Vanuatu national football team

Vanuatu
Association	Vanuatu Football Federation
Confederation	OFC (Oceania)
Head coach	Etienne Mermer
Captain	Kensi Tangis
Most caps	Richard Iwai (34)
Top scorer	Richard Iwai (20)[1]
Home stadium	Port Vila Municipal Stadium
FIFA code	VAN
First colours	Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	166 2 (31 March 2022)[2]
Highest	131 (October 2007)
Lowest	201 (October–November 2015)
First international
	New Zealand 9–0 New Hebrides ; (Nouméa, New Caledonia; 4 October 1951)[3]
Biggest win
	Vanuatu 18–0 Kiribati ; (Lautoka, Fiji; 7 July 2003)[3]
Biggest defeat
	New Zealand 9–0 New Hebrides ; (Nouméa, New Caledonia; 4 October 1951)[3]
OFC Nations Cup
Appearances	9 (first in 1973)
Best result	Fourth place, 1973, 2000, 2002 and 2008

The Vanuatu national football team is the national team of Vanuatu and is controlled by the Vanuatu Football Federation.[4]

History

It was known as the New Hebrides national football team until the New Hebrides became Republic of Vanuatu in 1980. It finished fourth in the OFC Nations Cup in 1973, 2000, and 2002. In the 2004 Oceania Nations Cup, Vanuatu beat New Zealand 4–2, preventing the regional powerhouse from making the final and, consequently, the running for the 2006 World Cup.

Vanuatu caused another shock in the 2007 South Pacific Games by knocking out the Solomon Islands for bronze medal and also enable to enter the second stage of qualification for the OFC Nations Cup and consequently a chance with a playoff for the FIFA World Cup in South Africa in 2010. The last time they had won against Solomon Islands was back in 1998 and had since been on the receiving side of many losses save for one draw against them. In July 2008, Vanuatu faced two national teams from the Solomon Islands during the inaugural edition of the Wantok Cup. Vanuatu lost 1–2 to the Solomons' team A, but defeated their team B by two goals to one.

Kit sponsorship

Kit provider[5]	Period
Lotto	2004–2011
Nike	2012
Veto	2013–2016
Pasifika	2017
Gorilla Sports	2018–2020
KPI Sports	2020–2022
Macron	2022–

Results and fixtures

In March 2022, Vanuatu will play their first matches since they took part in the 2019 Pacific Games.

2022

10 March Friendly

Fiji

3–0

Vanuatu

17 March 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification	Tahiti	Cancelled[lower-alpha 1]	Vanuatu	Doha, Qatar
20:00 UTC+3		Report		Stadium: Al Arabi Stadium Referee: Matthew Conger (New Zealand)

20 March 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification	Solomon Islands	Cancelled[lower-alpha 2]	Vanuatu	Doha, Qatar
20:00 UTC+3				Stadium: Al Arabi Stadium

24 March 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification	Vanuatu	Cancelled[lower-alpha 2]	Cook Islands	Doha, Qatar
17:00 UTC+3				Stadium: Qatar SC Stadium

27 March Friendly	Fiji	2–1	Vanuatu	Doha, Qatar
	Roy Krishna 21', 36'	Report	Andre Batick 16'	Stadium: Hamad bin Khalifa Stadium

Coaching staff

Position
Head coach	George Amos
Assistant coach	François Sakama
Team Manager	Peter Takaro
Goalkeeper coach	Jimmy Obed
Assistant Goalkeeper coach	Jean Yves Galinie
Physio	Albert Lata

Coaching history

New Hebrides

P. Reichert (1973)

Vanuatu

Terry O'Donnell (1987–1993)
Saby Natonga (1996)
Alwyn Job (1998)
Juan Carlos Buzzetti (2000–2004)
Joe Szekeres (2004–2007)
Robert Calvo (2007–2008)
Willian Malas (2008)[8]
Jorge Añón (2009)
Saby Natonga (2011–2012)
Percy Avock (2012–2015)[9]
Moise Poida (2015–2018)[10]
Etienne Mermer (2017)
Paul Munster (2019)
Etienne Mermer (2019–present)

Current squad

The following 25 players were called up for the FIFA World Cup qualification matches in March 2022.[11]

Caps and goals updated as of 27 March 2022, after the match against Fiji.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1GK	Massing Kalotang	(2002-08-26) 26 August 2002	2	0	Erakor Golden Star
1GK	James Iamar		1	0	Unattached
1GK	Dgen Leo	(2000-08-06) 6 August 2000	0	0	Classic F.C.

