Ecuador at the FIFA World Cup

The Ecuadorian national football team has appeared at three FIFA World Cups, the world's premier football tournament for national football teams. Ecuador's first participation in the World Cup was in 2002. Their best performance was in 2006, where they were eliminated in the Round of 16.

Qualification history

From 1930 to 1938, Ecuador did not enter to qualify in the FIFA World Cup. Ecuador first entered to the World Cup qualifiers for the 1950 tournament, but withdrew from qualification. Ecuador did not enter for the 1954 and 1958 tournaments. From 1962 to 1998, Ecuador failed to qualify for the world's premier football tournament. They earned their first qualification in 2002 after finishing 2nd in South America. The qualification for the second tournament in 2006 was achieved after finishing 3rd in South America. For the 2010 tournament, Ecuador finished 6th in South America and failed to qualify for a third successive World Cup finals. Ecuador then managed to return to 2014 edition before once again got eliminated from 2018 edition.

Year	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Ref
1930	Did not enter
1934
1938
1950	Withdrew									[1]
1954	Did not enter
1958
1962	2 in Group 1	2	0	0	2	3	11	−8	0	[2]
1966	3 in Group 3	4	1	0	3	4	10	−6	2	[3]
1970	3 in Group 3	4	0	1	3	2	8	−6	1	[4]
1974	3 in Group 1	4	0	2	2	3	8	−5	2	[5]
1978	3 in Group 3	4	0	1	3	1	9	−8	1	[6]
1982	2 in Group 3	4	1	1	2	2	5	−3	3	[7]
1986	3 in Group 2	4	0	1	3	4	11	−7	1	[8]
1990	3 in Group 2	4	1	1	2	4	5	−1	3	[9]
1994	4 in Group 2	8	1	3	4	7	7	0	5	[10]
1998	6	16	6	3	7	22	21	+1	21	[11]
2002	2	18	9	4	5	23	20	+3	31	[12]
2006	3	18	8	4	6	23	19	+4	28	[13]
2010	6	18	6	5	7	22	26	−4	23	[14]
2014	4	16	7	4	5	20	16	+4	25	[15]
2018
Total	N/A	124	40	30	54	140	176	−36	-

World Cup record

While Ecuador has just gotten out from the group stage once, nonetheless Ecuador managed to win at least one match in their group stage. In all three World Cup Ecuador has played, they were all coached by Colombian managers.

FIFA World Cup Finals record
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
1930	Did not enter
1934
1938
1950	Withdrew
1954	Did not enter
1958
1962	Did not qualify
1966
1970
1974
1978
1982
1986
1990
1994
1998
2002	Group stage	24th	3	1	0	2	2	4
2006	Round of 16	12th	4	2	0	2	5	4
2010	Did not qualify
2014	Group stage	17th	3	1	1	1	3	3
2018	Did not qualify
2022	To be determined
2026
Total	Round of 16	3/21	10	4	1	5	10	11

2002 FIFA World Cup

Ecuador qualified for their first FIFA World Cup by finishing second in the CONMEBOL qualification tournament, finishing ahead of Brazil. Ecuador were drawn into Group G, alongside Mexico, Italy, and Croatia.

Ecuador made a losing World Cup debut against worldpowers Italy, falling 2–0 by courtesy of a Christian Vieri double. Their next match against Mexico went better, but ended in a 2–1 defeat for the Ecuadorians. Agustín Delgado scored for Ecuador's first ever World Cup goal and put them ahead, but goals from Jared Borgetti and Gerardo Torrado canceled the early strike and effectively eliminated them from the tournament. A second-half goal from Édison Méndez did seal a 1–0 consolation win in the final match against Croatia. Although they finished the tournament last in their group, they managed to eliminate Croatia, previous third-place in 1998 World Cup, from the competition.

