OFC moves Nations Cup group to new country

The OFC has chosen to move one OFC Nations Cup group out of Vanuatu.

The OFC confirmed the news in a press release on Wednesday, where they said Group B, originally set to take place in Luganville, now will be played in Suva, Fiji.

Some other changes to the schedule has also been made, with Port Vila now hosting all knockout matches and the placement matches have been cancelled.

Read the full press release:

“Uncertainty around Air Vanuatu’s flight schedules has forced OFC to move Group B fixtures in next month’s OFC Men’s Nations Cup 2024 from Luganville on the island of Santo in Vanuatu, to Fiji’s capital Suva.

The tournament is scheduled to take place from 15-30 June.

The Vanuatu Football Federation (VFF) will remain host for the Group A matches in Port Vila involving New Caledonia, New Zealand, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, as well as the semi-finals and final.

The VFF exhausted all options in finding a solution but due to uncertain flight schedules, the OFC Executive Committee has made the decision to shift Group B matches featuring Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Tahiti from Luganville’s Soccer City Stadium to Suva’s HFC Bank Stadium.

Air Vanuatu recommended focusing only on the flights arriving in Port Vila due to security concerns for flights to Santo. They could not guarantee the flights from Port Vila to Santo.

The semi-final originally scheduled for Luganville, has been moved to Port Vila, which will now host both semi-finals, the playoff for third place and the final.

The play-off matches for 5th and 7th place respectively have been cancelled.

The semi-finals have been moved forward a day from June 26 to June 27 to allow the travelling teams adequate time to prepare. The final scheduled for June 30 is unchanged.

This decision was made in the best interests of OFC, participating nations as well as VFF as the host nation.”

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