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Australia 31–0 American Samoa

Updated: 12/21/2025, 12:48:07 PM Wikipedia source

On 11 April 2001, the Australian and American Samoan national association football teams played each other in an Oceanian qualifying match for the 2002 FIFA World Cup. The match was played at the International Sports Stadium in Coffs Harbour, Australia. Australia set a world record for the largest victory in an international football match, winning the game 31–0. Australia's Archie Thompson also broke the record for most goals scored by a player in an international match by scoring 13 goals. David Zdrilic, the scorer of eight goals in the match, scored the second-highest number of goals in an international match since World War I. The outcome of the match led to debates about the format of the qualification tournament, which had previously (in the 1998 qualification) contained a preliminary round to avoid such lopsided matches. Australian manager Frank Farina and Thompson criticised the new format, eventually leading FIFA to re-introduce a preliminary round in the Oceanian zone qualification for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The unbalanced level of opponents was also addressed by Australia's move to the Asian Football Confederation in 2006.

Infobox

Event
2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
Australia
Australia American Samoa 31 0
Date
11 April 2001 (2001-04-11)
Venue
International Sports Stadium, Coffs Harbour, Australia
Man of the Match
Archie Thompson
Referee
Ronan Leaustic (Tahiti)
Attendance
3,000 (estimated)

Tables

FIFA World Cup Qualification – Oceanian zone – Group 1 · Post-match
Australia
Australia
Team
Australia
Pld
4
W
4
D
0
L
0
GF
66
GA
0
GD
+66
Pts
12
Fiji
Fiji
Team
Fiji
Pld
4
W
3
D
0
L
1
GF
27
GA
4
GD
+23
Pts
9
Tonga
Tonga
Team
Tonga
Pld
4
W
2
D
0
L
2
GF
7
GA
30
GD
−23
Pts
6
Samoa
Samoa
Team
Samoa
Pld
4
W
1
D
0
L
3
GF
9
GA
18
GD
−9
Pts
3
American Samoa
American Samoa
Team
American Samoa
Pld
4
W
0
D
0
L
4
GF
0
GA
57
GD
−57
Pts
0
Team
Pld
W
D
L
GF
GA
GD
Pts
Australia
4
4
0
0
66
0
+66
12
Fiji
4
3
0
1
27
4
+23
9
Tonga
4
2
0
2
7
30
−23
6
Samoa
4
1
0
3
9
18
−9
3
American Samoa
4
0
0
4
0
57
−57
0

References

  1. The Daily Telegraph
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/international/3003021/Australia-score-31-without-loss-in-record-win.html
  2. FIFA
    https://web.archive.org/web/20090216020510/http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition%3D4395/preliminaries/preliminary%3D3863/index.html
  3. The Guardian
    https://www.theguardian.com/football/2001/apr/11/newsstory.sport9
  4. The Independent
  5. www.rsssf.org
    https://www.rsssf.org/tablesa/amsamoa-intres.html
  6. The Daily Telegraph
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/international/3003225/FIFA-ruling-which-left-Samoans-singing-the-blues.html
  7. FourFourTwo
    https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/australia-31-0-american-samoa-the-loneliest-game-in-history
  8. BBC Sport
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/world_cup_2002/1272048.stm
  9. ESPN Soccernet
    http://www.espnfc.com.ng/worldcup/news/2001/0411/20010411australiawr.html
  10. BBC Sport
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/world_cup_2002/1271854.stm
  11. CBC Sports
    https://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/australians-set-world-cup-soccer-scoring-record-1.254320
  12. The New York Times
    https://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/12/sports/plus-soccer-was-it-31-0-or-32-0-australia-wins.html
  13. FIFA
    https://web.archive.org/web/20071018093941/http://fifa.com/worldcup/archive/edition=4395/preliminaries/preliminary=3863/matches/match=22243/report.html
  14. www.fifa.com
    https://www.fifa.com/tournaments/mens/worldcup/2002korea-japan/news/the-story-behind-an-unlikely-world-record
  15. The Age
    http://www.theage.com.au/news/Soccer/The-allimportant-Cole-difference/2004/12/12/1102625590072.html
  16. The Guardian
    https://www.theguardian.com/Archive/Article/0,4273,4110868,00.html
  17. FIFA
    https://web.archive.org/web/20070624084653/http://www.fifa.com/newscentre/news/newsid=538353.html
  18. The Sydney Morning Herald
    http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2005/03/10/1110417621684.html
  19. The Age
    https://www.theage.com.au/sport/soccer/australia-completes-move-from-oceania-to-asia-20050701-ge0fqd.html
  20. The Daily Telegraph
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/england/2326661/Fifa-World-Cup-2010-The-draw-in-full.html
  21. The Daly Telegraph
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/international/3017518/World-Cup-Qualifier-Australian-hopes-sunk-by-Morales.html
  22. BBC Sport
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-27245733
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