American Samoa national football team

History

Early history

In 1983, American Samoa entered a football team in the South Pacific Games for the first time. The territory's official first match took place in Apia, Western Samoa on August 20, 1983, and ended in a 3–1 defeat to Western Samoa. Two days later, the team recorded their first win with a 3–0 victory against Wallis & Futuna however, they were eliminated from the competition at the group stage following a 3–2 loss to Tonga on August 24.

The following year, the American Samoa Football Association (ASFA) – now known as Football Federation American Samoa (FFAS) – was founded and took over responsibility for organizing the territory's national team.

After competing in the 1987 South Pacific Games and the 1994 Polynesia Cup, ASFA became full members of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) and the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) allowing them to compete in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers for the first time. American Samoa registered their first FIFA-recognized international during the 1998 Polynesia Cup in Rarotonga, Cook Islands when they lost 3–0 to Tonga on September 2.

World record for the worst loss in international matches

During their first qualifying campaign for the 2002 FIFA World Cup in April 2001, American Samoa was involved in a match which set the record for the largest margin of victory in international football when they lost 31–0 to Australia. The outcome of the match led to debates about the format of qualification tournaments, with the Australian manager Frank Farina and striker Archie Thompson – who scored 13 times in the match – feeling that preliminary rounds should be introduced to avoid such unbalanced matches, views shared by the international footballing body FIFA. It eventually led to the introduction of a preliminary round in the Oceanian zone qualification for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Stagnation

Since joining FIFA, the team has been regarded as one of the world's weakest teams and were, until November 2011, the joint-lowest ranked national team in the FIFA World ranking.

On November 23, 2011, American Samoa recorded their second and first FIFA-recognized win when they defeated Tonga 2–1 in the first round of qualifiers for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. It was also the team's 1st victory after 38 consecutive defeats.

The team's efforts to qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup were chronicled in a 2014 British documentary, Next Goal Wins, directed by Mike Brett and Steve Jamison. In October 2015, the territory achieved its highest position in the FIFA World Rankings when they reached 164th following back-to-back wins against Tonga and the Cook Islands in qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

After playing in the 2019 Pacific Games, the team went over four years without playing an international match. This hiatus was caused in part by the COVID-19 pandemic which forced the cancellation of the 2020 OFC Nations Cup and led the team to withdraw from 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification. American Samoa was removed from the FIFA World Rankings in July 2023, due to going 5 years without playing an official match. American Samoa finally competed again at the 2023 Pacific Games.

Player pool

American Samoa has struggled in part because of its small player pool. The territory has a small population, and many potential players move away for education or work or choose to play other sports such as baseball. Another limiting factor is that international competition regulations often require that players hold the nationality of the country that they represent, which in the case of American Samoa is United States nationality. Although people born in American Samoa are United States nationals, foreign nationals who immigrate to American Samoa, who comprise about a third of its population, are ineligible to apply for United States nationality. An option for the team would be to recruit players from the United States, as other teams of Pacific territories have done with their parent countries, such as Tahiti drawing players from Metropolitan France.

FIFA Series

In November 2025, FIFA announced that American Samoa will participate in the 2026 FIFA Series held in Bayamón alongside Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and hosts Puerto Rico

Team image

Home stadium

American Samoa's home ground is the Pago Park Soccer Stadium, however American Samoa have never played there in their history at senior level. The stadium featured in the 2023 film Next Goal Wins and was used as the national team's training ground in the build-up to the 2011 Pacific Games and the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. Matches at the stadium must be concluded before 6:30pm because of a village curfew which limits noise and prevents the installation of floodlights. For this reason, the association began planning to build a new facility in Tafuna in 2023. FIFA president Gianni Infantino promised the association $5 million for the project during his visit around Oceania in summer of that year.

