| American Samoa | |
| Badge: | Football Federation American Samoa (badge).svg |
| Badge Size: | 172px |
| Fifa Trigramme: | ASA |
| Nickname: | The Boys from the Territory |
| Association: | Football Federation American Samoa |
| Confederation: | OFC (Oceania) |
| Coach: | Thomas Rongen[1] |
| Captain: | Vacant |
| Most Caps: | Nicky Salapu (22) |
| Top Scorer: | Samuel Hayward[2] Ramin Ott (3) |
| Home Stadium: | Pago Park Soccer Stadium |
| Fifa Max: | 164 |
| Fifa Max Date: | October 2015 |
| Fifa Min: | 205 |
| Fifa Min Date: | May 2006 |
| Elo Max: | 188 |
| Elo Max Date: | August 22, 1983 |
| Elo Min: | 238 |
| Elo Min Date: | August 27, 2015 |
| American: | true |
| Pattern La1: | _capelli_2023_on_white |
| Pattern B1: | _capelli_2023_on_white |
| Pattern Ra1: | _capelli_2023_white |
| Pattern Sh1: | _capelli_2023_white |
| Leftarm1: | 1A2F42 |
| Body1: | 1A2F42 |
| Rightarm1: | 1A2F42 |
| Shorts1: | 1A2F42 |
| Socks1: | 1A2F42 |
| Pattern B2: | _ASA2023A |
| Leftarm2: | FF0000 |
| Body2: | FF0000 |
| Rightarm2: | FF0000 |
| Shorts2: | FF0000 |
| Socks2: | FF0000 |
| First Game: | (Apia, Western Samoa; August 20, 1983) FIFA recognized 3–0 (Avarua, Cook Islands; September 2, 1998) |
| Largest Win: | (Apia, Western Samoa; August 22, 1983) FIFA recognized 2–0 (Nuku'alofa, Tonga; September 4, 2015) |
| Largest Loss: | 31–0 (Coffs Harbour, Australia; April 11, 2001) (World record for senior international matches) |
| Regional Name: | OFC Nations Cup |
| 2Ndregional Cup Apps: | 6 |
| 2Ndregional Name: | Pacific Games |
| 2Ndregional Cup First: | 1983 |
| 2Ndregional Cup Best: | Sixth place (1987) |
| 3Rdregional Name: | Polynesia Cup |
| 3Rdregional Cup First: | 1994 |
| 3Rdregional Cup Best: | Fourth place (1994) |
| 3Rdregional Cup Apps: | 3 |
The American Samoa men's national football team (Samoan: Au soka Amerika Sāmoa) represents American Samoa in men's international association football and is controlled by the Football Federation American Samoa, the governing body of the sport in the territory. American Samoa's home ground is the Pago Park Soccer Stadium in Pago Pago and their head coach is Thomas Rongen.[1]
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]
After competing in the 1987 South Pacific Games and the 1994 Polynesia Cup, ASFA became full members of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) and the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) allowing them to compete in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers for the first time.[6] American Samoa registered their first FIFA-recognized international during the 1998 Polynesia Cup in Rarotonga, Cook Islands when they lost 3–0 to Tonga on September 2.[4] [5] [7]
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]
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] After playing in the 2019 Pacific Games, American Samoa was removed from the FIFA World Rankings after it had not played a match in over four years. This hiatus was caused in part by the COVID-19 pandemic which forced the team out of 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification and the cancellation of the 2020 OFC Nations Cup. American Samoa would finally compete again at the 2023 Pacific Games.[16]
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 Veterans Memorial Stadium in Tafuna. Their home was originally Pago Park, however American Samoa had never played a home match there in their history at the senior level. 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 had to 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 their current 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]
See main article: American Samoa national football team results.
| Position | Name | |
|---|---|---|
| Head coach | David Jones | |
| Assistant coach | Fred Maiava | |
| Team manager | Silasila Samuelu | |
| Physicotherapist | Uaealesi Malaga | |
| Goalkeeper coach | Augustine Grey |
Tiwo Kummings (2000) Anthony Langkilde (2001) Tunoa Lui (2001–2002) Nathan Mease (2007) Iofi Lalogafuafua (2011)
Thomas Rongen (2011) Larry Mana'o (2015–2019) Tunoa Lui (2019–2023) Ruben Luvu (2023–2024)The following players were called up for the 2023 Pacific Games.[25]
Caps and goals updated as of 30 November 2023, after the game against Tonga.
