Meet the 'other' Scotland bidding to qualify for the World Cup and achieve football's greatest ever story

The exile of a team that once qualified for five consecutive World Cups risked reaching comedic proportions. New Caledonia (population 270,000) was about to show Old Caledonia (population 5m) how it’s done. Watch and weep. The ultimate humiliation.

It wasn’t what Captain James Cook might have expected when, charting a course westward towards New Zealand on his second great voyage of discovery in 1774, he spotted a large island and named it “New Caledonia”. The misty, mountainous terrain reminded him of the Highlands in his father’s native Scotland.

The story of this South Pacific archipelago is more complex than a British explorer turning up and confidently labelling islands after places they resembled back home in the ‘old country’. There is a long history of indigenous Kanak resistance following France's 1853 annexation under Napoleon III. France granted citizenship to all Kanaks in 1957. Recent years have been characterised by intense political polarisation and severe social unrest due to deep tensions between the Kanak population and pro-France loyalists. Three referendums since 2018, the last of which was boycotted by pro-independence groups, have exacerbated rather than resolved the situation.

Perhaps France should have feared the ultimate custard pie in the face in the form of New Caledonia qualifying for the World Cup while they failed — as Les Bleus did the last time the World Cup was held in the United States in 1994. However, France cruised through qualifying this time, securing first place in their group with a game to spare.

This time last year Scotland were still to begin their own World Cup qualifying endeavours. It was widely accepted that Steve Clarke's side were up against it in a group with top seeds Denmark and Greece, the coming team of Europe. New Caledonia, meanwhile, only needed to beat New Zealand in the final of the Oceania Qualifiers one year ago this week to become one of the first teams to confirm their place in North America.

‘Only’ is of course doing a lot of heavy lifting. Sadly, and perhaps not unexpectedly, they fell to a 3-0 defeat against the perennial top dogs of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) - Australia successfully applied to join the Asian Football Confederation in 2005. Later this week, however, New Caledonia have another chance to ensure that OFC is represented by two teams at a World Cup for the first time ever following the intercontinental play-offs in Mexico.

Forget Leicester City. Forget even Hearts potentially winning the Scottish league title after several decades of Old Firm hegemony. This would be the greatest football story ever told (Curacao, who have already qualified, might be a smaller country but they are ranked way above New Caledonia, who are currently placed 150).

Two wins required to reach World Cup

Admittedly, New Caledonia are further away now than just over a year ago, when the victory over Tahiti set up a winner-takes-all qualification final in Auckland. They now must win two matches to secure a place in North America, where they would play Portugal, Colombia and Uzbekistan—the first country from Central Asia to qualify for a World Cup—in Group K. Scotland, who ended up winning a tough group, also made it through.

Jamaica present the first obstacle. If New Caledonia beat the Reggae Boyz, then it’s Congo DR who will stand between them and the World Cup. For comparison, New Zealand are currently 85 in the rankings. Congo are at 48. Even Jamaica are 70. It isn’t going to be easy.

Logistics alone have been challenging. It’s already been an incredible journey simply making it to Guadalajara, where the Pathway 1 semi-final will be held in the early hours of Friday morning UK time. Romain Painbeni, media and communications manager, traced the 48-hour door-to-door journey for The Scotsman after the majority of the 26-strong squad arrived in Mexico on Sunday night.

The first stage was a relatively short hop from New Caledonia to Auckland, followed by a 12-hour flight to Los Angeles. The squad spent one night in California before flying to Guadalajara, one of the World Cup host cities.

Yoan Bearune, who plays for Horizon Patho on Lifou (part of the Loyalty Islands), endured an additional, extended leg. He had to take a ferry to Grande Terre, New Caledonia's main island, because an Air Caledonie strike has grounded domestic flights since the beginning of this month. It is a further illustration of the difficulties that have had to be overcome due to unrest at home. A ferry takes nearly six hours compared to the 45-minute flight time.

Another player, midfielder Jakob Jeno, plays in Israel for Beitar Jerusalem and had to drive to Jordan to catch a flight due to the ongoing conflict in the region. “It has been a complicated travel situation with the dangerous context,” reported Painbeni. Eight stragglers arrived on Monday.

