Solomon Islands national football team

Solomon Islands
Nickname(s)	Bonitos
Association	Solomon Islands Football Federation
Confederation	OFC (Oceania)
Head coach	Felipe Vega-Arango
Captain	Micah Lea'alafa
Most caps	Henry Fa'arodo (64)
Top scorer	Commins Menapi (34)
Home stadium	Lawson Tama Stadium
FIFA code	SOL
First colours	Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	137 5 (31 March 2022)[1]
Highest	120 (October 2007, April 2008)
Lowest	200 (January–March 2016)
First international
	Solomon Islands 6–3 New Hebrides ; (Suva, Fiji; 30 August 1963)
Biggest win
	Solomon Islands 16–0 Cook Islands ; (Papeete, Tahiti; 21 August 1995)
Biggest defeat
	Tahiti 18–0 Solomon Islands ; (Suva, Fiji; 8 December 1963)
OFC Nations Cup
Appearances	7 (first in 1980)
Best result	Runners-up, 2004

The Solomon Islands national football team is the national football team of the Solomon Islands, administered by the Solomon Islands Football Federation. The Solomon Islands national football team was founded in 1978. They were officially recognised by FIFA a decade later, in 1988.[2]

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's fifth-place finisher for a berth in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, 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 – 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 and then to Vanuatu 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 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.

After first taking charge of the team in 2017, Spaniard Felipe Vega-Arango was appointed for his second stint in June 2021.[3]

Kit sponsorship

Kit lier	Period
Lotto	2004–2012
Pasifika	2013–2016
Veto	2016–2021
UCAN	2022–

Results and fixtures

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

2022

3 March Unofficial Friendly	Brisbane Roar	0–1	Solomon Islands	Gold Coast
19:30 AEST (UTC+10:00)				Stadium: Gold Coast Sports & Leisure Centre

5 March Unofficial Friendly	Caboolture Sports FC	2–1	Solomon Islands	Burpengary
19:00 AEST (UTC+10:00)				Stadium: Moreton Bay Central Sports Complex

8 March Unofficial Friendly	Queensland Lions FC	2–4	Solomon Islands	Richlands
19:30 AEST (UTC+10:00)				Stadium: Lions Stadium

17 March 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification	Cook Islands	0–2	Solomon Islands	Doha, Qatar
17:00 UTC+3		Report	Atkin Kaua 20' Alwin Hou 45+1'	Stadium: Al Arabi Stadium Referee: David Yareboinen (Papua New Guinea)

20 March 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification	Solomon Islands	Cancelled[lower-alpha 1]	Vanuatu	Doha, Qatar
20:00 UTC+3				Stadium: Al Arabi Stadium

24 March 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification	Solomon Islands	3–1	Tahiti	Doha, Qatar
17:00 UTC+3	Lea'i 20', 52', 90+5'		Tehau 26'	Stadium: Qatar SC Stadium

27 March 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification SF	Solomon Islands	3–2	Papua New Guinea	Doha, Qatar
17:00 UTC+3	Hou 33', 65' Lea'i 71'	Report	Komolong 24' Kepo 88'	Stadium: Al-Arabi Stadium

30 March 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification F	Solomon Islands	0–5	New Zealand	Doha, Qatar
20:00 UTC+3		Report	Tuiloma 23', 70' Wood 39' Bell 50' Garbett 90+1'	Stadium: Al-Arabi Stadium

Coaching staff

Position
Head coach	Felipe Vega-Arango
Assistant coach	Eddie Marahare
Goalkeeper coach	Zantas Kabini
Kit Manager	Augustine Hou
Team Manager	Patrick Miniti

Coaching history

Caretaker managers are listed in italics.

