Sport in American Samoa
When it comes to sports, American Samoa is not that different from Samoa in a sense that they like contact sports. Rugby is very popular but their most popular is American football. These two are almost the same kind of contact sports with a few differences like American football players have more padding thereby allowing them to have more "contact" in the sport.
A recent estimate mentioned that around 30 NFL players are American Samoans. As a matter of fact, if you are a Samoan American or Samoan who happens to be residing in the United States, you are about 40 times more likely to join an NFL team than a non-Samoan American. Troy Polamalu of the Pittsburgh Steelers is probably the most famous of the Samoan American NFL players and recognizable by wearing his long hair down during games.
American Samoa's traditional sports are nothing like its popular sports today. It closely resembles survival-related sports like foot racing and spear throwing. The American Samoa has not hosted any international sports competition but they have competed in quite a handful like in the 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympics. Wrestling is also very popular in American Samoa as well as football.
Below are details of sports, sporting events and sports people related to American Samoa.
Popular sports of American Samoa
- American Football, Rugby, Football (Soccer), Wrestling
American Samoa Sporting Success
Great athletes from American Samoa
American Samoa Sports trivia
- In 2001, American Samoa were beaten 31-0 by Australia, the world's greatest losing margin in an international football match.
- American Samoa soccer team won its first-ever game in World Cup qualification, beating Tonga 2-1 in 2011.
- American Samoa is the world's lowest ranked footballing nation.
American Samoa at major events
Past sporting events hosted in American Samoa
Upcoming sporting events in American Samoa
Annual sporting events held in American Samoa
- Events
Sporting Facilities in American Samoa
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