The Ecuador national football team (Spanish: Selección de fútbol de Ecuador), nicknamed La Tricolor, represents Ecuador in men's international football and is controlled by the Ecuadorian Football Federation (FEF). They joined FIFA in 1926 and CONMEBOL a year later.
Historically, Ecuador has been seen as a struggling footballing nation in South America. Despite their past failures, however, Ecuador has risen to be a serious South American competitor in recent years.
Football was introduced to Ecuador by Juan Alfredo Wright, who had recently returned from university in England. On 23 April 1899, he and his brother Roberto founded the first Ecuadorian football team, Guayaquil Sport Club.[6][7] As the popularity of the sport grew in the country, more teams were established. On 30 May 1925, the Federación Deportiva Nacional del Ecuador was founded.[7] In 1930, FIFA sent an invitation encouraging for a men's national team to participate at the maiden World Cup. However, the then-Minister of Social Security and Sports declined the offer as they did not approve of the financial allocation.[8]
In 1938, the I Bolivarian Games were organized, with Ecuador set to take part in the football tournament. On 8 August 1938, they played their first-ever match; a 1–1 draw with Bolivia. Their following game saw the national team earn a 2–1 win against Colombia. Following a 9–1 crushing by Peru and a 5–2 victory over Venezuela, Ecuador was tied for the silver medal with Bolivia. A playoff saw the Bolivians emerge triumphantly and the Ecuadorians finished the competition with the bronze medal.[9]
The 1998 World Cup qualifiers saw the format for qualifying in CONMEBOL changed to a league home-and-away system. This difference made a huge impact on Ecuador's performance as they clinched several important home wins during the campaign. In the end, they achieved a 6th-place finish, just under Peru and Chile.
Following the appointment of Hernán Darío Gómez for their 2002 World Cup qualifying campaign, Ecuador recorded a historic 1–0 win against Brazil.[10] A 5–1 win over Bolivia saw la Tricolor only needing a point to qualify for the World Cup. They faced Uruguay, and, after managing to cling onto a 1–1 draw, obtained their spot in the World Cup in East Asia.[3]
Ecuador started the 2002 World Cup with a 2–0 loss to Italy. Agustín Delgado scored his country's first World Cup goal; he opened the scoring in a 2–1 loss to Mexico.[11] Despite defeating Croatia, who had achieved third place in the previous tournament, and eliminating the Croats in process, Ecuador placed fourth in Group G and 24th overall.
A disappointing showing at the 2004 Copa América led to the resignation of Gómez, who was replaced by Luis Fernando Suárez. He led them successfully through the latter stages of the qualification process for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, finishing third to make the finals. In Germany, they were drawn into Group A with the hosts, Poland, and Costa Rica. Wins over Poland and Costa Rica earned Ecuador qualification to the knockout stages for the first time.
Gómez was reinstalled to lead Ecuador at the 2019 Copa América. His second stint was short, as he was soon fired after a disastrous tournament, having only earned a point.[13]
For the qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, as punishment for fielding a player who had a passport with falsified information for Byron Castillo in the previous World Cup qualification cycle. Ecuador were deducted three points and fined CHF 100,000.[14]
The Ecuador national team plays their home games at the Estadio Olímpico Atahualpa in Quito. Having opened in 1951, it initially had a capacity of 45,000, but was later reduced to 35,724.
15 gates surround the stadium, allowing for an evacuation to be completed in about 10 minutes. The venue also features an electronic scoreboard located in the northern sector. The screen, manufactured by Hungarian-based company Elektroimpex in 1985, measures 10 meters tall and 30 meters wide.[16]
In this stadium, Ecuador defeated Uruguay at the 1993 Copa América and Brazil at the 2002 World Cup qualifiers.[10] After tying with the former on 7 November 2001, Ecuador qualified for their first World Cup. Since then, Ecuador has qualified three times.
The stadium is set to be demolished in late-2020 for a newer stadium, which in first instance was for preparation for the 2024 Copa América.[17][18] However, Ecuador declined to host Copa America in 2022.[19]
The Ecuador team posing before facing Argentina in October 2017
The standard Ecuador uniform maintains the colours of the national flag, typically a yellow top, blue shorts, and red socks.[20] The alternate colours of the uniform are white and blue, this being based on the flag of the Guayas Province. From 1965 to 2020, the crest featured the Andean condor, Ecuador's national bird, above a shield with the country's colors. In January 2020, the Ecuadorian Football Federation announced a rebrand of the logo; a navy blue shield with an "FEF" monogram attempting to "abstractly build a condor".[21][22]
INJ Withdrew from the squad due to injury. PRE Preliminary squad / standby. RET Retired from the national team. SUS Withdrew from the squad due to suspension.
Retired numbers
Following the death of Christian Benítez, the Ecuadorian Football Federation retired his jersey number 11 from the national team. According to the Federation's then-president, Luis Chiriboga, to honor Benítez the number would no longer be used by any other team player.[25] However, due to FIFA regulations, the number had to be reinstated for the 2014 World Cup squad.[26]
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