Results and fixtures

Main article: American Samoa national football team results

2026

Coaching staff

• American Samoa Tiwo Kummings (2000)
• American Samoa Anthony Langkilde (2001)
• American Samoa Tunoa Lui (2001–2002)
• England Ian Crook (2004)
• American Samoa Nathan Mease (2007)
• England David Brand (2007–2010)
• American Samoa Iofi Lalogafuafua (2011)
• Netherlands Thomas Rongen (2011)
• American Samoa Larry Mana'o (2015–2019)
• American Samoa Tunoa Lui (2019–2023)
• American Samoa Ruben Luvu (2023–2024)
• England David Jones (2024)
• Netherlands Thomas Rongen (2024)
• American Samoa Shani Simpson (2024)

Players

Current squad

The following players were called up for the 2023 Pacific Games.

Caps and goals updated as of 30 November 2023, after the game against Tonga.

Player records

Goalkeeper Nicky Salapu holds the record for the most appearances for American Samoa. Since his debut against Fiji on April 7, 2001, he has made 24 appearances for the national team – including the world record defeat to Australia and American Samoa's first FIFA-recognized victory against Tonga in November 2011. Ramin Ott holds the record for most goals for American Samoa after scoring three times in 15 appearances between 2004 and 2015. In total, 10 different players have scored a goal in a FIFA-recognized match for American Samoa.

|- |1 |24 |0 |GK

Youngest player

• Jaiyah Saelua – 15 years 300 days vs. Fiji on 15 May 2004

Oldest player

• Nicky Salapu – 43 years 359 days vs. Samoa on 6 September 2024

Top goalscorers

First goal

• Duane Atuelevao – 12 March 2002 vs. Tonga

Most goals in a match

• Demetrius Beauchamp – 2 vs. Samoa on 31 August 2015

Team records

• Biggest victory: 3–0 vs. Wallis and Futuna on 22 August 1983
• Heaviest defeat: 0–31 vs. Australia on 11 April 2001
• Most consecutive victories: 2; achieved September 2015
• Most consecutive matches without defeats: 2; achieved November 2011 and September 2015
• Most consecutive matches without victory: 37 between 24 August 1983 and 5 September 2011
• Most consecutive matches without scoring: 7 between 27 August 2007 and 5 September 2011

Competitive record

FIFA World Cup

Following FIFA affiliation in 1998, American Samoa first entered the qualifying competition for the 2002 FIFA World Cup. They have entered the qualifiers for each subsequent edition but have never made it beyond the first stage. The closest they came to reaching the second phase was in qualifying for the 2018 edition when they won two of their three matches and narrowly missed out on progressing on goal difference.

;Notes

OFC Nations Cup

Before becoming full members of OFC in 1998, American Samoa entered the 1994 Polynesia Cup which acted as the qualifying round for Polynesian national teams for the 1996 OFC Nations Cup. This was the territory's first time competing for a place in OFC's flagship competition for senior men's national teams.

The OFC Men's Nations Cup has often acted as part of the FIFA World Cup qualification process for Oceanian national teams and, as a result, American Samoa have competed in the qualifiers for both competitions in every edition since 1998. They have yet to qualify for either competition.

;Notes

Pacific Games

American Samoa first entered the South Pacific Games in 1983. This was the first time a team representing the territory had competed in association football and they recorded one win from their three games in the group stage by beating Wallis and Futuna 3–0 – the only time American Samoa have recorded a win in the competition – but that wasn't enough to progress to the next round. American Samoa would go onto enter the 1987 edition where they were again eliminated in the group stage, losing all four of their matches.

It would be another 20 years before they again entered the competition. The 2007 edition was the last known as the South Pacific Games before becoming the Pacific Games four years later and it was also part of the qualification process for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. In their third appearance in the competition, American Samoa were again eliminated at the group stage, losing all four matches. The same fate befell American Samoa in the 2011 Pacific Games as they lost all five games to finish bottom of their group.

In 2015, the Pacific Games was an age-restricted tournament that doubled as the OFC Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournament and no team representing American Samoa took part. Four years later, they were again eliminated at the group stage however, a 1–1 draw with Tuvalu ended a 32-year losing streak in the competition.