Edward Ngara (1995–1996)
Wilson Maelaua (1996)
George Cowie (2000–2003)
Alan Gillett (2004–2005)
Ayrton Andrioli (2006–2009)
Jacob Moli (2010–2014)[5]
Moses Toata (2015–2016)[6]
Felipe Vega-Arango (2017)
Moses Toata (2018–2019)
Wim Rijsbergen (2019)
Stanley Waita (2020–2021)
Felipe Vega-Arango (2021–present)

Players

Current squad

The following players were called up for the FIFA World Cup qualification matches in March 2022.[7]

Caps and goals updated as of 30 March 2022, after the match against New Zealand.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Philip Mango	(1995-08-28) 28 August 1995	26	0	Central Coast
12	1GK	Harold Nauania	(1997-10-10) 10 October 1997	0	0	Waneagu United
23	1GK	Junior Petua	(2003-12-30) 30 December 2003	0	0	Honiara City

2	2DF	Hadisi Aengari	(1988-10-23) 23 October 1988	43	0	Solomon Warriors
3	2DF	Ian Kalu	(1999-07-16) 16 July 1999	4	0	Waneagu United
4	2DF	Leon Kofana	(2002-06-22) 22 June 2002	4	0	Henderson Eels
5	2DF	Javin Wae	(2002-11-17) 17 November 2002	2	0	Central Coast
13	2DF	Junior David	(2001-09-22) 22 September 2001	0	0	Honiara City
16	2DF	David Supa	(2000-12-21) 21 December 2000	1	0	Isabel United
18	2DF	Prince Tahunipue	(1995-01-13) 13 January 1995	4	0	Henderson Eels
	2DF	Ronny Mani	(1989-11-23) 23 November 1989	0	0	Waneagu United

6	3MF	Don Keana	(2000-09-09) 9 September 2000	2	0	Waneagu United
7	3MF	Atkin Kaua	(1996-04-04) 4 April 1996	25	5	Laugu United
8	3MF	Jerry Donga	(1991-01-31) 31 January 1991	28	4	Solomon Warriors
10	3MF	Micah Lea'alafa (captain)	(1991-06-01) 1 June 1991	19	6	Waneagu United
11	3MF	Gagame Feni	(1992-08-21) 21 August 1992	27	13	Kossa
14	3MF	Tigi Molea	(1992-09-24) 24 September 1992	3	0	Solomon Warriors
15	3MF	Molis Junior Gagame	(1999-09-14) 14 September 1999	1	0	Solomon Warriors
17	3MF	Alwin Hou	(1996-09-18) 18 September 1996	8	5	Solomon Warriors
22	3MF	William Komasi	(2000-06-10) 10 June 2000	3	0	Central Coast
	3MF	Carlos Liomasia	(1994-09-17) 17 September 1994	0	0	Real Kakamora

9	4FW	Adrian Mara	(1998-08-01) 1 August 1998	6	4	Henderson Eels
19	4FW	Joses Nawo	(1988-05-03) 3 May 1988	37	7	Kossa
20	4FW	Raphael Lea'i	(2003-09-09) 9 September 2003	5	4	Henderson Eels
21	4FW	Ali Mekawir	(2000-07-27) 27 July 2000	2	0	Adelaide City

Player records

As of 30 March 2022[8]

Players in bold are still active with Solomon Islands.

Most capped players

Rank	Name	Caps	Goals	Career
1	Henry Fa'arodo	64	20	2002–2017
2	Benjamin Totori	52	29	2007–2019
3	Hadisi Aengari	43	0	2011–present
4	Nelson Sale Kilifa	37	0	2004–2017
4	Joses Nawo	37	7	2011–present
6	Commins Menapi	36	34	2000–2007
6	Batram Suri	36	14	1995–2005
8	Gideon Omokirio	32	4	1996–2007
9	Stanley Waita	31	5	2000–2007
10	Jack Samani	28	6	2000–2007
10	Jerry Donga	28	4	2000–present

