Nicky Salapu (born September 13, 1980) is an American Samoan

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for PanSa East. He previously played for PanSa East from 2000 to 2008 and 2008 to 2011, then he left them to sign for Mitra Kukar in 2012. Salapu has played for them since 2013. He played in American Samoa's 31–0 loss to Australia, where he was the only player from the senior squad remaining after the rest of the squad was ruled ineligible due to holding Samoan, rather than US, passports. Salapu played in the OFC FIFA World Cup Qualifications for World Cup 2002 and

World Cup 2006 The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won ...

American Samoa American Samoa ( sm, Amerika Sāmoa, ; also ' or ') is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the island country of Samoa. Its location is centered on . It is east of the International ...

lost all of these eight matches, and conceded 91 goals. Salapu was the goalkeeper, under whom the American Samoa National Football Team registered their first ever official FIFA World Cup qualifiers win. After the game, Salapu said: "I feel like a champ right now. Finally I'm going to put the past behind me."

Club career

Salapu played for PanSa East for eleven years, beginning in 2000 and terminating in 2011. In 2012 he went to play for

Mitra Kukar Persatuan Sepakbola Mitra Kutai Kartanegara is an Indonesian association football club based in Tenggarong, Kutai Kartanegara, East Kalimantan. They currently compete in the Liga 3. History This club was founded in 1979 as NIAC Mitra. NIAC stoo ...

, a club playing in the Indonesia Super League (ISL), which is a fully professional football competition as the top tier of the football league pyramid in Indonesia.

International career

Salapu conceded 31 goals to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

in a World Cup qualifying match on April 11, 2001, and the score

Australia 31–0 American Samoa ' On 11 April 2001, the Australian and American Samoan national association football teams played each other in an Oceanian qualifying match for the 2002 FIFA World Cup. The match was played at the International Sports Stadium in Coffs Harbour ...

still counts as the official world record. In 2007, Salapu missed his flight from

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

to the South Pacific Games in Samoa. Because he could not make it on time, he was replaced by the 17-year-old Jordan Penitusi. He was not eligible to play until he arrived for the last match of

in the South Pacific Games with

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

, but there he was an unused substitute. In November 2011, Salapu was the goalkeeper when American Samoa won its first ever full FIFA match, a 2–1 win over

during the first round of the OFC qualifiers for the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

. In 2015, he was called up as substitute goalkeeper for the 2018 World Cup Qualifiers. He represented American Samoa at the

2019 Pacific Games The 2019 Pacific Games was the sixteenth edition of the Pacific Games. The Games were held in Apia, Samoa, returning there for the first time since 2007. It was the third time overall that the Pacific Games were held in Samoa. The event was init ...

Apia Apia () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Samoa, as well as the nation's only city. It is located on the central north coast of Upolu, Samoa's second-largest island. Apia falls within the political district (''itūmālō ...

. Salapu has been selected for the American Samoan team at the

2023 Pacific Games The 2023 Pacific Games, officially known as the XVII Pacific Games, will be a continental multi-sport event for Oceania countries and territories that is scheduled to be held in Honiara, Solomon Islands between 19 November and 2 December 2023. T ...

Honiara Honiara () is the capital and largest city of Solomon Islands, situated on the northwestern coast of Guadalcanal. , it had a population of 92,344 people. The city is served by Honiara International Airport and the seaport of Point Cruz, and lie ...

Career statistics

International

References

External links