Soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

is a minor sport in the island country of

Nauru Nauru, officially the Republic of Nauru, formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country and microstate in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies within the Micronesia subregion of Oceania, with its nearest neighbour being Banaba (part of ...

. The country is not a member of

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

History

The most popular code of football in Nauru has long been

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

, which was introduced during the early 20th century by Australians working in the phosphate industry. Soccer had been introduced as early as the 1890s, but was overwhelmed by the organisation of Australian rules. In 1954, local rugby and soccer leagues were all wound up as the popularity of Australian rules football on the island skyrocketed. Soccer was re-introduced in the 1960s, by migrant workers from

Kiribati Kiribati, officially the Republic of Kiribati, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the central Pacific Ocean. Its permanent population is over 119,000 as of the 2020 census, and more than half live on Tarawa. The st ...

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands, also known simply as the Solomons,John Prados, ''Islands of Destiny'', Dutton Caliber, 2012, p,20 and passim is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 1000 smaller islands in Melanesia, part of Oceania, t ...

, and

Tuvalu Tuvalu ( ) is an island country in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean, about midway between Hawaii and Australia. It lies east-northeast of the Santa Cruz Islands (which belong to the Solomon Islands), northeast of Van ...

. It enjoyed a period of relative popularity, and at one point the island had a six-team league. The all-time top scorer for the

Tuvalu national football team The Tuvalu national football team is the international football team of Tuvalu. Football in Tuvalu is played at the club and international level. The Tuvalu national team draws players from the Tuvalu A-Division and trains at the Tuvalu Sport ...

, Alopua Petoa, is from Nauru. A 2009 '' World Soccer'' article noted that organised soccer had "fallen apart" on Nauru, and that the island was unlikely ever to field a team at the

Pacific Games The Pacific Games (French: Jeux du Pacifique), is a continent, continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from Oceania. The inaugural Games took place in 1963 South Pacific Games, 1963 in Suva, Fiji, and most recently i ...

(the main regional tournament for non-FIFA teams). In the 2019-2020 budget report by the

Government of Nauru The politics of Nauru take place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Nauru is the head of government of the executive branch. Legislative power is vested in both the government and th ...

it was noted that all available open spaces on the island are used for Australian rules football, making it difficult to promote other sports such as soccer and

softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...

. On 14 March 2024, former Premier League striker

Dave Kitson David Barry Kitson (born 21 January 1980) is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward. He made 420 appearances in the Premier League and Football League, including 145 for Reading. Kitson began his career with non-le ...

was announced as Nauru's first ever national team manager, in addition to a role as international ambassador, with Charlie Pomroy appointed as the team's head coach by Head of Nauru Soccer Federation Gareth Johnson. The Nauru Soccer Federation unveiled plans to organise a new regional sub-confederation, the Micronesia Football Federation, with other associations in

Micronesia Micronesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, consisting of approximately 2,000 small islands in the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. It has a close shared cultural history with three other island regions: Maritime Southeast Asia to the west, Poly ...

. The group had begun planning to hold a tournament in summer 2025.

, the

Federated States of Micronesia The Federated States of Micronesia (, abbreviated FSM), or simply Micronesia, is an island country in Micronesia, a region of Oceania. The federation encompasses the majority of the Caroline Islands (excluding Palau) and consists of four Admin ...

Palau Palau, officially the Republic of Palau, is an island country in the Micronesia subregion of Oceania in the western Pacific Ocean. The Republic of Palau consists of approximately 340 islands and is the western part of the Caroline Islands ...

and the

Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands, officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands, is an island country west of the International Date Line and north of the equator in the Micronesia region of the Northwestern Pacific Ocean. The territory consists of 29 c ...

planned to participate, in addition to Nauru.

Representative teams

The

Nauru Soccer Federation The Nauru Soccer Federation is the governing body of soccer in Nauru and is under the auspices of the Nauru Olympic Committee. Nauru is not a member of the Oceania Football Confederation, Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) and is one of the fe ...

has unsuccessfully applied for membership in the

Oceania Football Confederation The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) is one of the six continental confederations of international association football. The OFC has 13 members, 11 of which are full members and two which are associate members not affiliated with FIFA. It ...

and

in the past. The

Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (''RSSSF'') is an international organisation dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around ...

(RSSSF) suggests that it is "quite likely that there has been no official Nauru national soccer team." However, unofficial representative teams have been organised on at least two occasions. On 2 October 1994, a combined Nauru team played a team of expatriate workers from Solomon Islands in

Denigomodu Denigomodu is a district in the western part of the island of Nauru. It is the most populous district in Nauru. It houses the expatriate housing compound "The Location". This makes it Nauru's largest settlement by population. , 16% of the people ...

, winning 2–1. Another Nauruan select team was raised in 2014, playing a team from the

Nauru Regional Processing Centre The Nauru Regional Processing Centre is an offshore Australian immigration detention facility that has been in use from 2001 to 2008, from 2012 to 2019, and from September 2021. It is located on the South Pacific island nation of Nauru and ru ...

to celebrate

World Refugee Day World Refugee Day is an international day organised every year on 20 June by the United Nations. It is designed to celebrate and honour refugees from around the world. The day was first established on 20 June 2001, in recognition of the 50th ann ...

. In 2020, Nauru Soccer Federation vice-president Kaz Cain announced that Nauru was considering creating its first-ever official national side for a 2021 tournament in Hawaii.

Nauru Soccer League hoax

In 2020, a website for the new Nauru Soccer League appeared online. However, no such league existed and individuals involved with the sport on the island clarified that it was a hoax.

Nauru soccer venues

References

{{Non-FIFA teams

History

Representative teams

Nauru Soccer League hoax

Nauru soccer venues

See also

References