5 years in the past, the Marshall Islands launched their mission to shrug off the standing because the final nation on Earth with out a soccer staff.
In December 2022, they ramped issues up by hiring Oxford-based coach Lloyd Owers as their technical director.
“At the moment, the focus is on building from the ground up,” he stated in an interview with Sky Sports activities, shortly after his appointment.
At that time, he had not even visited the tiny nation – made up of 5 islands, 29 atolls and round 60,000 individuals, which is located within the Pacific Ocean, greater than 3,000 miles off the north east coast of Australia.
The primary intention was to assemble primary gear to play soccer in a spot with no prior historical past of the sport, then to introduce it to highschool curriculums to put the foundations for the long run.
Final summer time, the Marshall Islands Soccer Federation organised and hosted the inaugural Outrigger Problem Cup, a futsal event contested by themselves, Kiribati and Micronesia, and a B Crew from every. Kiribati beat the hosts 6-2 within the remaining.
The venture’s progress has been speedy.
A lot in order that, between August 13 and August 16, the Marshall Islands will play their first-ever 11 vs 11 internationals within the 2025 Outrigger Problem Cup, with Owers on the helm as head coach.
“Two years ago we could only dream about it and now it’s going to happen,” he says.
“It’s been a work in progress for a long time. Since we started, everyone has been asking when the first game would be, but we wanted to make sure the project was sustainable and we had the right things in place first. It had to be the right time.
“We may have taken the safer possibility of doing the futsal event once more this yr, however time is ticking.
“We want to be confederation members and we’ve formally applied for three different routes. With that, we do have to be 11 vs 11-present as well, so we thought, this summer, that’s what we’re going to do.
“We do not need to have low-risk video games the place we would play somebody regionally within the area and do actually, rather well, nevertheless it’s not going to do us any favours credibility-wise.”
Also taking part in this year’s historic tournament are the US Virgin Islands, the Turks and Caicos Islands and MLS Next side Ozark United U19, who recently replaced the previously announced Guam.
It will not be hosted in the Marshall Islands this time around, though. Instead, the matches will take place at the Jarrell Williams Bulldog Stadium in Springdale, Arkansas.
The reasoning? The US city has the largest population of Marshallese people – totally around 15,000 – outside of the country itself, owing to free movement between the two nations. Logistically speaking, it is obviously a lot simpler, too.
What makes this more impressive is the fact the Marshall Islands still have no regular funding stream, as Owers explains.
“Now we have good connections to the federal government and they’re supportive in what they do. They assist us with rolling the assist out, particularly throughout the principle island of Majuro, and we’ve got relationship with the schooling ministers.
The Republic of the Marshall Islands is an unbiased island nation and microstate close to the Equator within the Pacific Ocean (Picture: MISF)
“But there will be nothing financially from the government until there is a confederation membership, which is a bit of a catch-22.” Extra on that in a second.
And so the venture depends on sponsorships and donations, with a latest Kickstarter marketing campaign elevating £21,573.
“It’s expensive one and we set ourselves a massive task, but at the same time, we felt we needed to take a risk. We’d rather go big than take the easy option.
“We are going to simply maintain pushing and elevating consciousness – and the extra exercise we’ve got, the extra alternative there may be for individuals to become involved financially.”
Now the countdown to the tournament is on, the focus is on which players will make up the squad and Owers says the pool of players he could realistically pick for the squad totals “round 100 worldwide”.
That figure includes players of Marshallese descent who grew up in the United States, as well as players of American descent who grew up in the Marshall Islands. It also includes two teenagers who live in Germany, who reached out via Instagram and subsequently proved their heritage.
The inhabitants of the Marshall Islands is unfold out over 5 islands and 29 coral atolls (Picture: MISF)
By introducing soccer to colleges, from now, that pool will solely develop.
“Our players are very young,” Owers provides. “Bar a couple of older players in the group that will play this summer, most are just finishing high school, starting college or in college.
“We’re absolutely conscious it’ll be a tricky check, however we’re below the impression you have to be aiming to play in opposition to these you need to be enjoying in opposition to frequently. Nobody expects us to win the video games, but when we are able to placed on a little bit of a present and present that we are able to participate, then we’ll.
“But we don’t want this 11 vs 11 game to happen and then we don’t play again for two years. We want this to be the start.”
Except for enjoying worldwide soccer for the primary time, acquiring confederation membership has all the time been proper on the prime of the Marshall Islands’ agenda. The popularity, funding and likelihood to play in World Cup qualifying matches can be game-changing.
However it’s removed from a simple course of.
“OFC (Oceania Football Confederation) put out a guideline of what prospective members needed to do to apply and we created our strategy document to align with it,” Owers says.
“I genuinely believe it was on the back of what we’ve managed to do because we’ve been the noisy neighbours and I don’t think people realised how quickly we would progress.
“We realised we have been really assembly a lot of the standards for full membership, not simply affiliate membership, so we felt like we have been in an actual robust place.
“Unfortunately, OFC has not responded to our application other than via a journalist in New Zealand. Almost with a message of ‘Yes, you’re in a strong position, but it’s an extra nation we have to give our funding to’, which isn’t great for us.
“On the identical time, now we’re making use of for AFC (Asian Soccer Confederation) and CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Affiliation Soccer) as a result of we do not need to shut these doorways off, and they’re really extra responsive.
Owers continues to stay and work within the UK (Picture: Lloyd Owers)
“Especially with AFC, logistically, we’re in a strong position to get to Asia from the Marshall Islands. We also have direct flights to Honolulu, then to mainland USA and we can get to any of those CONCACAF nations.
“It technically would possibly lie in Oceania, however possibly it isn’t a nasty factor that OFC have accomplished that as a result of it is possibly pushed us in a greater course and I would wish to say that, by 2026, we’ll hopefully in a powerful place to at the least be knocking on that door to be welcomed in slightly bit greater than we at the moment are.”
Owers laughs as he says his technical director role is a full-time job in itself, on top of the full-time job he holds down day-to-day in the UK. But it is clearly paying off.
Along with organising the first internationals and confederation membership applications, there is so much work going on behind the scenes to progress.
There are regular sessions taking place on the islands of Majuro, Kwajalein and Ebeye, and there is a hope to establish a league structure in future, rather than solely tournament-focused matches.
Round 200 faculty kids now play soccer within the Marshall Islands (Picture: Lloyd Owers)
As many as 200 kids play soccer in colleges and there’s a US-based girls’s nationwide futsal staff, who’ve taken half in two coaching camps up to now. There’s a partnership with the Particular Olympics Marshall Islands, too, and an intention to participate within the World Video games in Chile in 2027.
The Marshall Islands at the moment are a house away from residence for Owers.
“You go into a supermarket and someone will ask: ‘Are you the soccer guy?!’ It’s strange that, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, there’s some bloke who lives near Oxford who’s known for football!
“The primary time I went, I did not actually know what to anticipate. It is probably the most distant place I’ve ever been to. However now there is a sense of residence to it.
Sundown soccer on Kwajalein (Picture: Scott Hill)
“I’ve got friends there; there’s a massive community and people want to help you. It’s one of those places where, if someone doesn’t have anything, they’ll give you whatever they have. Everyone helps everyone and it just feels welcoming.
“Two years on, they’re seeing the advantages of it. Children have gotten a brand new pastime and there’s a real pathway the place you’ll be able to characterize your nation in a special sport.
“You can get off the island and you can visit new places and have those experiences that two years ago you couldn’t. Even a year ago you couldn’t, so now that is actually happening, people are starting to say this is good. It’s a nice place to be.”
