Salvadoran National Football Team / World Championships

El Salvador
República de El Salvador

World Cup record goalscorer:	Luis Ramirez (1)
World Cup record players:	18 players (3 each)
Rank :	79 (last)
Balance sheet
6 World Cup games 0 wins 0 draws 6 defeats 1:22 goals
statistics
First World Cup game El Salvador 0: 3 Belgium Mexico City ( MEX ); 3rd June 1970
Biggest World Cup defeat El Salvador 1:10 Hungary Elche ( ESP ); June 15, 1982
successes
World Championship
Participation in the finals	2 ( first : 1970 )
Best results	Preliminary round 1970 and 1982
Best placements in the countries that host the FIFA World Cup
(Status: after the 2018 World Cup )

The article contains a detailed description of the Salvadoran national soccer team at soccer world championships. The El Salvador national team took part in two world championships. In the eternal table of finalists, the team is 79th and last.

overview

year	Host country	Participation until ...	Last opponent	Result	Trainer	Comments and special features
1930	Uruguay	not participated				not a FIFA member
1934	Italy	not participated				not a FIFA member
1938	France	withdrawn
1950	Brazil	not participated
1954	Switzerland	not participated
1958	Sweden	not participated
1962	Chile	not participated
1966	England	not participated
1970	Mexico	Preliminary round	Belgium , Mexico , USSR	16.	Hernán Carrasco	After qualifying, there was a football war between El Salvador and Honduras. Eliminated as bottom group after three defeats without a goal. The game against hosts Mexico is the only World Cup game between two Central American teams in the group stage.
1974	Germany	not qualified				In the qualification in the first round, Guatemala failed, which also failed to qualify.
1978	Argentina	not qualified				In the qualification in the second round at Mexico failed.
1982	Spain	Preliminary round	Hungary , Belgium , Argentina	24.	Mauricio Rodríguez	After three defeats, eliminated again as bottom of the group. The 1:10 against Hungary is the biggest World Cup defeat to date.
1986	Mexico	not qualified				In the qualification in the second round of Honduras failed, which also failed to qualify.
1990	Italy	not qualified				In the qualification in the finals as bottom group failed to Costa Rica and the USA .
1994	United States	not qualified				In qualifying in the finals, Mexico and Canada failed, which also failed to qualify.
1998	France	not qualified				In the qualification in the final round to Mexico , the USA and Jamaica failed.
2002	South Korea / Japan	not qualified				In the qualification in the second round of Honduras and Jamaica failed, which also could not qualify.
2006	Germany	not qualified				The USA and Panama failed in qualifying in the 3rd round , which also failed to qualify.
2010	South Africa	not qualified				The USA , Mexico and Honduras failed in qualifying in the 4th round . In the first round, the highest win in El Salvador's international history was achieved against Anguilla 12-0.
2014	Brazil	not qualified				In the qualification El Salvador failed in the 3rd round to Mexico and Costa Rica .
2018	Russia	not qualified				In the qualifying failed in the fourth round.
2022	Qatar

Statistics (data including 2018: 21 World Championships; percentages are rounded)

• No participation: 7 times (33%; 1930, 1934, 1950, 1954, 1958, 1962 and 1966)
• Withdrawn: 1 × (5%; 1938)
• Unqualified: 11 × (52%; 1974, 1978, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018)
• Athletic qualification: 2 × (10% or 15% of the attempts)
  • Preliminary round: 2 × (10%; 1970 and 1982)

World Championships 1930 to 1966

The Federación Salvadoreña de Fútbol was only founded in 1935 and admitted to FIFA in 1938, and was therefore unable to take part in the first two World Cup tournaments. The association had registered for 1938, but then withdrew and until 1966 it also refrained from participating.

1970 World Cup in Mexico

Since Mexico was automatically qualified for the World Cup in their own country , the CONCACAF teams were entitled to another starting place. 12 teams competed for this. El Salvador had to face Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles in the first round . El Salvador won their first World Cup qualifier on December 1, 1968 in San Salvador 6-0 against Suriname. After two wins against the Netherlands Antilles, the second round was reached, so that the defeat in the second leg against Suriname could be absorbed. In the semifinals, the team met Honduras and lost their first game in Tegucigalpa with 0: 1. The second leg was won 3-0. Since the number of goals scored did not count, there was a playoff in Mexico City , which El Salvador won 3-2 after extra time. Already after the second game there had been riots in San Salvador and after the play-off there were riots that led to the so-called football war . However, qualifying for the World Cup was not the actual occasion, because Honduras, as part of an agricultural reform on April 30, 1969, asked illegal immigrants from El Salvador to return to El Salvador within 30 days. With the aim of reversing this, El Salvador attacked the neighbor on July 14, 1969. Under pressure from the OAS , the war ended four days later without the demands being met.

