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Papua New Guinea

Nickname(s)	Lakatois (Motuan sailing vessel)
Association	Papua New Guinea Football Association (PNGFA)
Confederation	OFC (Oceania)
Head coach	Nicola Demaine[1]
Captain	Meagen Gunemba
Most caps	Deslyn Siniu (43)
Top scorer	Meagen Gunemba (28)
Home stadium	Sir Hubert Murray Stadium
FIFA code	PNG
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	50 1 (13 October 2022)[2]
Highest	46 (December 2019)
Lowest	133 (September 2014)
First international
Australia B 2–0 Papua New Guinea  (Brisbane, Australia; 26 March 1989)[3]
Biggest win
Papua New Guinea 13–0 Kiribati  (Nausori, Fiji; 30 June 2003)[4]
Biggest defeat
Papua New Guinea 0–16 New Zealand  (Sydney, Australia; 19 May 1991)[5]
OFC Women's Nations Cup
Appearances	10 (first in 1989)
Best result	Champions (2022)

Papua New Guinea women's national football team

Medal record
Pacific Games
	2003 Suva	Team
	2007 Apia	Team
	2011 Nouméa	Team
	2015 Port Moresby	Team
	2019 Asia	Team

This article uses bare URLs, which are uninformative and vulnerable to link rot. (August 2022)

The Papua New Guinea women's national football team is controlled by the Papua New Guinea Football Association (PNGFA). Its nickname is the Lakatois,[6] which is a Motuan sailing vessel. Their home ground is the Sir Hubert Murray Stadium, located in Port Moresby and their current manager is Peter Gunemba. Deslyn Siniu is the team's most capped player and top scorer.

Papua New Guinea has never qualified for a FIFA Women's World Cup or the Olympic Games, but won the Pacific Games Football Tournament on five occasions (2003, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019) and won the 2022 OFC Women's Nations Cup and was runner up three times (2007, 2010 and 2014). They can be considered the second-best team in the Oceania Football Confederation after New Zealand.

Papua New Guinea's FIFA ranking is 49. Their highest ever ranking was 46 in December 2019 and their worst ranking was 133 in September 2014.

History

1989–1998

Papua New Guinea played its first international game on 26 March 1989 in the Australian city of Brisbane facing the Australia B-side on the 1989 Oceania Cup. The match resulted in a 2–0 loss for the Papua New Guinean team. Geraldine Eka was Papua New Guinea's first scorer, in the lost game against Taiwan (6–1). In the two remaining matches, their rivals were New Zealand and Australia (senior team), with whom they lost both games. The Papua New Guineans finished on the bottom of the table, after being defeated in the four games.[7]

The team participated on the 1991 and 1994 editions of the Oceania Cup, with the second being on home soil in the country's capital, Port Moresby. In both editions, they faced Australia and New Zealand, losing to them heavily. During that period, Papua New Guinea had its biggest loss, 16–0 with New Zealand. Both tournaments also served as the qualifiers for the first FIFA World Cup, held in China in 1991 and the second, in Sweden in 1995.

The Papua New Guineans won the 1996 Pacific Cup in Tonga with Miriam Lanta's help.[8] In the same year, they managed to achieve their only draw with New Zealand.[9]

The 1998 Oceania Cup in New Zealand saw a small improvement on the national team. They finished in the third position of the competition after beating Fiji 7–1 on the third place match. Other results include a victory over American Samoa and two defeats with Australia and New Zealand.[10]

2000s

After 5 years without playing any games, Papua New Guinea re-appeared with coach Francis Moyap, in the 2003 Oceania Cup, celebrated in Australia during April 2003. The Papua New Guineans finished third once again. This edition included two new rivals: the Cook Islands and Samoa, teams which they defeated by 5–1 and 5–2, respectively. Midfielders Lydia Banabas and Glenda Matthies were notable players in this competition. Papua New Guinea had an average attendance of 412.5 people per match.

On the same year, the Papua New Guinean squad participated in the inaugural South Pacific Games women's football tournament, held in Fiji during June–July. This time, the national team achieved their biggest victory in their opening match, 13–0 over Kiribati, with Deslyn Siniu scoring a total of six goals for her country. With 13 points, thanks to four victories, one tie and one loss, Papua New Guinea won the gold medal in this competition. This time, the Papua New Guineans had an average attendance of 800 people per match.

Despite having won the Pacific Games tournament, the national team did a regular performance at the 2004 Olympic qualifying tournament, where it faced Australia and Fiji in a round-robin system competition.

The team appeared in the 2005 Arafura Games tournament, and finished with poor results.[11]

Without Australia in the OFC, Papua New Guinea hosted the Oceania Cup again in 2007. All the games were played in Lae. This time, the team won against their neighbors, the Solomon Islands and Tonga (in fact, by an own goal scored by Tonga's Mele Vaisioa Mahe Niukapu).[12] In the last game, the team lost the chance of qualifying to the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup in China after losing to New Zealand.

