Northern Mariana Islands national football team results

Northern Mariana Islands men's national football team

FIFA ranking
Current	N/A – not FIFA member
First international
Northern Mariana Islands 8–0 Palau "B" (Koror, Palau; 27 July 1998)
Biggest win
Northern Mariana Islands 2–1 Macau  (Dededo, Guam; 23 July 2014)
Biggest defeat
Guam 9–0 Northern Mariana Islands (Hagåtña, Guam; 1 April 2007)  Palestine 9–0 Northern Mariana Islands (Kathmandu, Nepal; 4 March 2013)
World Cup
Appearances	None
Best result	N/A – not FIFA member
AFC Asian Cup
Appearances	None
EAFF E-1 Football Championship
Appearances	None
Best result	2019 – qualifying

This is a list of all the recorded matches played by the Northern Mariana Islands national football team, which represents the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in international men's football. The team is controlled by the governing body for football in the Northern Mariana Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands Football Association, which is a member of the East Asian Football Federation (EAFF) and since December 2020 a full member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

The federation is not a member of the world governing body FIFA and so whilst the national team is eligible to enter AFC and EAFF-run competitions, they are currently ineligible for global competitions such as the FIFA World Cup and FIFA Confederations Cup. As such, they do not have an official FIFA ranking. However, the team have been consistently ranked as one of the worst teams in the world on the Elo ratings and were in fact, in July 2016 rated as the worst men's senior international team in the world in a ratings system that also includes a number of other non-FIFA teams.

Following the completion of the preliminary qualifying round for the 2019 EAFF E-1 Football Championship the team have won only one official competitive match against international opposition and have a goal difference of −60 in official matches. The team have never qualified for the finals of a major tournament and beyond friendlies and qualifying matches, their only official competition has been in an exhibition tournament in the regional Micronesian Games in 1998, which they won, to date their only tournament success.

Results[]

This is a list of all the football matches, both official and unofficial played by the Northern Mariana Islands national football team since their debut at the exhibition tournament held in conjunction with the . Matches played prior to 2007 were played under the auspices of and are considered unofficial since the team included several foreign contract workers based on Saipan. The sole requirement to be eligible for the team was two-year residency, but this requirement was not strictly enforced. Similarly, some of the other teams in the tournament included foreign workers.^[1] Additionally, for the matches played at the Micronesian games, where the official name of the tournament was the "W.C.T.C. Shell Soccer Exhibition", the matches were 9-a-side (not 11-a-side) on a smaller field and may have been less than 90 minutes duration.^[1]

As far as is known, this was the first occasion on which a representative team was assembled. The NMISF was registered as an associate member of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) from 1983, though apparently it had not participated in any international events prior to 1998. The NMISF became defunct around 2002-3 and there was then a hiatus until a new organizing body, the Northern Mariana Islands Football Association (NMIFA), was founded in 2005. The NMIFA has fielded senior men's and women's representative teams since 2007, and has been affiliated to the East Asian Football Federation (EAFF) as an associate member since 2006 (becoming a full member in 2008), and to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) as an associate member from 2009 and a full member since 2020. It is not a member of FIFA at present.^[1]

1990s[]

These matches are the total games played under the auspices of Northern Mariana Islands Soccer Federation. As of July 2016, the 1998 Micronesian Games represents the Northern Mariana Islands only success at an international tournament of any sort.

1998[]

1999[]

The Northern Mariana Islands' final game prior to the folding of the Northern Mariana Islands Soccer Federation was in the 1999 Micronesia Cup. The status of this tournament is unclear; RSSSF list it among the Micronesian Games results, though they also describe it as the "first Micronesian Cup".^[2] Given that there was no Micronesian Games in 1999, it seems likely this was an independent competition.

2000s[]

Following an 8-year absence from the international scene, and having become an associate member of the East Asian Football Federation in 2006, the Northern Mariana Islands returned to international competition. Other than a friendly against Guam, all their competitive matches during the decade were in unsuccessful attempts to qualify for the EAFF East Asian Championship.

