1989–1998 Papua New Guinea played its first international game on 26 March 1989 in the
Australian city of
Brisbane facing the
Australia B-side on the
1989 Oceania Cup. The match resulted in a 2–0 loss for the Papua New Guinean team. Geraldine Eka was Papua New Guinea's first scorer, in the lost game against
Taiwan (6–1). In the two remaining matches, their rivals were
New Zealand and
Australia (senior team), with whom they lost both games. The Papua New Guineans finished on the bottom of the table, after being defeated in the four games. The team participated on the
1991 and
1994 editions of the Oceania Cup, with the second being on home soil in the country's capital,
Port Moresby. In both editions, they faced Australia and New Zealand, losing to them heavily. During that period, Papua New Guinea had its biggest loss, 16–0 with New Zealand. Both tournaments also served as the qualifiers for the first FIFA World Cup, held in China in
1991 and the second, in Sweden in
1995. The Papua New Guineans won the 1996 Pacific Cup in
Tonga with
Miriam Lanta's help. In the same year, they managed to achieve their only draw with New Zealand. The
1998 Oceania Cup in
New Zealand saw a small improvement on the national team. They finished in the third position of the competition after beating
Fiji 7–1 on the third place match. Other results include a victory over
American Samoa and two defeats with Australia and New Zealand.
2000s After 5 years without playing any games, Papua New Guinea re-appeared with coach Francis Moyap, in the
2003 Oceania Cup, celebrated in Australia during April 2003. The Papua New Guineans finished third once again. This edition included two new rivals: the
Cook Islands and
Samoa, teams which they defeated by 5–1 and 5–2, respectively. Midfielders Lydia Banabas and Glenda Matthies were notable players in this competition. Papua New Guinea had an average attendance of 412.5 people per match. On the same year, the Papua New Guinean squad participated in the inaugural
South Pacific Games women's football tournament, held in
Fiji during June–July. This time, the national team achieved their biggest victory in their opening match, 13–0 over
Kiribati, with Deslyn Siniu scoring a total of six goals for her country. With 13 points, thanks to four victories, one tie and one loss, Papua New Guinea won the gold medal in this competition. This time, the Papua New Guineans had an average attendance of 800 people per match. Despite having won the Pacific Games tournament, the national team did a regular performance at the
2004 Olympic qualifying tournament, where it faced Australia and Fiji in a round-robin system competition. The team appeared in the 2005 Arafura Games tournament, and finished with poor results. Without Australia in the OFC, Papua New Guinea hosted the Oceania Cup again in
2007. All the games were played in
Lae. This time, the team won against their neighbors, the
Solomon Islands and
Tonga (in fact, by an own goal scored by Tonga's Mele Vaisioa Mahe Niukapu). In the last game, the team lost the chance of qualifying to the
2007 FIFA Women's World Cup in
China after losing to New Zealand. The Papua New Guineans won their second gold medal in
Samoa in the
2007 South Pacific Games. In the group stage, the team had very impressive victories (6–0 against American Samoa; 4–0 against the Solomon Islands; 4–1 against the Cook Islands) and a narrow loss (1–0 against Fiji). It advanced to the semi-finals along with
Tahiti, and won 5–0, allowing them to advance to the final game, where they confronted Tonga at the
Toleafoa J.S. Blatter Complex. After a hard game, Papua New Guinea won 3–1 after
extra time with the help of
Daisy Winas, Ara Midi and Lydia Banabas. The aforementioned was the national team's top scorer again, with a total of eight goals. Thanks to this result, the Papua New Guineans qualified for a play-off against New Zealand to determine Oceania's representative at the
2008 Summer Olympics in
Beijing. Papua New Guinea played the
Olympic play-off qualifier on 8 March 2008, but they lost 2–0.
2010s With an attendance of 60 people, the Lakatois started their
2010 Oceania Cup campaign facing Fiji at the
North Harbour Stadium in
Auckland, New Zealand. Papua New Guinea won the game 3–0 with a scoreline of 1–0 in the half-time. Both the second and third matches (2–1 against the Solomon Islands and 3–0 against Tonga, with an own goal of the Tongan goalkeeper Lupe Likiliki) resulted in victories. Papua New Guinea advanced to the semi-finals to beat the Cook Islands by 1–0. The final, played on 8 October 2010, saw the Kiwis and the Papua New Guineans struggling once again for the Oceania Cup title in front of an audience of 900 people. New Zealand finished as the champion for the fourth time, after thrashing Papua New Guinea 11–0. Zeena Limbai had a brilliant participation, after scoring four goals for PNG. With one goal from Miriam Louma against Tahiti, the Papua New Guinean team started their
2011 Pacific Games road in
New Caledonia, coached by Steven Mune. They achieved a second victory, against American Samoa, by 8–0, including an own goal. It was followed by a loss against the hosts,
New Caledonia (2–1) and a victory over the Solomon Islands (1–0). The national team advanced to the semi-finals, where they faced Fiji, winning the game 4–0. In the gold medal/final game, the Papua New Guinean squad confronted the New Caledonians for the second time in the tournament. Christelle Wahnawe scored for the New Caledonians and Ara Midi and Linah Honeakii for the Papua New Guinean team, thus making 2–1 the final result. PNG received the gold medal for the third time. PNG failed to qualify for the
London 2012 Summer Olympics despite having a very good performance on the first stage of the
qualifiers, played in Tonga from March to April 2012. They had an attendance average of 973.8 people per match. With the former Australian footballer
Gary Phillips as the squad's manager, Papua New Guinea started the
2014 OFC Nations Cup winning 4–1 on home soil, at the
Kalabond Oval in
Kokopo against the Cook Islands. The Lakatois were defeated by the Kiwis 3–0 in the second game. The tournament finished with a 3–0 win to Tonga.
Meagen Gunemba was PNG's top scorer, with four goals, and goalkeeper
Fidelma Watpore was awarded with the Golden Gloves. The Lakatois had a tour on Southeast Asia in March 2015. They faced
Singapore and
Thailand. The national team finished first in the Group B of the
2015 Pacific Games (on home soil), and had a victory against Samoa to advance to the final match, facing New Caledonia.
Marie Kaipu gave the Papua New Guineans a fourth gold medal after scoring in the 21st minute. The Lakatois' latest game was the
2016 Olympic qualifier against the Kiwis, which resulted in a 7–1 loss. A second leg was supposed to be played, but the Papua New Guinean team couldn't travel to New Zealand due to visa issues. ==Team image==