2025 OFC U-16 Men's Championship

2025 OFC U-16 Men's Championship
Tournament details
Host countriesQualifying stage:
Tonga
Final tournament:
Solomon Islands
DatesQualifying stage:
3–9 May 2025
Final tournament:
17–30 August 2025
TeamsFinal tournament: 8
Total: 11 (from 1 confederation)
Venue2 (in 1 host city)
Final positions
Champions New Zealand (11th title)
Runners-up New Caledonia
Third place Fiji
Fourth place Papua New Guinea
Tournament statistics
Matches played18
Goals scored65 (3.61 per match)
Attendance11,954 (664 per match)
Top scorer Ben Perez Baldoni (6 goals)
Best player Ethan Dyer
Best goalkeeper Sylvain Ipeze
Fair play award Samoa and  Tahiti
← 2024
2026 →

The 2025 OFC U-16 Men's Championship was the 22nd 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 final tournament was played in Honiara, Solomon Islands, from 17 to 30 August 2025.[1] Players born on or after 1 January 2009 are eligible to compete in the tournament.

The top three teams of the tournament qualified for the 2026 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Qatar as the OFC representatives.[2] New Zealand successfully defended the title from 2024.

Teams

All 11 FIFA-affiliated national teams from the OFC entered the tournament, but only 8 played in the final tournament [a]

Note: All appearance statistics include those in the qualifying stage (2016 and 2018).

Team Appearance Previous best performance
 American Samoa 11th Group stage (1999, 2001, 2003, 2011, 2015, 2023)
 Cook Islands 12th Quarter-finals (2023)
 Fiji 20th Runners-up (1999, 2024)
 New Caledonia 14th Runners-up (2003, 2013, 2017, 2023)
 New Zealand 19th Champions (1997, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2023, 2024)
 Papua New Guinea 11th Semi-finals (2017), Fourth place (1986)
 Samoa 11th Quarter-finals (2023)
 Solomon Islands (hosts) 11th Runners-up (1993, 2018)
 Tahiti 16th Runners-up (2007, 2009, 2011, 2015)
 Tonga 12th Quarter-finals (2023)
 Vanuatu 17th Runners-up (2005)

Venues

Honiara
Lawson Tama Stadium National Stadium
Capacity: 20,000 Capacity: 10,000

Qualifying stage

The draw for the group stage was held 20 March 2025.[3]

Tiebreakers

Qualifying group

Main article: 2025 OFC U-16 Men's Championship qualification

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Papua New Guinea 3 2 1 0 12 2 +10 7 Qualify for Final tournament — 5–2 — —
2  Tonga (H) 3 1 1 1 9 8 +1 4 — — 2–2 5–1
3  Vanuatu 3 0 3 0 4 4 0 3 0–0 — — —
4  American Samoa 3 0 1 2 3 14 −11 1 0–7 — 2–2 —
Source: OFC
(H) Hosts

Draw

The draw for the group stage was held on 20 March with teams seeded into pots based upon their ranking at the 2024 OFC U-16 Men's Championship.[4]

Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3
 Fiji
 New Zealand		  Cook Islands
 New Caledonia
 Samoa
 Tahiti		  Solomon Islands
 Papua New Guinea[b]

Group stage

All times are local, SBT (UTC+11).

Group A

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Fiji 3 3 0 0 9 1 +8 9 Knockout stage
2  Papua New Guinea 3 1 1 1 7 4 +3 4
3  Tahiti 3 1 0 2 7 8 −1 3 5th place match
4  Cook Islands 3 0 1 2 1 11 −10 1 7th place match
Source: OFC
Cook Islands 1–1 Papua New Guinea
  • Rua 47'
 Report
  • Millis 76'
Attendance: 787
Referee: Timothy Niu (Solomon Islands)
Fiji 2–1 Tahiti
  • Chand 20'
  • Dau 70'
 Report
Attendance: 1132
Referee: Calvin Berg (New Zealand)
Papua New Guinea 6–1 Tahiti
  • Tehio 45+2' (o.g.)
  • Yagum 46'
  • Enoch 50'
  • Tommy 67', 74' (pen.), 90'
 Report
  • Vauquelin 10'
Attendance: 148
Referee: Cory Mills (New Zealand)
Fiji 5–0 Cook Islands
  • Muatini 4', 45+1'
  • Dau 36' (pen.)
  • Archari 45+5', 70'
 Report
Attendance: 233
Referee: Jarethy George (Vanuatu)
Tahiti 5–0 Cook Islands
  • Scheel 19' (o.g.)
  • Aroa. Bennett 21', 26' (pen.)
  • Vauquelin 41'
  • Aron. Bennett 71'
 Report
Attendance: 83
Referee: Peter Olomaga (Samoa)
Papua New Guinea 0–2 Fiji
Report
  • Dau 27', 83' (pen.)
Attendance: 309
Referee: Calvin Berg (New Zealand)

