Honduran National Football Team / World Championships

Honduras
República de Honduras

World Cup record goalscorer:	Carlo Costly , Antonio Laing and Héctor Zelaya (1 each)
World Cup record players:	Maynor Figueroa and Noel Valladares (6 each)
Rank :	62
Balance sheet
9 World Cup games 0 wins 3 draws 6 defeats 3:14 goals
statistics
First World Cup game Honduras 1: 1 Spain Valencia ( ESP ); June 16, 1982
Biggest World Cup defeats Honduras 0: 3 France Porto Alegre ( BRA ); June 15, 2014 Honduras 0: 3 Switzerland Manaus ( BRA ); June 25, 2014
successes
World Championship
Participation in the finals	3 ( first : 1982 )
Best results	Preliminary round 1982 (18th of 24), 2010 and 2014
Best placements in the countries that host the FIFA World Cup
(As of July 2018 )

The article contains a detailed description of the Honduran national soccer team at soccer world championships. The national team of Honduras took part in world championships three times.

overview

year	Host country	Participation until ...	Last opponent	Result	Trainer	Comments and special features
1930	Uruguay	not participated				Not a member of FIFA
1934	Italy	not participated				Not a member of FIFA
1938	France	not participated				Not a member of FIFA
1950	Brazil	not participated				Not a member of FIFA
1954	Switzerland	not participated
1958	Sweden	not participated
1962	Chile	not qualified				In the qualifiers in the first round in the playoff of Costa Rica failed
1966	England	not qualified				In the qualifiers in the first round of Mexico and the United States failed.
1970	Mexico	not qualified				In the qualification in the semifinals of El Salvador failed.
1974	Germany	not qualified				In the qualification in the second round of Haiti failed.
1978	Argentina	withdrawn
1982	Spain	1. Final round	Spain Northern Ireland Yugoslavia	18th	José de la Paz Herrera	Draw in the first World Cup game against the hosts
1986	Mexico	not qualified				In the qualification in the final round to Canada failed.
1990	Italy	not qualified				In the qualifying in the preliminary round in Trinidad & Tobago failed
1994	United States	not qualified				In the qualification in the final round to Mexico , Canada and El Salvador failed, of which only Mexico could qualify.
1998	France	not qualified				In the qualification in the semi-final round, Mexico and Jamaica failed, which also failed to qualify.
2002	South Korea / Japan	not qualified				In the qualification in the final round to Costa Rica , Mexico and the United States failed.
2006	Germany	not qualified				In the qualifying in the third round to Costa Rica and Guatemala failed, which also failed to qualify.
2010	South Africa	Preliminary round	Chile Spain Switzerland	30th	Reinaldo Rueda	Eliminated as bottom of the group without scoring
2014	Brazil	Preliminary round	France Ecuador Switzerland	31.	Luis Fernando Suarez	Eliminated for the first time with three defeats
2018	Russia	not qualified				In the qualification in the intercontinental playoff against Australia failed.

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

• No FIFA member: 4 × (19%; 1930, 1934, 1938 and 1950)
• No participation: 3 × (14%; 1954, 1958 and 1978)
• Unqualified: 11 × (52%; 1962, 1966, 1970, 1974, 1986, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006 and 2018)
• Athletic qualification: 3 × (14% or 21% of the attempts)
  • Preliminary round: 3 × (14%; 1982, 2010 and 2014)

World Championships 1930 to 1958

Honduras had already played an international match in 1921 and took part in the Central American and Caribbean Games in 1930, 1935 and 1950 and in the CCCF Championship in 1946 , but the Honduran Football Association was not founded and incorporated into FIFA until 1951 . Therefore, the team could not take part in the first four World Cup tournaments. But there was also no registration for the following two World Cup tournaments, although the CCCF championship continued.

