Ecuadorian national soccer team

Ecuador

Nickname (s)	La Tri (La Tricolor; The Tri- Color)
Association	Federación Ecuatoriana de Fútbol
confederacy	CONMEBOL
Technical sponsor	Marathon sports
Head coach	Gustavo Alfaro
captain	Walter Ayoví
Record scorer	Agustín Delgado and Enner Valencia (31 each)
Record player	Ivan Hurtado (168)
Home stadium	Estadio Olímpico Atahualpa
FIFA code	ECU
FIFA rank	63rd (1368 points) (as of July 16, 2020)
First jersey Second jersey
Balance sheet
510 games 148 wins 130 draws 232 defeats
statistics
First international match Ecuador 1-1 Bolivia ( Bogotá , Colombia ; August 8, 1938 )
Biggest win Ecuador 6-0 Peru ( Quito , Ecuador ; June 22, 1975 )
Biggest defeat Argentina 12-0 Ecuador ( Montevideo , Uruguay ; January 22, 1942 )
Successes in tournaments
World Championship
Participation in the finals	3 ( first : 2002 )
Best results	Round of 16 2006
South American Championship
Participation in the finals	27 ( first : 1939 )
Best results	4th place 1959 , 1993
North and Central American Championship
Participation in the finals	1
Best results	Preliminary round 2002
(As of November 19, 2019)

The Ecuadorian national soccer team is the selection team of the Federación Ecuatoriana de Fútbol . The first Ecuadorian football association was founded on May 30, 1925 as part of the Federación Deportiva Nacional del Ecuador and joined FIFA in 1926 and CONMEBOL in 1927 . The national team played their first international match on August 8, 1938 in Bogotá against Bolivia as part of the first Bolivarian Games in 1938. It ended 1: 1.

The players traditionally wear yellow jerseys, blue shorts and red socks. In April 2013, the team finished 10th in the official FIFA world rankings, their best result to date.

The recent past

The rise of the Ecuadorian national team to one of the most successful in South America is due to a process that began in the late 1980s with the commitment of the Montenegrin Dušan Drasković as national coach, when modern structures moved into the environment of the national team. In 1994, under Drasković, Ecuador managed to defeat one of South America's two big teams for the first time when the Tricolor defeated Argentina 1-0 on May 25. For the qualifying round for the 1998 World Cup, the Colombian Francisco Maturana Drasković followed. The Tricolor made great progress under Maturana in the areas of tactics and team cohesion, even if they could not qualify for the World Cup in France . In 1996, however, the team achieved their first victory against Argentina in an official tournament, with a 2-0 win in the World Cup qualifying home game in Quito.

Maturana was initially followed briefly (for the Copa America 1997 ) by his assistant coach Suárez , then the Ecuadorians Polo Carrera (1998) and Carlos Sevilla (1998-1999), who, however, could not convince as coach. After Ecuador had finished last at the Copa America in 1999 , Sevilla resigned and with Hernán Darío "El Bolillo" Gómez a Colombian who had been Maturana's assistant coach for the Colombian national team was signed again. Under Gómez, Ecuador managed to qualify for a world championship for the first time, the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea. Among other things, Gómez managed to bring together the interests of the big clubs from Quito and Guayaquil, which previously often worked against each other, for the national team, and to spark great enthusiasm in the country. A victory over Brazil (1-0 on March 28, 2000 in Quito with a Delgado goal ), the first in Ecuadorian football history, contributed to this.

After Gómez's resignation after the disappointing performance at the 2004 Copa America in Peru (3 defeats in 3 games), the national team was coached by the Colombian Luis Fernando Suárez, who was previously the coach of SD Aucas in Quito and from 1994 to 1997 with the National team had worked. Under his leadership, Ecuador achieved in qualifying for the 2006 World Cup again, among other victories against Brazil and Argentina, and again qualified for the World Cup. In Germany, the team reached the round of 16 for the first time thanks to two outstanding preliminary round matches (2-0 against Poland and 3-0 against Costa Rica).

Suárez resigned in November 2007 after Ecuador had lost all three preliminary round matches at the Copa America and had started qualifying for the 2010 World Cup with a home defeat against Venezuela and two major defeats against Brazil (5-0) and Paraguay (5-1) . On an interim basis, Sixto Vizuete took over the position of coach, who had won the Pan American Games soccer competition with the U18 national team of Ecuador in spring 2007 . On February 26, 2008, he was appointed official head coach after negotiations with Hernán Darío Gómez about his return to Ecuador failed. Ecuador narrowly missed its third World Cup qualification in a row due to the bad start in the qualifying round and two defeats against Uruguay and Chile on the last two match days and therefore did not take part in the World Cup in South Africa.

