Tahiti Under-17 football team are in Suva to take part in the upcoming Oceania Football Confederation Championship Photo: RNZ Pacific/Kelvin Anthony
Fiji will hold the upcoming Oceania Football Confederation Under-17 Championship starting on Wednesday.
Nine Pacific teams will gather for the tournament where the two finalists will qualify for the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in Peru next year.
Group A: Fiji, Samoa and Tonga,
Group B: New Zealand, New Caledonia and American Samoa.
Group C: French Polynesia, Vanuatu and Cook Islands.
Fiji Football said the teams are excited.
"This is a very important competition for our under-17 boys, these kids have been in camp for the past few months," it said.
Fiji Football Fiji never qualified for the Under-17 world cup, it only qualified for the Under 20 so the aim for this year's team is to keep high hopes of getting to the World Cup in Peru.
The winners and runners-up from each group and the two highest-ranked third-placed teams will advance to the quarterfinals.
The tournament is the first for Under-17 players since 2018 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.