Nauru national soccer team

The Nauru national soccer team is a proposed national team to represent the Pacific island nation of Nauru in soccer. It is under the auspices of the Nauru Soccer Federation which is not a member of the OFC and FIFA.
Currently under construction for the 2026 Micronesian Games, Nauru's national stadium will be the New Nauru Stadium in the Meneng District’s interior plateau, also known as Topside. Previously, the home of soccer in Nauru was the Denig Stadium.
The Nauru Soccer Federation had reportedly applied for membership in both the OFC and FIFA but was denied, presumably because of a lack of infrastructure and league system. In 2009 the Nauruan Minister of Sport Rayong Itsimaera indicated that the island nation desired to become a member of FIFA and the OFC and the organizations wanted to accept them, but reiterated that there were challenges preventing Nauru from joining both bodies.
Previously, Nauru had never played any official international matches. However, a Nauruan representative team had played twice, including a 2–1 victory over phosphate miners representing the Solomon Islands in 1994. The second match featured a Nauru selection playing refugees from the Nauru Regional Processing Centre at the Denig Stadium in 2014 in recognition of World Refugee Day.
After a long hiatus, the Nauru Soccer Association was relaunched in 2018. In 2020, the association’s vice-president Kaz Cain announced that Nauru was considering creating its first-ever official national side for a tournament in Hawaii in 2021. After issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the association was relaunched again in 2023 as the Nauru Soccer Federation under the Nauru Olympic Committee umbrella. The federation’s intent was to build a grassroots soccer culture on the island and field its first-ever official national team.
In December 2023, Englishman Charlie Pomroy was appointed by Head of Nauru Soccer Federation Gareth Johnson as Nauru’s first ever national team head coach.
Nauru's goal was to join the likes of the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands in increasing participation in the sport in their countries. Joining Pomroy in Nauru's project were Paul Watson and acting NSA president, local Kaz Cain. The team’s first jersey was also expected to be available to the public sometime in 2024. Johnson stated: "If we do not play at least one match in a Nauru kit I will see 2024 as a failure."
In March 2024, the Nauru Soccer Federation announced that they had signed a deal with Stingz Sportswear, who had just designed and manufactured kits for Micronesia, to produce the Nauru jersey. Hong Kong-based Giordano International had also joined the project as the team's main sponsor, providing funding for the team's kits and matchday apparel. The kit design was expected to be announced in the weeks following the announcement as Stingz and the NSF were finalizing a new logo for the federation.
Later that month, the association announced that it was in discussions with the Football Federation American Samoa to travel to the territory to face the American Samoa national team as part of a small friendly tournament. In addition to shirt sales, the federation planned to document the team's journey with a film similar to American Samoa's own Next Goal Wins. With enough funding, the team could afford to bring in players of Nauran heritage from Australia to supplement the squad. On 14 March 2024, former Premier League striker Dave Kitson was announced as Nauru's first ever national team manager, in addition to a role as international ambassador.
After plans to play American Samoa were scrapped, discussions began with Reading XL FC about the team traveling to Nauru to be the nation's first opponent. The United Kingdom-based club was founded with the purpose of improving the players' physical fitness. Reading XL FC then began fundraising for the trip with a goal of £50,000. In addition to setting up a GoFundMe, the club pursued other options including a corporate sponsor and a documentary deal with a large television network.