News Fiji won a place in the men’s Olympic football tournament for the first time by beating Vanuatu after a penalty shoot-out in the final of the Oceania Olympic qualifying tournament in Papua New Guinea on Sunday (12 July) FIFA, football’s world governing body, confirmed that the Pacific Island nation had won a berth at the Rio 2016 Games, after a nervy match that ended 0-0 after extra-time  However, events in Port Moresby were not without controversy Favourites New Zealand had beaten Vanuatu 2-0 in the semi-finals, but the result was overturned by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) after an appeal by Vanuatu “The committee has found that New Zealand fielded an ineligible player in the match against Vanuatu held on 10 July 2015,” an OFC statement read “The committee has declared that New Zealand has forfeited the match against Vanuatu with a 0-3 result, and therefore Vanuatu proceed to the final match of the OFC Olympic Qualifying Tournament against Fiji ”However, the New Zealand Football Association said in a statement that it plans to launch an appeal against the decision The scores were level at 3-3 after the first five penalties for each team in the shoot-out, sending to the decision to sudden death spot-kicks When Vanuatu’s Remy Kalsarap missed, Jale Dreola stepped up to score the winning penalty Argentina, Portugal, Sweden, Germany and Denmark have also already qualified for the men’s football tournament at the Rio 216 Games, while Brazil are guaranteed a place as host nation Follow the race to qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games here Rio2016 com is not an absolute authority on qualification for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which is an ongoing process Final places will only be confirmed in July 2016 (for the Olympic Games) and August 2016 (for the Paralympic Games) The qualification systems are defined by each sport’s respective International Federation and the International Olympic Committee or International Paralympic Committee, and are subject to change When an athlete or team wins a quota place for their nation, the final decision on whether this ‘slot’ is used and which athletes are sent is taken by the respective National Olympic Committee or National Paralympic Committee (NOC or NPC) Even when athletes win a ‘nominal’ place for themselves, NOCs/NPCs may have to decide who to send if the number of qualified athletes from one country exceeds the quota