OFC Qualifying format redone

The 2011 South Pacific Games are no longer going to be used as part of qualifying for the 2014 FIFA World Cup due to the possibility of Guam, a member of the AFC, taking part in the event. This also means that Kiribati and Tuvalu will not be taking part in FIFA World Cup qualifying as they are OFC members only and not members of FIFA.

The OFC has announced a new format that is unattached to the South Pacific Games which will take place over a series of three rounds. New Zealand are no longer scheduled to receive a bye into the final round of qualifying.

In the first round, American Samoa, Samoa, Cook Islands, and Tonga will play each other once each at a single site, likely to be Apia, Samoa. After each team has played its three games, the team in first place will advance to the second round of OFC qualifying while the other three will be eliminated.

The first round winner will join the seven highest ranked teams in Oceania in the second round. The teams have been split into two pots for the preliminary draw on 30 July 2011.

Pot 1

1. New Zealand

2. Fiji

3. New Caledonia

4. Vanuatu

Pot 2

5. Solomon Islands

6. Tahiti

7. Papua New Guinea

8. First round winner

The teams will be split into two groups of four teams, with each group taking two teams from both pots. The second round doubles as the OFC Nations Cup 2012. Suva, Fiji will be the site for all matches here. The group stage of the second round will pit each team against its group opponents once each. The top two teams in each group advance to the semifinals and to the third round of OFC 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifying.

The third round of OFC qualifying will feature the four surviving teams in a single group. Each team will play the other three times twice each, once at home and once on the road for a total of six games per team. The top team advances to an intercontinental playoff against a team from either CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, or AFC depending on the preliminary draw results of 30 July 2011. The other three teams will be eliminated from qualifying.

Should the Oceania champion win its home-and-away aggregate-goals playoff series, they will have qualified for the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals in Brasil.