Chile national football team
| Shirt badge/Association crest | |||
| Nickname(s) | La Roja (The Red One) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Association | Federación de Fútbol de Chile | ||
| Head coach | Nelson Acosta, 2005- | ||
| Most caps | Leonel Sánchez (84) | ||
| Top scorer | Marcelo Salas (35) | ||
| FIFA code | CHI | ||
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| First international | |||
 Argentina 3 - 1 Chile  (Buenos Aires, Argentina; 27 May, 1910) | |||
| Biggest win | |||
Chile 7 - 0 Venezuela  (Santiago, Chile; 29 August, 1979) Chile 7 - 0 Armenia  (Santiago, Chile; 5 January, 1997) | |||
| Biggest defeat | |||
 Brazil 7 - 0 Chile (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; 17 September, 1959) | |||
| World Cup | |||
| Appearances | 7 (first in 1930) | ||
| Best result | Third place, 1962 | ||
| Copa América | |||
| Appearances | 34 (first in 1916) | ||
| Best result | Second place, 1955, 1956, 1979, 1987 | ||
| Olympic medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Men’s Football | ||
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2000 Sydney | Team |
The Chile national football team represents Chile in all major international football competitions. The team is controlled by the Federación de Fútbol de Chile and is a founding member of CONMEBOL. They have appeared in seven World Cup tournaments.
Chile participated in the first World Cup in 1930. They started off well beating Mexico and France without conceding a goal. A 3-1 loss to Argentina in their final game left them in second place in their group, eliminating them from the tournament.
Their best World Cup result was a third place finish in 1962, when Chile was the host nation. Chile lost 4-2 to eventual champions Brazil in a semifinals match, but beat Yugoslavia 1-0 in the third place match. Chile also won the Bronze medal at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, with striker Ivan Zamorano the competitions top scorer.
Chile have reached four Copa America finals, but failed to win any of them. Along with Ecuador and Venezuela, they are one of three South American nations who have never won the competition.
Chile at the 1962 World Cup
Chile was in the host nation of this World Cup tournament. They won their first match against Switzerland by 3-1. The second match against Italy (2-0) became known as the Battle of Santiago. Although only two players were sent off by the overly weak English referee Ken Aston, the match saw repeated, deliberate attempts from players on both sides to harm opponents, and the teams needed police protection to leave the field in safety.
Later surprisingly, Chile defeated European champions USSR to land themselves a semi-final game against the winner of the England, the Brazil game, whereas a capacity crowd of 76,600 watched Brazil beat the hosts 4-2. This game saw Garrincha sent off for Brazil and Landa sent off for Chile. Chile eventually went on to take third place in a 1-0 victory over Yugoslavia in the playoff.
Chile at the 1974 World Cup
Chile qualified for the Deutschland 74 after a controversial play-off with the USSR. Following a drawn first leg in Moscow, the Soviets refused to play the second leg at the Estadio Nacional in Santiago, which had been used as a concentration camp by the Pinochet regime. However, FIFA refused to switch the match to a neutral venue, and the Soviets refused to fly to Santiago. The Chilean players kicked off on an otherwise empty pitch, scored into the unguarded USSR net, and because there was no opposition to restart the game, the referee awarded the match to Chile, ensuring they qualified for the 1974 finals.
At the tournament itself, Chile lost their opening game 1-0 to West Germany in Berlin, thanks to a long-range shot from Paul Breitner. Striker Carlos Caszely was controversially sent off in the second half.
Chile then fought out a 1-1 draw with East Germany, again in Berlin. Martin Hoffmann put the GDR ahead, but Sergio Ahumada equalised with 20 minutes left. Finally, they got another draw, this time a goalless one, against Australia, which eliminated both teams.
Chile at the 1982 World Cup
At España 82, the Chileans performed poorly with an ageing team in which Caszely and the 35-year-old central defender Elias Figueroa were still the main men. They lost their first game 1-0 to Austria in Oviedo, Walter Schachner scoring the only goal midway through the first half. Caszely missed a penalty soon afterwards.
Chile were then beaten 4-1 in Gijón by a Karl-Heinz Rummenigge-inspired West Germany, with goalkeeper Mario Osbén making a couple of costly errors; Gustavo Moscoso grabbed a late consolation goal. Finally, against Algeria, Chile were overrun in the first half and went in at half-time 3-0 behind, but managed to save some face with second-half goals from Miguel Neira and Juan Carlos Letelier.
