Vanuatu 2011 Away
Vanuatu 2013-14 Home
Vanuatu 2015 Away
Vanuatu 2021-22 Home
Well, this looks very similar to my Cook Islands shirt doesn’t it? Lovely olive green colour but only a white band across the top of the chest and the Lotto logos to add to it. Differing to the Cook Islands shirt, the FA logo is more elaborate and fully detailed, rather than just using the shirt colour. It is a nice logo but when that’s the only redeeming feature? There’s just not really enough here.
The shirt was used across the 2011 Pacific Games where a late 1-0 victory over the Solomon Islands was added to by comfortable victories over American Samoa (8-0), Guam (4-1) and Tuvalu (5-1). However, a 5-0 loss to New Caledonia and results elsewhere meant that, despite drawing on points with both New Caledonia and the Solomon Islands, they had the weakest goal difference (+11 v +29 and +16). Therefore they failed to make the semi-finals.
Next up we have this Veto design, another simplistic shirt, but a rather nice one. Black accenting in the solar, across the sleeves and down the sides make it a little less plain than the previous offering, though the rear of the shirt is a bit boring. Lovely traditional yellow colour, though the badge is only a transfer, it holds some interest but still isn’t as interesting as it could be.
Not used in tournament play by the senior side, Vanuatu used it (and the corresponding away) in the 2013 U20 and U17 OFC Nations Cups. They finished 3rd in both, narrowly losing to both Fiji and New Zealand in the U20 edition but defeating New Caledonia and Papua New Guinea. In the U17s they again lost by a single goal to New Zealand but beat New Caledonia and the Cook Island 3-1 each, though only drew with Fiji and Papua New Guinea.
Moving on we go to the OFC own brand shirt. Instead of outsourcing work to brands, the OFC tried making shirts themselves. Without exception they were rather dull, with shirts like this made to look a bit like a boring Adidas template but not enough to see them sued. We’ve got decent enough colours involved and it isn’t totally plain, but no manufacturer’s logo contributes to the general dullness. Probably why they called the brand “Pasifika” later on.
This was used in the 2015 Pacific Games, where Vanuatu took their draw with Fiji and narrow loss to Tahiti a little too personally. They took things out on FSM by beating them 46-0,a result only saved from total ignominy by it all being at U23 level. This still let them into the knockout stages for Olympic qualifying (as Tahiti were ineligible) where they lost to New Zealand, got awarded the tie when NZ were found to have fielded an ineligible player and then lost on penalties to Fiji in the final to miss the Olympics anyway. Wild times
Last but not least is this KPI design. Fully sublimated is not a great start, with a massive flag on the back helping to offset that. The collar stands out nicely, being black against the yellow and there’s a very strange transition between yellow shades on the chest but what makes the shirt are the sleeves. Lighter yellow cuffs to help accent them, but in the black area is this beautiful curving pattern based on the traditional Vanuatu sand drawings. Might be a little thing for the shirt, but a very lovely little thing.
The updated logo ended up not being used, with the design only used under the old logo for matches from the 2019 Pacific Games onwards. Vanuatu beat Samoa and Tonga comfortably and even drew with eventual champions New Zealand (U23s) but lost to Papua New Guinea to miss out on the medal matches entirely. A disappointing exit from a tournament where they showed some promise.
These results are fairly typical for Vanuatu, a team that are capable of taking decent results against the best of the OFC but are rarely, if ever, right at the top. They’ve never been to a World Cup, struggling whenever they’ve reached the final stage, but have been to all but 1 Nations Cup (missing 1996) and have four 4th positions, though never any higher. Their Pacific Games performance is a little better, with a 2nd and a 3rd place finish back in the very early days. Between 1987 and 2007, they always finished at least 4th, with two 3rds and three 4ths in 5 games, though they’ve dropped off since. Otherwise, they’ve been a little variable, but they did win the 1990 Melanesia Cup and the 2017 Pacific Mini Games.
On the women’s side, Vanuatu have been much less active, though that looks to be changing. They debuted at the 2003 Pacific Games, drawing with Papua New Guinea, thrashing Kiribati but otherwise losing, albeit 3 games by a single goal. Attending the 2010 Nations Cup, they lost all 3 of their games, improving slightly in 2012 Olympic qualifiers by beating Samoa. More recently they played at the 2017 Mini Games, reaching the final unbeaten and edging Fiji to take the gold medal. Then they fell short by a single point in 2018 Nations Cup qualifiers before an unsuccessful 2019 Pacific Games where they took a single point, against Tahiti. On the youth side, the men have never been to the Olympics, recently being competitive for top 4 in the confederation, losing the play-off for 2016 after receiving an NZ forfeit in the semis. U20s and U17s have ben impressive in several tournaments, with plenty of top 4s and three 2nd places, with the most recent leading them to a group stage exit at the 2017 U20 World Cup, after narrow defeats to Venezuela and Germany. Victories have been scarcer on the women’s youth side, with the U20s managing a 4th and a 3rd place in larger tournaments but still large gaps to the biggest sides. The U17s have only played in 1 tournament, with 2020’s being cancelled.
The only nation to participate in every OFC Futsal Championship, Vanuatu started well but have always been in the middle of the table, typically finishing around halfway in the rankings with very little variation. Their performances have diminished in recent tournaments though, dropping them out of the top 4. After an initial string of 2nd places in Beach Soccer, Vanuatu have slipped behind Tahiti and New Caledonia to fight out towards the bottom. They’ve never been to a World Cup for either.
Drawn in the easier of the 2 qualifying groups with Tahiti, Solomon Islands and Cook Islands, Vanuatu only managed a warm-up match before illness in the squad forced their withdrawal. They’d have tried to compete with Tahiti for 2nd place, but it could’ve been tricky as both of the big two were in form. Nonetheless a real shame.
Adam's National Shirt Collection 