Top goalscorers

Rank	Name	Goals	Caps	Ratio	Career
1	Commins Menapi	34	36	0.94	2000–2007
2	Benjamin Totori	29	52	0.56	2007–2019
3	Henry Fa'arodo	20	64	0.31	2002–2017
4	Batram Suri	14	36	0.39	1995–2005
5	Gagame Feni	13	27	0.48	2012–present
6	Noel Berry	10	14	0.71	1995–2000
7	Joses Nawo	7	37	0.19	2011–present
8	Robert Seni	6	14	0.43	1996–2003
	Micah Lea'alafa	6	19	0.32	2016–present
	Alick Maemae	6	19	0.32	2004–2007
	Jack Samani	6	28	0.21	2000–2007

Competitive record

FIFA World Cup

FIFA World Cup record										FIFA World Cup qualification record
Year	Host	Round	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA		Pos	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1930 to 1990	Did not participate									Did not participate
1994	United States	Did not qualify								Group Stage	4	0	1	3	5	13
1998	France									Group Stage	8	3	3	2	22	23
2002	South Korea Japan									Group Stage	4	2	0	2	17	10
2006	Germany									2nd	11	6	2	3	24	18
2010	South Africa									Knockout Stage	6	4	0	2	23	6
2014	Brazil									4th	11	2	2	7	10	27
2018	Russia									2nd	10	4	1	5	11	18
2022	Qatar									2nd	3	2	0	1	6	8
2026	Canada Mexico United States	To be determined								To be determined
Total		0/22	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	57	23	9	25	118	123

OFC Nations Cup

OFC Nations Cup record									Qualification record
Year	Host	Round	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1973	New Zealand	Did not enter							Did not enter
1980	New Caledonia	Group stage	3	0	0	3	3	21	No qualification
1996	Multiple countries	4th	2	0	0	2	1	3	4	4	0	0	10	1
1998	Australia	Did not qualify							4	2	1	1	8	7
2000	Tahiti	3rd	4	2	0	2	7	10	4	2	1	1	10	9
2002	New Zealand	Group stage	3	0	1	2	3	9	Qualified automatically
2004	Australia	2nd	7	3	1	3	10	17	4	3	1	0	14	1
2008	Multiple countries	Did not qualify							6	4	0	2	23	6
2012	Solomon Islands	4th	5	1	2	2	5	6	Qualified as host
2016	Papua New Guinea	4th	4	1	0	3	2	4	Qualified automatically
2020	New Zealand	Cancelled							Cancelled
Total		2nd	28	7	4	17	31	70	22	15	3	4	65	24

Pacific Games

Pacific Games record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1963	Fourth place	4th	3	1	0	2	6	26
1966	Round 1	6th	2	0	1	1	4	12
1969	Sixth place	6th	5	0	1	4	8	19
1971	Did not enter
1975	Third place	3rd	4	2	1	1	9	8
1979	Third place	3rd	5	4	0	1	24	5
1983	Round 1	10th	3	1	0	2	0	11
1987	Did not enter
1991	Runners-up	2nd	5	4	1	0	12	3
1995	Runners-up	2nd	6	4	0	2	34	10
2003	Round 1	5th	4	2	1	1	14	4
2007	Fourth place	4th	6	4	0	2	23	6
2011	Runners-up	2nd	7	5	0	2	21	6
2015	See Solomon Islands national under-23 football team
2019	Round 1	7th	5	2	1	2	30	9
Total	Best: Runners-up	12/15	55	29	6	20	185	119

