00:05New Zealand are now the dominant football nation in the OFC.
00:09But it has a modest population and sees its finest athletes gravitate towards rugby.
00:15So its status is not assured indefinitely.
00:21On World Cup debut in 1982, the All Whites lost all three of their matches.
00:26Then in 2010, they drew all three of their matches.
00:31Only Honduras and Egypt have played more games at the finals without registering a victory.
00:40The major challenge for the leading side in the OFC has been their route to the World Cup,
00:46requiring an inter-confederation playoff.
00:52New Zealand have been denied by Costa Rica, Peru and Mexico in recent years,
00:59with Australia's quadrennial travails against Uruguay and Argentina contributing to their decision to relocate to the AFC.
01:12With the expansion of the finals to 48 teams from 2026, the OFC received one direct entry for the first
01:20time in its history.
01:24In the near term, that means New Zealand will become fixtures on the game's greatest stage.
01:30They cruise to the 2026 World Cup after winning five matches in a row, scoring 29 goals and conceding only
01:40one.
01:41New Zealand's captain and star player is Chris Wood, who has made a name for himself as a consistent goalscorer
01:48in the English Premier League.
01:53Other all-whites to make their names in Europe's top competitions include Liberato Kakache in Serie A,
02:01Matthew Garbet in the Eredivisie and Sarpreet Singh in the Bundesliga.
02:10New Caledonia, with a smattering of players in the lower divisions of the French pyramid, are beginning to compete with
02:17the all-whites.
02:20Spurred on by their local rivalry with fellow French overseas collectivity, Tahiti.
02:28Fiji have excelled on the global stage in rugby sevens and grown in stature on the football field,
02:34thanks to the exploits of star striker Roy Krishna, a two-time Indian Super League top scorer.
02:43While the Solomon Islands, Anuatu and Papua New Guinea are all competitive at the OFC Nations Cup.
02:54Below that, there is little positive to share about the Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga or American Samoa.
03:04These sides with tiny populations have never been organised to prosper on the football field.
03:12American Samoa even hold the record for the heaviest defeat in international football history.
03:18When they were hammered 31-0 by Australia in 2001.
03:25A documentary of the match, and later a feature film, both titled Next Goal Wins, commemorate the lopsided clash.
03:34It is a fitting piece of history for the Oceania Football Confederation,
03:39and its collection of underdog island paradises, a long way from becoming established football nations.
03:47The
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