	72
6	Papua New Guinea	52	18	9	25	82	122	−40	63
7	Australia	17	16	1	0	90	9	+81	49
8	Samoa	30	10	2	18	44	99	−55	32
9	Cook Islands	19	6	3	10	39	50	−11	21
10	Tonga	20	4	2	14	27	96	−69	14
11	American Samoa	10	0	1	9	7	71	−64	1
12	Palau	1	0	0	1	2	6	−4	0

See also

• Oceania Cup Winners' Cup

External links

• OFC Official Website