2DF	Brian Kaltak	(1993-09-30) 30 September 1993	22	5	Auckland City
2DF	Jesse Kalopong	(1998-01-01) 1 January 1998	2	0	Erakor Golden Star
2DF	Alphonse Lency	(1996-03-29) 29 March 1996	2	0	Ifira Black Bird
2DF	Jared Clark	(1998-01-21) 21 January 1998	2	0	Croydon Kings
2DF	Philip Lency	(1997-06-08) 8 June 1997	2	0	ABM Galaxy
2DF	Tasso Jeffrey	(1998-08-12) 12 August 1998	1	0	ABM Galaxy
2DF	Tom Saksak	(2000-05-08) 8 May 2000	1	0	iCount Yatel
2DF	Bethuel Ollie	(1997-08-19) 19 August 1997	1	0	iCount Yatel
2DF	Timothy Boulet	(1998-11-29) 29 November 1998	0	0	Ifira Black Bird
2DF	Junior Felix	(1997-03-17) 17 March 1997	0	0	North Efate United F.C.

3MF	Ronaldo Wilkins	(1999-12-30) 30 December 1999	9	0	Tafea F.C.
3MF	Jacky Ruben	(1996-03-29) 29 March 1996	9	1	North Efate United F.C.
3MF	Mitch Cooper	(1994-09-18) 18 September 1994	6	5	Hume City
3MF	Barry Mansale	(1993-04-28) 28 April 1993	3	0	ABM Galaxy
3MF	Claude Aru	(1997-04-25) 25 April 1997	2	0	North Efate United F.C.
3MF	John Well Wohale	(1997-07-09) 9 July 1997	1	0	Ifira Black Bird
3MF	Jayson Bule	(2001-01-21) 21 January 2001	1	0	North Efate United F.C.

4FW	Kensi Tangis (captain)	(1990-01-20) 20 January 1990	29	8	ABM Galaxy
4FW	Andre Batick	(1993-04-28) 28 April 1993	8	1	ABM Galaxy
4FW	Jordy Tasip	(2000-07-14) 14 July 2000	1	0	Tafea F.C.
4FW	Reginold Ravo	(1997-08-25) 25 August 1997	0	0	Malampa Revivors
4FW	Edwin Bai	(1995-12-21) 21 December 1995	0	0	North Efate United F.C.

Player records

As of 27 March 2022[12]

Players in bold are still active with Vanuatu.

Most capped players

Rank	Name	Caps	Goals	Career
1	Richard Iwai	34	20	2000–2011
2	Etienne Mermer	33	15	1998–2008
3	Fedy Vava	30	2	2000–2012
4	Lexa Bibi	29	2	2000–2004
	Seimata Chilia	29	9	2000–2011
	Kensi Tangis	29	8	2011–present
7	Pita David Maki	28	2	2000–2008
8	David Chilia	26	0	1998–2007
9	Graham Demas	25	1	2000–2004
9	Simon Lauru	25	5	2000–2004

Top goalscorers

Rank	Name	Goals	Caps	Ratio	Career
1	Richard Iwai	20	34	0.59	2000–2011
2	Tony Kaltack	15	16	0.94	2016–2019
2	Etienne Mermer	15	33	0.45	1998–2008
4	Seule Soromon	10	10	1	2007–2011
5	Jean Kaltack	9	8	1.13	2011–2012
5	Seimata Chilia	9	29	0.31	2000–2011
7	Kensi Tangis	8	29	0.28	2011–present
8	Azariah Soromon	7	13	0.54	2017–2019
9	Bill Nicholls	6	8	0.75	2015–2019
	François Sakama	6	12	0.5	2007–2015
	Robert Tasso	6	12	0.5	2011–2016