International tournaments

Soccer world championships

→ Main article : Ecuadorian national soccer team / World Cups

Ecuador first took part in qualifying for the 1962 World Cup in Chile , but failed in Argentina. In qualifying for the 1966 World Cup , the team almost succeeded, but lost the last game, a play-off in Lima, with 1: 2 against Chile . Nevertheless, the team around Alberto Spencer , Washington Muñoz , Carlos Alberto Raffo , Enrique Raymondi and Jorge Bolaños has long been considered the best team Ecuador has ever had. It would take until the 2002 World Cup before Ecuador could qualify for a World Cup for the first time.

1930 in Uruguay	not participated
1934 in Italy	not participated
1938 in France	not participated
1950 in Brazil	not participated
1954 in Switzerland	not participated
1958 in Sweden	not participated
1962 in Chile	not qualified
1966 in England	not qualified
1970 in Mexico	not qualified
1974 in Germany	not qualified
1978 in Argentina	not qualified
1982 in Spain	not qualified
1986 in Mexico	not qualified
1990 in Italy	not qualified
1994 in the USA	not qualified
1998 in France	not qualified
2002 in South Korea / Japan	Preliminary round
2006 in Germany	Round of 16
2010 in South Africa	not qualified
2014 in Brazil	Preliminary round
2018 in Russia	not qualified

World Championship 2002 in Japan and South Korea

→ Main article : Football World Cup 2002 / Ecuador

The greatest success of the Ecuadorian national team up to then was the first qualification for the soccer world championship 2002 in Japan and South Korea . Here they lost to Italy and Mexico and defeated Croatia 1-0 with a goal from Edison Méndez.

World Cup 2006 in Germany

→ Main article : Football World Cup 2006 / Ecuador

Ecuador qualified for the 2006 World Cup in Germany as third in the South American qualifiers behind Argentina and Brazil. After two wins against Poland (2: 0) and Costa Rica (3: 0), the team was ahead of the final game against hosts Germany , which was lost 3-0 with a team not only made up of regular players, top of their group and already for qualified for the round of 16. Reaching the knockout round for the first time was seen as a surprise internationally.

In the second round, Ecuador lost to the team from England 0: 1 (0: 0) and were eliminated. The team was certainly on the defensive. After an hour, David Beckham decided the game with a free kick. Reaching the round of 16 is the national team's greatest success at world championships.

The team made a guest appearance during the World Cup in Bad Kissingen, Lower Franconia .

Copa America

In addition, Ecuador reached fourth place twice in the tournaments for the Copa America in 1959 and 1993, which were held in their own country .

player

Well-known current players are the defenders Iván Hurtado (record international and team captain, Deportivo Quito ) and Néicer Reasco ( LDU Quito ), the midfielders Antonio Valencia (LDU Quito), Edison Méndez ( Atlético Mineiro ) and Segundo Castillo (Deportivo Quito) as well as the strikers Carlos Tenorio ( Al-Nasr ), Joffre Guerrón ( Athletico Paranaense ). Most of the current players in the national team are Afro-Ecuadorians and a majority come from the province of Esmeraldas and the small Chota Valley or from families who have migrated to larger cities.

Midfield director Álex Aguinaga , the outstanding player of the past two decades, announced his resignation from the national team in 2004 and ended his football career at the end of 2005. Agustín Delgado , the best-known Ecuadorian footballer in Germany, resigned from the national team after the 2006 World Cup. Iván Kaviedes played in the national team until 2011.

The best Ecuadorian footballer of all time is considered to be Alberto Spencer , who celebrated great success as a goal scorer for the Uruguayan club team Peñarol Montevideo in the 1960s . He is still by far the top scorer in the Copa Libertadores and won the World Cup in 1966 . He made eleven international matches for Ecuador, scoring four goals.

Record player

(As of November 19, 2019)

Record player
Games	player	Period	Gates
168	Iván Hurtado	1992-2014	5
122	Walter Ayoví	2001-2017	8th
112	Edison Méndez	2000-2014	18th
109	Álex Aguinaga	1987-2004	23
101	Ulises de la Cruz	1995-2010	6th
100	Luis Capurro	1985-2003	1
99	Antonio Valencia	2004–	11
90	Giovanny Espinoza	2000-2012	3
88	Segundo Castillo	2003–	9
88	José Cevallos	1994-2009	0
86	Cléber Chalá	1992-2004	6th
78	Christian Noboa	2009–	4th
78	Edwin Tenorio	1998-2007	0

Record shooters
Gates	player	Period	Games
31	Agustín Delgado	1994-2006	72
31	Enner Valencia	2012–	54
26th	Eduardo Hurtado	1992-2000	72
25th	Christian Benítez	2005-2013	61
23	Álex Aguinaga	1987-2004	109
22nd	Felipe Caicedo	2005-2017	66
18th	Edison Méndez	2000-2014	112
16	Raúl Avilés	1987-1993	55
16	Iván Kaviedes	1998-2011	57
15th	Ariel Graziani	1997-2000	34
12	Ángel Fernández	1991-2004	77
12	Carlos Tenorio	2001-2009	51
11	Antonio Valencia	2004–	99

