Official Site of MISF

Wow! What a year it has been…

It’s been 2 years since this project picked up pace and we’re incredibly proud of what has been achieved over that time. It wouldn’t have been possible without the generosity of our sponsors, supporters, and donors – so let us start with a big Kommoltata to you all.

Our ultimate goal is to become members of a regional confederation and FIFA, and all of this work will strengthen any future applications.

So 2024, where to begin?

In January, experienced British coach Justin Walley headed out to Majuro to oversee coach development and school coaching sessions. His whirlwind 14 days included plenty of school visits – his personal highlights were giving kids the opportunity to play soccer for the very first time. Since his visit we have been working to get soccer onto the Physical Education curriculum across the islands.

Whilst he was there we also launched the Ratak Cup – a futsal tournament for both adults and kids. We hope this can become an annual event.

Following on from Justin’s trip, we also sent an envoy to Springdale, Arkansas, US. Springdale is home to the largest Marshallese population outside of the islands. Whilst there we did a lot of community outreach, meeting with the RMI Consulate and attenting Nuclear Legacy events – however the main focus was the first ever Women’s National Team Futsal camp. We were able to bring together 6 talented female players for a 3 day intensive camp.

Later on, we hired Katie Smith as our first ever Women’s National Team Manager (Voluntary) but are still trying to arrange our first fixture.

Katie later attended Camp Iakwe (along with 2 of our women’s team players). Camp Iakwe is a culture camp where adopted Marshallese children and their families are able to learn more about their nation, it’s history, and traditions. We hosted some pop-up soccer sessions to hopefully inspire the next generation.

In July, our men’s team were due to play Kiribati in a futsal fixture. With short notice, Kiribati were forced to cancel, so we decided to turn this negative into a positive. We ended up reversing the fixture and inviting Federated States of Micronesia to create a tri-nation tournament. It was a beautiful moment to see competitive, international soccer taking place in Majuro for the first time. Our team were runners-up against a strong Kiribati side, but we look forward to holding more events like these in the future.

Fast forward to October and we had a mammoth month of activities.

We partnered with the Special Olympics Marshall Islands team to host a joint session with disabled athletes, introducing 30 new players to soccer. The event was such a success we’re looking at how we can have regular events moving forward.

We also hosted our first ever Inter-School Match. History was made as Grade 4 & 5 students from Delap Elementary School and Majuro Co-operative School competed against each other in another landmark event.

Back in Springdale, AR we also hosted a community event for Marshallese kids to try soccer. It’s important for us to engage Marshallese communities wherever they are in the world.

The final landmark of the year was hosting our first ever community sessions on the island of Ebeye. Ebeye is one of the most densely populated islands on Earth, and we hope to provide more opportunities for kids to play soccer as we expand our operations outside of Majuro for the first time.

Stay tuned for 2025, which with your help, could be bigger and better!

Thank you to our team of volunteers, who have helped to deliver these events – and thank you to everybody who has attended or supported our activities.

A special thanks goes to the Australian Embassy in Majuro, for providing us with grant assistance from the Direct Aid Programme. The grant has enabled us to provide equipment, refreshments, and coaching for our sessions in Majuro and Ebeye.