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 and Futuna however, they were eliminated from the competition at the group stage following a 3–2 loss to Tonga on August 24.[3][4][5]
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.[6]
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.[8] 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.[9]
Stagnation
Since joining FIFA, the team has been regarded as one of the world's weakest teams[10] and were, until November 2011, the joint-lowest ranked national team in the FIFA World ranking.[11]
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 first victory after 38 consecutive defeats.[4][10][12]
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.[13][14] 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.[4][15]
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.[17] Although people born in American Samoa are United States nationals,[18] foreign nationals who immigrate to American Samoa, who comprise about a third of its population,[19][20] are ineligible to apply for United States nationality.[21] 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.[17]
American Samoa's home ground is the Pago Park Soccer Stadium, however American Samoa had never played a home match there in their history at the senior level.[4] The stadium featured in the 2023 film Next Goal Wins and was a facility used as the national team's training ground in the build-up to the 2011 Pacific Games and the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.[22] Matches at the stadium must be concluded before 6:30pm because of a village curfew which limits noise and prevents the installation of floodlighting. 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.[23]
Goalkeeper Nicky Salapu holds the record for the most appearances for American Samoa.[26] 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.[27]Ramin Ott holds the record for most goals for American Samoa after scoring three times in 15 appearances between 2004 and 2015.[28] In total, 10 different players have scored a goal in a FIFA-recognized match for American Samoa.[26]
Heaviest defeat: 0–31 vs. Australia on 11 April 2001[31]
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,[6] 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.[15]
B: The men's football tournament at the 2007 South Pacific Games doubled as qualifiers for the 2008 OFC Nations Cup and the first round of qualifiers for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
D: The Oceanian qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup doubled as qualifiers for the 2016 OFC Nations Cup.
OFC Nations Cup
Before becoming full members of OFC in 1998,[6] 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.[7]
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.
J: The men's football tournament at the 2007 South Pacific Games doubled as qualifiers for the 2008 OFC Nations Cup and the first round of qualifiers for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
L: The Oceanian qualifiers for the 2018 FIFA World Cup doubled as qualifiers for the 2016 OFC Nations Cup.
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.[3] American Samoa would go onto enter the 1987 edition where they were again eliminated in the group stage, losing all four of their matches.[39]
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.[34] The same fate befell American Samoa in the 2011 Pacific Games as they lost all five games to finish bottom of their group.[40]
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.[41]
M: The men's football tournament at the 2007 South Pacific Games doubled as qualifiers for the 2008 OFC Nations Cup and the first round of qualifiers for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
N: The men's football tournament at the 2015 Pacific Games was an age-restricted competition that doubled as the OFC Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
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.
N: A number of matches in the Polynesia Cup and the Pacific Games doubled as qualifiers for the ONC Nations Cup and the FIFA World Cup. For full details, see American Samoa national football team results.
^ abcOwsianski, Jarek; Pierrend, José Luis; Bobrowsky, Josef; Zlotkowski, Andre (March 21, 2004). "Polynesian Cup 1998". RSSSF. Archived from the original on October 31, 2022. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
^Mitchell, Wendy (February 3, 2014). "Making Next Goal Wins". screendaily.com. Archived from the original on October 10, 2017. Retrieved January 24, 2021.
^ abStokkermans, Karel; Aarhus, Lars; Goloboy, Jim; King, Ian; Owsianski, Jarek; Naveed, Malik Riaz Hai; Rubio, Julián Díaz; Tabeira, Martín; Zea, Antonio; Zlotkowski, Andre (November 26, 2009). "World Cup 2006 Qualifying". RSSSF. Archived from the original on July 20, 2022. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
^ abStokkermans, Karel; Andrés, Juan Pablo; Lugo, Erik Francisco (November 16, 2017). "World Cup 2014 Qualifying". RSSSF. Archived from the original on July 20, 2022. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
^Morrison, Neil (October 20, 2001). "Polynesian Cup 1994". RSSSF. Archived from the original on September 30, 2022. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
1 Associate member of OFC - Not a member of FIFA 2 Not a member of OFC and consequently not a member of FIFA 3 Northern Mariana Islands was only an associate member of OFC between 1998 and 2009 - Not a member of FIFA 4 Although not geographically in Oceania, Chinese Taipei was a member of the OFC between 1976–1978 and 1982–1989 Although not geographically in Oceania Israel entered OFC World Cup qualification in 1986 and 1990 due to political reasons, though it never became a formal OFC member.
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