Rovers Football Club is an amateur

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is t ...

club based in

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic ce ...

. Rovers FC senior team participates in the

Guam Soccer League Guam Soccer League (GSL) is the men's top level professional football league of the Guam Football Association in the United States territory of Guam. Since 2004, the GSL has had two levels, ''Division 1'' and ''Division 2.'' Since 2007, the l ...

. Rovers FC has men's, women's and youth teams competing in various national divisions.

History

Rovers Footbal Club (RFC) was founded in 2009 through the shared vision of four passionate amateur level footballers who committed to forming a competitive but social club. The masters (40+) team provided the foundation of the club with success in all championship finals from 2009–19. Numerous other fruitful tours resulted in travels to

Saipan Saipan ( ch, Sa’ipan, cal, Seipél, formerly in es, Saipán, and in ja, 彩帆島, Saipan-tō) is the largest island of the Northern Mariana Islands, a commonwealth of the United States in the western Pacific Ocean. According to 2020 est ...

in the

Northern Mariana Islands The Northern Mariana Islands, officially the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI; ch, Sankattan Siha Na Islas Mariånas; cal, Commonwealth Téél Falúw kka Efáng llól Marianas), is an unincorporated territory and commonwe ...

and

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

. Plans for the club's growth were cultivated during the many trips abroad and bringing those plans back to Guam. In 2010, a RFC Division 2 team was established in the Guam Football Association Men's League, winning several championships. In 2013, the club decided to enter the top level on the island through the development of a Division 1 men's squad that went on to win several championships from 2014-2019. A Guam women's squad was incorporated into RFC and won the 2015 and 2016 championships. In 2014 to provide a sustainable base of grassroots players, it was also decided to form the first Rovers Youth squad in the u6 division with a plan to expand into all divisions. In 2017, to grow this grass roots program the club developed a partnership and home field in association with St Johns School by adopting their field and accepting local students into the club. In 2019, Rovers FC became the second largest club on Guam (over 200 player members) with a team in every youth league and adult division. In 2022, RFC acquired an abandoned tennis court and developed it with artificial turf, converting it into a mini-training pitch to use for all youth and adult club teams.

Local competitions

The season for youth games held at

Guam Football Association The Guam Football Association is the governing body of association football in the United States territory of Guam. Association staff National teams *Guam national football team *Guam women's national football team Tournament *Guam Soccer Leagu ...

are usually spring (February to April) and fall (September to November). Rovers FC practices at St Johns School are held every Thursday 5pm-630pm and Sunday 8am-930am during the season. Offseason practices are held at Rovers Club mini pitch and are ongoing throughout the season. Mens, Women's and youth games schedule can be found on the

website. Rovers FC D1 team secured a "double crown" by finishing as champions in their first year in the BGMSL and winning the Guam Football Association Cup in 2014. The Rovers FC D1 squad repeated as Division 1 champions again in 2015 securing the privilege to participate in regional AFC competitions such as the AFC President's Cup (AFC CL for “emerging nations”) and now in the AFC Cup Qualifying Playoffs which has replaced the AFC President's Cup (

2016 AFC Cup The 2016 AFC Cup was the 13th edition of the AFC Cup, Asia's secondary club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya defeated Bengaluru FC in the final to win their first AFC Cup title, becoming ...

). The club's rise mirrored national team success which has seen the Guam national team move from FIFA ranking 201 to 146 over the previous five years.

International competitions

On many occasions Rovers FC has travelled to

and Saipan with future plans to travel to

the Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, Japan,

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republi ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northe ...

and other destinations. The Rovers FC also has plans to continue to springboard to new competitions in regional locations by becoming the very first club from Guam to take part in an official AFC Tournament, the AFC Cup Qualifying Play-offs. In the 2016 AFC Cup Qualifying Play-offs, Rovers FC competed against Dordoi Bishkek, the champions of Kyrgyzstan's premier league, and

Benfica de Macau The House of Sport Lisboa e Benfica in Macau (), simply known as Benfica de Macau, is a Macau, Macanese professional association football, football team that currently competes in the Liga de Elite. They are the five-time champions of the leagu ...

, the champions of Macau's premier league. Rovers FC has a history of hosting various tournaments whereby clubs from foreign countries have traveled to Guam to compete. Club teams mostly from Japan and Saipan visit Guam to participate in these special weekend tournaments. There are plans on the horizon for these types of tournaments to become more frequent with visiting teams from Korea, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the Philippines as well as the teams from Japan and Saipan. Rovers FC have already acquired the reputation as an outstanding hosting club and will continue to elevate these events to bolster that reputation.

Achievements

: 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19 *

Guam FA Cup The Guam Football Association Cup, better known as the Guam FA Cup, or officially the Beck's GFA Cup due to sponsorship reasons, is the national football domestic cup competition of Guam. The competition has been administered by the Guam Footbal ...

: 2014, 2016

Squad

Club officials (board)

*''Richard Hawes'' *''Joel Sablan'' *''Pedro Walls'' *''Saied Safa'' *''Craig Wade''

Continental history

References

External links

Results
{{Guam League seasons Football clubs in Guam 2008 establishments in Guam Association football clubs established in 2008