In the final of the CONCACAF qualification, El Salvador met Haiti in Port-au-Prince and won 2-1. Haiti then won the second leg in San Salvador 3-0, so a play-off was necessary again. The Salvadorans won it 1-0 aet in Kingston and thus qualified for the World Cup when they participated for the first time. El Salvador needed 10 games for this, only Morocco , which also qualified for the first time, also needed 10 games, but only had to go into overtime once.

In Mexico, El Salvador met Belgium , hosts Mexico and the USSR . In the first World Cup game in their history, the Salvadorans lost 3-0 to Belgium. This was the only time that two CONCACAF teams met in the group stage and they lost 4-0 to Mexico. So the end was already certain after the group stage. In the last game there was a 2-0 draw against the USSR and El Salvador said goodbye to the World Cup for twelve years.

World Cup 1974 in Germany

El Salvador could not qualify for the World Cup in Germany , for which the CONCACAF teams were again only entitled to one starting place. The team failed in the first round of qualification due to two 0-1 defeats at Guatemala . Guatemala thus qualified for the 1973 CONCACAF Nations Cup in Haiti, the tournament winner of which took the World Cup final in the CONCACAF zone. The tournament winner and thus the final participant in the World Cup was surprisingly hosted by Haiti, while Guatemala only took fifth place.

1978 World Cup in Argentina

El Salvador also failed to qualify for the World Cup in Argentina . In the first round of qualification the team was able to prevail together with Guatemala against Costa Rica and Panama , but in the second round, which also served as the CONCACAF Nations Cup in 1977 , they were only third behind Mexico and Haiti .

1982 World Cup in Spain

In the qualification for the World Cup in Spain , for which the CONCACAF teams were now entitled to two starting places after increasing the field of participants to 24 teams, El Salvador prevailed in the first round, tied with Honduras against Guatemala, Costa Rica and Panama and finished in the final Tournament surprisingly took second place ahead of Mexico and was thus qualified for the second time.

In Spain, the team met Hungary in their first game and went down 1:10. After all, Luis Ramírez was able to score the first World Cup goal for El Salvador with the meanwhile 1: 5, but the 10: 1 for the Hungarians is still the highest victory in a World Cup for men. The second defeat, a 1-0 defeat against Belgium , was then moderate; likewise the final 0: 2 against defending champion Argentina , with which El Salvador said goodbye to the World Cup for at least 36 years.

1986 World Cup in Mexico

To qualify for the second World Cup in Mexico , El Salvador had to face Puerto Rico in the first round and won both games (5-0 and 3-0). The second round started with two 3-0 wins against Suriname , but then the home game against Honduras was lost 2-1 and only a 0-0 was achieved in the second leg. With that El Salvador was eliminated. Honduras failed in the final CONCACAF finals to Canada, which qualified for a World Cup finals tournament for the first time and to this day.

1990 World Cup in Italy

The qualification for the second World Cup in Italy was no better. In the preliminary round, El Salvador beat the Netherlands Antilles 1-0 and 5-0 , but only came last in the CONCACAF final, which was held at the same time as the CONCACAF Nations Cup in 1989 . Costa Rica and the USA qualified for the World Cup, Trinidad & Tobago , Guatemala and El Salvador did not succeed.

1994 World Cup in the United States

In qualifying for the World Cup in the USA , El Salvador beat Nicaragua 5-0 and 5-1 in the first round, finished the second round as group winners ahead of Canada , Jamaica and Bermuda , but only finished in the CONCACAF finals 3rd behind Mexico, which qualified, and Canada. Only Honduras was behind El Salvador in the end.

1998 World Cup in France

In qualifying for the second World Cup in France , El Salvador was set for the semi-finals. With the second place behind Canada in front of Panama and Cuba the final round was reached. In the final round Mexico, the USA , Jamaica were stronger, which was the only time they could qualify, as well as Costa Rica stronger and only Canada even weaker.

World Championship 2002 in Japan and South Korea

The qualification for the first World Cup in Asia was again unsuccessful. El Salvador was able to prevail in the CONCACAF preliminary round against Guatemala and Belize , whereby no game was lost, but failed in the CONCACAF intermediate round to Honduras and Jamaica and could only leave St. Vincent and the Grenadines behind. In the CONCACAF finals of the last six, Honduras only finished fourth and Jamaica only fifth, they were eliminated together with the bottom of the table Trinidad & Tobago. The first three qualified for the World Cup finals: Costa Rica, Mexico, USA.

World Cup 2006 in Germany

For the second World Cup in Germany , the qualification failed again. In the second round, Bermuda were eliminated 2: 1 and 2: 2, but El Salvador ended the third round as bottom of the group behind the USA, Panama and Jamaica. USA and Panama qualified for the final CONCACAF finals of the last six. There the USA qualified as group winners for the World Cup finals in Germany, Panama was eliminated as the group bottom.