The Papua New Guineans won their second gold medal in Samoa in the 2007 South Pacific Games. In the group stage, the team had very impressive victories (6–0 against American Samoa; 4–0 against the Solomon Islands; 4–1 against the Cook Islands) and a narrow loss (1–0 against Fiji). It advanced to the semi-finals along with Tahiti, and won 5–0, allowing them to advance to the final game, where they confronted Tonga at the Toleafoa J.S. Blatter Complex. After a hard game, Papua New Guinea won 3–1 after extra time with the help of Daisy Winas, Ara Midi and Lydia Banabas.[13] The aforementioned was the national team's top scorer again, with a total of eight goals. Thanks to this result, the Papua New Guineans qualified for a play-off against New Zealand to determine Oceania's representative at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Papua New Guinea played the Olympic play-off qualifier on 8 March 2008, but they lost 2–0.

2010s

With an attendance of 60 people, the Lakatois started their 2010 Oceania Cup campaign facing Fiji at the North Harbour Stadium in Auckland, New Zealand. Papua New Guinea won the game 3–0 with a scoreline of 1–0 in the half-time. Both the second and third matches (2–1 against the Solomon Islands and 3–0 against Tonga, with an own goal of the Tongan goalkeeper Lupe Likiliki) resulted in victories. Papua New Guinea advanced to the semi-finals to beat the Cook Islands by 1–0. The final, played on 8 October 2010, saw the Kiwis and the Papua New Guineans struggling once again for the Oceania Cup title in front of an audience of 900 people. New Zealand finished as the champion for the fourth time, after thrashing Papua New Guinea 11–0.[14] Zeena Limbai had a brilliant participation, after scoring four goals for PNG.

With one goal from Miriam Louma against Tahiti, the Papua New Guinean team started their 2011 Pacific Games road in New Caledonia, coached by Steven Mune. They achieved a second victory, against American Samoa, by 8–0, including an own goal. It was followed by a loss against the hosts, New Caledonia (2–1) and a victory over the Solomon Islands (1–0). The national team advanced to the semi-finals, where they faced Fiji, winning the game 4–0. In the gold medal/final game, the Papua New Guinean squad confronted the New Caledonians for the second time in the tournament. Christelle Wahnawe scored for the New Caledonians and Ara Midi and Linah Honeakii for the Papua New Guinean team, thus making 2–1 the final result. PNG received the gold medal for the third time.[15]

PNG failed to qualify for the London 2012 Summer Olympics despite having a very good performance on the first stage of the qualifiers, played in Tonga from March to April 2012. They had an attendance average of 973.8 people per match.

With the former Australian footballer Gary Phillips as the squad's manager, Papua New Guinea started the 2014 OFC Nations Cup winning 4–1 on home soil, at the Kalabond Oval in Kokopo against the Cook Islands. The Lakatois were defeated by the Kiwis 3–0 in the second game. The tournament finished with a 3–0 win to Tonga. Meagen Gunemba was PNG's top scorer, with four goals, and goalkeeper Fidelma Watpore was awarded with the Golden Gloves.

The Lakatois had a tour on Southeast Asia in March 2015. They faced Singapore and Thailand.[16]

The national team finished first in the Group B of the 2015 Pacific Games (on home soil), and had a victory against Samoa to advance to the final match, facing New Caledonia. Marie Kaipu gave the Papua New Guineans a fourth gold medal after scoring in the 21st minute.[17]

The Lakatois' latest game was the 2016 Olympic qualifier against the Kiwis, which resulted in a 7–1 loss. A second leg was supposed to be played, but the Papua New Guinean team couldn't travel to New Zealand due to visa issues.[18]

Team image

Nicknames

The Papua New Guinea women's national football team has been known or nicknamed as the "Lakatois (Motuan sailing vessel)".

Home stadium

Papua New Guinea play its home matches on the Sir Hubert Murray Stadium.

Results and fixtures

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

Legend

  Win   Draw   Lose   Void or postponed   Fixture

2022

2023

• Papua New Guinea Fixtures and Results – Soccerway.com

Head-to-head record

As of 8 October 2021

Against	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	GF	GA	GD
American Samoa	3	3	0	0	23	0	+23
Australia	8	0	0	8	0	68	−68
Australia B	1	0	0	1	0	2	−2
Australia Defense Force	1	0	0	1	2	8	−6
Chinese Taipei	1	0	0	1	1	6	−5
Cook Islands	5	5	0	0	16	3	+13
Fiji	7	6	0	1	23	4	+19
Guam	1	1	0	0	1	0	+1
Kiribati	1	1	0	0	13	0	+13
New Caledonia	3	2	0	1	4	3	+1
New Zealand	15	0	1	14	2	96	−94
Northern Territory	1	0	0	1	0	2	−2
Samoa	3	3	0	0	15	4	+11
Singapore	3	1	1	1	5	5	0
Solomon Islands	4	4	0	0	13	2	+11
Tahiti	3	3	0	0	9	0	+9
Thailand	2	0	0	2	1	18	−17
Tonga	7	6	0	1	15	4	+11
United States	1	0	0	1	0	5	−5
Vanuatu	2	1	1	0	13	3	+10
Total	72	36	3	33	156	233	−77

