Soccer Finally Kicks off for the Marshall Islands

It was a story that took the world by storm: articles have popped up in The Guardian, L’Equipe, and The New York Times. The Marshall Islands, supposedly the last nation on earth to never play an international soccer game, had set up a tournament in which they would do just that.

A lot that will immediately stand out: Why did it take so long? How did they finally get to this point? Why will it be held in Arkansas of all places? And, if this is their first ever match, would they end up getting thrashed?

To answer these, we must step away from soccer for a second. The Marshall Islands are an independent island nation sitting in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. A series of low-lying atolls, there isn’t a ton of land on which to fit their roughly 40,000 population.

Due to historic ties, which we’ll get into later, there is a free-association agreement with the United States such that Marshallese people can live and work here – at least for the time being. A good number now live in Hawaii, while an estimated 15,000 people of Marshallese descent reside in Arkansas – mostly in the northwest of the state, the site chosen for the tournament. Much like Arkansas, soccer is not the top sport in the Islands; but, it’s currently on the rise.

After its founding in 2021, the Marshall Islands Soccer Federation has sought to lift the Beautiful Game from an afterthought to a major sport in the country and among its people living overseas. This required hiring people who have some experience both at the coaching and federation level. In stepped Lloyd Owers, the current head coach and technical director for the national team. He’s helped the country take its first steps with coaching and player development, while also establishing the Outrigger Cup in 2024 when they hosted a futsal tournament.

The First Games

The goal, though, had always been the real thing: to start a team for full, 11-a-side soccer. They had some players now, as well as others identified for potential future matches. Following up on the success of the prior edition, the 2025 Outrigger Cup was proposed, a real soccer tournament in which the Marshall Islands could compete. The only questions: where – and how – were they ever going to do it?

With the large diaspora in the United States, and good proximity to competition of a similar level, the MISF found a host among the Marshallese people living in Arkansas. To overcome logistical hurdles, they had volunteers set up online fundraisers, and they sold jerseys with a special meaning to bring in the money necessary. They looked at players on and off the Islands to find a team worthy of these beautiful kits and, with a little help from people only tangentially involved in the cause, they scheduled games against the US Virgin Islands, the Turks and Caicos, and club side Ozark United’s under-19 academy.

To be a member of FIFA under current rules, one needs to have met certain benchmarks. In addition to being an internationally-recognized sovereign nation, a country must have the infrastructure to host games, including a stadium, hotel space for opposition teams, and other similar prerequisites. Ignore the fact that neither the Virgin Islands nor the Turks and Caicos are sovereign countries; the rules have been changed to allow FIFA to avoid future conflicts of interest between current members and what they may see as breakaway regions.

On Wednesday August 13th, the 2025 Outrigger Cup kicked off between the two guest nations, with the USVI victorious after penalties. The next day, though, was to be the main event.

That evening, on August 14th, the Marshall Islands lined up ahead of their game against the US Virgin Islands. The latter listened to their anthem, played first over the stadium speakers. Then came the moment everyone had been waiting for, Marshallese or not. Forever Marshall Islands rang out with the players standing next to each other all in a row.

It’s the kind of thing soccer fans are used to seeing for the likes of the United States, Argentina, Japan, etc. But, it was the first time the Marshall Islands got to take part in this common pre-game ceremony. The 4-0 loss that followed was entirely irrelevant. “Whatever the score, so proud of what was accomplished. Tonight, we made history,” went the team’s post on social media.

The following Saturday, the Marshalls lined up against the Turks and Caicos. Although they conceded the first and second goals of the match, it was the Marshallese who scored third, with Josiah Blanton getting the ball back from his give and go just outside the opposition six yard box. He slid it into the net and wild celebrations broke out. Despite giving up another goal after that, the Marshalls earned a penalty in the second half, which was dispatched by Aaron Anitok-Brokken. It finished 3-2.

Blanton and Anitok-Brokken, from Georgia and Washington (the states), respectively, had written their names into history by scoring the first and second ever goals for the Islands. Two games became two losses; but, let it not be said that the Marshalls were blown out. Even the 4-0 result has its context: some of the players had met for the first time that week. They’d only a few training sessions beforehand. And, again, it was their country’s first ever game. “The fact we could come out with a 4-0 after never playing was great,” said Blanton after the first fixture. Little did he know what was in store for him.

The Bigger Picture

After each game in Arkansas, on a turf field with American football lines and a big bulldog face painted in the middle, the Marshallese players went to celebrate with their fans. People in the area with connections to the Islands turned out in numbers. The fact that so many live away from their home country speaks to the issues the Marshalls face. Before independence, it was a territory of the United States. That was during the atomic age, and nuclear weapons testing largely took place in the surrounding atolls of the main island chains.

This is part of the reason why Marshallese people have that free-association agreement which allows them to live here. It’s also, naturally, contributed to the lack of space over there. More recently, climate change has become a larger threat, with the islands sinking deeper and experiencing worse flooding as each year goes by. The United States is a giant contributor to that problem as well.

The Marshall Islands rarely make headlines for sporting reasons. Other than the recent flurry of activity related to these games, they’re usually only in the news for climate change-related reasons. Their leader has called on other countries to reduce carbon emissions so as to slow sea-level rise. This is, of course, crucial if they are to continue to have a homeland at all, let alone somewhere to play soccer other than the US. That’s why this project was always bigger than just one tournament. Sure, taking part in international soccer is fun. What’s more, though: the sport is a global language – like math or music. It’s something everyone can take part in no matter where you’re from or what resources you have.

But, some places do have fewer resources, less ability to assert themselves on the world stage. The Marshall Islands need more to bring more attention to themselves so that others will help do what it takes to save them. It’s not something they can do on their own, and they can’t rest in the relative obscurity of being prominently listed on the docket during UN climate talks – however frequently those occur. People need to see themselves in the Marshallese. By playing soccer, by scoring goals, by having awesome jerseys for collectors to snap up, they hope to bridge the gap between their home in the Pacific and everyone else.

And those special Marshall Islands kits? They tell a story: the white shirts are sold with holes in them. Rather than a defect, these represent the land and other natural resources lost as the oceans rise. If you see someone wearing one, remember what it means. The world plays soccer; the Marshall Islands play soccer. The world plans for the future; the Marshall Islands plan for their future.

If we could pursue greater cooperation in both sporting and policy arenas to support the Marshallese people, the benefit could be immense. We’ve already seen that a little goes a long way when it comes to getting soccer off the ground. How much will we work to make sure there is ground enough for them to play on?