The 2002 OFC Nations Cup doubled as the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup qualification tournament for the OFC region, as well as to select the team to compete in the AFC/OFC Cup Challenge.
The competition was divided into two group stages, with a knockout tournament at the end. Before the tournament, 11 of the nations were seeded according to their 2001 FIFA ranking, while New Caledonia was placed last by default, as it was not a FIFA member.
The six lowest-ranked teams took part in the first stage of qualifying, in which the two highest placed teams at the end of the round-robin stage gained qualification to the second group stage, made up of the six highest-ranked teams. The remaining eight teams were then split into two groups of four, with the top two nations from each group progressing to the knockout stage.
Australia sent a severely weakened team (Scott Chipperfield was the only European-based player) and as a result failed to defend the title they won in 2000. They were beaten by New Zealand in the final, with Ryan Nelsen scoring the winning goal.
Read more about 2002 OFC Nations Cup: Knockout Rounds, Awards
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