New Zealand football has hit a significant low after their two candidates to win the Oceania Football Confederation Champions League were eliminated at the semi-final stage.
Nine-times winner of the tournament Auckland City and last year's champion Team Wellington were knocked out by New Caledonian opponents Magenta and Hienghene Sport in huge upsets.
Magenta overcame Auckland City 2-1 and Hienghene Sport stunned Team Wellington 2-0 in a doubleheader played at the Stade Numa Daly in Noumea on Sunday.
The New Caledonian giant killers will square off in the final on May 12 in Noumea - which will be the first-ever decider to not feature a New Zealand team since before the competition was restructured in 2007.
Only once has a non-New Zealand team won the OFC Champions League, when Papua New Guinea's Hekari United shocked Waitakere United in 2010's final.
The annual competition winner has previously qualified directly for FIFA Club World Cup, but football's governing body has decided on a new format for the tournament that won't begin until 2021.
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