The Northern Mariana Islands national football team 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 association is not a member of the world governing body FIFA, although it had applied for membership, and so while 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. As such, they do not have an official FIFA ranking. However, the team has been consistently ranked among the lowest in the world on the Elo ratings, reaching the very lowest position among men's senior international teams in the world in July 2016, according to a ratings system that also includes a number of other non-FIFA teams.
Following the completion of the preliminary qualifying round for the 2017 EAFF East Asian Cup the team have won only one official competitive match against international opposition and have a goal difference of −78 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.
They are one of the youngest international teams, having played their first match in an exhibition tournament associated with the 1998 Micronesian Games. Following this appearance, they played only one more match, against the Federated States of Micronesia before the original governing body for football in the country, the Northern Mariana Islands Soccer Federation, became defunct and the team withdrew from international competition. During the time of the Northern Mariana Islands Football Association, eligibility criteria for the national team were quite lax, a minimum residency requirement of two years meant that the national team often included a number of contractors working on Saipan who were not of Northern Marianan heritage. Following the foundation of a new governing body, the Northern Mariana Islands Football Association, the national team was reestablished and, having resigned their associate membership of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC), they joined the EAFF in 2006, becoming full members in 2008.
Since that date, their international appearances have mainly been restricted to qualifying competitions for the EAFF East Asian Cup, although they also attempted to qualify for the AFC Challenge Cup once, having been admitted as associate members in 2009, and have played several friendly matches against neighboring nation Guam, in which the two countries compete for the perpetual trophy, the Marianas Cup.
History 1998 Micronesian Games The Northern Mariana Islands made their international debut in an exhibition football tournament associated with the 1998 Micronesia Games. The original governing body for football in the Northern Mariana Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands Soccer Federation had been accepted as an associate member of the Oceania Football Confederation, but this was the first time records indicated they had participated in any international tournament.
The tournament was officially called the W.C.T.C. Shell Soccer Exhibition and was a demonstration event only at the games, not having medal status. Furthermore, the tournament did not meet established regulations; the matches played were only 9-a-side, the games lasted only 80 minutes and the pitch was smaller than regulation size.
Nonetheless, the Northern Mariana Islands team performed well in the group stage playing against Guam, Palau, Yap (then considered essentially the Federated States of Micronesia national football team), a team representing the Micronesian state of Pohnpei and a "Palau B" team consisting of Bangladeshis living on Palau. The team won their first two matches 8–0 against Palau B and Yap respectively. A 2–1 loss to Guam in their third game was quickly forgotten as they went on to record resounding victories in their final two group games defeating Palau 12–1 and Pohnpei 11–2 to finish second in the group with a +35 goal difference after their five games, qualifying for the final match.RSSSF records the two matches against Palau B and Pohnpei as unconfirmed results.
The team avenged their earlier group stage defeat to Guam in the final, beating them 3–0 to claim the tournament title. Charles Kewo and Christopher Guerrero scored in the opening quarter of an hour to give the Northern Mariana Islands a 2–0 half time lead, a lead they extended in the second half through an unknown goalscorer (although other sources suggest Guerrero was the scorer) to seal their victory.
1999 Micronesian Cup The following year, the team travelled to Yap to compete the first Micronesian Soccer Cup. This was a three team tournament consisting of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia and an international team known as Crushers (or Crusaders according to other sources). Their performance here was less successful than at the Micronesian Games the previous year. In their first game, they lost 7–0 to the Federated States of Micronesia. It is not recorded whether they played their other group match against Crushers / Crusaders, but given that the final was contested between the Federated States of Micronesia and Crushers / Crusaders, it can be extrapolated that if the match did take place, the best result the Northern Mariana Islands could have achieved was a draw.
