Identity can be a complicated issue to wrestle with. For Juan Chang Urrea it’s a labyrinth tangle of roots, spanning multiple generations and continents that he terms a “bit of a melting pot.”
Born and raised for part of his childhood in Germany to an El Salvadorian father of Chinese ancestry and a Guatemalan mother with Croatian ties, he has also spent large chunks of his life in the USA and New Zealand.
Where then does the 37-year-old feel home is?
“Well, it’s certainly complicated! I grew up mostly in Guatemala; my childhood was there, so if you ask me I would say I’m Guatemalan. But my heart is Samoan.”
That addition of yet another nation into the melting pot comes courtesy of his work at the helm of the Samoa U-17 women’s side. A tiny speck in the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean, the women’s youth side made history last year by becoming the nation’s first team at any level to qualify for a FIFA tournament.
Having progressed from the pre-qualifiers, Samoa waltzed through their group undefeated at the OFC U-16 Women’s Championship to reach the semi-finals of the continental tournament. That set-up a winner-takes-all tussle with New Caledonia for a place at the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup™.
In front of a sparse crowd in the Fijian capital of Suva, Samoa struck twice inside the first six minutes to set up a 2-0 win that saw the side etch their names in national folklore.
For Chang it was a moment that further entrenched his passion for the nation, as he tells FIFA, using the expression alofa, which signifies a deep compassion, empathy and respect, and which is central to Samoan culture.
“For me Samoa feels like home and I want to do everything with that sense of alofa and really just try to make Samoan people proud. It’s a country where family and faith are really important and I also carry those same values.
“To qualify for the World Cup is like a fairy tale. We had to play the pre-qualifiers and being such a small nation I don’t think anybody expected us to do what we did. We had been working for this though for two years and it was the result of a lot of hard-work and effort.
“We didn’t concede a goal in the entire tournament until the final, so it really was a crazy run, really a fairy tale moment for the whole nation. Already we can see the impact it has had on young girls in Samoa and it’s opened a lot of eyes that girls can succeed, not just in football but in other sports as well.”
Those eyes may also be a little bleary later this month as locals in Apia and beyond process the 12-hour time difference to watch their team make history at the U-17 Women’s World Cup in Morocco.
With a population of just 220,000 people, Samoa will be one of the smallest nations to have ever featured at a FIFA tournament and easily the smallest to have taken part in a women’s event.
If that wasn’t daunting enough, being drawn in a group containing former champions France, 2022 semi-finalists Nigeria as well as Canada certainly is. Not that Chang seems overawed by what appears a stern maiden challenge on the global stage.
“I know that we are one of the smallest nations ever to have participated at a World Cup and we understand that playing against France, Canada and Nigeria isn’t easy.
“We have already had camps in California and Dallas though, and will be based in Barcelona before the World Cup, so we have had great support from the federation.
“Now, we just want to be the best team that we can be but also a team that continues to gel and grow.”
Before Chang took the reins, Samoa had only won one match at continental level; now they will be heading to back-to-back U-17 Women’s World Cups courtesy of another success in the recently concluded 2025 OFC U-16 Women’s Championships.
Playing at home in Apia, another perfect group stage preceded a 5-0 thrashing of Solomon Islands in the semi-finals to send Samoa into the 2026 global finals, enabling Chang to further develop the squad and hopefully turn on a pipeline that will see success at senior level down the line.
“Already some players from this group of U-17s have featured for the full national team and I think the players can see that pathway is there.
“We have local players in Samoa who can see that and also those based outside of the country that have the opportunity to re-connect with their Samoan heritage and I think that’s a really wonderful thing. We don’t see any difference though with where players are based; if you’re Samoan then you’re Samoan.”
With a string of players featuring at competitive levels for their club sides, Chang is confident that he has the squad to make an impact on proceedings in Morocco.
“We have a core group of players that will feature both at this World Cup and also again next year and, no matter what, we won’t hide, we will stand tall. The plan is to show our identity, despite it being David versus Goliath.
“We want to show the world how we want to play, make Samoa proud and make Oceania proud.
“Everyone loves an underdog story and so we want to show that even if we are the smallest country ever to play ever in a World Cup, we’re the nation with the biggest heart.”
Images courtesy of the OFC via Phototek