;Notes

Records and statistics

Main article: American Samoa national football team results

American Samoa played their first full international match against Papua New Guinea, which ended in a 20–0 loss. Their national team have suffered the world's biggest international defeat, by losing to Australia 31–0. American Samoa have won only against Cook Islands, Tonga, and Wallis and Futuna. American Samoa have also lost to all of these teams at least once.

Head-to-head record

The following table shows the American Samoa national football team's all-time international record. The statistics are composed of FIFA World Cup, OFC Nations Cup, Polynesia Cup and Pacific Games matches, as well as international friendlies.

Performance by competition

;Notes

Performance by venue

Historical kits

Sources:

References

References

1. (October 17, 2016). "South Pacific Games 1983 (Western Samoa)".
2. "World Football Elo Ratings: Eastern Samoa". World Football Elo Ratings.
3. Courtney, Barrie. (November 23, 2006). "American Samoa – List of international matches".
4. "Member Association – American Samoa". Fédération Internationale de Football Association.
5. (March 21, 2004). "Polynesian Cup 1998".
6. Rookwood, Dan. (April 11, 2001). "Aussie Rules as Socceroos smash world record again". The Guardian.
7. (June 21, 2007). "Road to SA 2010 starts in Samoa". Fédération Internationale de Football Association.
8. (November 23, 2011). "American Samoa wins first ever football match after 30 straight defeats in 17 years". The Daily Telegraph.
9. (November 23, 2011). "FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking". FIFA.com.
10. Lee, Ben. (November 24, 2011). "American Samoa football team celebrate first win in 18 years". Digital Spy.
11. Mitchell, Wendy. (February 3, 2014). "Making Next Goal Wins". screendaily.com.
12. Geoghegan, Kev. (May 6, 2014). "Next Goal Wins for 'world's worst football team'". BBC News.
13. (July 5, 2018). "World Cup 2018 Qualifying".
14. (November 16, 2023). "Pacific nations return from football wilderness". Radio New Zealand.
15. (November 3, 2023). "FFAS local national teams in final preparations for Pacific Games". Samoa News.
16. {{USC. 8. 1101, {{USC. 8. 1401, {{USC. 8. 1408.
17. "Nativity by place of birth and citizenship status". United States Census Bureau.
18. "Selected social characteristics". United States Census Bureau.
19. "Who is eligible for naturalization?". United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.
20. (May 9, 2014). "''[[Next Goal Wins (2023 film)". Icon Productions.
21. (August 2, 2023). "State-of-the-art soccer stadium for the territory to be built with $5 Million in FIFA funding". Samoa News.
22. "SOL23: American Samoa-Solomon Islands". Oceania Football Confederation.
23. "Match report".
24. "American Samoa".
25. "Nicky Salapu".
26. "Ramin Ott".
27. "American Samoa national football team statistics and records: youngest players". 11v11.com.
28. (31 August 2015). "Samoa 3–2 American Samoa".
29. (9 April 2021). "Australia 31–0 American Samoa: The loneliest game in history". FourFourTwo.
30. Stokkermans, Karel. (September 13, 2018). "World Cup 2002 Qualifying".
31. (November 26, 2009). "World Cup 2006 Qualifying".
32. Priadko, Aleks. (August 20, 2015). "South Pacific Games 2007 (Samoa)".
33. (November 16, 2017). "World Cup 2014 Qualifying".
34. Morrison, Neil. (October 20, 2001). "Polynesian Cup 1994".
35. Zlotkowski, Andre. (March 21, 2004). "Polynesian Cup 2000".
36. (March 21, 2004). "Oceanian Nations Cup 2002".
37. Garin, Erik. (January 19, 2017). "South Pacific Games 1987 (New Caledonia)".
38. (January 18, 2018). "Pacific Games 2011 (New Caledonia)".
39. Di Maggio, Roberto. (August 21, 2019). "Pacific Games 2019 (Samoa)".
40. "American Samoa – List of International Matches".
41. (July 13, 2002). "2000".
42. (November 24, 2011). "2004".
43. "2007".
44. (September 3, 2011). "2011".
45. "2019".
46. (November 24, 2023). "2023".
47. "2023".