The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup 2026 will resume on Friday, March 21, with the third round set to take place in New Zealand.
Involved are four teams – namely New Caledonia, Tahiti, New Zealand, and Fiji. These nations ended the second round of qualifiers as the top two sides in their respective groups.
How do Oceania teams qualify for the FIFA World Cup 2026?
The FIFA World Cup 2026 Oceania qualifiers has three rounds:
First round: The four lowest-ranked teams from the region, according to the FIFA men’s rankings, played a knockout round. The teams were Cook Islands, Tonga, American Samoa, and Samoa. The winner of the first round advanced to the second, and in this case, it was Samoa.
Second round: The winner of the first round (Samoa) joined the top seven ranked teams in the second round. The eight teams, including New Caledonia, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Tahiti, and Vanuatu were divided in two groups of four.
The top two teams advanced into the next and final round.
Third round: The four teams will have two semifinals with the winner of the final booking a direct ticket to the FIFA World Cup 2026. The runner-up will enter the Inter-confederation playoffs which will decide the final two spots in the quadrennial event.
Oceania FIFA World Cup 2026 Qualifiers third round schedule
New Caledonia vs Tahiti – March 21 (7:30 am IST)
New Zealand vs Fiji – March 21 (11:30 am IST)
Final – March 24
Content Source: sportstar.thehindu.com