Solomon Islands national football team

Solomon Islands
Nickname(s)	Bonitos
Association	Solomon Islands Football Federation
Confederation	OFC (Oceania)
Head coach	Felipe Vega-Arango
Captain	Benjamin Totori
Most caps	Henry Fa'arodo (64)
Top scorer	Commins Menapi (34)
Home stadium	Lawson Tama Stadium
FIFA code	SOL
First colours	Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	140 1 (16 September 2021)
Highest	120 (October 2007, April 2008)
Lowest	200 (January–March 2016)
First international
	Solomon Islands 6–3 New Hebrides ; (Suva, Fiji; 30 August 1963)
Biggest win
	Solomon Islands 16–0 Cook Islands ; (Papeete, Tahiti; 21 August 1995)
Biggest defeat
	Tahiti 18–0 Solomon Islands ; (Suva, Fiji; 8 December 1963)
OFC Nations Cup
Appearances	7 (first in 1980)
Best result	Runners-up, 2004

The Solomon Islands national football team is the national football team of the Solomon Islands and is administered by the Solomon Islands Football Federation. The Solomon Islands national football team was founded in 1978. They were officially recognised by FIFA a decade later, in 1988.^[3]

History[]

During the 2004 Oceania World Cup qualification/Oceania Cup the team drew 2–2 with Australia and qualified for the second leg. In the second leg, the Solomon Islands national men's team was humiliated by Australia 5–1 and 6–0 in the two matches, with Australia qualifying for the 2005 Confederations Cup.

The Solomons got a second chance against the Socceroos in a two-legged series in September 2005, this time with the winner advancing to a two-legged series against CONMEBOL's fifth-place finisher for a berth in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, and the team was thrashed by Australia 7–0 on the first leg and 2–1 in the second played at home.

The Solomons were knocked out of the 2010 FIFA World Cup – having got off to a good start winning every game in their qualifying group and comfortably progressing to the knockout rounds, defeats to New Caledonia and then to Vanuatu saw them knocked out of the competition.

In 2012, the Solomon Islands held the 2012 OFC Nations Cup which was also the second round of World Cup qualifying for the 2014 FIFA World Cup where they finished in fourth place after qualifying through to the knockout stage by defeating Papua New Guinea and having draws against Fiji and New Zealand. They lost in the semi-final after they lost to the champions Tahiti after Jonathan Tehau scored the only goal. They later lost to New Zealand in the third-place playoff. The third round of World Cup qualifying saw the team finish bottom of the group after only taking one win against Tahiti.

After first taking charge of the team in 2017, Spaniard Felipe Vega-Arango was appointed for his second stint in June 2021.^[4]

Kit sponsorship[]

Kit lier	Period
Lotto	2004–2012
Pasifika	2013–2016
Veto	2016-

Sponsors[]

Results and fixtures[]

2021[]

Coaching staff[]

Position
Head coach	Felipe Vega-Arango
Assistant coach
Goalkeeper coach	Zantas Kabini
Kit Manager
Team Manager

Coaching history[]

Edward Ngara (1995–1996)
(1996)
George Cowie (2000–2003)
Alan Gillett (2004–2005)
Ayrton Andrioli (2006–2009)
Jacob Moli (2010–2014)^[5]
Moses Toata (2015–2016)^[6]
Felipe Vega-Arango (2017)
Moses Toata (2018–2019)
Wim Rijsbergen (2019)
Stanley Waita (caretaker) (2020-2021)
Felipe Vega-Arango (2021-)

Players[]

Current squad[]

The following players were called up for the Tri-Nations Cup, which will be held in Fiji in March 2020.
Caps and goals updated as of 18 July after the match against Fiji.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1GK	Desmond Tutu	(1997-09-29) 29 September 1997 (age 23)	6	0	Henderson Eels
1GK		(1997-10-10) 10 October 1997 (age 23)	0	0
1GK		(2000-12-13) 13 December 2000 (age 20)	0	0	Real Kakamora

2DF	Hadisi Aengari	(1988-10-23) 23 October 1988 (age 32)	39	0	Solomon Warriors
2DF	Emmanuel Poila	(1990-07-16) 16 July 1990 (age 31)	23	1	Solomon Warriors
2DF	Boni Pride	(1995-09-10) 10 September 1995 (age 26)	13	0	Henderson Eels
2DF	Richard Hiromana	(1996-11-30) 30 November 1996 (age 24)	11	0	Real Kakamora
2DF	Allen Peter	(1995-09-15) 15 September 1995 (age 26)	10	0
2DF	John Aeta	(2000-09-02) 2 September 2000 (age 21)	4	0	Marist
2DF		(1994-11-28) 28 November 1994 (age 26)	0	0
2DF		(2000-04-15) 15 April 2000 (age 21)	0	0	Solomon Warriors
2DF		(2000-06-10) 10 June 2000 (age 21)	0	0
2DF		(2001-09-22) 22 September 2001 (age 19)	0	0	Hekari United
2DF		(2002-11-17) 17 November 2002 (age 18)	0	0
2DF			0	0
2DF		(2002-06-22) 22 June 2002 (age 19)	0	0	Henderson Eels

