Wantok Cup
| Founded | 2008 |
|---|---|
| Region | Western Melanesia |
| Number of teams | 3 |
| Current champions | Solomon Islands |
| Most successful team(s) | Solomon Islands (2 titles) |
The Wantok Cup was an international football competition between the national teams of three Melanesian countries: Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. The Cup was to be a thrice-a-year competition, to be held in July (twice) and September (once), as part of independence commemoration celebrations in the Solomons, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea, respectively. The inaugural edition of the Cup was held during independence celebrations in the Solomon Islands, from July 3 to July 7, 2008, and was won by the hosts.
Eddie Ngava, General Secretary of the Solomon Islands Football Federation, had stated: "We hope this will be the inaugural start of the Wantok Cup when each of the three countries will be having a competition on each of their countries' independence days." The Cup has been described by the Oceania Football Confederation as "a tournament reminiscent of the now defunct Melanesian Cup". Ngava, however, has stated that "these two competitions are not linked in any way".
Wantok is a Tok Pisin and Pijin word which comes from the English "one talk", and means people who speak the same language, belong to the same culture, and are comrades. The name was chosen so as to emphasise the similarities of the pidgin languages spoken in the three countries - namely Tok Pisin, Pijin and Bislama.