2007[]

Guam won by an aggregate of 12–2 and advanced to stage two of the preliminary competition.

2008[]

2009[]

2010s[]

2010[]

Having lost their first seven official competitive matches in the 2000s, the Northern Mariana Islands saw a comparative uptick in their performances. While they continued to struggle to compete in EAFF qualifying, the 2010s saw the team record their first official draw in a friendly with Guam in 2010 and their first official victory in a shock defeat of Macau in 2014. In addition to continuing to compete in the EAFF qualifiers, the team also attempted, albeit unsuccessfully, to qualify for the last edition of the AFC Challenge Cup.

2012[]

2013[]

2014[]

2016[]

2018[]

  Win   Draw   Loss

2020s[]

2022[]

Summary record[]

By venue[]

After 6 September 2018:

Venue	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Diff	Win %	Loss %
Home	3	0	1	2	5	7	−2	0%	67%
Away	9	2	0	7	22	41	−19	22%	78%
Neutral	17	4	1	12	31	70	−39	24%	71%
Total	29	6	2	21	58	118	−60	21%	72%

By year[]

After 6 September 2018:

Year	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Diff	Win %	Loss %
1998	5	4	0	1	40	5	35	80%	20%
1999	2	1	0	1	3	7	−4	50%	50%
2007	2	0	0	2	2	12	−10	0%	100%
2008	1	0	0	1	2	3	−1	0%	100%
2009	3	0	0	3	3	12	−9	0%	100%
2010	1	0	1	0	1	1	0	0%	0%
2012	3	0	0	3	2	16	−14	0%	100%
2013	3	0	0	3	0	19	−19	0%	100%
2014	3	1	0	2	2	10	−8	33%	67%
2016	3	0	0	3	2	19	−17	0%	100%
2018	3	0	1	2	1	14	−13	0%	66%
Total	29	6	2	21	58	118	−60	21%	72%

By competition[]

After 6 September 2018:

Opponent	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Diff	Win %	Loss %
AFC Challenge Cup	3	0	0	3	0	19	−19	0%	100%
EAFF East Asian Cup/E-1 Football Championship	16	1	1	14	12	75	−63	6%	88%
Friendly	3	0	1	2	3	12	−9	0%	67%
	1	0	0	1	0	7	−7	0%	100%
Micronesian Games	6	5	0	1	43	5	38	83%	17%
Total	29	6	2	21	58	118	−60	21%	72%

By opponent[]

Last match updated:  Macau on 6 September 2018.

Opponent	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Diff	Win %	Loss %
Bangladesh	1	0	0	1	0	4	−4	0%	100%
Chinese Taipei	1	0	0	1	1	8	−7	0%	100%
Guam	9	0	1	8	7	38	−31	0%	89%
Macau	5	1	1	3	6	16	−10	20%	60%
Mongolia	4	0	0	4	1	25	−24	0%	100%
Nepal	1	0	0	1	0	6	−6	0%	100%
Palestine	1	0	0	1	0	9	−9	0%	100%
Official Total	22	1	2	19	15	106	-91	5%	86%
Micronesia	1	0	0	1	0	7	−7	0%	100%
Guam	2	1	0	1	4	2	2	50%	50%
Palau	1	1	0	0	12	1	11	100%	0%
Palau "B"	1	1	0	0	8	0	8	100%	0%
Pohnpei	1	1	0	0	11	2	9	100%	0%
Yap	1	1	0	0	8	0	8	100%	0%
Unofficial Total*	7	5	0	2	43	12	31	71%	29%
Overall Total	29	6	2	21	58	118	-60	21%	72%

Key

	>50% Wins
	50% Wins
	<50% Wins

*: Unofficial matches include all games played prior to 2007 regardless of opponent on the grounds that eligibility criteria for selection fell short of acknowledged international standards.

Competitive record[]

The Northern Mariana Islands have only entered three formal international competitions, the AFC Challenge Cup, the EAFF East Asian Championship and the Micronesian Games. As non-FIFA members, they are not entitled to enter the FIFA World Cup. The Marianas Cup is not noted as a separate competition in this section as it is the name given to a perennial trophy contested each time the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam meet.

