'Leading nation into first ever match is surreal'

Lloyd Owers from Banbury is technical director of the Marshall Islands Soccer Federation

"It's definitely surreal that we've got to this point - I don't think even we thought it would happen."

Three years ago, Lloyd Owers was tasked with the biggest challenge of his football coaching career - building the Marshall Islands' first international team.

The Pacific Island nation, which is home to about 40,000 people, had previously been the self-proclaimed "last country on Earth without a football team".

Fast forward to 2025, and Thursday will see the country play in its first ever 11v11 match against a recognised FIFA nation - with Mr Owers leading the team as its head coach.

The match is part of a tournament in Arkansas - where they'll also be playing against Turks and Caicos.

Having arrived in the US on Wednesday, Mr Owers said he was "nervous, but excited at the same time".

The country is the self-proclaimed last nation on Earth without a football team

The Marshall Islands is made up of a chain of volcanic islands and coral-based atolls in the middle of the ocean, and is best known as a former US nuclear testing site used during the Cold War.

Mr Owers joined the nation's football federation as technical director in 2022, after blog posts he had written led to "random conversations" with the association's president.

"Honestly, it's been eye opening in the sense of where we started, with no football, and nothing in the country - to the extent that basic equipment just wasn't there," he said.

"Fast forward on to where we are now, we've got all these weekly sessions, this coach education structure and worldwide recruitment for players and it's going in the right direction."

"It's unbelievable to be at this point now."

The Marshall Islands will take-on Turks and Caicos and the US Virgin Islands

The four team tournament in the US was organised by the Marshall Islands Soccer Federation, and is seen as first step towards the team joining FIFA and competing in World Cup qualifying matches.

"We've got players that are coming from all different parts of the world, we've got a lot of US-based players that are experienced but we're also combining them with players from the Marshall Islands," Mr Owers said of the playing squad.

He said it would be "an eye-opener to combine everyone into one squad", with players undergoing eight days of "intensive" training before their first game.

"Everyone's ready for it, everyone's excited, raring to go and we feel as prepared as we can be at this stage, so we're hoping we can do something with it," he added.