1987
- Adelaide
City (Australia)
- Mount
Wellington (New Zealand)
1999
- South
Melbourne (Australia)
- Nadi
(Fiji)
- Central
United (New Zealand)
- A.S.
Venus (Tahiti)
- Tafea
(Vanuatu)
- Malaita
Eagles (Solomon Islands)
- Konica
F.C. (American Samoa)
- Kiwi
Club (Samoa)
- Lotoha'apai
(Tonga)
2000
- Wollongong
Wolves (Australia)
- Tafea
(Vanuatu)
- Napier
City Rovers (New Zealand)
- A.S.
Venus (Tahiti)
- Laugu
United (Solomon Islands)
- Titavi
F.C. (Samoa)
- Unitech
F.C. (Papua New Guinea)
- Tupapa
F.C. (Cook Islands)
- Labasa
(Fiji)
- PanSa
F.C. (American Samoa)
- Lotoha'apai
(Tonga)
1987
Adelaide
City finished top of the inaugural Champions Cup by
defeating Mount Wellington in the final on penalties.
It started a traditional monopoly by Australia in the
competition, going on to gain even more success, albeit
with different teams each time.
1999
South
Melbourne took top spot in the rankings after beating
surprise finalists Nadi from Fiji, making their debut
in the competition. In fact, Nadi finished above Central
United whom they beat in the semifinal 1-0. Nadi originally
finished second in their initial group behind eventual
fourth placed A.S. Venus but did enough to qualify as
the 2nd best placed team among the 3 groups. That included
a crushing 13-0 win over 8th placed Kiwi Club.South
Melbourne also crushed Konica 10-0 in group play. A
3-0 comfortable win in the semifinal over Venus led
to a 5-1 rout of Nadi in the final.
The
big disappointment was reserved for New Zealand`s Central
United. They were firm favorites to take on Melbourne
in the final but failed abjectly. They finished just
above Venus in 3rd spot, although they did have the
consolation of the most lopsided victory of the competition
when the hammered bottom feeders Lotoha'apai 16-0. AS
Venus on their part made Tahiti proud by finishing a
very strong 4th on their debut.Highlight for them was
a 14-1 win over Kiwi Club.
Vanuatu`s
Tafea could be excused for being unhappy with 5th spot
after an impressive showing on their debut. Having outclassed
Lotoha'apai 10-0, they were brave enough to hold Central
United to a creditable 2-2 draw but went out of the
competition due to 2 goal difference less than Nadi
in the other group.Malaita Eagles also can feel a little
bit unhappy as they put on stiff resistance to eventual
winners South Melbourne ,only losing by 2-1. That was
also incidentally the closest any side came to the champions.
They also bettered Melbourne 10-0 win over Konica by
thrashing them 14-2. But they had to settle for 6th
place overall.
Although
Konica didnt have much to celebrate, finishing 7th out
of 9th still represented somewhat of a bonus. Scoring
twice against Malaita helped them in their cause, although
they lost by double figure margins each time. Kiwi Club
had a dismal campaign, especially finishing behind Konica
was really galling. Scoring once against Venus did the
trick for them as they avoided the wooden spoon but
only just. That dubious distinction went to hapless
Lotoha'apai who cried and burned their way to a disastrous
and ultimately embarassing outing for their nation.
Pretty dismal.
2000
Australia
made it 3 out of 3 by winning the title yet again. Wollongong
Wolves were the eventual winners, so Australia won the
title each time with 3 different teams, a fact which
clearly shows their utmost superiority in the region.
A perfect record in the competition meant that Aussie
sides had never lost or even drawn a game in the history
of the cup. They started out by cruising through their
group, winning all 5 games, scoring 38 times without
conceding a single goal. Starting with a stunning 16-0
annihilation of woeful Lotoha'apai (yes they were at
it again), 5-0 over Labasa, 10-0 over Laugu United,
6-0 over Unitech led to a showdown with arch rivals
across the channel, Napier City Rovers of New Zealand.
They edged Rovers 1-0 to claim their dominance in the
group. In the semifinal, they ran out 4-2 winners over
an excellent Venus side who again performed heroically.
In the final, Wolves had to struggled through against
shock opponents Tafea who had managed only 5th place
last time out.Wolves eventually emerged triumphant by
a 1-0 scoreline.
The
real story of the tournament were surely though tiny
Tafea from Vanuatu. They had been extremely unlucky
not to have finished higher last time out but set the
record straight in their 2nd appearance by storming
through to the final.They opened their campaign with
an impressive 5-1 win over 6th placed finishers Titavi
before being awarded a 2-0 walkover 2nd bottom PanSa.
