Nauru: welcome to world football
A Premier League icon and a great new kit has given the national side of this Pacific island nation a fine start to life- and the chance for a cult international following
It’s not too often that a new footballing side makes its bow in international football. Gibraltar in 2013 was one of the more recent, and in the coming months, a small island in the Pacific Ocean will join the ranks of the world scene.
Nauru lies to the northeast of Papua New Guinea and Australia, and as of 2022 had a population of just over 12,500. It has a land area of just over eight square miles making it the third smallest country in the world behind Vatican City and Monaco, and its highest point has the rusty remains of a Japanese Second World War outpost.
In 1999 Nauru became a full member of both the Commonwealth and the United Nations. In 2024, the nation hopes to play its first-ever football match in a stadium currently constructed on the island’s south side.
Interest in the island nation’s footballing outfit has peaked in the football hipster universe as many have discovered the boss of the Nauru side is. Former Reading and Stoke City striker Dave Kitson will be in charge for the first-ever match- in what could quickly become the greatest sports pub quiz question of the year.
Kitson was part of a Reading team that finished seventh in the Premier League and was filled with other cult players of what many consider a golden age of top-flight football. His step into management and becoming the first-ever boss of a country is a bold move, but one that many others in the industry are likely jealous of.
Add to this, the blossoming footballing nation will also line up in one of the best first kits a side has ever received. Manufactured by Stingz, the dark blue kit with a gold band across the middle also has a Polynesian-inspired tribal pattern across the front. The manufacturers have said the kit’s blue is for the Pacific Ocean and the band is a nod to the golden touch on the Nauru national badge.
The kit is something that niche football nerds (I am guilty as charged) will lap up. People around the world will love this kind of kit for just how random it is, and it is stuff like this that puts a football team on the world map.
The shirt is initially available through a limited purchase window, and all profits will go towards the Nauru Soccer Federation. This also includes supporting the grassroots game on the Pacific Island, and further growing the sport as that first-ever match edges closer.
Nauru was in the international sporting spotlight this summer, with a single athlete representing the island at the Paris 2024 Olympics. Sprinter Winzar Kakiouea finished sixth in his 100m heat. Winzar was the proud flagbearer of his nation, and this won’t be the last we’ll see of this flag on the world sports scene.
The island nation is not on top of the footballing world, but they’ve started on a long and exciting journey. The exciting first fixture hasn’t been announced yet, but the Nauru Soccer Federation seems to have the wheels in motion for an exciting future. If the day comes when we see David Kitson in the dugout of a major international tournament in charge of a team formed after the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, then it will be a great day for football.
