Football_at_the_Pacific_Mini_Games
Football at the Pacific Games
Football tournament
Association football has been regularly included in the Pacific Games, the multi-sports event for Pacific nations, territories and dependencies, since 1963. Until 2011 the competition was known as the South Pacific Games.[1]
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (September 2014) |
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| Founded | 1963 |
|---|---|
| Current champions |  New CaledoniaMen (2023)  Papua New GuineaWomen (2023) |
| Most successful team(s) | New Caledonia Men (8 titles) Papua New GuineaWomen (6 titles) |
 Football at the 2023 Pacific GamesMen's · Women's | |
Since 1971 the men's tournament has been held every four years, but was not played in 1999 due to contractual issues. In 2007, the men's competition doubled as the Oceania Football Confederation's preliminary qualifying competition for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.[2] The men's tournament also became the Olympic qualifier for Oceania for the 2015 edition.
The women's tournament was introduced in 2003, and has doubled up as the preliminary qualifying competition for the Olympic Games since 2007. Football was a compulsory inclusion at the Pacific Games for men's teams for many years but was made a core sport for both men's and women's teams in 2017.[3] Football has also been held at several editions of the Pacific Mini Games, starting with the first tournament in 1981.[4]
Participating nations
Numbers refer to the final placing of each team at the respective Games. Host nation is shown in bold.– See also the §Key to symbols within this section below the two tables.
Games Nation |
63 | 66 | 69 | 71 | 75 | 79 | 83 | 87 | 91 | 95 | 99 | 03 | 07 | 11 | 15 | 19 | 23 | Years played | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 American Samoa |
– | – | – | – | – | – | P | 6 | – | – | – | – | P | P | – | P | 12 | 6 | ||
 Cook Islands |
– | – | – | 6 | – | – | – | – | – | P | – | – | P | P | – | – | 8 | 5 | ||
 Fiji |
2 | – | 4 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 2 | – | 1 | 3 | – | 1 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 14 | ||
 Guam |
– | – | – | – | P | 6 | – | – | P | P | – | – | – | P | – | – | – | 5 | ||
 Kiribati |
– | – | – | – | – | 9* | – | – | – | – | – | P | – | P | – | – | † | 3 | ||
 Micronesia (F.S.) |
– | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | P | – | – | P | – | – | 2 | ||
| New Caledonia |
1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 3 | P | – | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 16 | ||
 New Zealand U-23 |
– | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | ‡ | 1 | – | 2 | ||
 Niue |
– | – | – | – | – | – | P | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | ||
 Northern Marianas |
– | – | – | – | – | – | † | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 10 | 1 | ||
| Papua New Guinea |
P | 4 | 3 | 4 | P | 9* | 4 | 3 | P | P | – | P | – | P | 3 | 4 | 6 | 15 | ||
 Samoa |
– | – | – | – | – | 9* | 5* | – | – | – | – | – | P | – | – | P | 7 | 5 | ||
 Solomon Islands |
4 | P | 6 | – | 3 | 3 | P | – | 2 | 2 | – | P | 4 | 2 | P | P | 2 | 14 | ||
 Tahiti |
3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | P | 1 | – | 4 | P | 3 | 2 | P | 5 | 16 | ||
 Tonga |
– | – | – | – | – | 7* | P | – | – | – | – | P | P | – | – | P | 11 | 6 | ||
 Tuvalu |
– | – | – | – | – | 7* | – | – | – | – | – | P | P | P | – | P | 9 | 6 | ||
 Vanuatu |
P | 3 | 5 | 2 | P | 5 | P | 4 | 4 | 4 | – | 3 | 3 | P | P | P | 4 | 16 | ||
 Wallis and Futuna |
– | P | – | – | – | 9* | 5* | 5 | P | P | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 6 | ||
| Number of teams All-time total: 18 |
6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 12 | 11 | 6 | 8 | 9 | – | 10 | 10 | 11 | 8# | 11 | 12 | 16 Editions | ||
Results
The table below is a summary of the finals matches in men's football at the Pacific Games since 1963: [4]
Performances by countries
Below are the 7 nations that have reached at least the semi-final stage in the Pacific Games.