Competitive record

FIFA World Cup

FIFA World Cup record									FIFA World Cup qualification record
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1930 to 1990	Did not enter								Did not enter
1994	Did not qualify								4	0	0	4	1	18
1998									2	0	1	1	2	3
2002									4	1	0	3	11	21
2006									9	4	1	4	21	11
2010									12	5	1	6	30	19
2014									3	1	0	2	8	9
2018									3	1	0	2	3	8
2022	Withdrew								Withdrew
2026	To be determined								To be determined
Total		0/22							37	12	3	22	76	89

OFC Nations Cup

OFC Nations Cup record									Qualification record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1973	Fourth place	4th	5	1	1	3	5	10	No qualification
1980	Group stage	7th	3	0	0	3	6	9	No qualification
1996	Did not qualify								4	0	1	3	5	12
1998	Group stage	5th	2	0	0	2	2	13	4	2	1	1	8	6
2000	Fourth place	4th	4	1	0	3	5	8	4	2	0	2	12	7
2002	Fourth place	4th	5	2	0	3	2	6	Qualified automatically
2004	Group stage	6th	5	1	0	4	5	9	4	3	1	0	16	2
2008	Fourth place	4th	6	1	1	4	5	13	6	4	0	2	25	6
2012	Group stage	5th	3	1	0	2	8	9	Qualified automatically
2016	Group stage	7th	3	1	0	2	3	8	Qualified automatically
2020	Cancelled								Cancelled
Total	Fourth place	9/10	36	8	2	25	41	82	22	11	3	8	66	33

Pacific Games

Pacific Games record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
1963	Round 1	6th	1	0	0	1	3	6
1966	Third place	3rd	4	1	2	1	9	14
1969	Group stage	5th	5	1	1	3	13	13
1971	Runners-up	2nd	4	2	1	1	9	12
1975	Group stage	5th	2	0	0	2	1	6
1979	Fifth place	5th	6	4	0	2	19	6
1983	Group stage	6th	1	0	0	1	0	6
1987	Fourth place	4th	6	2	1	3	16	13
1991	Fourth place	4th	5	2	0	3	9	8
1995	Fourth place	4th	5	2	0	3	10	9
2003	Third place	3rd	6	3	3	0	23	3
2007	Third place	3rd	6	4	0	2	25	6
2011	Group stage	6th	5	4	0	1	18	7
2015	See Vanuatu national under-23 football team
2019	Round 1	5th	4	2	1	1	25	2
Total	14/14	0 Titles	60	27	9	24	180	111

Melanesia Cup

Melanesia Cup record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
1988	Third place	3rd	4	1	0	3	2	19
1989	Fifth place	5th	4	0	0	4	2	12
1990	Champions	1st	4	2	2	0	4	2
1992	Fourth place	4th	3	0	0	3	1	6
1994	Fifth place	5th	4	0	1	3	5	12
1998	Runners-up	2nd	4	2	1	1	8	6
2000	Third place	3rd	4	2	0	2	12	7
Total	8/8	1 Title	29	7	5	17	36	67

Wantok Cup

Wantok Cup record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
2008	Runners-up	2nd	2	1	0	1	3	3
2011	Runners-up	2nd	2	0	1	1	1	2
2011	Champions	1st	2	1	1	0	2	0
Total	3/3	1 Title	6	2	2	2	6	5

Head-to-head record

Up to matches played on 27 March 2022.

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	WPCT
American Samoa	4	4	0	0	39	1	+38	100.00
Australia	4	0	0	4	0	7	−7	0.00
Cook Islands	1	1	0	0	8	1	+7	100.00
Estonia	1	0	0	1	0	1	−1	0.00
Fiji	34	8	7	19	35	76	−41	23.53
Guam	3	3	0	0	14	0	+14	100.00
Indonesia	1	0	0	1	0	6	−6	0.00
Kiribati	1	1	0	0	18	0	+18	100.00
New Caledonia	38	8	7	23	45	96	−51	21.05
New Zealand	12	1	0	11	10	58	−48	8.33
Papua New Guinea	20	8	4	8	31	27	+4	40.00
Palau	1	1	0	0	6	2	+4	100.00
Samoa[lower-alpha 3]	5	5	0	0	36	1	+35	100.00
Solomon Islands	33	6	7	20	37	75	−38	18.18
Tahiti	26	5	3	18	28	64	−36	19.23
Tonga	5	5	0	0	33	2	+31	100.00
Wallis and Futuna	2	2	0	0	10	1	+9	100.00
Tuvalu	3	3	0	0	16	1	+15	100.00
Total	194	61	28	105	366	419	−53	31.44

Source: 1951–July 1980 results and July 1980–present results.
Notes:

On 17 March 2022, it was announced that the match between Tahiti and Vanuatu was cancelled due to COVID-19 outbreaks in the Vanuatu squad.[6]
On 19 March 2022, it was announced that Vanuatu withdrew from the tournament due to COVID-19 outbreaks in the Vanuatu squad.[7]
Includes results as Western Samoa.

