Shalom Luani: two sports, one nation

Shalom Luani is one of the many National Football League (NFL) players with Polynesian blood. Born in Pago Pago, American Samoa, the 25 years old was selected by the Oakland Raiders in the seventh round of 2017 NFL Draft.

His talent as an American Football player was discovered in 2009 when he was the MVP of a local tournament. He also took part of American Samoa U19 squad that played 2012 IFAF U-19 World Championship.

During this time as a youth American Football player in American Samoa he also had some good adventures playing soccer. He played 2011 Pacific Games for his National Soccer Team and he also played the 2014 World Cup Qualifiers that took place in Samoa at the same year.

He wrote his name in the history of American Samoa’s soccer by helping his National Team to win an official match for the first time ever by scoring a goal in the 2-1 win against Tonga in the World Cup Qualifiers. He also scored in the 1-1 draw against Cook Islands. Luani was one of the top scorers of the Preliminary Round with two goals alongside with Campbell Best (Cook Islands) and Luki Gosche (Samoa). He was only 17 years old. You can check his goals in the video below:

In 2012 he stopped playing soccer because he moved to United States to study and play American Football. Luani does not a huge career in NFL but he has already played 31 matches in the league since his debut. His last official match was in November when he took part of Los Angeles Chargers active squad in the 24-17 loss against Kansas City Chiefs. Luani also took part of Houston Texans practice squad in 2019 but he did not play any match.

Although he left soccer he will never be forgotten by Oceanian football fans because he has made history for his homeland. He scored two goals in eight matches for American Samoa National Football Team.