| Team | Winner | Runner-up | Third Place | Fourth Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| New Caledonia | 8 ('63, '69, '71, '87, '07, '11, '15, '23) | 4 ('66, '75, '03, '19) | 2 ('83, '91) | 1 ('79) |
| Tahiti (French Polynesia) | 5 ('66, '75, '79, '83, '95) | 3 ('69, '87, '15) | 3 ('63, '71, '11) | 1 ('03) |
| Fiji | 2 ('91, '03) | 4 ('63, '79, '83, '07) | 3 ('95, '19, '23) | 4 ('69, '75, '11, '15) |
| New Zealand U-23 | 1 ('19) | |||
| Solomon Islands | 4 ('91, '95, '11, '23) | 2 ('75, '79) | 2 ('63, '07) | |
| Vanuatu (New Hebrides) | 1 ('71) | 3 ('66, '03, '07) | 4 ('87, '91, '95, '23) | |
| Papua New Guinea | 3 ('69, '87, '15) | 4 ('66, '71, '83, '19) |
Golden boot awardees
| Year | Player | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| 1963–1995 | Unknown | - |
| 2003 | Esala Masi |
11 |
| 2007 | Osea Vakatalesau |
10 |
| 2011 | Bertrand Kaï |
10 |
| 2015 | Jean Kaltack |
17 |
| 2019 | Gagame Feni Tony Kaltak Jean-Philippe Saïko |
9 |
Participating nations
Games Nation |
03 | 07 | 11 | 15 | 19 | 23 | Years played | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American Samoa |
– | P | P | – | P | 9 | 4 | ||
| Cook Islands |
– | P | P | 3 | 4 | 10 | 5 | ||
| Fiji |
5 | 3 | 3 | P | 3 | 2 | 6 | ||
| Guam |
2 | – | P | – | – | – | 2 | ||
| Kiribati |
7 | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | ||
| New Caledonia |
– | P | 2 | 2 | P | 3 | 5 | ||
| Papua New Guinea |
1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| Samoa |
– | P | – | 4 | 2 | 4 | 4 | ||
| Solomon Islands |
– | P | P | P | P | 6 | 5 | ||
| Tahiti |
4 | 4 | P | – | P | 8 | 5 | ||
| Tonga |
3 | 2 | 4 | P | P | 7 | 6 | ||
| Vanuatu |
6 | – | – | – | P | 5 | 3 | ||
| Number of teams All-time total: 12 |
7 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 10 | 10 | 6 Editions | ||
Results
The table below is a summary of the finals matches in the women's football competition at the Pacific Games since 2003.