World Championship in Chile in 1962

The qualification for the World Cup in Chile was the first in which Honduras participated. On September 4, 1960, the first World Cup qualifier against Costa Rica was won 2-1 in Tegucigalpa . At the end of this first round, however, a playoff against Costa Rica was necessary, after both in the group with Guatemala had 5-3 points and the better goal difference of Costa Rica did not count. In Guatemala City , Honduras then lost 1-0 to Costa Rica. In the final round, Costa Rica failed to Mexico.

1966 World Cup in England

In qualifying for the World Cup in England , Honduras failed in the first round to Mexico and the USA . Only in the last game against the USA, in which the USA waived their home rights, could a point be won.

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. Honduras surprisingly prevailed against Costa Rica and Jamaica in the first round . In the semifinals, the team met El Salvador and won their first game in Tegucigalpa 1-0. The second leg was lost 3-0 because the more goals scored didn't count, so there was a playoff in Mexico City . El Salvador won this 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. El Salvador then qualified for the World Cup for the first time in three games against Haiti.

World Cup 1974 in Germany

Honduras could not qualify for the World Cup in Germany either. Although the team prevailed again in the first round of qualification against Costa Rica, but then failed just like Mexico to Haiti , which qualified for the only time so far and surprised the Italians in Germany. At the tournament in Port-au-Prince , Honduras could only win the first game against Trinidad & Tobago , it was only enough to draw against Mexico, Guatemala and the Netherlands Antilles , while they lost against hosts Haiti - with a win, Honduras would have qualified.

1978 World Cup in Argentina

Honduras was devastated by Hurricane Fifi in 1974 and there was only one international match between 1974 and 1979. On the qualification for the World Cup in Argentina took Honduras, located in the Central American zone against Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Panama , therefore, should not qualify for the second round, in part.

1982 World Cup in Spain

The qualification for the World Cup in Spain was then successful. In the first round, Honduras and El Salvador , who ended this round tied, eliminated Costa Rica, Guatemala and Panama. In the second round both surprisingly prevailed against Mexico, Canada , Cuba and Haiti. Since the final round also counted as the CONCACAF Nations Cup 1981 , Honduras also became North and Central America continental champions for the first time.

In Spain, Honduras met three European teams: in the first game against the hosts and fought 1-1, with Héctor Zelaya already scoring the first World Cup goal for Honduras in the seventh minute, which the Spaniards only scored in the 65th minute Could compensate foul penalty. The second game against Northern Ireland also ended 1-1. And in the last game against Yugoslavia , the Central Americans kept a 0-0 for a long time, but then had to accept the 0-1 in the 88th minute with a penalty kick. This left Honduras as the bottom of the group and said goodbye to the World Cup for 28 years.

1986 World Cup in Mexico

In qualifying for the second World Cup in Mexico , Honduras knocked out Panama with two wins in the first round and also survived the second round against El Salvador and Suriname with two wins and two draws. In the final round, however, Honduras only finished second behind Canada, tied with Costa Rica, which is the only time Canada has qualified for the World Cup.

1990 World Cup in Italy

In qualifying for the second World Cup in Italy , Honduras failed in the qualifying round to Trinidad & Tobago . Both games ended in a draw. Since Honduras conceded a goal in the 1-1 home game while the away game ended goalless, the away goals rule came into effect.

1994 World Cup in the United States

The qualification for the World Cup in the USA went a little better . In the first round, Honduras beat Guatemala 0-0 and 2-0 . In the second round, Mexico and Honduras knocked out Costa Rica and St. Vincent and the Grenadines with equal points . In the final round, however, Honduras only finished fourth behind Mexico, Canada and El Salvador.

1998 World Cup in France

In the qualification for the second World Cup in France , Honduras could not qualify again. Honduras was set for the semi-finals, but could not prevail against Jamaica and Mexico . Honduras scored most of this group with 18 goals, 11 of them in the 11: 3 against St. Vincent and the Grenadines, but also had to accept 11 goals.

