2011 South Pacific Games Football - Kiribati

The island nation of Kiribati is one of two nations (alongside Tuvalu) in the South Pacific Games football tournament which are not members of FIFA. They do not therefore have an official FIFA world ranking.

As the national football team has only ever played in 7 competitive matches it is almost impossible to analyse their chances in the forthcoming games. If their last appearance at the Games (in 2003) are anything to go by then they could be in for a rough ride later this summer.

They started the 2003 Games with a narrow 3-2 defeat to Tuvalu and unfortunately for the I-Kiribati (the name given to Kiribati natives) things went quickly downhill from there. They followed up the defeat to Tuvalu with a 7-0 loss to the Solomon Islands, a 12-0 loss to Fiji and finally succumbed to an 18-0 defeat at the hands of Vanuatu.

34 year old midfielder Lawrence Nemeia is Kiribati’s most capped player having earned 5 caps. He is also the top goal scorer thanks to his brace against Tuvalu in the 2003 South Pacific Games. The 2003 Games were in fact the only time Kiribati national team have appeared at the tournament because in 1979 they were represented by one of the islands clubs.

The I-Kiribati will be hoping for a smoother ride in the group stages this year. They are unlikely to have their hopes set on qualifying for the knockout rounds but picking up a win would give the island nation a lot to cheer about. They will be hoping to have a certain amount of luck in the draw for the group stages if they are to pick up their first ever win. Their best hope of 3 points would be against Tuvalu who have a similar footballing history as a nation.