Coaching staff

Current coaching staff

Position	Name	Ref.
Head Coach	Nicola Dermaine	[19]

Manager history

Manager	Career	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Win %	Competitions
Unknown	1989–2003	17	2	1	14	011.8	1989 OFC Championship – Third place 1991 OFC Championship – Third place 1994 OFC Championship – Third place 1998 OFC Championship – Third place
Francis Moyap	2003–2010	29	16	1	12	055.2	2003 OFC Championship – Third place 2003 South Pacific Games – Champions 2007 OFC Championship – Runners-up 2007 South Pacific Games – Champions 2010 OFC Championship – Runners-up
Steven Mune	2011–2012	14	11	0	3	078.6	2011 Pacific Games – Champions
Gary Phillips	2014–2015	11	7	1	3	063.6	2014 OFC Nations Cup – Runners-up 2015 Pacific Games – Champions
Rachel Wadunah	2016–?	1	0	0	1	000.0	2014 OFC Nations Cup – Runners-up 2015 Pacific Games – Champions
Frederica Sakette[20]	?–	0	0	0	0	!—

Players

Current squad

The following players were called up for the 2022 OFC Women's Nations Cup from 13–30 July in Suva, Fiji.

Caps and goals as of 30 July 2022 after the match against  Fiji.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Faith Kasiray	(1999-12-20) 20 December 1999 (age 22)	6	0	POM
22	1GK	Betty Sam	(1992-10-12) 12 October 1992 (age 30)	5	0	Kimbe
23	1GK	Fidelma Watpore	(1988-02-09) 9 February 1988 (age 34)	17	0	POM
2	2DF	Lavinia Hola	(1999-03-22) 22 March 1999 (age 23)	5	0	POM
3	2DF	Margret Joseph	(1999-01-04) 4 January 1999 (age 23)	10	0	POM
4	2DF	Lucy Maino	(1995-08-02) 2 August 1995 (age 27)	9	2	POM
5	2DF	Olivia Upaupa	(1992-06-06) 6 June 1992 (age 30)	30	9	Lae
17	2DF	Isabella Natera	(1996-04-13) 13 April 1996 (age 26)	3	0	Madang
18	2DF	Shalom Waida	(2001-02-15) 15 February 2001 (age 21)	3	0	POM
20	2DF	Gloria Laeli	(1997-03-25) 25 March 1997 (age 25)	2	0	POM
24	2DF	Joelyn Aimi	(1994-11-16) 16 November 1994 (age 27)	6	0	Lae
25	2DF	Serah Waida	(1998-07-24) 24 July 1998 (age 24)	9	0	POM
6	3MF	Yvonne Gabong	(1996-08-29) 29 August 1996 (age 26)	17	3	POM
8	3MF	Rayleen Bauelua	(1995-01-11) 11 January 1995 (age 27)	9	1	POM
13	3MF	Ramona Padio	(1998-03-13) 13 March 1998 (age 24)	14	13	Kimbe
14	3MF	Kesai Kotome	(1991-12-20) 20 December 1991 (age 30)	0	0	Lae
16	3MF	Rumona Morris	(1993-06-05) 5 June 1993 (age 29)	2	0	POM
19	3MF	Sandra Birum	(1992-06-06) 6 June 1992 (age 30)	1	0	Lae
7	4FW	Asaiso Gossie	(2003-04-18) 18 April 2003 (age 19)	3	0	Ramu
9	4FW	Marie Kaipu	(1997-08-16) 16 August 1997 (age 25)	14	12	POM
10	4FW	Charlie Yanding	(2003-04-18) 18 April 2003 (age 19)	3	0	Ramu
11	4FW	Georgina Kaikas	(1995-04-10) 10 April 1995 (age 27)	14	12	POM
12	4FW	Meagen Gunemba	(1995-06-04) 4 June 1995 (age 27)	22	28	Lae
15	4FW	Arnolda Dou	(2001-12-20) 20 December 2001 (age 20)	4	0	POM
21	4FW	Sonia Embahe	(1995-10-23) 23 October 1995 (age 27)	9	4	Lae
26	4FW	Saguda Zale	(2004-05-13) 13 May 2004 (age 18)	1	0	POM

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up for the team in the last 12 months.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up

Previous squads

OFC Women's Nations Cup

• 2022 OFC Women's Nations Cup squad

Records

As of 10 September 2017

*Players in bold are still active.

