{"id":544206,"date":"2026-07-26T02:33:29","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T02:33:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/544206\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T02:33:29","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T02:33:29","slug":"new-zealand-topple-fiji-to-win-another-ofc-u-16-mens-championship-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/544206\/","title":{"rendered":"New Zealand topple Fiji to win another OFC U-16 Men’s Championship title"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Zealand have won their 12th OFC U-16 Men\u2019s Championship title, beating Fiji 5-0 in the final of the 2026 edition at PNG Football Stadium in Port Moresby.<\/p>\n

Davi Valles Dos Santos scored two of New Zealand\u2019s five goals in a dominant victory to cap an equally dominant campaign, scoring 24 goals in five matches at the tournament in Papua New Guinea.<\/p>\n

New Zealand took 50 minutes to break down the host nation in the semi-finals but needed only 90 seconds against Fiji in the final.<\/p>\n

Zach Cashmore nodded the Junior All Whites in front from a corner delivery at the near post to send them on their way, scoring New Zealand\u2019s earliest-ever goal in a final at the tournament.<\/p>\n

Two more goals followed before the end of the first half, as coach Martin Bullock\u2019s side made sure of the title inside the first 45 minutes.<\/p>\n

Valles Dos Santos got the second in the 36th minute, after Fiji failed to clear their penalty box, and Cashmore was involved again for the third goal, his delivery deflecting off the knee of Fijian defender Somit Maharaj in first-half stoppage-time.<\/p>\n

Playing in their third OFC U-16 Men\u2019s Championship final, Fiji did at least create some chances of their own, Ryan Swami powering the ball over the crossbar with the best of them from a corner delivery in the second half.<\/p>\n

Another defensive error led to the fourth New Zealand goal though, substitute Jack Clegg stealing possession inside the box and picking out the back of the net in the 76th minute, moments after entering the field of play off the bench.<\/p>\n

Clegg then turned provider four minutes later, picking off a poor pass, and rolling the ball into the path of Valles Dos Santos to score his second, and New Zealand\u2019s fifth and final goal of the evening.<\/p>\n

The final whistle gave New Zealand the opportunity to lift the trophy again, maintaining their dominance of the OFC U-16 Men\u2019s Championship and the rest of the Oceania region.<\/p>\n

New Zealand, Fiji and the Solomon Islands will represent Oceania at the 2027 FIFA U-17 Men\u2019s World Cup in Qatar, having filled the top three places at this tournament.<\/p>\n

Main photo: New Zealand celebrate winning the OFC U-16 Men\u2019s Championship. Photo credit: OFC Media \/ DJ Mills \/ Phototek<\/a>.<\/p>\n

New Zealand squad<\/p>\n

Ethan Amyes \u2014 Wellington Phoenix, (New Zealand Performance Academy Aotearoa), New Zealand
Daniel Anstiss \u2014 Auckland United, (Long Bay College), New Zealand
Tristan Bancroft \u2014 Wellington Phoenix, (New Zealand Performance Academy Aotearoa), New Zealand
Caleb Brown \u2014 Wellington Phoenix, (Paraparaumu College), New Zealand
Luke Carter \u2014 Western Springs, (Avondale College), New Zealand
Zach Cashmore \u2014 Wellington Phoenix, (Scots College), New Zealand
Jesus Santiago Castillo \u2014 Melville United, (Hamilton Boys\u2019 High School), New Zealand
Jack Clegg \u2014 Wellington Phoenix, (New Zealand Performance Academy Aotearoa), New Zealand
Zane Donaghy \u2014 Bristol Rovers, (Abbeywood Community School), England
Preston Fava \u2014 Queensland Football, (Robina State High School), Australia
Vasilios Kastrinakis \u2014 Wellington Phoenix, (Hutt International Boys\u2019 School), New Zealand
Rylan Kumar \u2014 Auckland United, (St Kentigern College), New Zealand
Reuben Lee Sang \u2014 Auckland United, (Westlake Boys High School), New Zealand
William Martin \u2014 Lions FC, (Ipswich Grammar School), Australia
Cruz Pietersen \u2014 Wellington Phoenix, (New Zealand Performance Academy Aotearoa), New Zealand
London Ridge \u2014 Wellington Phoenix, (Wellington College), New Zealand
Jacob Rowe \u2014 Leyton Orient, (Oaks Park High School), England
Keigo Shimokawa \u2014 Melbourne Victory, (Penleigh and Essendon Grammar School), Australia
Jackson Skinner \u2014 Brisbane City, (Brisbane Boys\u2019 College), Australia
Ben Trenberth \u2014 Wellington Phoenix, (New Zealand Performance Academy Aotearoa), New Zealand
Davi Valle dos Santos \u2014 Macarthur Bulls, (Matraville Sports High School), Australia<\/p>\n

Acknowledgement<\/p>\n

We thank OFC Media for providing information for this story. Photo credits: OFC Media \/ Phototek<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Results<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Games played on Saturday July 25, 2026<\/p>\n

Play-off for 3rd<\/p>\n

Solomon Islands 1 (Andrew Kabolo 84\u2032)
Papua New Guinea 1 (Matthew Sopo 66\u2032)
*Solomon Islands win 4-1 on penalties<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Solomon Islands to join New Zealand and Fiji at FIFA U-17 Men\u2019s World Cup<\/a> >>>><\/p>\n

Final<\/p>\n

Fiji 0
New Zealand 5 (Zach Cashmore 2\u2032, Davi Valles Dos Santos 36\u2032, 81\u2032, own goal 45+1\u2032, Jack Clegg 76\u2032)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was first published on July 26, 2026.<\/p>\n

More football stories<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Zealand have won their 12th OFC U-16 Men\u2019s Championship title, beating Fiji 5-0 in the final of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":544207,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[227787,111,43,139,69,252828],"class_list":["post-544206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-fifa-u-17-mens-world-cup","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-ofc-u-16-mens-championship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544206\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}