Final Group G standings

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Mexico	3	2	1	0	4	2	+2	7
Italy	3	1	1	1	4	3	+1	4
Croatia	3	1	0	2	2	3	−1	3
Ecuador	3	1	0	2	2	4	−2	3

June 3, 2002 Group Stage	Italy	2–0	Ecuador	Sapporo
20:30 UTC+09:00	Vieri  7', 27'	Report		Stadium: Sapporo Dome Attendance: 31,081 Referee: Brian Hall (United States)

June 9, 2002 Group Stage	Mexico	2–1	Ecuador	Miyagi
15:30 UTC+09:00	Borgetti  28' Torrado  57'	Report	Delgado  5'	Stadium: Miyagi Stadium Attendance: 45,610 Referee: Mourad Daami (Tunisia)

June 13, 2002 Group Stage	Ecuador	1–0	Croatia	Yokohama
20:30 UTC+09:00	Méndez  48'	Report		Stadium: International Stadium Yokohama Attendance: 65,862 Referee: William Mattus (Costa Rica)

Squad statistics[16]

Num	Pos	Player	Date of birth (age)	Club	Minutes played
					ITA	MEX	CRO	Total
1	GK	José Francisco Cevallos	April 17, 1971 (aged 31)	Barcelona	90	90	90	270
2	DF	Augusto Porozo	April 13, 1974 (aged 28)	Emelec	90	90	90	270
3	DF	Iván Hurtado	August 16, 1974 (aged 27)	Barcelona	90	90	90	270
4	DF	Ulises de la Cruz	February 8, 1974 (aged 28)	Hibernian	90	90	90	270
5	MF	Alfonso Obregón	May 12, 1972 (aged 30)	LDU Quito	90	58	40	188
6	DF	Raúl Guerrón	October 12, 1976 (aged 25)	Deportivo Quito	90	90	90	270
7	MF	Nicolás Asencio	April 26, 1975 (aged 27)	Barcelona	5	0	0	5
8	DF	Luis Gómez	April 20, 1972 (aged 30)	Barcelona	0	0	0	0
9	FW	Iván Kaviedes	October 24, 1977 (aged 24)	Barcelona	0	53	14	67
10	MF	Álex Aguinaga	July 9, 1968 (aged 33)	Necaxa	45	32	50	127
11	FW	Agustín Delgado	December 23, 1974 (aged 27)	Southampton	90	90	90	270
12	GK	Oswaldo Ibarra	September 8, 1969 (aged 32)	El Nacional	0	0	0	0
13	FW	Ángel Fernández	August 2, 1971 (aged 30)	El Nacional	0	0	0	0
14	MF	Juan Carlos Burbano	February 15, 1969 (aged 33)	El Nacional	0	0	0	0
15	DF	Marlon Ayoví	September 27, 1971 (aged 30)	Deportivo Quito	31	55	90	176
16	MF	Cléber Chalá	June 29, 1971 (aged 30)	El Nacional	85	90	90	265
17	DF	Giovanny Espinoza	April 12, 1977 (aged 25)	Aucas	0	0	0	0
18	MF	Carlos Tenorio	May 14, 1979 (aged 23)	Deportivo Quito	45	37	76	158
19	MF	Édison Méndez	March 16, 1979 (aged 23)	Deportivo Quito	90	90	90	270
20	MF	Edwin Tenorio	June 16, 1976 (aged 25)	Barcelona	59	35	0	94
21	MF	Wellington Sánchez	June 19, 1974 (aged 27)	Emelec	0	0	0	0
22	GK	Daniel Viteri	December 12, 1981 (aged 20)	Emelec	0	0	0	0
23	MF	Walter Ayoví	August 11, 1979 (aged 22)	Emelec	0	0	0	0
Manager: Hernán Darío Gómez

2006 FIFA World Cup

Ecuador qualified for their second FIFA World Cup by finishing third in the CONMEBOL qualification tournament. They were drawn into Group A, alongside hosts Germany, Poland, and Costa Rica.[17]

Ecuador campaign got off with a shock 2–0 win against Poland in their first game in Gelsenkirchen, with goals from Carlos Tenorio and Agustín Delgado.[18] They then beat Costa Rica 3–0 in Hamburg with goals coming from Carlos Tenorio, Agustín Delgado, and Iván Kaviedes.[19] The win advanced them to the next round. Their qualification complete, they rested key players against the hosts Germany and were beaten 3–0.[20] Ecuador finished second in Group A behind Germany and faced England in the Round of 16. A second-half free-kick from David Beckham was the only goal of the game, which eliminated Ecuador from the World Cup.[21]

Final Group A standings

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Germany	3	3	0	0	8	2	+6	9
Ecuador	3	2	0	1	5	3	+2	6
Poland	3	1	0	2	2	4	−2	3
Costa Rica	3	0	0	3	3	9	−6	0

