When Fiji plays Papua New Guinea in the OFC Women’s Nations Cup 2022 final at the HFC Bank Stadium tonight, there will not only be a place in next year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 Play-Off Tournament at stake.
There will also be an opportunity to break new ground, by putting a new name under the winners column of the region’s premier women’s competition.
Only three nations have previously won the OFC Women’s Nations Cup.
Chinese Taipei won it successively in 1986 and 1989 while Australia went on their own streak through 1994, 1998 and 2003.
Both nations are no longer member associations of the OFC.
New Zealand remains an OFC member and are the region’s dominant force in this competition, winning it on the other six occasions, including most recently in 2018.
However, with the Football Ferns already qualified for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 as co-hosts alongside Australia, the decision was taken not to compete in this year’s edition of the regional showpiece.
It left a unique opportunity on the horizon for the nine teams competing in Fiji at the 2022 event — the chance to become just the fourth nation to win this prize.
Following their respective semi-final wins, Fiji or Papua New Guinea will be crowned champions of Oceania for the first time.
“We came here to make history, so going one step better than the last competition we are definitely on that path to do that,” said Papua New Guinea head coach Nicola Demaine after their 3-0 semi-final win over Samoa.
The final starts at 7.30pm.
