Football at the Pacific Games

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Football at the Pacific Games
Founded1963
Current champions New Caledonia
 Men (2023)
 Papua New Guinea
 Women (2023)
Most successful team(s) New Caledonia
 Men (8 titles)
 Papua New Guinea
 Women (6 titles)
Football at the 2023 Pacific Games
Men's  · Women's

Association football has been regularly included in the Pacific Games, the multi-sports event for Pacific nations, territories and dependencies, since 1963. Until 2011 the competition was known as the South Pacific Games.[1]

Since 1971 the men's tournament has been held every four years, but was not played in 1999 due to contractual issues. In 2007, the men's competition doubled as the Oceania Football Confederation's preliminary qualifying competition for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.[2] The men's tournament also became the Olympic qualifier for Oceania for the 2015 edition.

The women's tournament was introduced in 2003, and has doubled up as the preliminary qualifying competition for the Olympic Games since 2007. Football was a compulsory inclusion at the Pacific Games for men's teams for many years but was made a core sport for both men's and women's teams in 2017.[3] Football has also been held at several editions of the Pacific Mini Games, starting with the first tournament in 1981.[4]

Men's tournament[edit]

The Tuvalu men's team at the 2007 South Pacific Games

Participating nations[edit]

Numbers refer to the final placing of each team at the respective Games. Host nation is shown in bold.– See also the §Key to symbols within this section below the two tables.


Games
Nation
63 66 69 71 75 79 83 87 91 95 99 03 07 11 15 19 23 Years
played
 American Samoa P 6 P P P 12 6
 Cook Islands 6 P P P 8 5
 Fiji 2 4 5 4 2 2 1 3 1 2 4 4 3 3 14
 Guam P 6 P P P 5
 Kiribati 9* P P 3
 Micronesia (F.S.) P P 2
 New Caledonia 1 2 1 1 2 4 3 1 3 P 2 1 1 1 2 1 16
 New Zealand U-23 1 2
 Niue P 1
 Northern Marianas 10 1
 Papua New Guinea P 4 3 4 P 9* 4 3 P P P P 3 4 6 15
 Samoa 9* 5* P P 7 5
 Solomon Islands 4 P 6 3 3 P 2 2 P 4 2 P P 2 14
 Tahiti 3 1 2 3 1 1 1 2 P 1 4 P 3 2 P 5 16
 Tonga 7* P P P P 11 6
 Tuvalu 7* P P P P 9 6
 Vanuatu P 3 5 2 P 5 P 4 4 4 3 3 P P P 4 16
 Wallis and Futuna P 9* 5* 5 P P 6
Number of teams
All-time total: 18
6 6 6 6 7 12 11 6 8 9 10 10 11 8# 11 12 16
Editions

Results[edit]

The table below is a summary of the finals matches in men's football at the Pacific Games since 1963: [4]

Year Host city Final Third place match
Gold Score Silver Bronze Score Fourth place
1963 Fiji
Suva

New Caledonia
8–2
Fiji

Tahiti
7–2
Solomon Islands
1966 New Caledonia
Nouméa

Tahiti
2–0
New Caledonia

New Hebrides
5–2
Papua New Guinea
1969 Papua New Guinea
Port Moresby

New Caledonia
2–1
Tahiti

Papua New Guinea
2–1
Fiji
1971 French Polynesia
Papeete

New Caledonia
7–1
New Hebrides

Tahiti
8–1
Papua New Guinea
1975 Guam
Tumon

Tahiti
2–1
New Caledonia

Solomon Islands
3–2
Fiji
1979 Fiji
Suva

Tahiti
3–0
Fiji

Solomon Islands
3–1
New Caledonia
1983 Samoa
Apia

Tahiti
1–0
Fiji

New Caledonia
2–1
Papua New Guinea
1987 New Caledonia
Nouméa

New Caledonia
1–0
Tahiti

Papua New Guinea
3–1
Vanuatu
1991 Papua New Guinea
Port Moresby

Fiji
1–1
(5–4
.pen.
)