June 9, 2006 Group Stage	Poland	0–2	Ecuador	Gelsenkirchen
21:00 UTC+02:00		Report	C. Tenorio  24' Delgado  80'	Stadium: FIFA WM Stadion Gelsenkirchen Attendance: 52,000 Referee: Toru Kamikawa (Japan)

June 15, 2006 Group Stage	Ecuador	3–0	Costa Rica	Hamburg
15:00 UTC+02:00	C. Tenorio  8' Delgado  54' Kaviedes  90+2'	Report		Stadium: FIFA WM Stadion Hamburg Attendance: 50,000 Referee: Coffi Codjia (Benin)

June 20, 2006 Group Stage	Ecuador	0–3	Germany	Berlin
16:00 UTC+02:00		Report	Klose  4', 44' Podolski  57'	Stadium: Olympiastadion Attendance: 72,000 Referee: Valentin Ivanov (Russia)

June 25, 2006 Round of 16	England	1–0	Ecuador	Stuttgart
17:00 UTC+02:00	Beckham  60'	Report		Stadium: Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion Attendance: 52,000 Referee: Frank De Bleeckere (Belgium)

Squad statistics[22]

Num	Pos	Player	Date of birth (age)	Club	Minutes played
					POL	CRC	GER	ENG	Total
1	GK	Edwin Villafuerte	March 12, 1979 (aged 27)	Deportivo Quito	0	0	0	0	0
2	DF	Jorge Guagua	September 28, 1981 (aged 24)	El Nacional	21	21	90	0	132
3	DF	Iván Hurtado	August 16, 1974 (aged 31)	Al-Arabi	69	90	0	90	249
4	DF	Ulises de la Cruz	February 8, 1974 (aged 32)	Aston Villa	90	90	90	90	360
5	DF	José Luis Perlaza	October 6, 1981 (aged 24)	Olmedo	0	0	0	0	0
6	MF	Patricio Urrutia	October 15, 1977 (aged 28)	LDU Quito	7	17	22	0	46
7	MF	Christian Lara	April 27, 1980 (aged 26)	El Nacional	0	0	27	21	48
8	MF	Édison Méndez	March 16, 1979 (aged 27)	LDU Quito	90	90	90	90	360
9	FW	Félix Borja	April 2, 1983 (aged 23)	El Nacional	0	0	45	0	45
10	FW	Iván Kaviedes	October 24, 1977 (aged 28)	Argentinos Juniors	25	45	90	18	178
11	FW	Agustín Delgado	December 23, 1974 (aged 31)	LDU Quito	83	90	0	90	263
12	GK	Cristian Mora	August 26, 1979 (aged 26)	LDU Quito	90	90	90	90	360
13	DF	Paúl Ambrosi	October 14, 1980 (aged 25)	LDU Quito	0	0	90	0	0
14	MF	Segundo Castillo	May 15, 1982 (aged 24)	El Nacional	90	90	0	90	270
15	MF	Marlon Ayoví	August 27, 1971 (aged 34)	Deportivo Quito	0	0	68	0	68
16	MF	Antonio Valencia	August 4, 1985 (aged 20)	Recreativo de Huelva	90	73	63	90	316
17	DF	Giovanny Espinoza	April 12, 1977 (aged 29)	LDU Quito	90	69	90	90	339
18	DF	Néicer Reasco	July 23, 1977 (aged 28)	LDU Quito	90	90	0	90	270
19	MF	Luis Saritama	October 20, 1983 (aged 22)	Deportivo Quito	0	0	0	0	0
20	MF	Edwin Tenorio	June 16, 1976 (aged 29)	Barcelona	90	90	90	69	339
21	FW	Carlos Tenorio	May 14, 1979 (aged 27)	Al-Sadd	65	45	0	72	182
22	GK	Damián Lanza	April 10, 1982 (aged 24)	Aucas	0	0	0	0	0
23	FW	Christian Benítez	May 1, 1986 (aged 20)	El Nacional	0	0	0	45	0
Coach: Luis Fernando Suárez

2014 FIFA World Cup

Ecuador qualified for their third FIFA World Cup by finishing fourth in the CONMEBOL qualification tournament. Ecuador was drawn into Group E, alongside France, Honduras and Switzerland.

