The Hotspot | ‘This may be our last chance’: rising sea levels threaten Kiribati’s World Cup dream

“This is not just about football, it’s about building something from scratch,” Eriati Reebo, the Kiribati football president, explains. “A legacy, a story, that the world will always remember.” Kiribati, a group of Pacific islands south of Hawaii with 138,000 inhabitants, is seeking entry into World Cup qualifying for the 2030 tournament. Becoming a recognised international football team would help bring attention to the only nation on earth that sits within all four hemispheres, and one that is rapidly disappearing from the map. It could be the first, but certainly not the last, country to be engulfed by sea water, leaving it uninhabitable. And before that happens, it wants to professionalise the football setup and become a full member of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC). This would both create a route to competing with bigger nations and help keep the Kiribati spirit alive. “Football is our passion and, despite our small territory, we dream big,” Reebo says. “In Kiribati you’re born knowing how to play football, that’s why we are working through our effort to be part of football and to be qualified for the World Cup. This may be our last chance. “Kiribati is a very tiny island and it’s not really known by people, and if we can be part of the World Cup, it will give Kiribati a new audience that it has never had before. …