Marshall Islands, last country without a football team, plays first 11-a-side game in the U.S.

The Marshall Islands, the last country in the world without a football team, played its first-ever 11-a-side fixture on Thursday evening, when it faced the US Virgin Islands.

The Pacific Island nation played the US side in its first game of the Outrigger Cup mini-tournament in Arkansas, losing 4-0.

As reported by The Athletic, its first match took place in Springdale, nearly 10,000km (6,200 miles) away from the islands, which is home to the largest Marshallese population outside of the nation itself.

Though there are other countries which have not played a FIFA-accredited fixture, the Marshall Islands, with a population of fewer than 40,000 inhabitants, is the final nation to have never played an 11-a-side match.

The Marshall Islands’ football leadership, a mix of British and Marshallese coaches and volunteers, wants to ultimately receive recognition from FIFA and the OFC.

“Playing our first 11-a-side game is unbelievable from where we started; it was just a pipedream. But we’ve created a lot of pathways and structures for kids to be playing and adults to be coaching,” head coach Lloyd Owers told The Athletic in March.

“We want the opportunity to play 11 vs 11, to represent the country, and to be the first group of people to do that.”

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Historically, football has not been played in the Marshall Islands due to a lack of pitch space, coaching expertise, and wider interest, with the nation far more in the United States’ sporting orbit. Basketball is the most popular sport.

Another challenge is climate change, with the nation an average of just two metres above sea level. The team aims to use football to draw awareness to the islands’ plight.

The Marshall Islands will now play games against Guam and the Turks and Caicos Islands over the coming week.