The Solomon Islands national football team is the national football team of the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 900 smaller islands in Oceania, to the east of Papua New Guinea and north-west of Vanuatu. It has a land area of , and a population of approx. 700,000. Its capita ...

, administered by the

Solomon Islands Football Federation The Solomon Islands Football Federation is a member of the Oceania Football Confederation. The Solomon Islands national football team made history when they made it to the final Oceania stages of the 2006 World Cup Qualification against Australia ...

. The Solomon Islands national football team was founded in 1978. They were officially recognised by

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 ...

a decade later, in 1988.

History

During the 2004 Oceania World Cup qualification/Oceania Cup the team drew 2–2 with Australia and qualified for the second leg. In the second leg, the Solomon Islands national men's team were thrashed by Australia 5–1 and 6–0 in the two matches, with Australia qualifying for the 2005 Confederations Cup. The Solomons got a second chance against the Socceroos in a two-legged series in September 2005, this time with the winner advancing to a two-legged series against

CONMEBOL The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL, , or CSF; es, Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol; pt, Confederação Sul-Americana de Futebol) is the continental governing body of football in South America (apart from Guyana, Suri ...

's fifth-place finisher for a berth in the

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

, and the team was thrashed by Australia 7–0 on the first leg and 2–1 in the second played at home. The Solomons were knocked out of the

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

– having got off to a good start winning every game in their qualifying group and comfortably progressing to the knockout rounds, defeats to

New Caledonia ) , anthem = "" , image_map = New Caledonia on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of New Caledonia , map_caption = Location of New Caledonia , mapsize = 290px , subdivision_type = Sovereign st ...

and then to

Vanuatu Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...

saw them knocked out of the competition. In 2012, the Solomon Islands held the 2012 OFC Nations Cup which was also the second round of World Cup qualifying 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 ...

where they finished in fourth place after qualifying through to the knockout stage by defeating Papua New Guinea and having draws against Fiji and New Zealand. They lost in the semi-final after they lost to the champions Tahiti after Jonathan Tehau scored the only goal. They later lost to New Zealand in the third-place playoff. The third round of World Cup qualifying saw the team finish bottom of the group after only taking one win against

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austr ...

. After first taking charge of the team in 2017, Spaniard

Felipe Vega-Arango Felipe Vega-Arango Alonso is a Spanish football coach who first managed the Solomon Islands national football team in 2017 and was re-appointed as coach in June 2021. Solomon Islands Assuming the post of technical director for the Solomon Islan ...

was appointed for his second stint in June 2021. In 2019, they went on a three-week tour of the Netherlands.

Kit sponsorship

Results and fixtures

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

2022

Coaching staff

Coaching history

:Caretaker managers are listed in ''italics''. * Edward Ngara (1995–1996) * Wilson Maelaua (1996) * George Cowie (2000–2003) * Alan Gillett (2004–2005) * Airton Andrioli (2006–2009) *

Jacob Moli Jacob Moli (born 11 May 1967) is a Solomon Islands former footballer and the current manager of the Solomon Islands national under-17 football team. He has also been the manager of the Solomon Islands national football team The Solomon Island ...

(2010–2014) * Moses Toata (2015–2016) *

(2017–2018) * Moses Toata (2018–2019) *

Wim Rijsbergen Wilhelmus "Wim" Gerardus Rijsbergen (; born 18 January 1952) is a Dutch football manager and former player who played as a defender. He was last the manager of Solomon Islands' national team. Playing career Rijsbergen was born in Leiden, So ...

(2019) * '' Stanley Waita'' (2020–2021) *

(2021–present)

Players

Current squad

The following players were called up for the

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

matches in March 2022. ''Caps and goals updated as of 30 March 2022, after the match against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

.''

Player records

:''Players in bold are still active with Solomon Islands.''

Most capped players

Top goalscorers

Competitive record

FIFA World Cup

OFC Nations Cup

Pacific Games

Wantok Cup

* 2008 (July, 1st edition) – First place

Head-to-head record

Honours

OFC Nations Cup The OFC Nations Cup is an international association football tournament held among the OFC member nations. It was held every two years from 1996 to 2004; before 1996 there were two other tournaments held at irregular intervals, under the name ...

** Runners-up (1): 2004 ** Third place (2): 1996,

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

* South Pacific Games ** Runners-up (3):

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

** Third place (1):

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

, 1979 *

Wantok Cup The Wantok Cup was an international football competition between the national teams of three Melanesian countries: Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. The Cup was to be a thrice-a-year competition, to be held in July (twice) and Septemb ...

** Winners (1): 2008

References

External links

Solomon Islands Football Federation official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Solomon Islands National Football Team Oceanian national association football teams