In September 2008, Tuvaluan Prime Minister Apisai Ielemia and the President of the Tuvalu Football Association, Tapugao Falefou, visited the headquarters of FIFA in Zürich, hoping to gain full membership in the organisation.

[3] In December 2013, OFC General Secretariat Tai Nicholas named Tuvalu's lack of a regulation pitch as the main factor preventing the country from being accepted into FIFA.

[8] On 7 March 2018 it was announced that Tuvalu would replace Kiribati in the 2018 ConIFA World Football Cup in London.

Former NAC Breda and De Graafschap coach Leen Looijen was the team's mentor during training in the Netherlands,[2] with the tour organised by the Dutch Support Tuvalu Foundation.

The Tuvaluan team, captained by Karl Tili, played three international matches at the 1979 South Pacific Games, with Kokea Malu as the coach.

[17] In 2007, with Toakai Puapua as the coach, and Petio Semaia as the captain, Tuvalu became the first non FIFA member to participate in an official World Cup qualifying match.

[25] De Haan previously coached SC Heerenveen, Ajax Cape Town and the Dutch national U-21 team.

De Haan began his tenure with a 3–0 victory over Samoa in a warm-up match for the 2011 Pacific Games, and striker Alopua Petoa scored a hat-trick.

[29][35] The squad finished equal with Guam in Pool A with four points, which was the best performance by Tuvalu in an international tournament at the time.

However, due to arriving late for their opening game against Papua New Guinea, their opponents were awarded a 3-0 walkover win.

[37] A subsequent 0-6 loss to Vanuatu meant that Tuvalu finished bottom of their group and faced a playoff game against Tonga which they won 4-0.