Papua New Guinea

The national side that grew out of it took the nickname The Kapuls, Tok Pisin for the cuscus, and settled into red and yellow shirts with black shorts.

The team's clearest run at continental honours came in 2016, when it reached the final of the OFC Nations Cup and lost to New Zealand on penalties. Closer to home, it has had the better of the MSG Prime Minister's Cup, formerly the Melanesia Cup, winning it in 2022 and 2024 before finishing runner-up in 2025. Further back, bronze at the Pacific Games in 1969 and 1987 marked out what international football there was for Papua New Guinea in those decades, along with a 20-0 win over American Samoa in 1987 that has stood as an outlier ever since — a 10-0 defeat to Malaysia in 2023 sits at the other end of that scale.

Emmanuel Simon holds the appearance record with 41 caps, built up across a period that included a stretch between 2007 and 2011 when the side barely played internationally at all. David Muta now holds the job.