1973 Oceania Cup Explained

Tourney Name:Oceania Cup
Other Titles:1973 OFC Kapu o Kīngitanga
Year:1973
Country:New Zealand
Dates:17–24 February
Num Teams:5
Confederations:1
Venues:1
Cities:1
Champion:NZL
Count:1
Second:TAH
Second-Flagvar:1946
Third:NCL
Third-Flagvar:french
Fourth:New Hebrides
Fourth-Flagvar:1953
Matches:12
Goals:38
Top Scorer: Segin Wayewol
Alan Marley
Erroll Bennett
(3 goals each)
Nextseason:1980

The 1973 OFC Nations Cup was the first Oceania-wide football tournament ever held. It took place in New Zealand from 17 February 1973 - 24 February 1973. All matches were held at Newmarket Park, in Auckland, and five teams participated: New Zealand, New Caledonia, Tahiti, New Hebrides (now known as Vanuatu) and Fiji.

At the time, the Oceania Football Confederation was not considered a full FIFA Confederation, and as such allowed national teams unaffiliated with FIFA to enter.

The teams played each other according to a round-robin format, and the top two teams (New Zealand and Tahiti) played off in a final to determine the winner. New Caledonia and New Hebrides also played each other, on the same day as the final, to determine third place.

New Zealand won the tournament with a 2–0 victory in the final, while New Caledonia retained third place by defeating New Hebrides.

Venues

Auckland
Newmarket Park
Capacity: 14,000

First round

----------------

Final

See main article: 1973 OFC Nations Cup Final.

Tournament team rankings

As per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws.

References