The Solomon Islands Football Federation (SIFF) has announced the appointment of Ben Kahn as interim head coach of the Solomon Islands men's national football team, known as the “Bonitos“.
38-year-old Londoner Ben Kahn currently leads the most successful club in the small island country - Solomon Kings, but the federation decided three days ago to entrust him with the national team, as they do not have a coach. Ben Kahn was born in London, but his mother is Australian. He played football as a teenager at the schools of Fulham and Crystal Palace, but at the age of 21 he turned to coaching and returned to his mother's homeland. He was head coach of the Melbourne Knights and Brisbane Roar before moving to the Solomon Islands. His international debut will be on March 27 against Bulgaria.
Ben Cann will be joined by Richard Greer, assistant coach at Solomon Kings, and three local coaches - Gideon Omokirio, Eddie Marahare and Stanley Waita, as part of a program to develop local coaching talent. This close-knit technical team will lead the men's national team, which is mainly composed of players who currently play for Solomon Kings in the unified OFC Pro League. In total, 18 players in the group are from that club and there are four more from different teams.
The Solomon Islands footballers arrived in Jakarta yesterday and are training on one of the pitches at the Olympic Sports Complex “Gelora Bung Karno“ in Jakarta, where the entire “FIFA Series 2026” tournament will be held, in which the hosts from Indonesia and another island nation - will also participate St. Kitts and Nevis.
“We are delighted that Ben Kahn will be taking charge of the national team for this important series“, said Donald Marahare, president of the country's federation, quoted by the official website. “His knowledge of the game and his commitment to the Solomon Kings in the Pro League make him an ideal choice to lead the team for this series. We wish Ben, Richard and the entire team all the best as they depart for Indonesia“.
The Solomon Islands are 152nd in the FIFA rankings, but are third in the Oceania zone, just behind New Zealand and the World Cup play-off team New Caledonia. In comparison, the Solomon Islands team is higher in the world headquarters ranking than teams such as Malta, Moldova, Andorra and Gibraltar.
The Bulgarian team arrived in Jakarta today after a journey that lasted 15 hours and 25 minutes with two stops to refuel the plane. Historically, Bulgaria has five matches against teams from the Oceania Zone, with four of them against Australia, before the “kangaroos“ moved to the Asia Zone. The balance is clearly in favor of the Bulgarian team – two wins and two draws against Australia and one win over New Caledonia.