The tournament will be held on the island of Espiritu Santo in Vanuatu, from April 17 to 25 and will involve the hosts, Cook Islands, Fiji, New Caledonia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, who will all be battling it out for the one place on offer at UAE 2013.
Cook Islands qualified for the main event after emerging triumphant over American Samoa, Samoa and Tonga in the preliminary tournament, held in Apia, Samoa, from January 22 to 26.
The official draw for the OFC U-17 Championship was conducted today at the OFC headquarters in Auckland, New Zealand, by OFC Head of Competitions David Firisua with the assistance of members of the OFC General Secretariat.
The teams will play each other once in a round robin tournament based on a league system and all matches will be staged at the recently-redeveloped Chapuis Stadium in Luganville, which last hosted an international tournament in 1998 in the form of the Melanesia Cup.
The kick-off times for the matches will be confirmed in due course.
New Zealand’s Young All Whites are the defending champions of Oceania at U-17 level after earning the title as hosts in 2011 and going on to compete at that year’s FIFA U-17 World Cup in Mexico. They performed well on the global stage, making the Round of 16 thanks largely to a memorable 4-1 win over Uzbekistan before being knocked out by Japan.
The draw for the OFC U-17 Championship is as follows.
OFC U-17 Championship 2013
Match Day 1 – April 17
Papua New Guinea vs. Vanuatu
New Zealand vs. Cook Islands
Fiji vs. New Caledonia
Match Day 2 – April 19
Cook Islands vs. Papua New Guinea
Vanuatu vs. Fiji
New Caledonia vs. New Zealand
Match Day 3 – April 21
Vanuatu vs. New Zealand
Fiji vs. Papua New Guinea
New Caledonia vs. Cook Islands
Match Day 4 – April 23
Papua New Guinea vs. New Caledonia
New Zealand vs. Fiji
Cook Islands vs. Vanuatu
Match Day 5 – April 25
New Zealand vs. Papua New Guinea
Cook Islands vs. Fiji
New Caledonia vs. Vanuatu

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