Papua New Guinea national football team

Papua New Guinea national football team
Medal record
Pacific Games

Papua New Guinea
Nickname(s)	Kapuls (Cuscus)
Association	Papua New Guinea Football Association
Confederation	OFC (Oceania)
Head coach	Bob Morris
Captain	Michael Foster
Most caps	Michael Foster (26)
Top scorer	Reggie Davani (13)
Home stadium	Hubert Murray Stadium
FIFA code	PNG
First colours	Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	164 (16 September 2021)
Highest	153 (June 2017)
Lowest	206 (October–November 2015)
First international
	Fiji 3–1 Papua New Guinea ; (Suva, Fiji; 29 August 1963)
Biggest win
	Papua New Guinea 20–0 American Samoa ; (Nouméa, New Caledonia; 15 December 1987)
Biggest defeat
	Australia 11–2 Papua New Guinea ; (Nouméa, New Caledonia; 26 February 1980)
OFC Nations Cup
Appearances	4 (first in 1980)
Best result	Runners-up, 2016

The Papua New Guinea national football team is the national team of Papua New Guinea and is controlled by the Papua New Guinea Football Association. Its nickname is the Kapuls,^[5]^[6] which is Tok Pisin for Cuscus.

Papua New Guinea's highest ever FIFA ranking was 153, in June 2017. As of June 2019, the country was ranked 171 out of 211 countries. This was a drop of 2 places from May 2019.^[7] 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.

Competitive record[]

World Cup record[]

FIFA World Cup record									FIFA World Cup qualification record
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pos	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1930 to 1994	Did not participate								Did not participate
1998	Did not qualify								3rd	6	2	1	3	5	13
2002	Did not participate								Did not participate
2006	Did not qualify								3rd	4	2	1	1	17	6
2010	Disqualified								Disqualified
2014	Did not qualify								4th	3	0	1	2	2	4
2018	Did not qualify								3rd	9	3	3	3	19	13
2022	To be determined								To be determined
2026	To be determined								To be determined
Total		0/21								22	7	6	9	43	36

* 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.

Oceania Nations Cup record[]

OFC Nations Cup record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1973	Did not enter
1980	Group stage	6th	3	1	0	2	6	22
1996	Did not qualify
1998
2000
2002	Group stage	7th	3	0	1	2	2	12
2004	Did not qualify
2008	Did not enter
2012	Group stage	7th	3	0	1	2	2	4
2016	Runners-up	2nd	5	2	3*	0	13	4
2020	Cancelled
Total	Runners-up	4/10	14	3	5*	6	23	42

*Denotes draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

Pacific Games record[]

Pacific Games record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1963	1st round	5th	1	0	0	1	1	3
1966	Fourth place	4th	4	1	0	3	14	14
1969	Third place	3rd	6	3	1	2	11	10
1971	Fourth place	4th	3	1	1	1	19	11
1975	Group stage	6th	2	0	0	2	3	9
1979	Quarter-finals	5th	3	1	1	1	15	3
1983	Fourth place	4th	4	1	0	3	22	10
1987	Third place	3rd	6	3	2	1	26	4
1991	Group stage	5th	3	1	1	1	3	2
1995	Group stage	6th	3	1	1	1	11	5
2003	Group stage	6th	4	1	1	2	12	7
2007	Disqualified
2011	Group stage	6th	4	2	1	1	22	4
2015	See Papua New Guinea national under-23 football team
2019	Fourth place	4th	5	3	1	1	17	3
Total	Third place	13/15	48	18	10	29	176	85

Kit sponsorship[]

Kit supplier	Period
Joma	1998–2000^[8]
Puma	2007–2010
Nike	2011–2012
Lotto	2013–2015
Adidas	2017–2020
Erreà	2021-

Results and fixtures[]

For all past match results of the national team, see the team's 1963–89 results page and 1990–2019 results page.

Recent results[]

Forthcoming fixtures[]

2021[]

Record by opponent[]

Up to matches played on 20 July 2019.

