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2010 FIFA World Cup qualification (OFC)


The 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification for the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) selected New Zealand to compete in a two-legged home-and-away playoff against Bahrain, the fifth-place team from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for a spot in the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. (Oceania is the only confederation that does not have an automatic place in the finals.) Its final round was the 2008 OFC Nations Cup. Consequently, New Zealand is also considered the OFC Nations Cup champion, and represented the OFC in the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup.

This was the first OFC World Cup qualifying campaign since Australia's move from the OFC to the AFC.

The first phase began at the 2007 Pacific Games in Samoa, with the football tournament doubling as an OFC World Cup qualifying competition. The gold, silver, and bronze medallists (New Caledonia, Fiji, and Vanuatu, respectively) advanced to the second phase.

The three medallists joined seeded side New Zealand in a home-and-away round-robin tournament on FIFA match dates in 2007 and 2008, also acting as the 2008 OFC Nations Cup.

There were some confusion as to how the final qualifier for the playoff against an AFC nation would be selected. The FIFA website initially indicated that the top two sides from the round robin would advance to a play-off which would determine the qualifier, but the OFC articles did not include this round (with the round-robin winner advancing automatically). Later FIFA articles confirmed that the round-robin winner would advance automatically.


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Wikipedia

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