They are all now present and correct in Mexico, under the watchful eye of French manager Johann Sidaner. The French influence is strong, as expected. Other than the name, links with Scotland are scant to non-existent unless one counts Antoine Kombouare, who was born in the New Caledonia capital of Noumea and started his career at local club WS Plum before having a spell with Aberdeen in the mid 1990s.

New Caledonia can boast a World Cup winner

“In our culture, family is the most important thing and it makes you what you are, not careers,” he told Scotland on Sunday in 1996. He was true to his word having already recommended his cousin, Christian Karembeu, to Nantes, where Kombouare started his professional career. Karembeu went on to star for France at France ’98, steadfastly refusing to sing La Marseillaise before matches in protest at French colonialism in his homeland. It means New Caledonia can boast a male World Cup winner, something Scotland cannot.

Scots do, though, get about. Sidaner, from Nantes, can remember a peroxide blond striker starring for Nantes in the late 1980s. He was called Mo Johnston and was a regular goalscorer in France between spells at Celtic and Rangers. Sidaner, then 11-years-old, was a regular at Stade de la Beaujoire, Nantes’ home. He never made the grade as a professional footballer and joined the coaching staff at Nantes in his early 20s, becoming New Caledonia manager four years ago. Now 48, he has already led the team to their first ever win over European opposition when beating Gibraltar 2-0 in a friendly late last year.

Although it might be more a case of Bravo Nouvelle Caledonie rather than New Caledonia the Brave, Scotland could be joined by their most distant of relatives in the 48-team World Cup. One out of Celtic cousins Wales and Northern Ireland could also join the Scots. They are involved in the same European play-offs pathway. Michael O'Neill's Northern Ireland, who face a trip to Italy in their semi-final, face the toughest challenge.

However, the odds seem less heavily stacked against them than against New Caledonia. Matt Brown, OFC media and communications manager, was sitting behind his desk in Auckland at 6:30 am on Monday morning when The Scotsman called. It's the start of a big week. "Oh absolutely," he agreed.

He has just returned from a 'short' trip to Honiari in the Solomon Islands, where Solomon Kings entertained South Melbourne in the latest round of fixtures of the newly established OFC Pro-League. New Caledonia’s political situation means they have no representation in the inaugural eight-team league. Despite also having to pull out of the 2024 OFC Men’s Nations Cup competition (the region’s Euros equivalent), it speaks volumes about their resilience that the international team are where they are.

“Two of their players – Germain (Haewegene) and Joseph (Athale) - were with Tahiti United’s squad and I bumped into them at Brisbane Airport as they were about to connect to LA to meet up with the New Caledonia team," Brown said.

"The two boys don’t speak much English. Germain speaks a little bit more. I said: ‘Good luck!’. He told me they are so excited to represent Oceania. They are representing the region as well and showcasing its developing football scene.

"They performed really well in the World Cup qualifiers and then played New Zealand in the final,” Brown added. “They lost 3-0 on the night but it was goalless for a long period – it was shortly after the 60th minute when they conceded. They had some half-chances. I can tell you now the crowd in Auckland, there were about 25,000 there, were very anxious. They fought hard and then came their recent first overseas international win v Gibraltar in October. But they are minnows, there’s no question about it.

“They will be excited that’s for sure. Jamaica will be a different beast. But it’s football, as we know. They are in with a sniff. It would be right up there, right? Curacao getting there through regular qualification, that’s incredible too. The OFC’s stated goal with the strategy 2023-26 was to qualify two teams for the 2026 World Cup for men and 2027 for women.

“Now, realistically, that is still a long shot. Obviously, we get one direct entry but the one and-a-half spot, what it does for Oceania is that is provides, if not a pathway, then inspiration for players at the top level and also below that.

“After that loss to New Zealand, I can tell you that when I spoke to the New Caledonia players there was a realisation they still had a chance to get to a World Cup. They can get to the big stage. The eyes of the world will be watching them in Mexico.”