Pacific

Sport: OFC Champions League quarter final match-ups decided

07:50 am on 6 March 2019

An all-Francophone affair will kick off the OFC Champions League quarter-finals next month, after the draw for the first knockout stage was made.

Group B winners AS Central Sport from Tahiti will host Group D runners up AS Magenta from New Caledonia at Stade Pater in Papeete on the first weekend in April.

The teams last met in 2017 when Magenta prevailed 4-2 in the group stage in Noumea en route to a semi-final appearance.

AS Magenta beat AS Central Sport 4-2 in 2017. Photo: Alain Vartane

Group D winners Auckland City from New Zealand will welcome Group A runners up Toti City FC from Papua New Guinea to Kiwitea Street.

Both teams were eliminated by eventual champions Team Wellington last season, with PNG National Soccer League winners Toti City thrashed 11-0 in the quarter-finals and nine-time regional champions Auckland eliminated on away goals in the semi-finals.

Auckland City and Toti FC previously clashed in the Group Stage in 2016 and 2017. Photo: OFC via Phototek

Team Wellington will host Henderson Eels from the Solomon Islands at Dave Farrington Park, after the defending champions topped Group C with 18 unanswered goals in three games.

The New Zealand club have reached four consecutive OFC Champions League finals while Henderson are competing in Oceania's premier international club competition for the first time.

Team Wellington celebrate their first OFC Champions League title. Photo: OFC via Phototek

Group A victors Hienghene Sport from New Caledonia will host Fiji's Ba FC in the final quarter-final encounter in Kone.

The home side are making their first appearance in the knockout stage while Ba reached the semi-finals in 2015.

The winner of that match will host the first semi-final against the winner of the contest between Team Wellington and Henderson Eels, while the winner of the AS Central Sport vs AS Magenta clash will host the second semi-final against Auckland City or Toti City FC.

The OFC Champions League final will also be a one-off contest hosted by the winner of the second semi-final in May.

Ba and Hienghène Sport could not be separated in Kone. Photo: OFC / Alain Vartane