Tupapa Maraerenga F.C.

Tupapa Maraerenga Football Club is an amateur football club located in Avarua, the Cook Islands. They currently compete in the Cook Islands Round Cup and in the Cook Islands Cup.

Tupapa is the most successful club in the country. They have won 20 Cook Islands Round Cups, 6 more than Titikaveka and 11 Cook Islands Cups, 1 less than Nikao Sokattak.

The 2000s saw Tupapa and Nikao Sokattack compete for the title, with 4 championships for the former, and 6 for the latter. Tupapa won 3 in a row in 2001, 2002 and 2003, before Nikao repeating the feat, only to be interrupted by the black and whites in 2007.^[1][2]

Tupapa became the first Cook Islands club to play on the continental scene, by participating in the 2001 OFC Club Championship. Drawn in group B, they finished 4th out of 5 teams, with 3 losses and 1 win. Their maiden win, which came against PanSa, was initially a 4–0 result, before being turned into a 2–0 win due to the team from American Samoa fielding ineligible players.^[3] The club was scheduled to participate in the 2008–09 OFC Champions League preliminary round. However, they withdrew before the competition began.

After winning the 2011 Cook Islands Round Cup,^[4] the team appeared in the 2012–13 OFC Champions League, starting in the preliminary Round. After topping their group, they were eliminated in the play-off round by Mont-Dore.

The 2010s saw Tupapa cement itself as the new dominant force in the Round Cup, with the club winning 8 out of 10 championships (Puaikura winning the other 2). In 2017, the club took back the Round Cup from the hands of Puaikura, finishing 9 points ahead of runner-up Nikao Sokattak, thus returning to the Champions League.^[5] Tupapa managed to overcome the preliminary rounds for the first time in 2018, winning all 3 games and topping their group. They were drawn in group A, where they lost all games and were eliminated.

In the 2019 OFC Champions League, they repeated the same feat by topping the qualifying group, ahead of Samoan opponents. They were drawn in group D with Auckland City and Magenta, in what was arguably the most difficult group of the competition. They unsurprisingly lost all games, with a -33 goal difference, only scoring 2 goals. After a 3rd consecutive league title, Tupapa returned to the Champions League, qualifying once again for the group stage, with their games scheduled to take place in New Caledonia. However, the club was forced to withdraw due to three of their players failing to confirm immunization to measles.^[6] After winning the 2022 Tower Insurance Premiership, they earned a spot in the 2023 OFC Champions League qualifying stage,^[7] but failed to progress after losing to Lupe o le Soaga SC.^[8]

With another league title in 2024, Tupapa had won 16 out of the last 25 league titles. The league had not seen such a dominant club since Titikaveka's consecutive titles in the 1970s and 1980s. For the 2025 season, the club hired female coach Mii Piri-Savage. With the 2025 OFC Men's Champions League qualifying stage held at home for the first time, Tupapa progressed to the group stage thanks to a 3–3 draw against Royal Puma and a 2–1 win against Vaipuna. On this occasion, Piri-Savage became the second female coach at the OFC Men's Champions League qualifying stage, after Steffany Godinet in 2023, and the first ever at the group stage.^[9] For their first appearance in the group stages in 6 years, Tupapa was drawn in group B alongside Hekari United, Ifira Black Bird and Central Coast F.C., once again failing to collect a single point, being eliminated with a –19 goal difference.

They won the 2025 Cook Islands Cup emphatically, beating 5-0 over Nikao Sokattak, veteral Campbell Best opening the scoring with a powerful penalty, followed by a long-range shot from Sunai Joseph which looped over the dive of Nikao goalkeeper Dean Yarrall, finding the top right corner. Youngster Shane Tuteru found space in the box after a half-cleared corner which was rolled into him by Campbell Best, which he struck powerfully past Yarrall to further extend Tupapa's lead. Later, Tupapa's left winger played some quick passes with Ngametua Tuakana and Sunai Joseph, the latter of whom hit the ball through to be met by a finish into the bottom corner by Tupapa's left winger to give them a comfortable 4-0 lead. Late in the match, a Ngametua Tuakana corner was bet by Shane Tuteru who hit the ball through the middle past the goalkeeper to win 5-0, putting Tupapa on the same amount of Cook Islands Cups as Avatiu, and 1 below Nikao Sokattak.

Their triumphs domestically would place them into the OFC Men's Champions League qualifying stage, where they faced Pago Youth, Nukuhetulu and hosts Vaivase-Tai. They started their campain with a 3-0 victory over Nukuhetulu, with loanee Daniel Bunch scoring a brace, and domestically-based Ngametua Tuakana scoring 1, putting them in a strong position after Pago Youth and Vaivase-Tai drew 1-1. They came into the Vaivase-Tai match as favourites, although their last encounter had ended 4-0 to Vaivase-Tai; Kima Webb struck home at the 25th minute, giving Tupapa the lead with a well-hit low shot from distance, but were pegged back in the second half, after Jefferson Fa'amatau scored, rounding Emmett Connolly. Both teams would settle for a draw, with both finishing on 10-men after Dallas Rongokea of Tupapa and Key Villiamu of Vaivase-Tai were both sent off, Daniel Bunch was also denied a brace after his 2 goals were outlawed for offside and for a foul, leaving all 4 teams in contention for a spot in Fiji. On the final day, Tupapa entered the Pago Youth match standing at 2nd place, after Vaivase-Tai had done all they could in defeating Nukuhetulu with a scoreline of 5-3, which left Tupapa with a match they had to either draw or win to advance to the final tournament, as Vaivase-Tai had not managed to win by 3 against Nukuhetulu. However, this would not matter as Tupapa secured their spot as they took a strong 3-0 win, with Daniel Bunch scoring a brace; one acrobatic shot from close range and one penalty, and club president, captain and star player Grover Harmon scoring a stoppage-time header to seal the victory.^[10][11][12]

• Cook Islands Round Cup: 20^[2][1]

1992, 1997, 1998–99, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025

• Cook Islands Cup: 11^[2]

1978, 2001, 2004, 2009, 2013, 2015, 2018, 2019, 2023, 2024, 2025

Men's OFC Men's Champions League squad as of 28 February 2026 Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

^[13]

Tupapa Maraerenga has a team in the Women's Cook Islands Round Cup.^[14] It has been crowned champions 15 times, in addition to winning 15 FA Cups.^[2][1] After winning the 2024 Round Cup, they participated in the OFC Women's Champions League for the first time in 2025.