3MF	Jerry Donga	(1991-01-31) 31 January 1991 (age 30)	27	4	Solomon Warriors
3MF	Gagame Feni	(1992-08-21) 21 August 1992 (age 29)	25	13
3MF	Atkin Kaua	(1996-04-04) 4 April 1996 (age 25)	21	4
3MF	Tutizama Tanito	(1993-11-27) 27 November 1993 (age 27)	17	4	Henderson Eels
3MF	Micah Lea'alafa	(1991-06-01) 1 June 1991 (age 30)	15	6	unattached
3MF	Patrick Taroga	(2000-05-25) 25 May 2000 (age 21)	1	1	Suva
3MF		(1997-03-12) 12 March 1997 (age 24)	0	0	Henderson Eels
3MF		(1997-06-13) 13 June 1997 (age 24)	0	0	Henderson Eels
3MF		(1999-09-14) 14 September 1999 (age 22)	0	0	Solomon Warriors
3MF		(2000-10-23) 23 October 2000 (age 20)	0	0	Malaita Kingz

4FW	Adrian Mara	(1998-08-01) 1 August 1998 (age 23)	3	4	Real Kakamora
4FW	Raynick Laeta	(1999-11-16) 16 November 1999 (age 21)	3	0	Henderson Eels
4FW		(1993-03-03) 3 March 1993 (age 28)	0	0	Malaita Kingz
4FW		(1999-02-07) 7 February 1999 (age 22)	0	0	Ba
4FW	Raphael Lea'i	(2003-09-09) 9 September 2003 (age 18)	0	0	Henderson Eels

Preliminary squad[]

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Philip Mango	(1995-08-28) 28 August 1995 (age 26)	22	0
12	1GK		(1995-06-19) 19 June 1995 (age 26)	1	0	Solomon Warriors

5	2DF	Michael Boso	(1991-09-03) 3 September 1991 (age 30)	13	0	Suva
6	2DF	Andrew Rarangia	(1994-06-01) 1 June 1994 (age 27)	2	0	Henderson Eels

14	3MF	Joses Nawo	(1988-05-03) 3 May 1988 (age 33)	33	7	Henderson Eels
15	3MF	Alwin Hou	(1996-09-18) 18 September 1996 (age 24)	4	2	Kossa
17	3MF		(1991-09-18) 18 September 1991 (age 29)	6	5	Solomon Warriors

9	4FW	Benjamin Totori (Captain)	(1986-02-20) 20 February 1986 (age 35)	52	29	Ba
19	4FW	Andrew Abba	(1989-11-25) 25 November 1989 (age 31)	7	5	Napier City Rovers

Player records[]

As of 18 July 2019^[7]

Players in bold are still active with Solomon Islands.

Most capped players[]

Rank	Name	Caps	Goals	Career
1	Henry Fa'arodo	64	20	2002–2017
2	Benjamin Totori	52	29	2007–present
3	Hadisi Aengari	39	0	2011–present
4	Nelson Sale Kilifa	37	0	2004–2017
5	Commins Menapi	36	34	2000–2007
5	Batram Suri	36	14	1995–2005
7	Joses Nawo	33	7	2011–present
8	Gideon Omokirio	32	4	1996–2007
9	Stanley Waita	31	5	2000–2007
10	Jack Samani	28	6	2000–2007

Top goalscorers[]

Rank	Name	Goals	Caps	Ratio	Career
1	Commins Menapi	34	36	0.94	2000–2007
2	Benjamin Totori	29	52	0.56	2007–present
3	Henry Fa'arodo	20	64	0.31	2002–2017
4	Batram Suri	14	36	0.39	1995–2005
5	Gagame Feni	13	25	0.52	2012–present
6		10	14	0.71	1995–2000
7	Joses Nawo	7	33	0.21	2011–present
8		6	14	0.43	1996–2003
	Micah Lea'alafa	6	15	0.4	2016–present
	Alick Maemae	6	19	0.32	2004–2007
	Jack Samani	6	28	0.21	2000–2007

Competitive record[]

FIFA World Cup[]

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 1990	Did not participate								Did not participate
1994	Did not qualify								GS	4	0	1	3	5	13
1998									GS	8	3	3	2	22	23
2002									GS	4	2	0	2	17	10
2006									P/O	11	6	2	3	24	18
2010									4th	6	4	0	2	23	6
2014									4th	11	2	2	7	10	27
2018									P/O	10	4	1	5	11	18
2022	To be determined								To be determined
2026	To be determined								To be determined
Total	–	0/21	–	–	–	–	–	–		54	21	9	24	112	115

