The sport of

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

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 ...

is governed by the

Football Federation American Samoa Football Federation American Samoa (FFAS) is the governing body for competitive football in the nation of American Samoa. History It came into existence following inaugural elections held in late 2007. The new general secretariat took office und ...

(FFAS), the nations football association. It was founded in 1984, and affiliated to

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 ...

and to the OFC in 1998. It organizes the

FFAS Senior League FFAS Senior League is the top division of the Football Federation American Samoa in American Samoa and is played on an amateur basis. In 2009, the last two rounds of the league and the play-offs were cancelled because the only available pitch in ...

(the national men's domestic football tournament), the FFAS Women's National League (the national women's domestic football tournament), the men's national team and the women's national team.

is one of the weakest footballing nations in the world, due to both its small population base and the overwhelming popularity of

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

in the islands.

League Football

The American Samoan leagues are typically considered weak, with the small population and popularity of other sports strongly contributing to that. The

was formed around 1980 though it is hard to know a reliable date. It is not confirmed either when the FFAS Women's National League formed, but there were clubs as early as 1987 and the league continues to this day. The champions of the

are eligible to take part in the

OFC Champions League The OFC Champions League, also known as the O-League, is the premier men's club soccer competition in Oceania. It is organised by the OFC, Oceania's football governing body. Beginning as the Oceania Club Championship (1987–2006), it has been ...

, though they have not always taken up the position. They compete in the preliminary round of the competition, with

Utulei Youth Utulei Youth are an association football team from Pago Pago in American Samoa. They play in the territory's top division, the FFAS Senior League. They have won the domestic league championship twice, in 2014 (a perfect season) and 2015, and the d ...

gaining the territory's only victory to date in the 2016 edition. Otherwise they are limited to a handful of draws.

International football

The men's team famously hold the distinction of suffering the largest official loss in international football history, having been defeated by

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 ...

31–0 on April 11, 2001. At the time they had only recorded one victory in their history over

Wallis and Futuna Islands Wallis and Futuna, officially the Territory of the Wallis and Futuna Islands (; french: Wallis-et-Futuna or ', Fakauvea and Fakafutuna: '), is a French island collectivity in the South Pacific, situated between Tuvalu to the northwest, Fij ...

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

(3-0), when both teams were not yet members of

(Wallis and Futuna Islands still is not). That appearance at the

1983 South Pacific Games The 1983 South Pacific Games, held at Apia in Western Samoa from 5–16 September 1983, was the seventh edition of the South Pacific Games. Participating countries Fifteen nations competed at the 1983 South Pacific Games: Sports Despite swimmi ...

would be the men's team's international debut, though opportunities would remain limited, particularly until their FIFA recognized debut at the

1998 Polynesia Cup The Polynesia Cup 1998 was the second Polynesia-wide tournament ever held. It took place in Cook Islands and five teams participated: Tahiti, Samoa, American Samoa, Tonga and the hosts Cook Islands for the first time and served for the second time ...

. Results would continue to be limited, though positives would come from both the

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 ...

and the

Pacific Games The Pacific Games (French: Jeux du Pacifique), is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from Oceania. The inaugural Games took place in 1963 in Suva, Fiji, and most recently in 2019 in Apia, Samoa. The Games were ...

, with victories over

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 ...

and the

Cook Islands ) , image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , capital = Avarua , coordinates = , largest_city = Avarua , official_languages = , lan ...

. They would also achieve draws against the

Cook Islands ) , image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , capital = Avarua , coordinates = , largest_city = Avarua , official_languages = , lan ...

and

Tuvalu Tuvalu ( or ; formerly known as the Ellice Islands) is an island country and microstate in the Polynesian subregion of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. Its islands are situated about midway between Hawaii and Australia. They lie east-northeast ...

. Their first official victory came in November 2011, defeating

2–1 in the first round of OFC World Cup Qualification to record their second international victory after 38 consecutive defeats. They have previously been ranked at the bottom of the

FIFA Rankings The FIFA Men's World Ranking is a ranking system for men's national teams in association football, led by Brazil . The teams of the men's member nations of FIFA, football's world governing body, are ranked based on their game results with the ...

but, as of August 2022 are ranked 188th. The women's national team would debut at the

1998 OFC Women's Championship The 1998 OFC Women's Championship, also known as the VI Ladies Oceania Nations Cup was held in Auckland, New Zealand between 9 October & 17 October 1998. It was the sixth staging of the OFC Women's Championship. The 1998 OFC Women's Championship, ...

, losing 21-0 to

and 9-0 to

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

. Appearances would be sporadic from then on, with their first draw coming against the

Cook Islands ) , image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , capital = Avarua , coordinates = , largest_city = Avarua , official_languages = , lan ...

in the

2007 Pacific Games The 2007 South Pacific Games were held in Apia, Samoa, from 25 August to 8 September 2007. The Games were the thirteenth to be held since the inception of the South Pacific Games in 1963, and included traditional multi-sport event disciplines, su ...

. As of August 2022 they are ranked 142nd in the

FIFA Women's World Rankings The FIFA Women's World Rankings for football were introduced in 2003, with the first rankings published on 16 July of that year, as a follow-on to the existing Men's FIFA World Rankings. They attempt to compare the strength of international ...

References

{{Football in Oceania