Most capped players

#	Name	Caps	Goals	First cap	Latest cap
1	Deslyn Siniu	43	19	June 30, 2003	January 23, 2016
2	Miriam Lanta	31	5	April 5, 2003	September 9, 2011
3	Kathrina Salaiau	26	0	August 25, 2007	April 4, 2012
4	Lydia Banabas	24	15	April 5, 2003	October 8, 2010
5	Daisy Winas	22	5	August 25, 2007	October 29, 2014
6	Sandra Birum	21	8	September 30, 2010	January 23, 2016
7	Tracey Kigg	20	1	April 5, 2003	September 7, 2007
8	Julie Alau	18	3	April 5, 2003	September 7, 2007
9	Linah Honeakii	17	3	September 30, 2007	April 4, 2012
	Linda Bunaga	17	0	August 28, 2007	September 9, 2011

Top goalscorers

#	Name	Goals	Caps	Average	First cap	Latest cap	Position
1	Meagen Gunemba	23	8	1.25	October 25, 2014	January 23, 2016	FW
2	Deslyn Siniu	19	43	0.44	June 30, 2003	January 23, 2016	MF
3	Lydia Banabas	15	24	0.62	April 5, 2003	October 8, 2010	MF
4	Sandra Birum	8	21	0.38	September 30, 2010	January 23, 2016	MF
5	Ara Midi	6	9	0.66	August 25, 2007	September 9, 2011	MF
	Zeena Limbai	6	9	0.66	September 30, 2010	October 25, 2014	FW
	Rumona Morris	6	14	0.43	September 30, 2010	October 29, 2014	FW
8	Miriam Lanta	5	28	0.18	April 5, 2003	September 9, 2011	MF
	Daisy Winas	5	22	0.23	August 25, 2007	October 29, 2014	FW
10	Fatima Rama	4	8	0.50	March 1, 2012	July 13, 2015	MF

Competitive record

FIFA Women's World Cup

FIFA Women's World Cup									Qualification
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1991	Did not qualify								4	0	0	4	0	47
1995									4	0	0	4	0	19
1999									4	2	0	2	16	14
2003									4	2	0	2	10	21
2007									3	2	0	1	7	8
2011									5	4	0	1	9	12
2015									3	2	0	1	7	4
2019									4	3	0	1	14	3
2023	To be determined								To be determined
Total	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	31	15	0	16	63	128

Olympic Games

Summer Olympics									Qualification
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1996	Did not enter
2000
2004	Did not qualify								2	1	0	1	2	10
2008									7	5	0	2	22	5
2012									6	4	0	2	22	18
2016									5	4	0	1	12	8
2020									2018 Nations Cup
Total	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	20	14	0	6	58	41

OFC Women's Nations Cup

OFC Women's Nations Cup
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1983	Did not enter
1986
1989	Fifth place	5th	4	0	0	4	1	19	−18
1991	Third place	3rd	4	0	0	4	0	47	−47
1994	Third place	3rd	4	0	0	4	0	19	−19
1998	Third place	3rd	4	2	0	2	16	14	+2
2003	Third place	3rd	4	2	0	2	10	21	−11
2007	Runners-up	2nd	3	2	0	1	7	8	−1
2010	Runners-up	2nd	5	4	0	1	9	12	−3
2014	Runners-up	2nd	3	2	0	1	7	4	+3
2018	Third place	3rd	5	4	0	1	22	9	+13
2022	Champions	1st	5	4	1	0	13	6	+7
Total	Champions	10/12	41	20	1	20	85	159	–74

Pacific Games

Pacific Games
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
2003	Champions	1st	6	4	1	1	22	6	+16
2007	Champions	1st	6	5	0	1	22	3	+19
2011	Champions	1st	6	5	0	1	17	3	+14
2015	Champions	1st	4	4	0	0	11	1	+10
2019	Champions	1st	5	5	0	0	23	5	+18
Total	Champions	5/5	27	23	1	3	95	18	+77

Pacific Cup

Pacific Cup
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
1996	Champions	1st	Unknown details
Total	Champions	1/1	–	–	–	–	–	–	–

Arafura Games

Arafura Games
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
2005	Fifth Place	5th	4	0	0	4	2	20	−18
Total	Fifth Place	1/1	4	0	0	4	2	20	–18

See also

• Sport in Papua New Guinea
  • Football in Papua New Guinea
    • Women's football in Papua New Guinea
• Papua New Guinea women's national under-20 football team
• Papua New Guinea women's national under-17 football team
• Papua New Guinea men's national football team

References

External links

• Official website
• FIFA profile

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