World Championship 2002 in Japan and South Korea

The qualification for the first World Cup in Asia was then again unsuccessful. In Central Zone 2, Honduras initially took second place with the same point and goal difference but with one less scored goal behind Panama and had to take the detour via the interzone qualification. In this Haiti was defeated 4-0 and 3-1. In the CONCACAF intermediate round, Honduras took first place ahead of Jamaica, El Salvador and St. Vincent and the Grenadines and scored the most of all teams in the intermediate round with 25 goals. In the CONCACAF final round, however, it was only enough for fourth place behind Costa Rica, Mexico and the USA, which qualified. Like Jamaica and Trinidad & Tobago, Honduras was left behind.

World Cup 2006 in Germany

The qualification for the second World Cup in Germany was again not successful. This started for Honduras in the second round with two wins against the Netherlands Antilles . The team finished the third round in third behind the tied teams from Costa Rica and Guatemala , leaving only Canada behind.

World Cup 2010 in South Africa

Honduras was then able to qualify again for the first World Cup in Africa . The qualification started for Honduras in the second round with a 4-0 against Puerto Rico, which was followed by a 2-2 in Puerto Rico, which reached the third round. In this Honduras prevailed together with Mexico against Jamaica and Canada. In the fourth round, 3rd place was taken behind the USA and Mexico in front of Costa Rica, El Salvador and Trinidad & Tobago . So Honduras was qualified for South Africa.

In South Africa, Honduras met Chile in their first game and lost 1-0. The second game against European champions Spain was also lost 2-0. So Honduras was eliminated before the last game, but still fought 0-0 against Switzerland , which also eliminated the Swiss. Without a goal, Honduras finished only last in the group.

2014 World Cup in Brazil

Fans from Honduras and Ecuador before the group game

Honduras was then able to qualify again for the second World Cup in Brazil . In the third round , for which Honduras was automatically qualified, the team prevailed against Canada and Cuba level on points with Panama , although progress was only ensured in the last group game with an 8-1 against the Canadians who were ahead of them at the time. The fourth round was then finished third in the group behind the USA and Costa Rica before Mexico, which could also qualify via the intercontinental games against New Zealand . Panama , which led 2-1 against the USA until shortly before the end of the last matchday, put the team ahead of Mexico, but then lost 3-2, and Jamaica were eliminated.

In Brazil, the Honduran team met ex-world champions France in their first game and kept the 0-0 up to the 44th minute. Only after a bump from Wilson Palacios in the penalty area, who received a yellow-red card for it and because of which the French were awarded a penalty, which Karim Benzema converted, they fell behind. An own goal by goalkeeper Noel Valladares , which made use of goal-line technology for the first time , finally put Honduras on the losing side. Benzema then increased to 3-0 for the favorite with his second goal. The second game against Ecuador was lost 2-1 and, like four years earlier, the Swiss were the opponents in the last group game. This time, however, Honduras had to admit defeat 3-0 and are still waiting for their first World Cup victory.

World Cup 2018 in Russia

In qualifying for the World Cup in Russia , Honduras, which has been coached by Jorge Luis Pinto since December 2014 , only had to intervene in the fourth round. Opponents were Mexico , El Salvador and Canada . With two wins, two draws and two defeats, Honduras finished second behind Mexico and reached the fifth and final round. Opponents there are Costa Rica, again Mexico, Panama, Trinidad & Tobago and the USA. After four of ten games, the team was in fifth place, which would have meant elimination. After losing the fifth game, the turnaround was achieved and none of the last five games was lost. Fourth place was achieved with two wins and three draws, with Honduras benefiting from a US defeat on the last day of the game against the already eliminated team from Trinidad and Tobago. So the team was in the intercontinental playoffs against Australia. After a goalless home game, the 0-0 was held in Australia until the 53rd minute. Then Mile Jedinak put the Australians in the lead and then increased them to 3-0 with two penalties. Honduras captain and record international Maynor Figueroa only managed the consolation goal in stoppage time.

