'Last nation on earth without a football team' prepares for first competitive match

Marshall Islands assistant manager Justin Walley admits the actuality of kicking off the country’s first ever international football match still feels like a dream.

The Marshall Islands have long claimed to be “the last nation on earth without a football team”, and did not even have a federation until 2020, let alone the national set-up, which has only existed for the last two and a half years.

For some members of the squad, Thursday’s meeting with the US Virgin Islands at the Outrigger Challenge Cup in Arkansas will be their first competitive game of 11 v 11 football – ever.

“There’s a sort of unrealness to it that we can’t believe it’s actually happening,” Leicestershire-born Walley, who now lives in Bosnia and Herzegovina, told the PA news agency.

“But we’ve been working very hard and we’re really focused on what’s ahead of us. We’ve already had several days of hard work and planning. Hopefully we will be as ready as we can be.”

Springdale, Arkansas might seem like an odd choice of location for the Marshall Islands-hosted four-team tournament, but it is an area which, as of 2019, boasted the highest concentration of Marshallese in continental United States.

Some members of the squad have been recruited from Majuro, the Kwajalein Atoll, and other parts of the Marshall Islands itself, with its population of around 37,500 – and no club football.

Amazing support from the public and lots of football clubs around the world following us ahead of our first-ever games this week. Please keep the follows and love coming! It makes us feel stronger

— Marshall Islands Soccer Federation (@SoccerFedMI) August 12, 2025

Several team members have moved to the United States, where some play for US colleges, while others have Marshallese