World Cup 2010 in South Africa

El Salvador could not qualify for the first World Cup in Africa . The qualifying began for El Salvador in the first round with a 12: 0 against Anguilla , the biggest win of their international game history, and a 4: 0 in the second leg. In the second round, after a 0-1 victory in Panama, the second leg was won 3-1 and thanks to the better goal difference, the third round was reached. In this, El Salvador took second place behind Costa Rica and ahead of Haiti and Suriname . In the fourth round, however, only 5th place was taken behind the USA , Mexico, Honduras and Costa Rica in front of Trinidad & Tobago . Thus El Salvador missed the intercontinental playoffs, in which Costa Rica could not prevail against Uruguay either .

2014 World Cup in Brazil

The Salvadorans could not qualify for the second World Cup in Brazil either. In the second qualifying round , for which El Salvador was automatically qualified, the team prevailed with six wins against the Dominican Republic , Suriname and the Cayman Islands . In the third round, Mexico and Costa Rica were stronger and only Guyana weaker. In the final CONCACAF finals of the last six, group opponents Costa Rica took third place and qualified directly for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Mexico was only fourth and had to go to the playoff against Oceania winner New Zealand. Mexico won the playoff and also qualified for the World Cup finals.

World Cup 2018 in Russia

In qualifying for the World Cup in Russia , El Salvador did not have to intervene until the second round and in June 2015 they met St. Kitts and Nevis , the winner of the first round match against the Turks and Caicos Islands . After a 2-2 in the away game, the home game was won 4-1 and the third round reached. Curaçao was waiting there at the end of August / beginning of September 2015 . The fourth round was reached with two 1-0 victories, in which Mexico , Honduras and Canada were the opponents. By a 1: 3 home defeat on the penultimate match day against Mexico, qualification for the fifth round was missed. Mexico and Honduras advanced to the final round of the last six. There Mexico qualified as group winners for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Honduras finished fourth in the group and made it to the intercontinental playoff against Australia. The playoff was lost and Australia qualified for the World Cup finals in Russia.

Ranking of the Salvadoran World Cup players with the most appearances

18 players with three appearances in one tournament each.

Ranking of the Salvadoran World Cup players with the most World Cup goals

01. Luis Ramírez - 1 goal

World Cup captains

• 1970: Salvador Mariona
• 1982: Norberto Huezo

Players banned from World Championships

So far, no Salvadoran has been banned from World Cup finals. Francisco Osorto received the second yellow card in 1982 in the last game of the first final round , but this had no effect since El Salvador was eliminated.

Share of players playing abroad in the World Cup squad

So far, with Jaime Rodríguez , who played for Bayer 05 Uerdingen before the 1982 World Cup , only one legionnaire has been appointed. It was used in the three games in 1982.

Games

• El Salvador has played six World Cup games so far, all of which have been lost.
• Two World Cup games have only been played against Belgium. All other World Cup fixtures with El Salvador have been unique so far.
• El Salvador never played in the opening game but played against the hosts in 1970.
• El Salvador never played against the eventual world champions.
• El Salvador played once (1982) against the defending champions.
• El Salvador never met a World Cup newcomer.

All World Cup games
No.	date	Result	opponent		venue	occasion	comment
1.	06/03/1970	0: 3	Belgium	*	Mexico City ( MEX )	Preliminary round	First game against Belgium
2.	06/07/1970	0: 4	Mexico	A.	Mexico City ( MEX )	Preliminary round
3.	06/10/1970	0: 2	Soviet Union	*	Mexico City ( MEX )	Preliminary round
4th	06/15/1982	1:10	Hungary	*	Elk ( ESP )	1. Final round	First game against Hungary
5.	06/19/1982	0: 1	Belgium	*	Elk ( ESP )	1. Final round
6th	06/23/1982	0: 2	Argentina	*	Alicante ( ESP )	1. Final round	First game against Argentina

Biggest defeats

The team suffered their biggest defeats in World Cup tournaments against the following countries:

•  Argentina : preliminary round 1982 - 2-0 (first game against Argentina, also a 0-2 in a friendly match in 2015)
•  Belgium : preliminary round 1970 - 3-0
•  Hungary : 1st final round 1982 - 1:10 (only game against Hungary)

Records

Negative records

• Biggest loss in a men's World Cup game: El Salvador - Hungary 1:10 on June 9, 1982
• Worst team in 1970 and 1982 tournaments (ranked 16th and 24th respectively by FIFA)
• Last place in the all-time ranking .
• Of the ten teams that have lost all World Cup games, El Salvador have conceded the most goals (22) and lost the most games (6)

Web links

• Football World - Statistics - El Salvador on fifa.com
• fifa.com: "Statistical overview: records and milestones"

References and footnotes

1. ↑ The placements from 5th place onwards were determined by FIFA without any placement games. See: All-time FIFA World Cup Ranking 1930-2010 (PDF; 200 kB)