Oceania Nations Cup record[]

OFC Nations Cup record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1973	Did Not Enter
1980	Group stage	8th	3	0	0	3	3	21
1996	Third Place	3rd	2	0	0	2	1	3
1998	Did Not Qualify
2000	Third Place	3rd	4	2	0	2	7	10
2002	Group stage	6th	3	0	1	2	3	9
2004	Runners-Up	2nd	7	3	1	3	10	17
2008	Did Not Qualify
2012	Fourth Place	4th	5	1	2	2	5	6
2016	Fourth Place	4th	4	1	0	3	2	4
2020	Cancelled
Total	Runners-Up	7/10	28	7	4	17	31	70

Pacific Games record[]

Pacific Games record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1963	Fourth place	4th	3	1	0	2	6	26
1966	Round 1	6th	2	0	1	1	4	12
1969	Sixth place	6th	5	0	1	4	8	19
1971	Did not enter
1975	Third place	3rd	4	2	1	1	9	8
1979	Third place	3rd	5	4	0	1	24	5
1983	Round 1	10th	3	1	0	2	0	11
1987	Did not enter
1991	Runners-up	2nd	5	4	1	0	12	3
1995	Runners-up	2nd	6	4	0	2	34	10
2003	Round 1	5th	4	2	1	1	14	4
2007	Fourth place	4th	6	4	0	2	23	6
2011	Runners-up	2nd	7	5	0	2	21	6
2015	See Solomon Islands national under-23 football team
2019	Round 1	7th	5	2	1	2	30	9
Total	Second place	12/15	55	29	6	20	185	119

Wantok Cup record[]

2008 (July, 1st edition) – First place

Head-to-head record[]

As of 18 July 2019

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	WPCT
American Samoa	3	3	0	0	29	1	+28	100.00
Australia	10	0	1	9	8	55	−47	0.00
Chinese Taipei	1	1	0	0	1	0	+1	100.00
Cook Islands	4	4	0	0	35	2	+33	100.00
Fiji	35	5	15	15	38	68	−30	14.29
Guam	3	3	0	0	24	2	+22	100.00
Kiribati	1	1	0	0	7	0	+7	100.00
Macau	1	1	0	0	4	1	+3	100.00
New Caledonia	25	9	2	14	29	53	−24	36.00
New Zealand	12	0	2	10	11	44	−33	0.00
Papua New Guinea	21	12	4	5	34	26	+8	57.14
Samoa^[a]	3	3	0	0	20	0	+20	100.00
Singapore	1	0	0	1	3	4	−1	0.00
Tahiti	23	4	3	16	23	75	−52	17.39
Tonga	5	5	0	0	31	0	+31	100.00
Tuvalu	4	4	0	0	29	1	+28	100.00
Vanuatu^[b]	33	20	7	6	74	37	+37	60.61
Wallis and Futuna	3	3	0	0	23	1	+22	100.00
Total	188	78	34	76	423	370	+53	41.49

Source: 1963–99 results and 2000–19 results
Notes:

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

Honours[]

Oceania Nations Cup
- Runners-up (1): 2004
- Third place (2): 1996, 2000
South Pacific Games
- Runners-up (3): 1991, 1995, 2011
- Third place (1): 1975, 1979
Wantok Cup
- Winners (1): 2008

References[]

^ "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking". FIFA. 16 September 2021. Retrieved 16 September 2021.
^ Elo rankings change compared to one year ago. "World Football Elo Ratings". eloratings.net. 10 September 2021. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
^ "Member Association – Solomon Islands". FIFA.com. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
^ https://www.oceaniafootball.com/solomon-islands-appoint-new-coach/
^ Solomon Islands at FIFA.com
^ "Solomons search for new coach". Oceania Football Confederation. 29 July 2016. Archived from the original on 29 July 2016. Retrieved 29 July 2016.
^ "Solomon Islands". National Football Teams.

External links[]

Solomon Islands Football Federation official website

[table_note_SAM0.48101082047495-8] Includes results as Western Samoa.

[table_note_VAN0.48101082047495-9] Includes results as New Hebrides.

[FIFA_World_Rankings-1] "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking". FIFA. 16 September 2021. Retrieved 16 September 2021.

[World_Football_Elo_Ratings-2] Elo rankings change compared to one year ago. "World Football Elo Ratings". eloratings.net. 10 September 2021. Retrieved 10 September 2021.

[3] "Member Association – Solomon Islands". FIFA.com. Retrieved 5 September 2018.

[4] ttps://www.oceaniafootball.com/solomon-islands-appoint-new-coach/

[5] Solomon Islands at FIFA.com

[6] "Solomons search for new coach". Oceania Football Confederation. 29 July 2016. Archived from the original on 29 July 2016. Retrieved 29 July 2016.

[7] "Solomon Islands". National Football Teams.

[1]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[a]

[b]

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.

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