2021 OFC U-20 Championship

The 2021 OFC U-20 Championship, originally to be held as the 2020 OFC U-19 Championship, was originally to be the 23rd edition of the OFC U-19/U-20 Championship, the biennial international youth football championship organised by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) for the men's under-19/under-20 national teams of Oceania.

2021 OFC U-20 Championship
Tournament details
Host countrySamoa
DatesCancelled
Teams11 (from 1 confederation)

The tournament was originally scheduled to be held in the Samoa in July 2020.[1] However, on 14 May 2020, the OFC announced that the tournament had been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and would not be held before October 2020 but no later than January 2021.[2] On 28 July 2020, the OFC announced that the tournament would be held in January 2021,[3] provisionally between 23 January and 7 February 2021, with the name of the tournament changed from "2020 OFC U-19 Championship" to "2021 OFC U-20 Championship".[4][5] The OFC announced on 5 November 2020 that a decision on the tournament would be made during the Executive Committee meeting in December.[6] On 16 December 2020, the OFC announced the tournament had been postponed indefinitely until confirmation had been received from FIFA about the status of the 2021 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Indonesia, scheduled for May–June 2021, of which the top two teams of the tournament would have qualified for as the OFC representatives.[7]

Following FIFA's decision to cancel the 2021 FIFA U-20 World Cup on 24 December 2020,[8] the OFC announced on 18 January 2021 that the tournament would remain on track to be held in 2021, with the new dates to be decided in the coming months.[9] However, on 4 March 2021, the OFC announced that the tournament had been cancelled, and Samoa would be retained to host the next edition in 2022.[10]

New Zealand were the two-time defending champions.

Teams

All 11 FIFA-affiliated national teams from the OFC were eligible to enter the tournament.

Starting from this edition, male youth tournaments would no longer have a four-team qualifying stage, and all teams would compete in one tournament.[11]

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

Team Appearance
(planned)		 Previous best performance
 American Samoa6thGroup stage (1998, 2011, 2014)
 Cook Islands4thGroup stage (2001, 2016)
 Fiji22ndChampions (2014)
 New Caledonia13thRunners-up (2008)
 New Zealand22ndChampions (1980, 1992, 2007, 2011, 2013, 2016, 2018)
 Papua New Guinea15thFourth place (1978, 1982)
 Samoa (hosts)10thGroup stage (1988, 1994, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2007)
 Solomon Islands10thRunners-up (2005, 2011)
 Tahiti12thChampions (1974, 2008)
 Tonga7thGroup stage (1998, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2018)
 Vanuatu16thRunners-up (2014, 2016)

Squads

Players born on or after 1 January 2001 were eligible to compete in the tournament.

References
  1. "Hosts confirmed for 2020 Youth Tournaments". Oceania Football Confederation. 26 February 2020. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  2. "OFC tournaments postponed". Oceania Football Confederation. 14 May 2020.
  3. "OFC tournaments update". Oceania Football Confederation. 28 July 2020.
  4. "OFC U-20 Championship 2021". Oceania Football Confederation. 10 September 2020.
  5. "OFC Competitions 2021 Calendar (updated 4/06/2021)" (PDF). Oceania Football Confederation. Fédération Tahitienne de Football. 4 June 2021.
  6. "OFC announces schedule changes for early 2021". Oceania Football Confederation. 5 November 2020.
  7. "More calendar changes for 2021". Oceania Football Confederation. 16 December 2020.
  8. "Update on FIFA Women's World Cup and men's youth competitions". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 24 December 2020. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
  9. "Men's youth tournaments postponed". Oceania Football Confederation. 18 January 2021.
  10. "OFC confirms schedule changes". Oceania Football Confederation. 4 March 2021.
  11. "OFC male youth tournaments continue to evolve". Oceania Football Confederation. 3 April 2020.
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