OFC confirms league venues
THE host countries for the Group Stages of the OFC Champions League 2020 have been confirmed.
Group A will be played in Papua New Guinea, Group B in Vanuatu, Group C in New Caledonia, and Tahiti will host Group D.
Group A will play their matches between February 16-22 with Group B running from February 15-21. Groups C and D will lace up their boots from March 1-7. The full draw can be found here.
The top two sides from each group will progress to the quarter-finals, which will be played between April 4-5 with the semifinals to be contested on April 2526. The final is scheduled for May 16.
Last season’s winners Hienghène Sport from New Caledonia went down 3-1 in extra-time against Al Sadd at the FIFA Club
World Cup in Qatar this week.
OFC competitions director Chris Kemp said the 2020 instalment of the Champions League promised to be exciting.
“The tournament is shaping up to be very competitive,” Kemp said.
“We’ve seen from the valiant efforts of Hienghène Sport at the FIFA Club World Cup that clubs from Oceania can hold their own on the biggest stage.”
The final two spots in the OFC Champions League 2020 will be decided via a qualifying tournament in Auckland from January 25-31.
The winner of the qualifying tournament will join Group D and the runner-up will enter Group C in the Champions League.
The groups are:
Group A: Hienghene Sport (New Caledonia),
Eastern Suburbs (New Zealand), Hekari United (Papua New Guinea), Galaxy FC (Vanuatu)
Group B: Malampa Revivors (Vanuatu), Lae City FC (Papua New Guinea), S-League runnerup, TBC (Solomon Islands), Lautoka FC (Fiji)
Group C: AS Magenta (New Caledonia), SLeague winner, TBC (Solomon Islands), AS Tiare Tahiti (Tahiti), Qualifying stage runner-up, TBC
Group D: AS Venus (Tahiti), Ba FC (Fiji), Auckland City FC (New Zealand), Qualifying stage winner, TBC