AFC Asian Cup[]

The team were eligible to enter the AFC Asian Cup through the AFC Challenge Cup from 2011. However, they did not enter the 2010 AFC Challenge Cup so did not qualify. In failing to qualify for the 2014 AFC Challenge Cup they also failed to qualify for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup.

AFC Asian Cup								AFC Asian Cup qualification record
Hosts / Year	Pld	W	D*	L	GS	GA		Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
1956 to 2007	Not a member of the AFC							Not a member of the AFC
2011	Did not enter							Did not enter
2015	Did not qualify							3	0	0	3	0	19
2019	Did not enter**							Did not enter**
2023
Total	0	0	0	0	0	0		0	0	0	0	0	0

**: As the first two rounds of qualifying for the 2019 and 2023 AFC Asian Cups were also the first two rounds of qualifying for the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups, the Northern Mariana Islands were ineligible. Starting with the first two qualifying rounds of the 2027 Asian Cup, they will be allowed to qualify for the Asian Cup only.

AFC Solidarity Cup[]

Host/Year	Result	Pts	GP	W	D*	L	GF	GA	GD
2016	DNP	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2020	Canceled
	TBD	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	0/0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

AFC Challenge Cup[]

Having been accepted as an associate member in 2009, the Blue Ayuyus attempted to qualify for the AFC Challenge Cup once, in 2013. They were unsuccessful in qualification, losing all three matches without scoring a goal. The AFC Challenge Cup has been discontinued by the AFC, with all nations now entering qualifying for the AFC Cup due to the expansion of the Asian Cup to the 24-nation format from the 16-nation one after the 2015 edition.^[3][4]

AFC Challenge Cup									AFC Challenge Cup qualification record
Hosts / Year	Result	Pld	W	D*	L	GS	GA		Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
2006 to 2012	Did not enter								Did not enter
2014	Did not qualify								3	0	0	3	0	19
Total		0	0	0	0	0	0		3	0	0	3	0	19

EAFF East Asian Championship[]

The EAFF East Asian Championship has been the primary source of competitive football for the Northern Mariana Islands since they reemerged onto the international scene and were accepted as a member of the EAFF. They have attempted to qualify for each edition of the EAFF East Asian Championship since they were admitted to the federation, each time without success.

EAFF East Asian Championship									AFC Challenge Cup qualification record
Hosts / Year	Result	Pld	W	D*	L	GS	GA		Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
2003 to 2005	Not a member of the EAFF								Not a member of the EAFF
2008	Did not qualify								2	0	0	2	2	12
2010	Did not qualify								3	0	0	3	3	12
2013	Did not qualify								2	0	0	2	2	8
2015	Did not qualify								3	1	0	2	2	10
2017	Did not qualify								3	0	0	3	2	19
2019	Did not qualify								3	0	1	2	1	14
2022	To be determined
Total		0	0	0	0	0	0		13	1	1	14	12	75

Micronesian Games[]

Micronesia made their international debut at the , though the tournament was not a formal part of the games, merely and exhibition. The formal name of the football tournament was the W.C.T.C. Shell Soccer Exhibition. The team were successful, winning the tournament, but have not entered since, although football has only sporadically been included in the games program.

Micronesian Games
Hosts / Year	Result	Pld	W	D*	L	GS	GA
to	Football not included in games' programs
	1st	6	5	0	1	43	5
to 2010	Football not included in games' programs
2014 and 2018	Did not enter
	To be determined
Total		6	5	0	1	43	5

*Denotes draws includes knockout matches decided on penalty kicks. Red border indicates that the tournament was hosted on home soil. Gold, silver, bronze backgrounds indicates 1st, 2nd and 3rd finishes respectively. Bold text indicates best finish in tournament.

References[]

External links[]

• Men's senior all-time record and Elo rating
• Northern Mariana Islands – List of men's senior international matches at RSSSF