1963–1978 The Papuan national team played its first match at the
1963 South Pacific Games, where it fell to
Fiji 3-1 and was eliminated. At the
1966 South Pacific Games they reached the third place match but lost to the
New Hebrides. Three years later they reached the same stage, and defeated the Fijian team 2-1 to win the bronze medal. At
1971 South Pacific Games, after losing in the semi-finals to
New Caledonia, they were beaten 8-1 by
Tahiti in the third place game. Four years later, at the 1975 Games, they were beaten in the group stage by Tahiti and New Caledonia and thus eliminated in the first round.
1979–1995 At the
1979 South Pacific Games they lost in the quarter-finals 3–2 against the
Solomon Islands, and in the first phase of the consolation tournament they were beaten 2–0 at the hands of the
New Hebrides. The following year they played in the
1980 Oceania Cup, the precursor to the
OFC Nations Cup, where despite beating the New Hebrides team, their losses to
Australia and
New Caledonia left them out at the first phase. At
1983 South Pacific Games they lost the match for third place against the New Caledonian team. In the 1987 edition they won the bronze medal again by beating
Vanuatu 3-1. Even so, in the two subsequent editions, 1991 and 1995, they were eliminated in the first phase.
1996–2012 After an absence in three editions of the OFC Nations Cup, due to the poor results obtained in the
Melanesia Cup, they qualified for the
2002 tournament. They were only able to salvage a point in a 0-0 draw against the
Solomon Islands and bowed out in the first round. In
2003 South Pacific Games they had a poor performance and in five games only obtained four points. After not participating in 2007, which served as qualification for the
2008 OFC Nations Cup, they were eliminated in the first phase at
2011 Pacific Games by having worse goal difference than
Tahiti, with whom they tied on points. In the
2012 OFC Nations Cup they drew with
Fiji and lost to the
Solomon Islands and
New Zealand, again being eliminated in the group stage.
2013–present played numerous football matches for Papua New Guinea In 2015, Papua New Guinea was designated to host the
2016 OFC Nations Cup. In the group stage, the Papuan team drew 1–1 with
New Caledonia, 2–2 against
Tahiti and beat
Samoa 8–0. After achieving victory in the semi-finals, 2–1 against the Solomon Islands, they lost on penalties to
New Zealand in the final after drawing 0–0 in regulation time. On 20 June 2023, Papua New Guinea suffered their worst defeat in their history losing to
Malaysia 10–0 at the
Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin Stadium.
FIFA Series tournament In 2024, Papua New Guinea played their first ever tournament outside Oceania where
FIFA invited them to the
2024 FIFA Series matches on from 22 to 25 March 2024 held in
Colombo where they would face
Sri Lanka and
Central African Republic. ==Kit sponsorship==