What needs to be done to make Papua New Guinea’s World Cup dreams come true?

The 2026 FIFA World Cup has kicked off and while there will be plenty of fans right across Oceania keeping a close eye on events, this time, just has been the case every time since the tournament began in 1930, no Pacific island team will be involved.

These days rugby league is absolutely flavour of the month in Papua New Guinea, but blogger and sports journalist Malum Nalu says it hasn’t always been that way.

In the years either side of independence, and despite a shortage of funds, he says soccer standards were high and the crowds were big, but when development money started rolling in from FIFA, he argues that the game went backwards.

Right now he says PNG’s young players deserve better pathways and better governance, and he’s urging the current administration to step aside, if the dream of PNG ever playing at a World Cup – men’s or women’s – is to become a reality.