Solomon Islands

New Caledonia
3–1
Vanuatu
1995 French Polynesia
Papeete

Tahiti
2–0
Solomon Islands

Fiji
3–0
Vanuatu
1999 No football tournament in 1999
2003 Fiji
Suva

Fiji
2–0
New Caledonia

Vanuatu
1–0
Tahiti
2007 Samoa
Apia

New Caledonia
1–0
Fiji

Vanuatu
2–0
Solomon Islands
2011 New Caledonia
Nouméa

New Caledonia
2–0
Solomon Islands

Tahiti
2–1
Fiji
2015 Papua New Guinea
Port Moresby

New Caledonia
2–0
Tahiti

Papua New Guinea
2–1
Fiji
2019 Samoa
Apia

New Zealand U-23
2–1
New Caledonia

Fiji
1–1
(4–2
.pen.
)

Papua New Guinea
2023 Solomon Islands
Honiara

New Caledonia
2–2
(7–6
.pen.
)

Solomon Islands

Fiji
4–2
Vanuatu

Performances by countries[edit]

Below are the 7 nations that have reached at least the semi-final stage in the Pacific Games.

Team Winner Runner-up Third Place Fourth Place
 New Caledonia 8 ('63, '69, '71, '87, '07, '11, '15, '23) 4 ('66, '75, '03, '19) 2 ('83, '91) 1 ('79)
 Tahiti (French Polynesia) 5 ('66, '75, '79, '83, '95) 3 ('69, '87, '15) 3 ('63, '71, '11) 1 ('03)
 Fiji 2 ('91, '03) 4 ('63, '79, '83, '07) 3 ('95, '19, '23) 4 ('69, '75, '11, '15)
 New Zealand U-23 1 ('19)
 Solomon Islands 4 ('91, '95, '11, '23) 2 ('75, '79) 2 ('63, '07)
 Vanuatu (New Hebrides) 1 ('71) 3 ('66, '03, '07) 4 ('87, '91, '95, '23)
 Papua New Guinea 3 ('69, '87, '15) 4 ('66, '71, '83, '19)

Golden boot awardees[edit]

Year Player Goals
1963–1995 Unknown -
2003 Fiji Esala Masi 11
2007 Fiji Osea Vakatalesau 10
2011 New Caledonia Bertrand Kaï 10
2015 Vanuatu Jean Kaltack 17
2019 Solomon Islands Gagame Feni
Vanuatu Tony Kaltak
New Caledonia Jean-Philippe Saïko
9

Women's tournament[edit]

Participating nations[edit]


Games
Nation
03 07 11 15 19 23 Years
played
 American Samoa P P P 9 4
 Cook Islands P P 3 4 10 5
 Fiji 5 3 3 P 3 2 6
 Guam 2 P 2
 Kiribati 7 1
 New Caledonia P 2 2 P 3 5
 Papua New Guinea 1 1 1 1 1 1 6
 Samoa P 4 2 4 4
 Solomon Islands P P P P 6 5
 Tahiti 4 4 P P 8 5
 Tonga 3 2 4 P P 7 6
 Vanuatu 6 P 5 3
Number of teams
All-time total: 12
7 9 9 7 10 10 6
Editions

Results[edit]

The table below is a summary of the finals matches in the women's football competition at the Pacific Games since 2003.

Papua New Guinea won the first four tournament finals, including against hosts New Caledonia in 2011[5] and as hosts against New Caledonia in 2015.[6]

Year Host city Final Third place match
Gold Score Silver Bronze Score Fourth place
2003  Fiji[7]
Suva

Papua New Guinea
round-​robin
Guam

Tonga
round-​robin
Tahiti
2007  Samoa[8]
Apia

Papua New Guinea
3–1
Tonga

Fiji
1–0
Tahiti
2011  New Caledonia[9]
Nouméa

Papua New Guinea
2–1
New Caledonia

Fiji
1–0
Tonga
2015 Papua New Guinea
Port Moresby

Papua New Guinea
1–0
New Caledonia

Cook Islands
2–0
Samoa
2019 Samoa
Apia

Papua New Guinea
3–1
Samoa

Fiji
3–1
Cook Islands
2023 Solomon Islands
Honiara

Papua New Guinea
4–1
Fiji

New Caledonia
3–1
Samoa

Performances by countries[edit]