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	WPCT
American Samoa	3	3	0	0	37	0	+37	100.00
Australia	1	0	0	1	2	11	−9	0.00
China PR	2	0	1	1	2	5	−3	0.00
Chinese Taipei	2	0	2	0	3	3	0	0.00
Cook Islands	2	2	0	0	20	1	+19	100.00
Micronesia	1	1	0	0	10	0	+10	100.00
Fiji	18	2	5	11	15	34	−19	11.11
Guam	1	1	0	0	9	0	+9	100.00
Indonesia	2	1	0	1	3	8	−5	50.00
Iran	1	0	0	1	1	8	−7	0.00
Kiribati	2	2	0	0	30	1	+29	100.00
Liberia	1	1	0	0	2	1	+1	100.00
Malaysia	4	1	0	3	5	17	−12	25.00
New Caledonia	16	3	2	11	14	47	−33	18.75
New Zealand	5	1	1	3	3	18	−15	20.00
New Zealand U23	1	0	0	1	0	2	−2	0.00
Niue	1	1	0	0	19	0	+19	100.00
North Korea	1	0	0	1	0	4	−4	0.00
Philippines	1	1	0	0	5	0	+5	100.00
Samoa^[a]	5	5	0	0	26	3	+23	100.00
Singapore	2	0	0	2	5	9	−4	0.00
Solomon Islands	21	5	4	12	26	34	−8	23.81
Tahiti	15	1	4	10	17	47	−30	6.67
Thailand	1	1	0	0	4	1	+3	100.00
Tonga	4	3	1	0	20	2	+18	75.00
Vanuatu^[b]	20	8	4	8	27	32	−5	40.00
Wallis and Futuna	3	3	0	0	16	1	+15	100.00
Total	136	46	24	66	321	289	+32	33.82

Source: 1963–89 results and 1990–2019 results
Notes:

^ Includes results as Western Samoa.
^ Includes results as New Hebrides.

Current squad[]

The following players were called up for the 2019 Pacific Games from 7–20 July in Apia, Samoa.

Caps and goals correct after the match against Fiji on 20 July 2019.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Ishmael Pole	(1993-01-25) 25 January 1993 (age 28)	1	0	Hekari United
20	1GK	Ronald Warisan	(1989-09-20) 20 September 1989 (age 31)	18	0	Lae City

2	2DF	Daniel Joe	(1990-05-29) 29 May 1990 (age 31)	17	0	Hekari United
3	2DF	Joshua Talau	(1996-04-19) 19 April 1996 (age 25)	3	0	Vitiaz United
4	2DF	Alwin Komolong	(1994-11-02) 2 November 1994 (age 26)	16	0	Lae City
5	2DF	Felix Komolong	(1997-03-06) 6 March 1997 (age 24)	19	0	Lae City
12	2DF		(1992-12-31) 31 December 1992 (age 28)	1	0	Hekari United
15	2DF		(2000-05-16) 16 May 2000 (age 21)	0	0	Kutubu
19	2DF	Koriak Upaiga	(1987-06-13) 13 June 1987 (age 34)	19	2	Hekari United
23	2DF		(1989-07-21) 21 July 1989 (age 32)	1	0	Hekari United

6	3MF	Patrick Aisa	(1994-07-06) 6 July 1994 (age 27)	12	3	Hekari United
8	3MF	Michael Foster (captain)	(1985-09-05) 5 September 1985 (age 36)	26	7	Hekari United
14	3MF	Emmanuel Simon	(1992-12-25) 25 December 1992 (age 28)	19	4	Lae City
17	3MF	Jacob Sabua	(1994-08-25) 25 August 1994 (age 27)	15	0	Lae City
18	3MF		(1998-03-22) 22 March 1998 (age 23)	2	0	Hekari United
22	3MF	Kolu Kepo	(1993-07-15) 15 July 1993 (age 28)	6	4	Hekari United

7	4FW	Raymond Gunemba	(1986-06-04) 4 June 1986 (age 35)	21	11	Lae City Dwellers
9	4FW	Nigel Dabinyaba	(1992-10-26) 26 October 1992 (age 28)	19	8	Hekari United
10	4FW	David Browne	(1995-12-27) 27 December 1995 (age 25)	3	0	HJK Helsinki
11	4FW		(1996-01-15) 15 January 1996 (age 25)	4	1	Hekari United
13	4FW	Tommy Semmy	(1994-09-30) 30 September 1994 (age 26)	10	3	Hamilton Wanderers
16	4FW		(2000-01-03) 3 January 2000 (age 21)	1	0	Vitiaz United
21	4FW		(1993-08-26) 26 August 1993 (age 28)	1	2	Morobe United

Player records[]

As of 20 July 2019

Players in bold are still active with Papua New Guinea.

