Xavier Samin

Xavier Samin

Personal information
Full name	Xavier Samin
Date of birth	(1978-01-01) 1 January 1978
Place of birth	Tahiti, French Polynesia
Height
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team	AS Tefana
Number	23
Youth career
1986–2000	AS Tefana
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2000–2012	AS Tefana
2012–2013	AS Dragon
2013–	AS Tefana
International career‡
2001–	Tahiti	29	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 13 January 2012 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 19:01, 17 June 2013 (UTC)

Xavier Samin (born 1 January 1978) is a Tahitian footballer who plays as a Goalkeeper. He currently plays for AS Tefana in the Tahiti Division Fédérale, and the Tahiti national football team.

Biography

Samin started playing football at the age of eight at AS Tefana. Ten years later he was promoted to Tefana's main adult team, on which he remains to date. In 17 seasons with Tefana, Samin won the Tahiti First Division three times, as well as five Tahiti Cups and the 2007 Tahiti Coupe des Champions. Outside of the field, Samin works as a football teacher, and an accountant.

The first caps for Samin in the Tahitian squad were in 2000. He has since taken part in four FIFA World Cup qualification tournaments, and was a major part of the Tahitian title of the 2012 OFC Nations Cup. Starting the competition as a backup goalkeeper to Mickaël Roche, Samin was promoted to a starting position in the third match, a 4–1 win against Vanuatu. He was also the starting goalkeeper for the next two matches, keeping a clean sheet in the semifinal match against Solomon Islands and in the final against New Caledonia, both won by 1–0. His long experience with the "To'a Aitos" made defensive midfielder Lorenzo Tehau declare that "I’ve played with Samin since I was a kid. He’s like my dad."

The OFC Nations Cup qualified Tahiti for its first international competition, the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil. There Samin played in the team's first game, a 6-1 defeat to Nigeria in Belo Horizonte. He also wrote a fight song for the Tahitian squad, "Song of the To’a Aitos".