The Nauru Soccer Federation is the governing body of soccer in Nauru and is under the auspices of the

Nauru Olympic Committee Nauru Olympic Committee (IOC code: NRU) is the National Olympic Committee representing Nauru. It represents and organises the Olympic movement on the island. The NNOC was founded in 1991 and was recognised by the International Olympic Committee ...

. Nauru is not a member of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) and is one of the few sovereign states that is not a member of

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

but aims to become a member of both governing bodies. As of July 2020 the vice-president of the association is Kaz Cain.

History

The Nauru Soccer Federation has reportedly applied for membership in both the OFC and

but was denied, presumably because of a lack of infrastructure and league system. In 2009 the Nauruan Minister of Sport Rayong Itsimaera indicated that the island nation desired to become a member of FIFA and the OFC wanted to accept them as a member but there were challenges preventing them from joining both bodies. When the OFC met in 2011 to discuss and plan the 2013 Pacific Youth and Sports Conference, the Nauru delegation attended along with representatives from thirteen other Pacific football associations. In a December 2014 issue of ''The Blizzard-The Football Quarterly'' it was reported that the association existed and the then-president indicated that a Nauruan team practiced on the island's golf course. When Vanuatan Lambert Maltock was elected president of the OFC in 2019, the confederation indicated that funds were available to Nauru once the association has firm plans for developing the sport on the island. The Nauru Soccer Association was formally created in 2018. By 2020, the association was beginning to organize soccer tournaments and other development activities on the island once again but progressed was slowed by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. In March 2021 it was announced that the Government of Australia was financing a number of sports programs in Nauru, including the OFC's Just Play Programme. The federation was relaunched as the Nauru Soccer Federation in 2023 under the auspices of the

with the goal of creating a grassroots soccer culture, fielding its first-ever national team, and eventually joining the

Oceania Football Confederation The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) is one of the six continental confederations of international association football. The OFC has 13 members, 11 of which are full members and two which are associate members not affiliated with FIFA. It ...

and

References

{{Non-FIFA teams Association football governing bodies in Oceania

History

See also

References