Auckland City is first finalist, having won return leg too. Ba - Auckland City 0-1, 1-7 aggregate. Waitakere hosts Amicale tonight and has 2-0 advantage.
Amicale had 0-1 at HT, but game ended 2-1 for Waitakere, so we have first ever final with both teams from same country. Roy Krishna became best goalscorer ever with this 17th goal. Final is scheduled for 19 May at Mt. Smart Stadium in Auckland. Winner qualifies to CWC in Morocco.
Auckland City - Waitakere United 2-1 Auckland City wins third consecutive title and fourth title ever and qualifies to FIFA CWC in Morocco.
A total of 15 teams will take part in 2013-14 OFC Champions League. 12 teams will play in Final stage. Four associations with best result in 2012-13 OFC Champions League (Fiji, New Zealand, Tahiti, Vanuatu) are awarded with two berths and three remaining associations (New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands) will have one team each. Those teams will be joined by Preliminary stage winner, that is consisted out of teams from four developing associations (American Samoa, Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga).
Interesting stuff. Tournament at single venue is made clearly due to downsizing costs of this competition. I don't like it, but with all problems there, it was just matter of time when will they announce something like this. Nice that one of four nations will get chance to face OFC top teams.
For the final stage, 12 teams will be played in one country in a tournament format. Four associations will have two teams each, three associations will have one team each, and one berth is given to the preliminary stage winner. The 12 teams will be drawn into three groups of four teams (teams from the same association will not be drawn into the same group), with the group winners and the best runner-up progressing to the semi-finals. The winners of the semi-finals will play in the final. Preliminary Round to be played in American Samoa in September 2013; Final Stage in Fiji in April-May 2014
Interesting that they increased the teams from 8 to 12 by rewarding two berths to the top four nations. I always contended that they increase quality and local competition in the other top OFC nations by rewarding another berth, especially if the other nations are not financially able to fund their top team to enter the OFC champions. The competition needs more teams. NZ needs to increase the number of teams in their local NZF Championship from 8 teams to increase their season length and even out the playing field a bit before considering getting a 3rd berth. But that is a long time before it will happen.