The New Caledonia national football team founded in 1928. The team joined the Oceania Football Confederation in 1969 and FIFA in 2004. New Caledonia is one of the most successful teams in the confederation.
The Oceania Nations Cup has provided New Caledonia with a degree of success over the years. The team has entered every edition of the cup since in began in 1973. In that time New Caledonia has qualified for the tournament four times. The team has reached the semi-finals twice but its most successful run was second place in the 2008 cup. Although the cup had been reduced to four teams from the usual ten, the New Caledonia national football team still bettered Fiji and Vanuatu.
The New Caledonia national football team has also enjoyed several good runs in the South Pacific Games. The team has won the competition on six occasions, including the two most recent.
The world cup is a relatively new competition to the New Caledonia national football team, having only been eligible since 2004. The team’s first experience came in the 2006 world cup. Despite only losing one qualifying game, the team did not progress beyond the first round of qualification.