Tahiti national football team

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Tahiti fixtures and results

Tahiti

Association

Fédération Tahitienne de Football

Confederation

OFC (Oceania)

Head coach

Gerard Kautai

Top scorer

Felix Tagawa

Home stadium

Stade Pater Te Hono Nui

FIFA code

TAH

FIFA ranking

163

Highest FIFA ranking

111 (August 2002)

Lowest FIFA ranking

181 (June 2007)

Elo ranking

132





Home colours





Away colours

First international

French Polynesia 2 - 2 New Zealand

(Papeete, Tahiti; September 21, 1952)

Biggest win

Tahiti 30 - 0 Cook Islands

(Papeete, Tahiti; September 2, 1971)

Biggest defeat

New Zealand 10 - 0 Tahiti

(Adelaide, Australia; June 4, 2004)

OFC Nations Cup

Appearances

7 (First in 1973)

Best result

Second place, 1973, 1980, 1996

The Tahiti national football team is the national team of French Polynesia and is controlled by the Fédération Tahitienne de Football. They finished second in the OFC Nations Cup in its first three installments, 1973, 1980, and 1996.

1 Last and next games
2 History
3 World Cup record
4 Oceania Nations Cup record
5 South Pacific Games record
6 Notable players
7 Current squad

Last game: Tahiti 1-0 Cook Islands - Apia, Samoa - 03 September 2007. (South Pacific Games 2007 / FIFA World Cup 2010)

Next game: No fixtures announced yet.

Tahiti's reputation for underachievement has proved frustrating for their fans. After being touted as strong contenders in the OFC U-17 and U-20 Championships, the French Polynesians flattered to deceive finishing well outside the qualification stakes.

By contrast, the national team has had a reasonable year featuring two 0-0 draws against New Zealand and a respectable performance in the OFC Champions League (O-League) by club champions AS Temanava. The draw for the XIII South Pacific Games has thrown up a tricky assignment, with Tahiti facing a powerful Fiji and French-speaking rivals New Caledonia. Cook Islands and Tuvalu round off the group in which Tahiti have a reputation to live up too.

Like New Caledonia, Tahiti has dominated the men's football tournament at the South Pacific Games, winning five goal medals in the competition stretching back to 1966. With Fiji and Solomon Islands heavily favoured to progress, Tahiti will look to inspirational skipper Naea Bennett if they wish to finish among the medallists - and claim a berth at phase two of FIFA World Cup qualifying.

Tahiti's last attempt at qualification for the FIFA World Cup began with a paltry four points from five matches, the Tahitians only just edging out Vanuatu to avoid propping up the table. A 0-0 draw with Fiji was a good start, but a 9-0 loss to Australia was no good for the minnows' confidence.

Tahiti then fell to the Solomons and New Zealand, 4-0 and 10-0 respectively, before they managed to edge out Vanuatu 2-1 in their final game for a bit of pride at the end of a long and bumpy road.

Despite the result, Tahiti, also known as French Polynesia, have emerged as one of the most improved island-based teams in Oceania since gaining admission to FIFA in 1990. After a period of rapid progress, Tahiti recorded their greatest triumph to date at the 2002 OFC Nations Cup, consigning Fiji to fourth place and finishing an eye-opening third behind local superpowers Australia and New Zealand.

Finishing third at the 2002 OFC Nations Cup was significant for the balance of power in the region as Tahiti have surged past their rivals Fiji on the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking. Moreover, the islanders were just two minutes away from condemning mighty Australia to the third-place play-off.

Indeed, Tahiti were leading their semi-final through Teva Zaveroni until 120 seconds from the end, but the Aussies levelled to take the game into extra time, where the Socceroos dug deep and grabbed a match-winning Golden Goal.