OFC Nations Cup draw 3.30pm NZ time.
March window Egypt and Tunisia or Croatia.
June window Samoa & Cook Islands
I am being facetious. I presume only one of the minnows - Samoa, Tonga, American Samoa or Cooks - will join the usual 7 bigger OFC teams in the main tourney draw. I note there is also a qualifying draw tomorrow.
And I guess if winning the Nations Cup, sees the AWs get a 50 place ranking jump - that's potentially a nice boost re pots for the 2026 WC draw etc??
Presumably the 48 team WC draw will be 4 pots (A, B, C & D) of 12 teams in each pot. AWs stand a much better chance (with a large dollop of luck) falling into Pot C, ranked in the 50s, as opposed to being ranked around 100 (definitely Pot D). Some folks much smarter than me will have a better idea, but this might be behind NZF's thinking re now entering the Nations Cup.
At the 2022 WC (32 teams) there was one team qualify outside the top 50 rankings. Ghana at 61. Of course they AWs nearly made it 2 teams outside the top 50.
So yes with luck Pot C (teams 25-36 at the 48 team WC), could also include some teams outside the top 50 FIFA rankings. With luck. All the Confeds get more spots now at an expanded 48 team WC, and so more top 50 teams will get there from strong Confeds like UEFA & CONMEBOL. Italy may even qualify this time!
Also a 50 place jump in the FIFA rankings for the AWs, just because we are now confirmed as the no 1 team in the obscure OFC seems extreme.
https://www.oceaniafootball.com/live-ofc-mens-nations-cup-2024-draw/