Team Winner Runner-up Third Place Fourth Place
Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea 6 ('03, '07, '11, '15, '19, '23)
New Caledonia New Caledonia 2 ('11, '15) 1 ('23)
Fiji Fiji 1 ('23) 3 ('07, '11, '19)
Tonga Tonga 1 ('07) 1 ('03) 1 ('11)
Samoa Samoa 1 ('19) 1 ('15, '23)
Guam Guam 1 ('03)
Cook Islands Cook Islands 1 ('15) 1 ('19)
French Polynesia Tahiti 2 ('03, '07)

Golden boot awardees[edit]

Year Player Goals
2003 Unknown -
2007 Tonga Penateti Feke 4
2011 New Caledonia Christelle Wahnawe 12
2015 New Caledonia Christelle Wahnawe 10
2019 Papua New Guinea Ramona Padio 9
2023 11

Legend[edit]

Key to symbols
1 Gold medal for first place n nth place (e.g. 5 is fifth place)
2 Silver medal for second place P Pool or group stage elimination
3 Bronze medal for third place * Asterisk for shared placing (e.g. 5* is equal fifth)
4 Fourth place # Contested by under-23 national teams only
Did not play Withdrew before competition (did not play)
Played in the tournament (FIFA qualification) but excluded from the Pacific Games placings

All-time medal table[edit]

  • Total medals won (men's and women's)
RankNationGoldSilverBronzeTotal
1 New Caledonia76215
2 French Polynesia53311
3 Papua New Guinea5038
4 Fiji24511
5 New Zealand1001
6 Solomon Islands0325
7 Vanuatu (includes New Hebrides)0134
8 Tonga0112
9 Guam0101
 Samoa (includes Western Samoa)0101
11 Cook Islands0011
Totals (11 entries)20202060

Pacific Mini Games[edit]

Men[edit]

The table below is a summary of the medal matches played in the men's competition at the Pacific Mini Games:

Year Host city Final Third place match
Gold Score Silver Bronze Score Fourth place
1981 Solomon Islands
Honiara

Tahiti
1–0
(a.e.t.)

New Caledonia

Papua New Guinea
1–0
Vanuatu
1993 Vanuatu
Port Vila

Tahiti
3–0
Fiji

New Caledonia
2–1
Vanuatu
2017 Vanuatu
Port Vila

Vanuatu
round-​robin
Fiji

Solomon Islands
round-​robin
Tuvalu

Women[edit]

As of 2019, women's football has only been hosted once at the Pacific Mini Games – at Vanuatu in 2017. The table below is a summary of the medal matches played in the women's competition:

Year Host city Final Third place match
Gold Score Silver Bronze Score Fourth place
2017 Vanuatu
Port Vila

Vanuatu
2–1
Fiji

Tonga
1–0
Solomon Islands

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Pacific Games". RSSSF.
  2. ^ "OFC 2010 FIFA World Cup route via Asia". Oceania Football Confederation. 7 December 2006. Archived from the original on 28 April 2007. Retrieved 20 December 2006.
  3. ^ Charter - Constitution, Code of Conduct, Protocols, and Regulations adopted Apia, Samoa 14 May 2006 - As amended most recently in Port Vila, Vanuatu, 10 December 2017 (PDF 0.3 MB) (Report). Pacific Games Council. 2018. pp. 14–15. Archived from the original on 8 February 2018. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
  4. ^ a b "(South) Pacific Games and Mini Games". RSSSF.
  5. ^ "Womens Soccer to start preparations for Olympic Qualifiers (Nov 7, 2011)". PNG Football. 7 November 2011. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
  6. ^ "Women's Soccer - Team PNG Defeats New Caledonia – XV Pacific Games Day #14". Youtube. EMTV Online. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
  7. ^ "South Pacific Games 2003 (Fiji)". RSSSF. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  8. ^ "South Pacific Games 2007 (Samoa)". RSSSF. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  9. ^ "Pacific Games 2011 (New Caledonia)". RSSSF. Retrieved 16 March 2015.

External links[edit]