The 10 nations who will compete to be crowned Oceania’s best U-17 team have learned their group stage opponents following today’s draw for the OFC U-17 Championship 2023.

The latest edition of the tournament will be hosted in Fiji from January 11-28, 2023.  

Not only will teams be hunting for regional glory but also global recognition with the two finalists qualifying for the FIFA U-17 World Cup™ in Peru next year.  

It is the first time the tournament is being played since 2018 due to the COVID-19 pandemic with fixtures taking place at the Ba Academy in Ba and Suva’s HFC Bank Stadium.  

Four teams will contest;

Group A, host nation Fiji, Samoa, Papua New Guinea and Tonga.  

Group B consists of reigning champions New Zealand, New Caledonia, and American Samoa.  

In Group C, Tahiti, Vanuatu, and the Cook Islands will battle for a place in the quarter-finals. 

Each team will play each other once in their respective groups. T

he winners, runners-up and the two highest-ranked 3rd placed teams from each group will advance to the quarter-finals on January 21 and 22.  

The semi-finals will take place on January 25 with the tournament final set for HFC Bank Stadium on January 28.  

The opening game of the OFC U-17 Championship 2023 will be New Zealand v New Caledonia on January 11 from the Ba Academy, Ba with a full match schedule available soon on the OFC website.