Beginnings (1960s–1990s) Football in Guam began in the 1960s, on the initiative of two pioneers: an Irish priest, Tony Gillespie, and an owner of a construction company, Charles Whang, who settled in Guam and created the Guam Soccer Cup before becoming the first president of the
Guam Football Association in 1975. Guam played its first international match at the
1975 Pacific Games against
Solomon Islands, losing 5–1. This result was followed by an 11–0 loss to
Fiji, eliminating them from the competition. In the
1979 Games, Guam again lost twice to
New Caledonia 11–1 and
New Hebrides 5–0. Progressing to the Consolation Tournament, Guam registered their first victories, beating
Western Samoa 4–2, and
Tuvalu 7–2 before losing again to
New Hebrides, 5–1.
AFC and FIFA Member (1991–2011) Despite being considered part of Oceania, and having never faced an Asian team to that point, Guam became an associate member of the
AFC in 1991 but continued to participate in the
Pacific Games. In 1996, Guam became both a full member of the AFC and of
FIFA. As a full member of the AFC and FIFA, Guam played its first matches against Asian teams as part of the
1996 AFC Asian Cup qualification losing all three matches against
South Korea (9–0),
Vietnam (9–0), and
Chinese Taipei (9–2). In 1998, Guam played in the
Micronesian Games, though the tournament was a 9-a-side competition with 80 minute matches. Guam finished top of the group stage but lost 3–0 to
Northern Mariana Islands in the final. Guam entered the
2000 Asian Cup qualification but finished last in their group again, losing to Vietnam (11–0),
China (19–0), and
Philippines (2–0). Guam became one of the founding members of the
East Asian Football Federation in 2002 and participated in the qualifiers for the inaugural
2003 East Asian Football Championship, finishing last again without registering a goal. The same is true for the
2004 AFC Asian Cup qualification, beaten by
Bhutan and
Mongolia. For the
2006 World Cup qualifiers, Guam entered and was scheduled to face
Nepal in the first round but both Nepal and Guam withdrew for financial reasons before their first match. In the
2005 East Asian Football Championship qualifiers, Guam lost all four matches heavily, against
Chinese Taipei (9–0),
Hong Kong (15–0),
Mongolia (4–1), and
North Korea (21–0). Following these defeats, Guam entered the
2006 AFC Challenge Cup, a competition designed for
emerging nations to help develop their football. Guam again lost all three matches to
Palestine (11–0),
Bangladesh (3–0), and
Cambodia (3–0). Guam advanced to the second stage of qualifying in the
2008 East Asian Football Championship by beating
Northern Marianas 12–2 over two legs but they were eliminated in the next round by
Chinese Taipei (10–0), and
Hong Kong (15–1). In the
2010 East Asian Football Championship qualifiers, Guam managed to get its first victory over a FIFA member, beating
Mongolia 1–0. They would go on to top the group before being eliminated at the next stage. Guam returned to the
2011 Pacific Games after a sixteen-year absence, but only managed to beat
American Samoa 2–0, finishing second last and failing to advance to the knock-out stages.
Building the football structure (2012–present) Gary White became Guam's manager in 2012 and called-up players of Guamanian origin based in the United States like
Ryan Guy and
A. J. DeLaGarza to improve the level of his team. In the
2013 EAFF East Asian Cup,
Matao managed to advance past the first round by beating
Northern Marianas (3–1) and
Macao (3–0). Guam then participated in the
2012 Philippine Peace Cup, replacing
Hong Kong, losing against
Philippines (1–0) and
Chinese Taipei (2–0) but beat
Macao (3–0) in its final group game to finish third. Guam advanced to the second qualifying stage of both the
2015 and
2017 EAFF Championship finishing third and fourth respectively and failing to advance the final competition. }} In
2018 FIFA World Cup qualification, Guam beat
Turkmenistan (1–0) and
India (2–1), finishing fourth in their group and qualifying for the
2019 Asian Cup third round qualifiers, although Guam withdrew before the draw took place. Guam then failed to progress past the first qualifying round for the
2019 EAFF Championship. During the
2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, Guam beat
Bhutan 5–1 over two legs but lost all eight of their second round matches and finished bottom of their group, scoring two goals and conceding 32. After nearly not playing an international match for a year, Guam participated in the first round of the
2026 FIFA World Cup qualification against
Singapore, where they would ultimately lost 3–1 on aggregate. During the
2025 EAFF E-1 Football Championship preliminary, Guam won their first match against
Macau on 14 December 2024 in a 2–1 win, its the first time they won against different opponents aside from
Northern Mariana Islands.
2026 FIFA Series The
men's competition of the 2026 FIFA Series was split into nine different sections hosted across eight countries. In November 2025, FIFA announced that
Puerto Rico would host one such section in
Bayamón, in which Guam, the
U.S. Virgin Islands and
American Samoa would also compete. The
Puerto Rican section of the tournament was held in a four-match format (semi-finals, third-place match and final) in late March 2026. Guam finished third in the section after losing to hosts Puerto Rico in its semi-final but defeating American Samoa in the third-place match. ==Team image==