Group B

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  New Zealand 3 2 1 0 13 0 +13 7 Knockout stage
2  New Caledonia 3 2 1 0 10 2 +8 7
3  Solomon Islands (H) 3 1 0 2 6 13 −7 3 5th place match
4  Samoa 3 0 0 3 0 14 −14 0 7th place match
Source: OFC
(H) Hosts
New Zealand 5–0 Samoa
  • Baldoni 8', 45+2', 48'
  • Des Tombe 29'
  • Trenberth 68'
 Report
Attendance: 536
Referee: Arnold Tari (Vanuatu)
New Caledonia 5–2 Solomon Islands
  • Wetewea 8'
  • Menango 53', 90+7'
  • Wede 59', 69'
 Report
  • Sam 23' (pen.)
  • Ben 37'
Attendance: 1494
Referee: Veer Singh (Fiji)
New Zealand 0–0 New Caledonia
Report
Attendance: 380
Referee: Kavitesh Behari (Fiji)
Solomon Islands 4–0 Samoa
  • Sam 57' (pen.), 80'
  • Daomae 63', 75'
 Report
Attendance: 1009
Referee: Tellos Kaufusi (Tonga)
Samoa 0–5 New Caledonia
Report
  • Hmaloko 30', 61'
  • Boere 41'
  • Wede 45+3'
Attendance: 900
Referee: Arnold Tari (Vanuatu)
Solomon Islands 0–8 New Zealand
Report
  • Woldegiorgis 25', 43', 73'
  • Dyer 37'
  • Nuñez 41' (pen.)
  • Pietersen 44'
  • Baldoni 52'
  • Des Tombe 83'
Attendance: 2368
Referee: Kavitesh Behari (Fiji)

7th place match

Cook Islands 0–0 Samoa
Report
Penalties
3–5
Attendance: 86
Referee: Timothy Niu (Fiji)

5th place match

Tahiti 3–2 Solomon Islands
  • Vauquelin 16', 40'
  • Pita-Bourgues 45+4'
 Report
  • Sam 12'
  • Ufaria 75'
Attendance: 228
Referee: Cory Mills (New Zealand)

Knockout stage

Bracket

 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
27 August – Honiara
 
 
 Fiji1 (4)
 
30 August – Honiara
 
 New Caledonia1 (5)
 
 New Caledonia0
 
27 August – Honiara
 
 New Zealand2
 
 New Zealand2
 
 
 Papua New Guinea0
 
Third place match
 
 
30 August – Honiara
 
 
 Fiji1
 
 
 Papua New Guinea0

Semi-finals

Winners qualified for the 2026 FIFA U-17 World Cup.

Fiji 1–1 New Caledonia
 Report
  • Wede 70'
Penalties
4–5
Attendance: 273
Referee: Calvin Berg (New Zealand)
New Zealand 2–0 Papua New Guinea
  • Nuñez 62'
  • Baldoni 71' (pen.)
 Report
Attendance: 438
Referee: Veer Singh (Fiji)

Third place match

Winner qualified for the 2026 FIFA U-17 World Cup.

Fiji 1–0 Papua New Guinea
  • Achari 20'
 Report
Attendance: 500
Referee: Calvin Berg (New Zealand)

Final

New Caledonia 0–2 New Zealand
Report
  • Clegg 44'
  • Baldoni 90+5'
Attendance: 1050
Referee: Kavitesh Behari (Fiji)

Broadcasting

All games will be streamed live and free on FIFA+.[5]

Awards

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament.[6]

Award Player
Golden Ball Ethan Dyer
Golden Boot Ben Perez Baldoni
Golden Gloves Sylvain Ipeze
Fair Play  Samoa and  Tahiti

Goalscorers

There were 65 goals scored in 18 matches, for an average of 3.61 goals per match.

6 goals

  • Ben Perez Baldoni

5 goals

  • Maikah Dau

4 goals

  • Lenddy Wede
  • Junior Sam
  • Tiaitau Vauquelin

3 goals

  • Ryan Achari
  • John Woldegiorgis
  • Boas Tommy

2 goals

  • Saula Muatini
  • Darryl Hmaloko
  • Andre Menango
  • Willem Des Tombe
  • Matías Nuñez
  • Charles Daomae
  • Aroarii Bennett

1 goal

  • Joseph Rua
  • Arnav Chand
  • Alexandre Boere
  • Hnoija Wetewea
  • Jack Clegg
  • Ethan Dyer
  • Cruz Pietersen
  • Ben Trenberth
  • Leightan Enoch
  • John Millis
  • Peter Yagum
  • Junior Ben
  • Ajay Ufaria
  • Aronui Bennett
  • Kahi Morgant
  • Thomas Pita-Bourgues

Qualified teams for FIFA U-17 World Cup

The following three teams from OFC qualified for the 2026 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Qatar.

Team Qualified on Previous appearances in FIFA U-17 World Cup1
 New Zealand 27 August 2025 11 (1997, 1999, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2023, 2025)
 New Caledonia 3 (2017, 2023, 2025)
 Fiji 30 August 2025 1 (2025)
1 Bold indicates champions for that year. Italic indicates hosts for that year.

Notes

  1. ^ Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Tonga and American Samoa participated only in the qualification stage for a chance to qualify to the tournament; the final winner was Papua New Guinea.
  2. ^ The identity of the qualifying winners was not known at the time of the final draw

References

  1. ^ Final tournament statistics
  2. ^ "Qatar appointed as host of FIFA U-17 World Cup™ annually from 2025 to 2029". FIFA. 15 March 2024. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
  3. ^ "OFC U-16 Men's Championship spot at stake in Tonga". Oceania Football Federation. Retrieved 2 May 2025.
  4. ^ "Draw confirmed for OFC U-16 Men's Championship 2025". Oceanian Football Confederation. 20 March 2025. Retrieved 20 March 2025.
  5. ^ "How to Watch OFC U-16 Men's Championship 2025". Oceanian Football Federation. Retrieved 13 August 2025.
  6. ^ "OFC U-16 Men's Championship 2025". Oceanian Football Federation. Retrieved 2 September 2025.
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