Wantok Cup

2008 (July, 1st edition) – First place

Head-to-head record

As of 18 July 2019

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	WPCT
American Samoa	3	3	0	0	29	1	+28	100.00
Australia	10	0	1	9	8	55	−47	0.00
Chinese Taipei	1	1	0	0	1	0	+1	100.00
Cook Islands	4	4	0	0	35	2	+33	100.00
Fiji	35	5	15	15	38	68	−30	14.29
Guam	3	3	0	0	24	2	+22	100.00
Kiribati	1	1	0	0	7	0	+7	100.00
Macau	1	1	0	0	4	1	+3	100.00
New Caledonia	25	9	2	14	29	53	−24	36.00
New Zealand	12	0	2	10	11	44	−33	0.00
Papua New Guinea	21	12	4	5	34	26	+8	57.14
Samoa[lower-alpha 2]	3	3	0	0	20	0	+20	100.00
Singapore	1	0	0	1	3	4	−1	0.00
Tahiti	23	4	3	16	23	75	−52	17.39
Tonga	5	5	0	0	31	0	+31	100.00
Tuvalu	4	4	0	0	29	1	+28	100.00
Vanuatu[lower-alpha 3]	33	20	7	6	74	37	+37	60.61
Wallis and Futuna	3	3	0	0	23	1	+22	100.00
Total	188	78	34	76	423	370	+53	41.49

Source: 1963–99 results and 2000–present results
Notes:

On 19 March 2022, it was announced that Vanuatu had withdrawn from the tournament due to COVID-19 outbreaks in the Vanuatu squad.[4]
Includes results as Western Samoa.
Includes results as New Hebrides.

Honours

OFC Nations Cup
- Runners-up (1): 2004
- Third place (2): 1996, 2000
South Pacific Games
- Runners-up (3): 1991, 1995, 2011
- Third place (1): 1975, 1979
Wantok Cup
- Winners (1): 2008

References

"The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking". FIFA. 31 March 2022. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
"Member Association – Solomon Islands". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on 23 June 2007. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
"Solomon Islands appoint new coach". 23 June 2021.
"Vanuatu withdraws from the FIFA World Cup ™ Oceania Qualifiers". 19 March 2022.
"FIFA.com". 23 June 2007. Archived from the original on 23 June 2007.
"Solomons search for new coach". Oceania Football Confederation. 29 July 2016. Archived from the original on 29 July 2016. Retrieved 29 July 2016.
"Futsal stars, S-League standouts among Solomon Islands squad named for Qatar". 11 February 2022.
"Solomon Islands". National Football Teams.

External links

Solomon Islands Football Federation official website

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[5] On 19 March 2022, it was announced that Vanuatu had withdrawn from the tournament due to COVID-19 outbreaks in the Vanuatu squad.[4]

[table_note_SAM0.40824533785146-10] Includes results as Western Samoa.

[table_note_VAN0.40824533785146-11] Includes results as New Hebrides.

[FIFA_World_Rankings-1] "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking". FIFA. 31 March 2022. Retrieved 31 March 2022.

[2] "Member Association – Solomon Islands". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on 23 June 2007. Retrieved 5 September 2018.

[3] "Solomon Islands appoint new coach". 23 June 2021.

[4] "Vanuatu withdraws from the FIFA World Cup ™ Oceania Qualifiers". 19 March 2022.

[6] "FIFA.com". 23 June 2007. Archived from the original on 23 June 2007.

[7] "Solomons search for new coach". Oceania Football Confederation. 29 July 2016. Archived from the original on 29 July 2016. Retrieved 29 July 2016.

[8] "Futsal stars, S-League standouts among Solomon Islands squad named for Qatar". 11 February 2022.

[9] "Solomon Islands". National Football Teams.

National football teams of Oceania (OFC)
Active	American Samoa Cook Islands FS Micronesia² Fiji Kiribati¹ New Caledonia New Zealand Niue² Palau² Papua New Guinea Samoa Solomon Islands Tahiti Tonga Tuvalu¹ Vanuatu
Former	Australia (moved to AFC in 2006) Northern Mariana Islands³ (moved to AFC in 2009) Chinese Taipei⁴ (returned to AFC in 1989)
¹ Associate member of OFC - Not a member of FIFA ² Not a member of OFC and consequently not a member of FIFA ³ Northern Mariana Islands was only an associate member of OFC between 1998 and 2009 - Not a member of FIFA ⁴ Although not geographically in Oceania, Chinese Taipei was a member of the OFC between 1976–1978 and 1982–1989 Although not geographically in Oceania Israel entered OFC World Cup qualification in 1986 and 1990 due to political reasons, though it never became a formal OFC member.