The tournament was suspended in March 2020 after the group stage due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On 4 September 2020, the OFC announced that the tournament was abandoned due to the border and travel restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and no champions would be awarded.[1] The OFC representative at the 2020 FIFA Club World Cup in Qatar, which would originally be the winners of the 2020 OFC Champions League, was confirmed to be Auckland City on 19 November 2020 following a decision by the OFC Executive Committee, based on the principles within the competition regulations of the OFC Champions League which established a ranking of each team after the group stage, which was topped by Auckland City.[2] However, on 15 January 2021, FIFA announced that Auckland City had withdrawn from the competition due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related quarantine measures required by the New Zealand authorities,[3] meaning that no OFC representatives competed in the tournament.
Hienghène Sport were the defending champions, but were eliminated in the group stage.
Location of teams of the 2020 OFC Champions League. Teams entering the group stage; (H) Group stage host Teams entering the qualifying stage; Teams which withdrew
A total of 18 teams from all 11 OFC member associations entered the competition.
The seven developed associations (Fiji, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tahiti, Vanuatu) were awarded two berths each in the group stage.
The four developing associations (American Samoa, Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga) were awarded one berth each in the qualifying stage, with the winners and runners-up advancing to the group stage.
Solomon Islands (SOL): Since the 2019–20 Solomon Islands S-League was not finished at the end of 2019, Solomon Warriors and Henderson Eels, which were both assured of a top two finish and thus had qualified for the 2020 OFC Champions League at that time, were placed in the group stage following their ranking at the end of 2019.[4][5] The league continued in 2020, and Solomon Warriors and Henderson Eels eventually finished in the same positions as champions and runners-up respectively.[6]
Schedule
The schedule of the competition is as follows.[7] For this season, the qualifying stage was originally brought forward from January 2020 to December 2019 to coincide with the end of the participating Member Associations' national league seasons, and to be played in Samoa.[8] However, it was later delayed to January 2020 and moved to New Zealand.
On 9 March 2020, the OFC announced that all OFC tournaments were postponed until 6 May 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[9] On 14 May 2020, it was announced that the quarter-finals had been postponed until September 2020 at the earliest.[10] On 28 July 2020, the OFC announced that the knockout matches would take place at a single location, with the decision of the dates and venue to be made by the OFC Executive Committee on 31 August 2020.[11] On 4 September 2020, the OFC announced that the tournament was abandoned.[1]
The draw and the hosts of the qualifying stage were announced by the OFC on 13 December 2019.[7]
The four teams in the qualifying stage played each other on a round-robin basis at a centralised venue. The winners and runners-up advanced to the group stage to join the 14 direct entrants.
On 17 December 2019, the OFC announced that Pago Youth had withdrawn from the qualifying stage due to concerns about the measles outbreak in the Pacific.[18] Matches were played between 25–31 January 2020 in New Zealand.
The draw and the hosts of the qualifying stage were announced by the OFC on 13 December 2019.[7] The 16 teams (14 teams entering the group stage and two teams advancing from the qualifying stage) were drawn into four groups of four.
The four teams in each group played each other on a round-robin basis at a centralised venue. The winners and runners-up of each group advanced to the quarter-finals of the knockout stage.
Matches were played on the following dates and venues:
Group A matches were played between 16–22 February 2020 in Papua New Guinea.
Group B matches were played between 15–21 February 2020 in Vanuatu.
Group C matches were played between 1–7 March 2020 in New Caledonia.
Group D matches were played between 1–7 March 2020 in Tahiti.
^ abcTupapa Maraerenga were ruled to have forfeited all matches, which were awarded as 3–0 wins to their opponents, due to their withdrawal.[19]
^On 1 March 2020, the OFC announced that Tupapa Maraerenga had withdrawn from the group stage due to three of their players not being allowed to compete by the Directorate of Health and Social Affairs of New Caledonia as their immunization for measles could not be confirmed.[20]
Due to the abandonment of the tournament, the OFC decided to nominate the team with the best record in the group stage as their representative at the 2020 FIFA Club World Cup.[2]
