Desmond Fa'aiuaso (born 24 February 1984) is a

Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

striker from

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

who currently plays for Vailima Kiwi. He currently has both the most caps and the most goals for his home country,

Football career

Club career

Fa'aiuaso had his first stint in international football with

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian language, Tahitian , ; ) is the largest island of the Windward Islands (Society Islands), Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France. It is located in the central part of t ...

side

A.S. Pirae Association Sportive Pirae () is a Tahitian football club based in Pirae. They are one of the most successful teams in Tahiti having won the Tahiti Division Fédérale eleven times. They are also the first French Polynesian team to have reached ...

and signed up with

YoungHeart Manawatu Manawatu United (previously known as YoungHeart Manawatu) was a football club based in Palmerston North, New Zealand. It participated in the New Zealand Football Championship, and fielded a youth side in the National Youth League. Their home g ...

for the 2009–10 season to form an all South Pacific strikeforce with Vanuatuan striker Seule Soromon. He was the first Samoan to play for New Zealand's national league.

International career

He made his debut for

in an April 2001

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a set of competitive matches that a national association football team plays in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the men's FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments ar ...

match against

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

and scored four goals in his second international, against

American Samoa American Samoa is an Territories of the United States, unincorporated and unorganized territory of the United States located in the Polynesia region of the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. Centered on , it is southeast of the island count ...

. In 2016, he coached the Samoan national team.

Rugby career

In 2004 Fa'aiuaso was selected for the

Samoa national rugby sevens team The Samoa national rugby sevens team, referred to as Samoa Sevens or Manu Samoa 7s, competes in the annual World Rugby Sevens Series. Representing the polynesian country of Samoa, with a population of about 202,000, the team competes against som ...

for the

2004 Hong Kong Sevens The 2004 Hong Kong Sevens was an international rugby sevens tournament that took place at the Hong Kong Stadium between 26 and 28 March 2004. It was the 29th edition of the Hong Kong Sevens and was the fifth tournament of the 2003–04 World S ...

. He was Samoa's top try-scorer in the tournament. In April 2004 he was named to the Samoan team for an Under-21 Rugby World Cup qualifying against Fiji. He was named in the sevens team for the 2007 Dubai Sevens.

Career statistics

International

''Statistics accurate as of match played 4 September 2015''

International goals

:''Scores and results list. Samoa's goal tally first.''

References

External links

*
Player profile
– YoungHeart Manawatu
NZFC stats
– NZFC * 1984 births Living people Samoan men's footballers 21st-century Samoan sportsmen Samoa men's international footballers Manawatu United players A.S. Pirae players Vailima Kiwi FC players 2016 OFC Nations Cup players Samoan expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's association footballers in New Zealand Samoan expatriate sportspeople in New Zealand Men's association football forwards Samoa international rugby sevens players {{samoa-footy-bio-stub