Fiji national football team
Men's association football team representing Fiji / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about Fiji national football team?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
The Fiji men's national football team (Fijian: timi ni soka ni Viti) is Fiji's national men's team and is controlled by the governing body of football in Fiji, the Fiji Football Association.[2] The team plays most of their home games at the HFC Bank Stadium in Suva.
Nickname(s) | Bula Boys | ||
---|---|---|---|
Association | Fiji Football Association | ||
Confederation | OFC (Oceania) | ||
Head coach | Rob Sherman | ||
Captain | Roy Krishna | ||
Most caps | Roy Krishna (52) | ||
Top scorer | Roy Krishna (36) | ||
Home stadium | HFC Bank Stadium | ||
FIFA code | FIJ | ||
| |||
FIFA ranking | |||
Current | 168 (4 April 2024)[1] | ||
Highest | 94 (July 1994) | ||
Lowest | 199 (July 2015) | ||
First international | |||
Fiji 4–6 New Zealand (Suva, Fiji; 7 October 1951) | |||
Biggest win | |||
Fiji 24–0 Kiribati (Nausori, Fiji; 30 August 1979) | |||
Biggest defeat | |||
New Zealand 13–0 Fiji (Auckland, New Zealand; 16 August 1981) | |||
OFC Nations Cup | |||
Appearances | 8 (first in 1973) | ||
Best result | Third place, 1998 and 2008 |
Medal record | ||
---|---|---|
Pacific Games | ||
1991 Port Moresby | Team | |
2003 Suva | Team | |
1963 Suva | Team | |
1979 Suva | Team | |
1983 Apia | Team | |
2007 Apia | Team | |
1995 Papeete | Team |
Fiji first participated in the FIFA World Cup qualification in 1982; since 1990, Fiji have attempted to qualify for each World Cup without success. Their best result was a final round appearance in 2010. The national team also represents Fiji at the OFC Nations Cup, having appeared in eight out of ten previous tournaments. Fiji's best result is a third-place finish at the 1998 and 2008 editions. They have won the Melanesia Cup five times and competed in the Pacific Games from 1963 until 2015 when the competition became an under-23 tournament.
As in most countries in Oceania where football (or soccer) is not the most popular sport (such as Australia and New Zealand), Fiji's most popular sport is rugby union. As of 2022, Fiji has never qualified for the FIFA World Cup. In spite of this, the country's youth football team has enjoyed recent success, qualifying for both the 2015 and 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cups and the 2016 Olympic football tournaments.