The Tuvalu A-Division or The National Provident Fund Championship League (NPF) is the top football division in Tuvalu. The league is organised by the Tuvalu National Football Association. Eight of the nine islands in Tuvalu are represented in the league. Niulakita is the only island that has no football club. Matches are held at the 1,500-capacity Tuvalu Sports Ground in Funafuti, the only football field on the main island.
The league was founded in 2001. There is also the Tuvalu B-Division which is composed of reserve squads from each of the A-Division teams as well as several other teams.
A C-Division has also featured occasionally though have only competed in secondary leagues or knockout competitions such as the NBT cup or MEYS (Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports) Cup and mostly featured B and C teams of A-Division sides.
The major titles in Tuvalu are the Independence Cup (held to recognise the independence of Tuvalu), the NBT Cup (sponsored by The National Bank of Tuvalu), the Christmas Cup, and the football competition at the Tuvalu Games.
Taganoa Cup Teams in the A-division also compete for the Taganoa Cup. No separate matches are played for this trophy. Instead, teams compete concurrently for the trophy during their league matches. For a team to take ownership of the cup, they must defeat the present holders during a league game. They then become the defending holders until they lose a league match themselves. Whichever team is in possession of the trophy at the end of the season is crowned champions. The first Taganoa Cup competition was held in 2021 and was won by FC Tofaga.
Clubs As well as having squads in the Tuvalu B-Division, many A-Division teams also have a women's team which play in the A-Division Women's League and other competitions. In 2019, FC Tofaga and Nauti FC entered an 'A1 and 'A2' team into the A-Division league. Nauti did this again in 2020. Club Island Lakena United Nanumea Manu Laeva Nukulaelae Nanumaga Nanumanga Nauti Funafuti Tamanuku Nukufetau Tofaga Vaitupu NuiNui Niutao Niutao
Previous winners
Tuvalu League TournamentYearWinnerIsland1980 Nauti FCFunafuti1981 Nauti FCFunafuti1982 Nauti FCFunafuti1983 Nauti FCFunafuti1984 Nauti FCFunafuti1985 Nauti FCFunafuti1986 Nauti FCFunafuti1987 Nauti FCFunafuti1988 Nauti FCFunafuti1989 Nauti FCFunafuti1990 Nauti FCFunafuti 1991–1997 not held1998 Unknown19992000
Tuvalu A-DivisionYearWinnerIsland2001 FC NiutaoNiutao2002 FC NiutaoNiutao2003 FC NiutaoNiutao2004 Lakena UnitedNanumea2005 Nauti FCFunafuti2006 Lakena UnitedNanumea2007 Nauti FCFunafuti2008 Nauti FCFunafuti2009 Nauti FCFunafuti2010 Nauti FCFunafuti2011 Nauti FCFunafuti2012 Nauti FCFunafuti2013Nauti FCFunafuti2014 Nauti FCFunafuti2015 Nauti FCFunafuti2016 Nauti FCFunafuti2017 Manu LaevaNukulaelae2018 Manu LaevaNukulaelae2019 Nauti FCFunafuti2020 Nauti FCFunafuti2021 F.C. TofagaVaitupu2022 Nauti FCFunafuti2023 Nauti FCFunafuti2024 F.C. TofagaVaitupu2025Unknown2026 Nauti FCFunafuti
Number of wins WinsClubWinning Year(s)27Nauti FC2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023, 20263FC Niutao2001, 2002, 20032Lakena United2004, 20062FC Manu Laeva20171F.C. Tofaga2021 Source
Goalscorer statistics Top goalscorers Pos. Player Goals1 James Lepaio302 Alopua Petoa19
Top goalscorers by season Season Player Team Goals2011 StarzleManu Laeva6 Siopepa TailoloLakena United Lutelu TiuteTofaga2012 Alopua PetoaTofaga102013 Mase TumuaNauti42019 James LepaioTofaga152020Hosea SenteNauti82021 Alopua PetoaTofaga5 James Lepaio
Multiple hat-tricks Key(4)Player scored 4 goals(5)Player scored 5 goals(6)Player scored 6 goals Note: The source of the following information (rsssf.com) does not state goalscorers in some seasons. Therefore, this list is almost certainly not exhaustive. PlayerForAgainstScoreDateRef.Matakai Alesana(4)TofagaNui4–14 February 2012Alopua Petoa(4)TofagaLakena United6–03 March 2012Alopua Petoa(6)TofagaNiutao7–117 March 2012TupouManu LaevaNauti A24-120 April 2019Meauma Petaia(4)TamanukuNiutao5-3EliataLakena UnitedTofaga A21-13Alopua Petoa(4)TofagaNui0–249 May 2020Eric TealofiSueni Founuku(4)James Lepaio(5)Fata FilemoniKatepu IosuaFelo FeotoTamanukuNanumaga2–616 May 2020Nathan JoshNautiNui FC10–016 May 2020Hosea Sente(4)Alopua Petoa(5)TofagaNiutao16-03 April 2021James Lepaio(5)
References
External links RSSSF.com