Most capped players[]

Rank	Name	Caps	Goals	Career
1	Michael Foster	26	7	2003–present
2	Raymond Gunemba	21	11	2012–present
3		19	1	1996–2004
4	Nigel Dabinyaba	18	8	2014–present
	Reggie Davani	17	13	1998–2012
	David Muta	17	1	2011–2016
	Emmanuel Simon	17	4	2014–present
	Koriak Upaiga	17	2	2011–present
9	Daniel Joe	16	0	2012–present
	Felix Komolong	16	0	2016–present
	Ronald Warisan	16	0	2014–present

Top goalscorers[]

Rank	Name	Goals	Caps	Ratio	Career
1	Reggie Davani	13	17	0.76	2002–2012
2	Raymond Gunemba	11	20	0.55	2012–present
3	Nigel Dabinyaba	8	17	0.47	2014–present
4	Michael Foster	7	26	0.27	2003–present
5	Nathaniel Lepani	6	8	0.75	2004–2011
6	Neil Hans	5	8	0.63	2007–2014
	Andrew Lepani	5	12	0.42	2003–2011
	Mauri Wasi	5	14	0.36	2002–2014
9	Kolu Kepo	4	5	0.8	2016–present
		4	12	0.33	1996–2002
		4	13	0.31	2002–2004
	Emmanuel Simon	4	17	0.24	2014–present

Coaching history[]

1996–1998
John Davani 2002
Steve Cain 2002
Ludwig Peka 2003–2004
Marcos Gusmão 2004–2011
Frank Farina 2011–2013
Mike Keeney 2013
Wynton Rufer 2014–2015
Flemming Serritslev 2015–2018
Bob Morris 2019–

References[]

^ "Soccer Unveils Plans for Pacific Games". PNG Courier. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
^ "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking". FIFA. 16 September 2021. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
^ http://www.rsssf.com/tablesp/png-intres.html
^ Elo rankings change compared to one year ago. "World Football Elo Ratings". eloratings.net. 10 September 2021. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
^ "Strikers To Play Papua New Guinea". Steve Pitman, Brisbane Strikers. 30 May 2011. Archived from the original on 18 March 2012. Retrieved 31 March 2012.
^ "Farina's PNG aiming to defy odds". Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). 18 May 2012. Retrieved 18 May 2012.
^ "FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking". FIFA. 4 April 2019. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
^ https://www.oldfootballshirts.com/pt/teams/p/papua-new-guinea/old-papua-new-guinea-football-shirt-s70265.html

External links[]

Papua New Guinea Football Association
"Latest Papua New Guinea Football News", Oceania Football Federation
National Football Teams
Pictorial History of PNG Football Kits
National football team of Papua New Guinea picture

[table_note_SAM0.67912992773537-9] Includes results as Western Samoa.

[table_note_VAN0.67912992773537-10] Includes results as New Hebrides.

[Plans_for_Pacific_Games-1] "Soccer Unveils Plans for Pacific Games". PNG Courier. Retrieved 2 April 2019.

[FIFA_World_Rankings-2] "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking". FIFA. 16 September 2021. Retrieved 16 September 2021.

[3] ttp://www.rsssf.com/tablesp/png-intres.html

[World_Football_Elo_Ratings-4] Elo rankings change compared to one year ago. "World Football Elo Ratings". eloratings.net. 10 September 2021. Retrieved 10 September 2021.

[5] "Strikers To Play Papua New Guinea". Steve Pitman, Brisbane Strikers. 30 May 2011. Archived from the original on 18 March 2012. Retrieved 31 March 2012.

[6] "Farina's PNG aiming to defy odds". Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). 18 May 2012. Retrieved 18 May 2012.

[FIFA_ranking-7] "FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking". FIFA. 4 April 2019. Retrieved 18 July 2019.

[8] ttps://www.oldfootballshirts.com/pt/teams/p/papua-new-guinea/old-papua-new-guinea-football-shirt-s70265.html

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show v t Papua New Guinea national football team
General	Papua New Guinea Football Association Managers Players Results
Stadiums	Sir Hubert Murray Stadium
OFC Nations Cup	1980 2002 2012 2016
Notable matches	2016 OFC Nations Cup Final
Other PNGFA teams	U-23 U-20 U-17 Futsal Women's U-20 U-17

show v t National football teams of Oceania (OFC)
Active	American Samoa Cook Islands FS Micronesia² Fiji Kiribati¹ New Caledonia New Zealand Niue² Palau² Papua New Guinea Samoa Solomon Islands Tahiti Tonga Tuvalu¹ Vanuatu
Former	Australia (moved to AFC in 2006) Northern Mariana Islands³ (moved to AFC in 2009) Chinese Taipei⁴ (returned to AFC in 1989)
¹ Associate member of OFC - Not a member of FIFA ² Not a member of OFC and consequently not a member of FIFA ³ Northern Mariana Islands was only an associate member of OFC between 1998 and 2009 - Not a member of FIFA ⁴ Although not geographically in Oceania, Chinese Taipei was a member of the OFC between 1976–1978 and 1982–1989 Although not geographically in Oceania Israel entered OFC World Cup qualification in 1986 and 1990 due to political reasons, though it never became a formal OFC member.