Hiatus The country then entered something of a hiatus in footballing terms. The original governing body for football in the country, the Northern Mariana Islands Soccer Federation became defunct sometime between 2002 and 2003 and after that, no international competition took place until the current governing body, the Northern Mariana Islands Football Association (NMIFA) was founded in 2005. Around this time, reports indicate that there was no official men's football of any kind in the country. In 2006, discussions were held with the NMIFA concerning the establishment of an official men's league. At the time it was hoped that the establishment of an official men's competition would provide the means by which players who could meet the citizenship and eligibility criteria to represent the country at future tournaments might become involved. Under the auspices of the Northern Mariana Islands Soccer Federation, teams entered into tournaments such as the 1998 Micronesian Games included a number of foreign players working on Saipan as contractors. This was not uncommon in the area at this time and some other teams also included players of similar status. For the Northern Mariana Islands specifically, the only eligibility requirements players needed to fulfill was a two-year residency.
Return In December 2006, the East Asian Football Federation admitted the Northern Mariana Islands as a provisional member. This membership entitled them to a $120,000 annual grant from the EAFF to further football development in the country. The EAFF then granted full membership in September 2008.
Marianas Cup (2007–2008) Following their acceptance as an associate member of the EAFF, their first participation in EAFF competition was in the 2008 East Asian Football Championship Preliminary Round, a two legged tie against Guam. The first leg, played in Saipan, resulted in a 3–2 loss for the Northern Mariana Islands Mark McDonald twice equalized after Guam had taken the lead only for Zachary Pangelinan to score the winning goal in the 72nd minute. Nonetheless, the performance of the home team was positively received and was still remarked upon a year later. Unfortunately the return leg in Hagatna a week later produced a much more one-sided result as Guam were victorious 9–0, Pangelinan scoring five times and four other players scoring once to ensure that Guam not only progressed to the next round of the EAFF competition but also that they were the winners of the inaugural Marianas Cup, a perpetual trophy contested each time the two nations play each other.
The two teams met again the following year in Saipan and for the third time in a row, Guam were the victors. Guam took the lead halfway through the first half through David Manibusan, but Joe Wang Miller equalized four minutes later and the teams went into half time tied at 1–1. Guam again took the lead in the 52nd minute through and own goal but the Northern Mariana Islands equalized with ten minutes left in normal time through Steven McKagen. With the teams tied at the end of 90 minutes, two periods of extra time of seven and a half minutes were played and in the 95th minute, Matthew Cruz scored the deciding goal with Guam running out victors 3–2 and retaining the Marianas Cup. Although there was disappointment in not winning, national newspapers commented that the performance was an improvement over the "shocking" 9–0 defeat in their previous encounter.
AFC membership (2009–present) Prior to their AFC membership being accepted, the team made the short trip to Yona, Guam to compete in the preliminary round of the 2010 East Asian Football Championship. This time, instead of the two-legged playoffs against Guam contested in the previous edition, the Northern Mariana Islands took part in a four team group, the winner of which would advance to the next round. The team was drawn against hosts Guam, Mongolia and Macau. The team prepared for the tournament for several months prior to departing for Guam, although in that time, they were only able to train with new coach Sugao Kambe for a month. It was acknowledged by their coach prior to their departure that they would be the least experienced of the four teams competing at this stage and this was to prove true as they lost all three of their games: 6–1 to Macau, 2–1 to Guam (a third successive Marianas Cup victory for Guam) and 4–1 to Mongolia. The team returned home without a positive result, although it was noted in the national press that they had been able to score in each of their three games.
In July 2009, the AFC Executive Committee agreed to accept the Northern Mariana Islands Football Association (NMIFA) as an associate member of the Asian Football Confederation, after the association received permission for release from the Oceania Football Confederation in June 2009, paving the way to join AFC. It was the NMIFA which resigned from the OFC, despite it being the earlier governing body, the Northern Mariana Islands Soccer Federation which had become a member in the first place.
First draw On 19 June 2010, Northern Mariana Islands earned a 1–1 draw with neighbor Guam in the 2010 Marianas Cup. The match ended in a draw as there was insufficient lighting to continue the match after the end of regulation. Joe Wang Miller scored for the NMI in the 68th minute and Jason Cunliffe answered in the 89th minute to salvage a draw for Guam.