Ranking of the Honduran World Cup players with the most appearances

01. Maynor Figueroa and Noel Valladares - 6 appearances in 2 tournaments

03. Róger Espinoza and Wilson Palacios - 5 appearances in 2 tournaments

05. Víctor Bernárdez Osman Chávez and Emilio Izaguirre - 4 appearances in 2 tournaments

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

01. Carlo Costly , Eduardo Laing and Héctor Zelaya - 1 goal each

World Cup captains

• 1982: Ramón Maradiaga
• 2010: Amado Guevara (1st and 2nd game), Noel Valladares (3rd game)
• 2014: Noel Valladares

Players banned from World Championships

• 1982: Gilberto Yearwood received the red card in the 89th minute of the third group match , but this had no further effect as Honduras were eliminated.
• 2010: Wilson Palacios received the second yellow card in the third group match. Since the team was eliminated, it had no effect.
• 2014: Wilson Palacios received the yellow-red card in the first group game after a foul and was suspended for the second group game.

Share of players playing abroad in the World Cup squad

Only one legionnaire was used for the first participation . After that it was a little less than half of the team.

Year (games)	Number (countries)	Players (stakes)
1982 (3)	1 (in Spain)	Gilberto Yearwood
2010 (3)	9 (1 in Belgium, 2 in China, 3 in England, 2 in Italy, 1 in the USA)	Víctor Bernárdez (1); Jerry Palacios (2), Mauricio Sabillón (1); Maynor Figueroa (3), Wilson Palacios (2), Hendry Thomas (2); Edgar Álvarez (2), David Suazo (2); Róger Espinoza (2)
2014 (3)	11 (1 in Belgium, 1 in China, 4 in England, 1 in Scotland, 4 in the USA)	Andy Najar (2); Osman Chavez (1); Róger Espinoza (3), Maynor Figueroa (3), Juan Carlos García (2), Wilson Palacios (2); Emilio Izaguirre (2); Jerry Bengtson (3), Víctor Bernárdez (3), Marvin Chávez (2), Boniek García (3),

Games

• Honduras has played nine World Cup games so far. None of them were won, six were lost and three ended in a draw.
• Two World Cup games have only been played against Spain and Switzerland. All other World Cup pairings with Honduras have been unique so far.
• Honduras never played in the opening game, but played once - in the first World Cup game - against the hosts.
• Honduras lost once (2010) to the eventual world champions.
• Honduras never played against the defending champions.
• Honduras never met a World Cup newcomer.

All World Cup games
No.	date	Result	opponent		venue	occasion	comment
1.	06/16/1982	1: 1	Spain	A.	Valencia ( ESP )	1. Final round	First game against Spain
2.	06/21/1982	1: 1	Northern Ireland	*	Zaragoza ( ESP )	1. Final round	First game against Northern Ireland
3.	06/21/1982	0: 1	Yugoslavia	*	Zaragoza ( ESP )	1. Final round	First game against Yugoslavia
4th	06/16/2010	0: 1	Chile	*	Nelspruit ( ZAF )	Preliminary round
5.	06/21/2010	0: 2	Spain	*	Johannesburg ( ZAF )	Preliminary round
6th	06/25/2010	0-0	Switzerland	*	Bloemfontein ( ZAF )	Preliminary round	First game against Switzerland
6th	06/15/2014	0: 3	France	*	Porto Alegre ( BRA )	Preliminary round	First game against France
8th.	06/20/2014	1: 2	Ecuador	*	Curitiba ( BRA )	Preliminary round
9.	06/25/2014	0: 3	Switzerland	*	Manaus ( BRA )	Preliminary round

Biggest defeats

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

•  France : Preliminary round 2014 - 3-0 (only game against France)
•  Yugoslavia : 1st final round 1982 - 0: 1 (only game against Yugoslavia)
•  Switzerland : preliminary round 2014 - 3-0 (only defeat against Switzerland)
•  Spain : Preliminary round 2010 - 2-0 (only loss to Spain)

Negative record

• Honduras has played the most games (9) of all teams without a win at World Cup finals.

See also

• Football World - Statistics - Honduras 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 1930-2014 (PDF; 200 kB)
2. ↑ fifa.com: Jedinak shoots the Socceroos to Russia