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 22 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]
.[26]
| Rank | Name | Caps | Goals | Position | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nicky Salapu | 22 | 0 | GK | 2001–2019 |
| 2 | Uasi Heleta | 16 | 0 | DF | 2004–2019 |
| 3 | Ramin Ott | 15 | 3 | FW | 2004–2015 |
| 4 | Jaiyah Saelua | 14 | 0 | DF | 2004–2019 |
| 5 | Travis Pita Sinapati | 12 | 0 | DF | 2001–2007 |
| 6 | Roy Ledoux | 9 | 0 | DF | 2018–present |
| Natia Natia | 9 | 1 | MF | 2004–2011 | |
| 8 | Austin Kaleopa | 8 | 0 | MF | 2019–present |
| Maika Molesi | 8 | 0 | DF | 2004–2007 | |
| Ryan Samuelu | 8 | 0 | DF | 2015–2019 | |
| Pesamino Victor | 8 | 0 | DF | 2007–2011 |
Youngest player
Oldest player
| Rank | Name | Goals | Caps | Average | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ramin Ott | 3 | 15 | 2004–2015 | |
| 2 | Demetrius Beauchamp | 2 | 4 | 2015 | |
| Justin Mana'o | 2 | 7 | 2011–2015 | ||
| Shalom Luani | 2 | 8 | 2011 | ||
First goal
Most goals in a match
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]
| FIFA World Cup | Qualification | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Host | Round | Source | ||||||||||||||
| 1930 to 1998 | colspan=7 | colspan=8 | |||||||||||||||
| 2002 |  Japan | colspan=7 rowspan=5 | Group – 5th | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 57 | [33] | |||||||
| 2006 |  Germany | First round group – 5th | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 34 | [34] | ||||||||
| 2010 |  South Africa | First round group – 5th | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 38 | [35] | ||||||||
| 2014 |  Brazil | First round group – 3rd | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | [36] | ||||||||
| 2018 | First round group – 2nd | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 4 | ||||||||||
| 2022 |  Qatar | colspan=7 | colspan=8 | ||||||||||||||
| 2026 |  Canada Mexico United States | colspan=7 rowspan=3 | colspan=8 rowspan=3 | ||||||||||||||
| 2030 |  Morocco Portugal Spain | ||||||||||||||||
| 2034 |  Saudi Arabia | ||||||||||||||||
| Total | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ! | 18 | 3 | 1 | 14 | 11 | 136 | — | |||
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.
| Oceania Cup / OFC Nations Cup | Qualification record | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Host | Round | Source | ||||||||||||||
| 1973 |  New Zealand | colspan=7 rowspan=2 | colspan=8 rowspan=2 | ||||||||||||||
| 1980 |  New Caledonia | ||||||||||||||||
| 1996 | colspan=7 rowspan=8 | 4th | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 7 | [37] | ||||||||
| 1998 |  Australia | 5th | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 23 | |||||||||
| 2000 | 5th | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 29 | [38] | |||||||||
| 2002 | New Zealand | 5th | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 29 | [39] | ||||||||
| 2004 | Australia | 5th | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 34 | |||||||||
| 2008 | 5th | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 38 | ||||||||||
| 2012 |  Solomon Islands | 3rd | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | |||||||||
| 2016 |  Papua New Guinea | 2nd | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 4 | |||||||||
| 2024 |  Fiji,  Vanuatu | colspan=7 | colspan=8 | ||||||||||||||
| Total | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ! | 29 | 3 | 1 | 25 | 21 | 167 | — | |||
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.[40]
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.[35] The same fate befell American Samoa in the 2011 Pacific Games as they lost all five games to finish bottom of their group.[41]
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.[42]
| Pacific Games | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Host | Round | Source | |||||||
| 1963 to 1979 | colspan=8 | |||||||||
| 1983 | Group stage | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 6 | |||
| 1987 | New Caledonia | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 42 | |||
| 1991 to 2003 | colspan=8 | |||||||||
| 2007 |  Samoa | Group stage | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 38 | ||
| 2011 | New Caledonia | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 26 | |||
| 2015 | Papua New Guinea | colspan=8 | ||||||||
| 2019 | Samoa | Group stage | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 36 | ||
| 2023 | Solomon Islands | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 31 | |||
| Total | 25 | 1 | 1 | 23 | 12 | 179 | ||||
See main article: American Samoa national football team results.
American Samoa played their first full international match against Papua New Guinea, which ended in a 20–0 loss. Their national team have suffered the world's biggest international defeat, by losing to Australia 31–0. American Samoa have won only against Cook Islands, Tonga, and Wallis and Futuna. American Samoa have also lost to all of these teams at least once.
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.
Up to matches played on 30 November 2023.
Up to matches played on 20 November 2023.
Sources:[43] [44] [45] [46] [47] [48] [49]