References

Mamrud, Roberto; Stokkermans, Karel. "Players with 100+ Caps and 30+ International Goals". RSSSF. Retrieved 22 August 2011.
"The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking". FIFA. 31 March 2022. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
"Vanuatu (New Hebrides) – List of International matches". Rsssf.com. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
"Micronesia suffer another humiliating defeat after 46–0 loss to Vanuatu | Football". The Guardian. 1 January 1970. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
"Antigo(a) Vanuatu camisas de futebol".
https://www.oceaniafootball.com/statement-on-tahiti-v-vanuatu-match/
https://www.vff.vu/vanuatu-withdraws-from-the-fifa-world-cup-oceania-qualifiers/
"Member Association – Vanuatu". FIFA.com. 30 June 2015. Archived from the original on 10 June 2007. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
"Vanuatu Football Federation". Vanuafoot.vu. Archived from the original on 11 July 2015. Retrieved 10 July 2015.
"Poida named National Senior Team coach". Vanuata Football Federation. 21 October 2015. Archived from the original on 24 November 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.
"Vanuatu confirm squad for Oceania Qualifiers". 3 March 2022.
"Vanuatu". National Football Teams.

Notes

External links

Vanuatu at the FIFA website.
Vanuatu at the OFC website.
VFFFoot.over-nlog.com
Vanuafoot – Vanuatu Football Federation Official site
Vanuatu Football Federation Official Blog site

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[7] On 17 March 2022, it was announced that the match between Tahiti and Vanuatu was cancelled due to COVID-19 outbreaks in the Vanuatu squad.[6]

[Vanuatu-2-9] On 19 March 2022, it was announced that Vanuatu withdrew from the tournament due to COVID-19 outbreaks in the Vanuatu squad.[7]

[table_note_SAM0.91981799850232-15] Includes results as Western Samoa.

[1] Mamrud, Roberto; Stokkermans, Karel. "Players with 100+ Caps and 30+ International Goals". RSSSF. Retrieved 22 August 2011.

[FIFA_World_Rankings-2] "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking". FIFA. 31 March 2022. Retrieved 31 March 2022.

[rsssf1-3] "Vanuatu (New Hebrides) – List of International matches". Rsssf.com. Retrieved 10 July 2015.

[4] "Micronesia suffer another humiliating defeat after 46–0 loss to Vanuatu | Football". The Guardian. 1 January 1970. Retrieved 10 July 2015.

[5] "Antigo(a) Vanuatu camisas de futebol".

[6] ttps://www.oceaniafootball.com/statement-on-tahiti-v-vanuatu-match/

[8] ttps://www.vff.vu/vanuatu-withdraws-from-the-fifa-world-cup-oceania-qualifiers/

[10] "Member Association – Vanuatu". FIFA.com. 30 June 2015. Archived from the original on 10 June 2007. Retrieved 10 July 2015.

[11] "Vanuatu Football Federation". Vanuafoot.vu. Archived from the original on 11 July 2015. Retrieved 10 July 2015.

[12] "Poida named National Senior Team coach". Vanuata Football Federation. 21 October 2015. Archived from the original on 24 November 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2015.

[13] "Vanuatu confirm squad for Oceania Qualifiers". 3 March 2022.

[14] "Vanuatu". National Football Teams.

National football teams of Oceania (OFC)
Active	American Samoa Cook Islands FS Micronesia² Fiji Kiribati¹ New Caledonia New Zealand Niue² Palau² Papua New Guinea Samoa Solomon Islands Tahiti Tonga Tuvalu¹ Vanuatu
Former	Australia (moved to AFC in 2006) Northern Mariana Islands³ (moved to AFC in 2009) Chinese Taipei⁴ (returned to AFC in 1989)
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.