Papua New Guinea national soccer team

The Papua New Guinea national soccer team is the men's national soccer team of Papua New Guinea and is controlled by the Papua New Guinea Football Association. Its nickname is the Kapuls,^[4][5] which is Tok Pisin for Cuscus.

Papua New Guinea's highest ever FIFA ranking was 153, in June 2017. As of April 2024, the country was ranked 166 out of 211 countries. This was a drop of 1 place from February 2024.^[6] Papua New Guinea had previously left the FIFA rankings, having not competed in a match between July 2007 and August 2011. Their matches at the 2015 Pacific Games saw them return to the rankings, and they competed in the 2016 OFC Nations Cup in June 2016; they reached the final, but lost to New Zealand 4–2 on penalties after the score was tied at 0–0 after extra time.

The Papuan national team played its first match at the 1963 South Pacific Games, where it fell to Fiji 3-1 and was eliminated. At the 1966 South Pacific Games they reached the third place match but lost to the New Hebrides. Three years later they reached the same stage, and defeated the Fijian team 2-1 to win the bronze medal.

At 1971 South Pacific Games, after losing in the semi-finals to New Caledonia, they were beaten 8-1 by Tahiti in the third place game. Four years later, at the 1975 Games, they were beaten in the group stage by Tahiti and New Caledonia and thus eliminated in the first round.

At the 1979 South Pacific Games they lost in the quarter-finals 3–2 against the Solomon Islands, and in the first phase of the consolation tournament they were beaten 2–0 at the hands of the New Hebrides. The following year they played in the 1980 Oceania Cup, the precursor to the OFC Nations Cup, where despite beating the New Hebrides team, their losses to Australia and New Caledonia left them out at the first phase.

At 1983 South Pacific Games they lost the match for third place against the New Caledonian team. In the 1987 edition they won the bronze medal again by beating Vanuatu 3-1. Even so, in the two subsequent editions, 1991 and 1995, they were eliminated in the first phase.

After an absence in three editions of the OFC Nations Cup, due to the poor results obtained in the Melanesia Cup, they qualified for the 2002 tournament. They were only able to salvage a point in a 0-0 draw against the Solomon Islands and bowed out in the first round. In 2003 South Pacific Games they had a poor performance and in five games only obtained four points.

After not participating in 2007, which served as qualification for the 2008 OFC Nations Cup, they were eliminated in the first phase at 2011 Pacific Games by having worse goal difference than Tahiti, with whom they tied on points. In the 2012 OFC Nations Cup they drew with Fiji and lost to the Solomon Islands and New Zealand, again being eliminated in the group stage.

In 2015, Papua New Guinea was designated to host the 2016 OFC Nations Cup. In the group stage, the Papuan team drew 1–1 with New Caledonia, 2–2 against Tahiti and beat Samoa 8–0. After achieving victory in the semi-finals, 2–1 against the Solomon Islands, they lost on penalties to New Zealand in the final after drawing 0–0 in regulation time. On 20 June 2023, Papua New Guinea suffered their worst defeat in their history losing to Malaysia 10–0 at the Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Stadium.

In 2024, Papua New Guinea played their first ever tournament outside Oceania where FIFA invited them to the 2024 FIFA Series matches on from 22 to 25 March 2024 held in Colombo where they would face Sri Lanka and Central African Republic.

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

  Win   Draw   Loss   Fixture

The following players were called up for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification against Fiji on 14 November 2024 and against Solomon Islands on 17 November 2024.^[8]

Caps and goals correct as of 17 November 2024, after the match against Solomon Islands.

The following players have also been called up to the Papua New Guinea squad within the last twelve months.

As of 21 December 2024^[9]

Statistics include official FIFA-recognised matches only.

Players in bold are still active with Papua New Guinea.

Notes

* Although initially listed by FIFA as having entered the 2010 World Cup, PNG did not enter the football tournament at the 2007 South Pacific Games, which was used as the preliminary round of the Oceanian zone qualification tournament.

*Denotes draws include knockout matches decided via penalty shoot-out.

• OFC Nations Cup
  • Runners-up (1): 2016

• Pacific Games
  • Bronze medal (2): 1969, 1987
• Melanesia Cup
  • Champions (1): 2022
  • Third Place (1): 1994

Sources:^{[10][11][12][13][14][15]}

• Papua New Guinea women's national soccer team

• Papua New Guinea Football Association
• Papua New Guinea at OFC
• Papua New Guinea at FIFA
• National football team of Papua New Guinea picture