Papua New Guinea won the first four tournament finals, including against hosts New Caledonia in 2011 [5] and as hosts against New Caledonia in 2015.[6]
| Year | Host city | Final | Third place match | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold | Score | Silver | Bronze | Score | Fourth place | ||||
| 2003 | [7] Suva |
 Papua New Guinea |
round- |
 Guam |
 Tonga |
round- |
 Tahiti | ||
| 2007 | [8] Apia |
Papua New Guinea |
3–1 | Tonga |
 Fiji |
1–0 | Tahiti | ||
| 2011 | [9] Nouméa |
Papua New Guinea |
2–1 |  New Caledonia |
Fiji |
1–0 | Tonga | ||
| 2015 | Port Moresby |
Papua New Guinea |
1–0 | New Caledonia |
 Cook Islands |
2–0 |  Samoa | ||
| 2019 | Apia |
Papua New Guinea |
3–1 | Samoa |
Fiji |
3–1 | Cook Islands | ||
| 2023 | Honiara |
Papua New Guinea |
4–1 | Fiji |
 New Caledonia |
3–1 | Samoa | ||
Performances by countries
| Team | Winner | Runner-up | Third Place | Fourth Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Papua New Guinea | 6 ('03, '07, '11, '15, '19, '23) | |||
| New Caledonia | 2 ('11, '15) | 1 ('23) | ||
| Fiji | 1 ('23) | 3 ('07, '11, '19) | ||
| Tonga | 1 ('07) | 1 ('03) | 1 ('11) | |
| Samoa | 1 ('19) | 1 ('15, '23) | ||
| Guam | 1 ('03) | |||
| Cook Islands | 1 ('15) | 1 ('19) | ||
| Tahiti | 2 ('03, '07) |
Golden boot awardees
| Year | Player | Goals |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Unknown | - |
| 2007 | Penateti Feke |
4 |
| 2011 | Christelle Wahnawe |
12 |
| 2015 | Christelle Wahnawe |
10 |
| 2019 | Ramona Padio |
9 |
| 2023 | 11 |
Legend
| Key to symbols | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gold medal for first place | n | nth place (e.g. 5 is fifth place) |
| 2 | Silver medal for second place | P | Pool or group stage elimination |
| 3 | Bronze medal for third place | * | Asterisk for shared placing (e.g. 5* is equal fifth) |
| 4 | Fourth place | # | Contested by under-23 national teams only |
| – | Did not play | † | Withdrew before competition (did not play) |
| ‡ | Played in the tournament (FIFA qualification) but excluded from the Pacific Games placings | ||
- Total medals won (men's and women's)
| Rank | Nation | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  New Caledonia | 7 | 6 | 2 | 15 |
| 2 | French Polynesia | 5 | 3 | 3 | 11 |
| 3 | Papua New Guinea | 5 | 0 | 3 | 8 |
| 4 | Fiji | 2 | 4 | 5 | 11 |
| 5 | New Zealand | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 6 | Solomon Islands | 0 | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| 7 | Vanuatu (includes New Hebrides) | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| 8 | Tonga | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 9 | Guam | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Samoa (includes Western Samoa) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| 11 | Cook Islands | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Totals (11 entries) | 20 | 20 | 20 | 60 | |
Men
The table below is a summary of the medal matches played in the men's competition at the Pacific Mini Games:
| Year | Host city | Final | Third place match | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gold | Score | Silver | Bronze | Score | Fourth place | ||||
| 1981 | Honiara |
 Tahiti |
1–0 (a.e.t.) |
 New Caledonia |
Papua New Guinea |
1–0 |  Vanuatu | ||
| 1993 | Port Vila |
 Tahiti |
3–0 | Fiji |
New Caledonia |
2–1 | Vanuatu | ||
| 2017 | Port Vila |
Vanuatu |
round- |
Fiji |
 Solomon Islands |
round- |
 Tuvalu | ||
Women
As of 2019[update], women's football has only been hosted once at the Pacific Mini Games – at Vanuatu in 2017. The table below is a summary of the medal matches played in the women's competition:
- "OFC 2010 FIFA World Cup route via Asia". Oceania Football Confederation. 7 December 2006. Archived from the original on 28 April 2007. Retrieved 20 December 2006.
- Charter - Constitution, Code of Conduct, Protocols, and Regulations adopted Apia, Samoa 14 May 2006 - As amended most recently in Port Vila, Vanuatu, 10 December 2017 (PDF 0.3 MB) (Report). Pacific Games Council. 2018. pp. 14–15. Archived from the original on 8 February 2018. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
- "Womens Soccer to start preparations for Olympic Qualifiers (Nov 7, 2011)". PNG Football. 7 November 2011. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
- "Women's Soccer - Team PNG Defeats New Caledonia – XV Pacific Games Day #14". Youtube. EMTV Online. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 27 January 2019.
- "South Pacific Games 2003 (Fiji)". RSSSF. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
- "South Pacific Games 2007 (Samoa)". RSSSF. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
- "Pacific Games 2011 (New Caledonia)". RSSSF. Retrieved 16 March 2015.