The Roberto Rojas scandal
La Roja's most infamous moment came on September 3, 1989. During a 1990 FIFA World Cup qualifying match at Rio De Janeiro's Maracanã stadium, Brazil led Chile 1-0. A defeat for Chile would eliminate them from the tournament. Around the 67-minute mark, Chilean goalkeeper Roberto "Cóndor" Rojas fell to the pitch with an apparent injury to his forehead. A firework, thrown from the stands by a Brazilian fan named Rosemary de Mello, was smouldering about a yard away. After carrying Rojas off the pitch, the Chilean players and coaches refused to return claiming conditions were not safe. The match went unfinished.
After studying video footage of the match showing that the firework had not made contact with Rojas, FIFA awarded Brazil a 2-0 win (eliminating Chile from the 1990 World Cup). Chile were banned from the qualifiers of the 1994 Football World Cup, and Rojas was banned for life (although an amnesty was granted in 2001).
Chile at the 1998 World Cup
Chile qualified for the World Cup in France in 1998 having been banned from entering the 1994 tournament. They were drawn in Group B, along with Italy, Cameroon and Austria. With much expected of their strike partnership of Marcelo Salas and Iván Zamorano, Chile drew impressively with Italy in Bordeaux in their opening match, 2-2, with Salas scoring both goals in reply to Christian Vieri's opener. The game was most noted for Roberto Baggio's late equalizer for Italy with a controversial penalty, banishing memories of his fatal miss in the 1994 final against Brazil in Los Angeles. Due to bad performance, the nigerian referee Lucien Bouchardeau was dismissed from further matches during the WC.
Chile drew their next two matches 1-1. The first was a dreadful game with Austria in St-Étienne. Salas opened the scoring with a disputed goal scored from close range (the Austrians protested his shot never crossed the line), but Austria, as they had in their first match against Cameroon, equalised in the last minute, Ivica Vastic scoring a spectacular long-range effort.
Against Cameroon in Nantes five days later, José Luis Sierra's excellent free-kick gave Chile the lead, but the Africans fought back strongly and equalised with a header from Patrick Mboma. Despite having Rigobert Song and Lauren Etame Mayer sent off, Cameroon dominated the second half, and were only denied a victory when Hungarian referee László Vagner inexplicably disallowed a good goal by François Omam-Biyik.
Italy had been the only team to win in the group, so Chile's unbeaten record took them into the last 16, and a tie with South American rivals Brazil at the Parc des Princes in Paris. The Brazilians took Chile to pieces in the first half, despite Zamorano's superb performance (the footage of him passionately singing the national anthem prior to kick-off was one of the most enduring images of the tournament). César Sampaio scored twice early on, and a Ronaldo penalty made it 3-0 before half-time. Chile courageously kept fighting, and Salas got his fourth goal of the competition, heading in a rebound after Claudio Taffarel had saved from Zamorano, but Ronaldo scored again quickly and Chile were out of the tournament.
World Cup record
- 1930 - Round 1
- 1934 - Withdrew
- 1938 - Did not enter
- 1950 - Round 1
- 1954 - Did not qualify
- 1958 - Did not qualify
- 1962 - Third place
- 1966 - Round 1
- 1970 - Did not qualify
- 1974 - Round 1
- 1978 - Did not qualify
- 1982 - Round 1
- 1986 - Did not qualify
- 1990 - Disqualified
- 1994 - Banned
- 1998 - Round 2
- 2002 - Did not qualify
- 2006 - Did not qualify
Copa América record
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Current players
Famous players
- Jorge Aravena
- Fernando Astengo
- Carlos Campos
- Carlos Caszely
- Elías Figueroa
- Mark González
- Enrique Hormazábal
- Sergio Livingstone
- David Pizarro
- Carlos Reinoso
- George Robledo
- Roberto Rojas
- Marcelo Salas
- Leonel Sánchez
- Jorge Toro
- Iván Zamorano
Famous Coaches
External links
- The official chilean football association
- RSSSF archive of results 1910-2003
- RSSSF archive of most capped players and highest goalscorers
- Information on national team
- Planet World Cup archive of results in the World Cup
- Planet World Cup archive of squads in the World Cup
- Planet World Cup archive of results in the World Cup qualifiers
International association football | ||
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| Africa |  | |
| Asia | ||
| Europe |
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| North & Central America and the Caribbean | ||
| Oceania | ||
| South America |
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| Non-FIFA | ||
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