The wait continues: OFC tournaments postponed due COVID-19 pandemics

While some important football tournaments in Europe are not so far to restart, the Oceania Football Confederation recently stated some of the major competitions are still on hold. After the shocking announcing of cancellation of the OFC Nations Cup, the governing body decided the fate of the men’s OFC U-19 Championship, the OFC Champions League 2020 and the OFC U-17 Women’s Championship.

According to OFC Media, “the men’s OFC U-19 Championship, that was scheduled to be played in Samoa in July, will not be held before October 2020 but no later than January 2021” and “the OFC U-17 Women’s Championship was meant to be played in Tahiti in April, following a previous delay from December due to the measles epidemic in the Pacific; a further decision regarding that tournament will be made on June 2“.

The most important club football tournament of OFC, the OFC Champions League, was interrupted just after the final games of the group stage. All qualified teams for the knock-out stage are still waiting to learn their opponents in the quarterfinals stage. “The OFC Champions League 2020 quarter-finals have been postponed until September 2020 at the earliest and OFC remains in regular contact with the eight clubs that have qualified for the knockout stages“, stated OFC Media in their recent statement.

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OFC Champions League: see the qualified teams for the knock-out stage

The winner of the OFC Champions League is set to represent Oceania in Qatar this December in the FIFA Clubs World Cup. Both youth tournaments – the U17 Women’s Championship and the U19 Men’s Championship – will also serve as qualifying tournaments for the U17 Women’s World Cup that is set to be held in India next year and the U20 Men’s World Cup that is going to played in Indonesia also in 2021. All the tournaments impact in FIFA tournaments, reaffirming the importance of the competitions to take place in time – but also in safe conditions.