Trainer

•  Ernesto Guerra (1970)
•  Roberto Resquín (1973)
•  Antoninho Ferreira (1984–1985)
•  Dusan Draskovic (1988-1993)
•  Francisco Maturana (1995–1997)
•  Carlos Sevilla (1999)
•  Hernán Darío Gómez (1999-2004)
•  Luis Fernando Suárez (2004-2007)
•  Sixto Vizuete (2007-2010)
•  Reinaldo Rueda (2010-2014)
•  Sixto Vizuete (2014-2015)
•  Gustavo Quinteros (2015-2017)
•  Jorge Célico (2017-2018)
•  Hernán Darío Gómez (2018-2019)
•  Jorge Célico (2019-2020)
•  Jordi Cruyff (2020)
•  Gustavo Alfaro (since 2020)

Home strength

Most of the home games, including the home games in World Cup qualification, are played by the team at the Estadio Olímpico Atahualpa in the 2,850 m high Quito . The alternative venue at sea level, Guayaquil, also offers a climatic home advantage with its tropical and humid climate. Of the 159 international matches played in their own country so far (as of November 2019), 85 took place in Quito and 58 in Guayaquil, with all home games played in Guayaquil before 1970. Less than four games took place elsewhere in Ecuador.

In the Atahualpa Stadium in Quito, the Ecuadorian national team has achieved the rare feat of defeating Brazil twice in World Cup qualifiers: on March 28, 2001 and November 17, 2004, each with a 1-0 draw. On June 4, 2005 and June 10, 2009 they defeated Argentina 2-0 in Quito .

The home advantage was threatened in mid-2007 by a decision of the 57th FIFA Congress that prohibited international matches from being held at altitudes over 2,500 meters. At the end of June 2007, however, it was announced that the altitude limit would be set at 3000 m, so that games in Quito as well as in Cuenca (2532 m) or Riobamba (2734 m) should still be possible. Otherwise not only the national team, but also top clubs from Quito, Cuenca, etc. would not have been able to play in their stadiums in international competitions. According to a regulation issued in December 2007, however, games may only be played at a height of over 2750 m if the players had enough opportunities to acclimatise, which in modern professional football should not be the case for Brazilian or Argentine players, for example. The height of the stadiums in Quito was then measured again. The Atahualpa National Stadium in Quito is located at an altitude of 2783 m, while the Casa Blanca stadium of the top club LDU Quito, also located in Quito, is 2735 m below the altitude limit. The Atahualpa Stadium has been approved by the South American Association as an Ecuadorian venue for home games.

Games against German-speaking national teams

→ Main article: List of international matches for the Ecuadorian national football team

date	place	Home team	result	Visiting team
18th February 1973	Quito	Ecuador	1: 1	GDR
February 6, 1985	Guayaquil	Ecuador	2: 3	GDR
February 10, 1985	Quito	Ecuador	3: 2	GDR
June 20, 2006	Berlin	Germany	3-0	Ecuador
May 29, 2013	Boca Raton ( )	Ecuador	2: 4	Germany
15th June 2014	Brasília ( )	Switzerland	2: 1	Ecuador

See also

• List of international matches for the Ecuadorian national football team
• Ecuadorian National Football Team (U-17 Juniors)
• Ecuadorian National Football Team (U-20 Men)

Web links

• Federación Ecuatoriana de Fútbol (Spanish)
• List of international matches of the Ecuadorian national team of the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
• Record Ecuadorian national players and goal scorers for the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation

literature

• Así crecimos - Extensive portrait of the Ecuadorian national team as a special page in the El Comercio newspaper , Quito, from June 25, 2006

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ecuafutbol.org: TRIUNFO TRICOLOR EN EL PENÚLTIMO COMPROBATORIO DEL AÑO
2. ↑ The FIFA / Coca-Cola World Ranking. In: fifa.com. July 16, 2020, accessed July 21, 2020 . 
3. ↑ ^{a b} rsssf.com: Ecuador - International Appearances by Player
4. ↑ FIFA cede parcialmente y eleva límite de altitud a 3,000 metros , El Mercurio online (Santiago de Chile), June 27, 2007 (Spanish).
5. ↑ Quito se queda sin eliminatoria por decisión del congreso FIFA ( Memento of the original from June 1, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , El Universo (Guayaquil) May 28, 2007; Jorge Barraza, Una medida de alto impacto ( Memento of the original from September 26, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , El Universo, May 30, 2007 (Spanish)   
6. ↑ FIFA: Referee support plan started , dpa report from December 15, 2007.
7. ↑ LAOH, Casa Blanca por debajo del nuevo límite FIFA, pero se espera tolerancia , report on futbolecuador.com , December 18, 2007 (Spanish)