No. 3 Nat’l soccer teams perform well on all stages

The NMI Men’s and Women’s National Soccer teams put on quite a show on the international stage and back home.

The 2023 Pacific Games in Honiara, Solomon Islands marked the NMI’s Oceania debut. The men’s national team paid their dues and won their first game in Oceania over American Samoa and also held their own against FIFA-ranked teams such as Fiji and Tahiti.

As the men were competing in the South Pacific, the women’s national team were underway in their competition in Zhuhai, China for the Women’s EAFF E-1 Football Championships Preliminary Competition.

They upset Mongolia and came away with a win against Mongolia and capped the tourney with a win against Macau for an even 2-2.

This was also the first year back for the women’s national team to compete in the Asian Football Confederation since the pandemic in 2020. The U20 Women’s National Soccer Team competed in Palestine in the AFC U20 Asian Cup Qualifiers last March.

Also, the NMI U15 Men’s National Soccer Team competed in the FIFA Forward Developmental Programme EAFF U15 Men’s Championship 2023 in Qingdao, China; and the NMI U17 Women’s National Team competed in the AFC U17 Women’s Asian Cup Qualifiers.

Regionally last August, the NMI U23 men’s and women’s national teams completed a sweep of Guam’s U23 men’s and women’s teams in the first Marianas Football Club matchup since 2019. This month, NMIFA’s Eleven Tiger won the first Inaugural Marianas Club Championship against Guam’s Wings FC.