Three women who are play­ing football in France are part of the New Caledonia squad for the OFC Women’s Na­tions Cup 2022 that gets underway tomorrow in Suva.

This was confirmed by head coach Michel Berbeche who has included three women in his 20-member squad. The remaining 17 players are all based in Noumea.

The squad has been preparing in Lifou before flying over to Suva.

New Caledonia is drawn in Group C alongside the Digicel Fiji and the Solomon Islands.

They get their campaign under­way against the host nation at the HFC Bank Stadium in Suva on Sunday, July 17, at 7pm before facing the Solomon Islands on Wednesday, July 20, at the same time.

The top two teams from each of the three groups, along with the two best third-placed finishers will qualify for the quarterfinals with the final set for Saturday, July 30, at 7pm.

Groups

In Group A, Tonga has been drawn with Cook Islands and Sa­moa.

This means a repeat of the 2018 group stage meeting between Ton­ga and Cook Islands, which Tonga won 1-0.

Cook Islands will be hoping for revenge and to beat their best-ever tournament finish of third in 2010 and 2014.

Samoa, who are coached by Wel­lington Phoenix legend Paul Ifill, complete an all Polynesian group.

Group B will see Papua New Guinea (PNG) faces Tahiti and Va­nuatu. PNG enter the tournament as the highest-ranked nation.

Tahiti, in their third Women’s Nations Cup appearance, will be hoping to avenge their 3-1 loss to PNG at the 2018 tournament.

Vanuatu, who are due to continue their preparation with a training camp in Australia, are competing in their first Women’s Nation Cup since 2010 and will be looking to make up for lost time.

Host nation Fiji has been drawn into Group C where they will face New Caledonia and Solomon Is­lands. Fiji, who finished as run­ners-up at the 2018 edition will be looking to go one better than four years ago on home soil.

New Caledonia will be aiming to better their impressive perfor­mance as hosts in 2018, where they made the final-four, while Solomon Islands has appointed national men’s team legend Batram Suri to aid them in their efforts in their third appearance at a Women’s Na­tions Cup.

Fixtures

Matches played at HFC Bank Sta­dium, Suva

July 13: 7pm Samoa v Tonga

July 14: 4pm Vanuatu v PNG,

7pm Solomons v Fiji

July 16: 7pm Tonga v Cook Is­lands

July 17: 4pm PNG v Tahiti, 7pm Fiji v New Caledonia

July 19: 7pm Cook Islands v Samoa

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