The draw for the 2011 Pacific Games men's and women's football tournaments, both of which are to be held in New Caledonia, was made on 19/7/11, and will feature 11 nations in the men's tournament, and 9 in the women's.
The group draws were made as follows:
MEN'S TOURNAMENT
Group A
New Caledonia
Vanuatu
Solomon Islands
Guam
American Samoa
Tuvalu
Group B
Fiji
Tahiti
Papua New Guinea
Cook Islands
Kiribati
WOMEN'S TOURNAMENT
Group A
Papua New Guinea
Tahiti
Solomon Islands
New Caledonia
American Samoa
Group B
Tonga
Fiji
Cook Islands
Guam
The Pacific Games Men's tournament was scheduled to serve as the first Oceania qualifying round for the 2014 World Cup. However, due to Guam's inclusion in the draw, the 2012 Pacific Nations Cup will now become the take the Games' place as the OFC preliminaries. The winners of the Nations Cup will qualify for the 2013 Confederations Cup, while the OFC's World Cup qualification process will continue on into late 2013.
Guam is a member of both the AFC and the EAFF (East Asian Football Federation), therefore their inclusion in the competition made it unfeasible to be considered as a World Cup qualifying tournament. (Guam's ladies wil also be taking part in the Women's tournament.) The Northern Mariana Islands had also considered taking part, but decided against it earlier this year. The NMIFA is an associate member of the EAFF.
Kiribati and Tuvalu are non-FIFA members, but will, however, also be taking part in the competition as they are associate members of the OFC. An interesting detail is the Tuvalu FA's obtaining the services of former Holland Under-21 and sc Heerenveen manager Foppe de Haan on a part-time, volunteer basis, at least for the duration of the tournament, as part of a project aimed at bringing the standard of football and local facilities up to standard in the hope that the island group's FA will eventually obtain FIFA status.
Due to Guam's involvement in the Women's competition, plans to have the tournament double up as the qualifying tournament for the 2012 Olympic Games tournament have also had to have been shelved. A new Olympic qualifying tournament, featuring the eight OFC members featuring in the Pacific Games plus New Zealand, will take place before the end of 2011.
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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Subject to permission being granted from the OFC, the full fixture-list for both tournaments will be printed before the tournament takes place.
The group draws were made as follows:
MEN'S TOURNAMENT
Group A
New Caledonia
Vanuatu
Solomon Islands
Guam
American Samoa
Tuvalu
Group B
Fiji
Tahiti
Papua New Guinea
Cook Islands
Kiribati
WOMEN'S TOURNAMENT
Group A
Papua New Guinea
Tahiti
Solomon Islands
New Caledonia
American Samoa
Group B
Tonga
Fiji
Cook Islands
Guam
The Pacific Games Men's tournament was scheduled to serve as the first Oceania qualifying round for the 2014 World Cup. However, due to Guam's inclusion in the draw, the 2012 Pacific Nations Cup will now become the take the Games' place as the OFC preliminaries. The winners of the Nations Cup will qualify for the 2013 Confederations Cup, while the OFC's World Cup qualification process will continue on into late 2013.
Guam is a member of both the AFC and the EAFF (East Asian Football Federation), therefore their inclusion in the competition made it unfeasible to be considered as a World Cup qualifying tournament. (Guam's ladies wil also be taking part in the Women's tournament.) The Northern Mariana Islands had also considered taking part, but decided against it earlier this year. The NMIFA is an associate member of the EAFF.
Kiribati and Tuvalu are non-FIFA members, but will, however, also be taking part in the competition as they are associate members of the OFC. An interesting detail is the Tuvalu FA's obtaining the services of former Holland Under-21 and sc Heerenveen manager Foppe de Haan on a part-time, volunteer basis, at least for the duration of the tournament, as part of a project aimed at bringing the standard of football and local facilities up to standard in the hope that the island group's FA will eventually obtain FIFA status.
Due to Guam's involvement in the Women's competition, plans to have the tournament double up as the qualifying tournament for the 2012 Olympic Games tournament have also had to have been shelved. A new Olympic qualifying tournament, featuring the eight OFC members featuring in the Pacific Games plus New Zealand, will take place before the end of 2011.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Subject to permission being granted from the OFC, the full fixture-list for both tournaments will be printed before the tournament takes place.
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