Vanuatu

Brian Kaltak carries a distinction no other Vanuatu international can claim: two A-League titles, the only professional footballer the country has produced. He captains a side still built mostly from part-time players, which makes the run to the final of the OFC Nations Cup in 2024 harder to place — a 3–0 defeat to New Zealand, but a final none the less, the best finish in the team's history.

The team took the field for the first time on 4 October 1951, playing as New Hebrides and losing 0–9 to New Zealand in Nouméa. The federation behind it, the Vanuatu Football Federation, had already existed since 1934 and joined FIFA and the Oceania Football Confederation in 1988, long after that opening defeat.

Against the same opponent, on 2 June 2004, Vanuatu turned the fixture around and won 4–2 in the OFC Nations Cup, a result that cost New Zealand an automatic place in the World Cup play-off. Richard Iwai holds the scoring record with 20 goals, and the team's heaviest win, 18–0 against Kiribati at the 2003 South Pacific Games, still stands as the largest margin in its history.

Regionally the record is more settled: the Melanesia Cup in 1990, the Wantok Cup in 2011, the MSG Prime Minister's Cup in 2025, gold at the Pacific Mini Games in 2017.

What the team has not done is turn a Nations Cup final into a Nations Cup won, or a squad of one professional and a group of amateurs into something closer to parity with the region's stronger sides.