The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) has confirmed that Papua New Guinea’s national men’s beach soccer team, Paewas, have withdrawn from the forthcoming OFC Beach Soccer Men’s Nations Cup 2026 in Tahiti.

The PNG Paewas were set on making their second appearance after debuting in 2024 but pulled out in the last minute on Wednesday, 21st of October.

The reason for the withdrawal has not been disclosed yet.

The Paewaes travelled to Tahiti on Tuesday, 20th October with high spirits and a K50,000 sponsorship from National Capital District (NCD) Governor Powes Pakop, but had unfortunately pulled out of the tournament.

With withdrawal, the Oceania tournament kicked off yesterday without PNG, featuring only four nations: New Caledonia, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and hosts Tahiti.