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The Tuvalu national soccer team is the international football team of Tuvalu.

The team is not affiliated to FIFA, but is an associate member of the OFC.

South Pacific Games participation

The national team is controlled by the Tuvalu Soccer Association and played three international matches in the 1979 South Pacific Games, held in Fiji. There, the team recorded both its largest win, 5-3 against Tonga, and its worst defeat, losing 18-0 to Tahiti.

It also participated in four games at the South Pacific Games in 2003, again held in Fiji. After defeating Kiribati in their opening game, the Tuvaluan team lost their remaining three matches and finished fourth out of five in Pool A.

World Cup qualification

History was made in 2007 when Tuvalu became the first non FIFA member to participate in an official World cup qualifying match^[1].The situation arose when the regional governing body used the 2007 South Pacific Games, as the first stage of the qualification tournament for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and qualification tournament for the 2008 OFC Nations Cup. Tuvalu performed with great credit, earning a remarkable 1-1 draw with Tahiti in which Viliamu Sekifu made history as the first World cup scorer for his country. The other three fixtures in the tournament ended in defeat and Tuvalu failed to progress from their five team group.

In September 2008, Tuvaluan Prime Minister Apisai Ielemia and the President of the Tuvalu Football Association, Tapugao Falefou, visited the headquarters of FIFA in Zurich, hoping to gain full membership in the organisation.^[2]

Selected internationals

South Pacific Games record

• 1963 - Did not enter
• 1966 - Did not enter
• 1969 - Did not enter
• 1971 - Did not enter
• 1975 - Did not enter
• 1979 - Quarter-final
• 1983 - Did not enter
• 1987 - Did not enter
• 1991 - Did not enter
• 1995 - Did not enter
• 2003 - Round 1
• 2007 - Round 1

References