A 9-0 stuffing of 8th placed Tupapa led to their most
impressive performance of the competition when they
slaughtered an irrepressible AS Venus 6-0 to finish
with only a goal conceded and 22 scored. They met Napier
City Rovers in the semifinal though as firm underdogs.
But how they tore up the script! They ran rampant against
the kiwis ,finishing them off 4-2 and going on to lose
narrowly to Wollongong in the final.
Napier
City claimed 3rd place, yet again for New Zealand who
are making a habit out of underachievement. First losing
to Nadi and now to Tafea doesnt augur well for New Zealand.They
began with a 2-0 win over Unitech before producing an
absolutely terrible performance against 5th placed Laugu,
drawing 1-1. They did get back to winning ways with
a 9-0 thrashing of Lotoha'apai and eventually took 2nd
spot and qualification from the group by beating Labasa
4-0. They finished on the same points total as Laugu
United, 5 behind Wollongong but edged the Solomon side
out by virtue of their goal difference of +14 to +5
for their opponents.Defeat to Tafea in the semis brought
on derision but they salvaged some tattered pride by
finishing off Venus 3-2 to take 3rd place.
AS
Venus kept their good ways from the previous edition
by finishing 4th again, losing their semi and 3rd place
match to big guns from Australia and New Zealand. A
walkover PanSa 2-0 was followed by a 6-0 destruction
of Titavi. They went from strength to strength by crushing
Tupapa 10-1 in their next encounter before succumbing
unexpectedly to fast improving Tafea 6-0 to finish 2nd
in their group.
Laugu
United improved on Malaita Eagles performance last time
out by finishing 5th. They did it the hard way though.
Opening with a hard fought and surprising win over Labasa
3-1, they thrilled their fans by holding Napier City
Rovers to a 1-1 draw. Just when they thought they couldnt
put a foot wrong , disaster struck in the form of Wollongong
who absolutely blew them apart 10-0.But Laugu refused
to lie down and surrender and came back to winning ways
by putting 7 past Lotoha'apai. They werent done yet.
In their final game, they brushed aside Unitech 8-2
to finish a very satisfying venture in 5th spot.
Titavi
from Samoa finished 6th, an improvement of 2 places
for their nation. Although they didnt exactly set the
world alight, 2-0 wins over Tupapa and PanSa made up
for disappointing opening 5-1 and 6-0 reverses to Tafea
and Venus respectively.
Unitech
took 7th spot for debutants Papua New Guinea, winning
5-2 over Lotoha'apai and Labasa 3-1, although 6-0 and
8-2 defeats at the hands of Wollongong and Laugu didnt
help much. They also suffered a rather unfortunate 2-0
defeat in their opener against Napier.
Tupapa
of Cook islands were just happy to be participating
apparently,as the only win they managed was a 2-0 walkover
PanSa. Otherwise ,there was little to cheer about as
they were manhandled by Venus and Tafea and also lost
to Titavi in their direct clash.
And
what to say about disappointments. The unanimous choice
for the poorest performance from a side which was expected
to do bigger things came from Fijian side Labasa. They
simply lost total control of themselves and humiliated
their nation, especially so after brave Nadi had exalted
them to dizzying heights in 2nd place last time out.
Labasa started with a shock 3-1 defeat to Laugu ,followed
by a 5-0 reverse against Wollongong. Inexplicably they
didnt learn anything from that and crashed even to newcomers
Unitech 3-1. When Napier also pulverized them 4-0, it
was apparent to all that Fiji had made a big mistake
in sending their ill prepared representatives. Only
a somewhat laboured 5-2 win over soulless Lotoha'apai
avoided making them wooden spooners.
Little
can be said of PanSa's performance.After Konica managed
to finish 7th, PanSa decided on a novel solution. They
didnt appear for any game! Having all the games awarded
2-0 against them was a little bonus though. They avoided
losing heavily in any match and so avoided last place.
Although
it has to be said that had PanSa even played, they couldnt
have been more wretched and putrified than Lotoha'apai.
Loto did the impossible and even surpassed their sensationally
inept performances of last time out when they also finished
bottom.16-0 was a repeat of last time, 5-2 defeats to
Unitech and Labasa did hint at a little life in them
but 9-0 and 7-0 scorelines suggested it wasnt the case.
It was a case of laying down and being rolled over by
a whole herd of bisons in full charge.
