As the 2024 OFC Champions League prepares for kick-off, a new tournament is on the horizon for Oceanian clubs
Tahiti will host the 16th modern iteration of the Oceania Champions League in May but just as the competition is showing signs of maturing, its future as the region’s premier club tournament is under threat.
First staged back in 1987 as the Oceania Club Championship, the competition became the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) Champions League in 2007 and has since been dominated by clubs from New Zealand.
Since Australia’s move to the Asian Football Confederation in 2006, clubs from New Zealand have won 13 out of 15 titles including last year when Auckland City won their second consecutive title and their 11th in all.
Since 2011, only a solitary success by New Caledonian club Hienghene Sport in 2019 and the subsequent COVID-19 pandemic has interrupted the Kiwi dominance. New Zealand’s representatives, Auckland City, will be favourites again for this year’s tournament at the 11,700-capacity Stade Pater in Papeete.
Previous tournaments were also not helped by an over-reliance on New Zealand as hosts, but three out of the last four tournaments have been staged elsewhere.
Over the course of these events, the competition has shown signs of maturing with Hienghene Sport winning as hosts in 2019 and Fiji’s representatives Suva taking Auckland City to extra-time in a thrilling final in Vanuatu last year before going down 4-2.
Last year’s tournament also benefitted from a strong performance by the home side, Ifira Black Bird, who finished runners-up in Group B and only lost in the semi-finals to eventual champions Auckland City on penalties after a 2-2 draw. The champions of the Port Vila Football League return again in 2024 but face a tough group.
Only two clubs from Vanuatu have ever reached the final in the various iterations of the competition – Tafea in 2001 and the now defunct Amicale a decade later – and Ifira will bring a squad comprised solely of players from Vanuatu with attacking midfielder Godine Tenene the player to watch.
Tahiti will be represented by Pirae – who narrowly saw off Tefana on penaties in their national play-off – and the OFC and Tahitian Football Federation will be hoping for another strong performance by the host side to boost crowds.
No club from Tahiti has ever won any of the competition’s different iterations. Runners-up back in 2006, Pirae won Group B last year without losing a game but could not emulate Venus in 2022 by reaching the final, which was the first appearance by a Tahitian club in the showpiece match since Tefana lost to Auckland City a decade earlier.
AS Magenta from New Caledonia are likely to be the main threat to Pirae in Group B. AS Magenta were runners-up in 2005 and 2019 and have a number of players in the New Caledon
