Naea Tommy Irving Bennett (born 8 July 1977) is a

French Polynesia French Polynesia ( ; ; ) is an overseas collectivity of France and its sole #Governance, overseas country. It comprises 121 geographically dispersed islands and atolls stretching over more than in the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. The t ...

n former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

, politician, and former

Cabinet Minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ' prime minister', ' p ...

. He last played as a striker for AS Pirae and also represented the Tahiti national beach soccer team. He is son of Erroll Bennett, a former Tahitian footballer who was runner-up at

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

and 1980 OFC Nations Cup.

Football career

In 2002, Naea Bennett took part in four qualifying matches for the World Cup with the Tahiti team. While playing for AS Pirae, Bennett joined the Tahiti beach soccer team, and competed in both the 2011 and 2015 World Cups. In all he took part in eight matches for as many wins as losses and five goals scored. In October 2013 he was appointed a knight of the

Order of Tahiti Nui The Order of Tahiti Nui was established on 5 June 1996 by the Assembly of French Polynesia to reward distinguished merit and achievements in the service to French Polynesia. History The Order of Tahiti Nui was established June 5, 1996 by resolut ...

. Bennett is a member o
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
and refuses to play football on Sundays. In 2015, he refused to play in the

2015 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup The 2015 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, the premier international beach soccer competition for men's national teams, which has been organized by FIFA since 2005. Overall, this was the 18th e ...

final due to his religious beliefs. In 2018 he was appointed interim head coach of the

Tahiti national football team The Tahiti national football team (; ) represents French Polynesia in men's international football, and is controlled by the Tahitian Football Federation. The team consists of a selection of players from French Polynesia, including Tahiti; they ...

Political career

In February 2022 he was appointed to the cabinet of Édouard Fritch as Minister of Youth, Crime Prevention and Sports.

Career statistics

Honours

Tahiti *

OFC Nations Cup The OFC Men's Nations Cup, known as the OFC Nations Cup before the 2024 OFC Men's Nations Cup, 2024 edition, is the primary association football competition contested by the senior list of men's national association football teams, men's natio ...

: runner-up

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

; 3rd

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

References

External links

* * 1977 births Living people French Polynesian men's footballers French Polynesian beach soccer players Tahiti men's international footballers Men's association football forwards A.S. Pirae players French Polynesian Latter Day Saints Tahiti national football team managers 1996 OFC Nations Cup players 2000 OFC Nations Cup players 2002 OFC Nations Cup players Government ministers of French Polynesia Recipients of orders, decorations, and medals of French Polynesia {{Tahiti-footy-bio-stub