Tonga National U-19 Men’s team face a tough group at the OFC under-19 Championship in September; the last quarter of the year 2022.
Groups for the OFC U-19 Championship have been drawn at the HFC Bank Stadium in Suva, Fiji this afternoon and Tonga is set to play in a tough group after having to be the first team drawn out of pot 3 to be seeded at group B alongside Papua New Guinea, Fiji and also the hosting country, Tahiti.
The reigning champion, New Zealand was drawn to group A together with Cook Islands, American Samoa and also Solomon Islands while Samoa, Vanuatu and New Caledonia have been drawn to group C.
As explained by the OFC Competitions Director; Mr. Chris Kemp, teams were seeded based on their ranking at the last OFC U-19 Championship 2018 and were allocated into three pots. The OFC Ambassador and Fijian striker Roy Krishna then had the honour of drawing the teams from the pots.
The OFC U-19 Championship will be the first National Age-Grade Tournament since the Covid-19 pandemic out-break early 2020 and it will be hosted by Tahiti in September. The top eight teams will qualify for a quarter-final with the top two teams being eligible to qualify for the FIFA U-20 World Cup 2023 to be held in Indonesia in 12 months’ time. Tonga’s U-19 National Men’s team preparation is in progress after two trials that took place last month under the coaching of our very own home-grown national player and coach; Mr. Timote Polovili
End.