Ecuador played its first match in Brasília, capital of Brazil. Enner Valencia scored the first goal of the match for Ecuador against Switzerland, but the squad happened to allow the European team to win 2–1. In the second match, played in the city of Curitiba, Honduras scored the first goal, but Enner Valencia scored twice, giving Ecuador its first victory at the 2014 World Cup. The last match of the group was played in Rio de Janeiro against France, but nobody scored any goal. These results were not enough to make the country qualify to the next phase of the tournament.

Final Group E standings

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
France	3	2	1	0	8	2	+6	7
Switzerland	3	2	0	1	7	6	+1	6
Ecuador	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	4
Honduras	3	0	0	3	1	8	−7	0

June 15, 2014 Group Stage	Switzerland	2–1	Ecuador	Brasília
13:00 UTC-03:00	Mehmedi  48' Seferović  90+3'	Report	E. Valencia  22'	Stadium: Estádio Nacional Mané Garrincha Attendance: 68,351 Referee: Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan)

June 20, 2014 Group Stage	Honduras	1–2	Ecuador	Curitiba
19:00 UTC-03:00	Costly  31'	Report	E. Valencia  34', 65'	Stadium: Arena da Baixada Attendance: 39,224 Referee: Ben Williams (Australia)

June 25, 2014 Group Stage	Ecuador	0–0	France	Rio de Janeiro
17:00 UTC-03:00		Report		Stadium: Estádio do Maracanã Attendance: 73,749 Referee: Noumandiez Doué (Ivory Coast)

Squad statistics[23]

Num	Pos	Player	Date of birth (age)	Club	Minutes played
					SUI	HON	FRA	Total
1	GK	Máximo Banguera	December 16, 1985 (aged 28)	Barcelona	0	0	0	0
2	DF	Jorge Guagua	September 28, 1981 (aged 32)	Emelec	90	90	90	270
3	DF	Frickson Erazo	May 5, 1988 (aged 26)	Flamengo	90	90	90	270
4	DF	Juan Carlos Paredes	July 8, 1987 (aged 26)	Barcelona	90	90	90	270
5	MF	Renato Ibarra	January 20, 1991 (aged 23)	Vitesse	0	0	27	27
6	MF	Christian Noboa	April 9, 1985 (aged 29)	Dynamo Moscow	90	90	89	269
7	MF	Jefferson Montero	September 1, 1989 (aged 24)	Morelia	77	90	63	230
8	MF	Édison Méndez	March 16, 1979 (aged 35)	Santa Fe	0	8	0	8
9	MF	Joao Rojas	June 14, 1989 (aged 24)	Cruz Azul	13	0	0	13
10	DF	Walter Ayoví	August 11, 1979 (aged 34)	Pachuca	0	0	0	0
11	FW	Felipe Caicedo	September 5, 1988 (aged 25)	Al-Jazira	70	82	1	153
12	GK	Adrián Bone	September 8, 1988 (aged 25)	El Nacional	0	0	0	0
13	FW	Enner Valencia	April 11, 1989 (aged 25)	Pachuca	90	90	90	270
14	MF	Oswaldo Minda	July 26, 1983 (aged 30)	Chivas USA	0	83	90	177
15	MF	Michael Arroyo	April 23, 1987 (aged 27)	Atlante	20	0	82	102
16	MF	Antonio Valencia	August 4, 1985 (aged 28)	Manchester United	90	90	50	230
17	FW	Jaime Ayoví	February 21, 1988 (aged 26)	Tijuana	0	0	0	0
18	DF	Óscar Bagüí	December 10, 1982 (aged 31)	Emelec	0	0	0	0
19	MF	Luis Saritama	October 20, 1983 (aged 30)	Barcelona	0	0	0	0
20	MF	Fidel Martínez	February 15, 1990 (aged 24)	Tijuana	0	0	0	0
21	DF	Gabriel Achilier	March 24, 1985 (aged 29)	Emelec	0	2	8	10
22	GK	Alexander Domínguez	June 5, 1987 (aged 27)	LDU Quito	90	90	90	270
23	MF	Carlos Gruezo	April 19, 1995 (aged 19)	Stuttgart	90	7	0	97
Manager: Reinaldo Rueda

Record Players

No.	Name	Matches	World Cups
1	Édison Méndez	8	2002, 2006 and 2014
2	Ulises de la Cruz	7	2002 and 2006
	Antonio Valencia	7	2006 and 2014
4	Agustín Delgado	6	2002 and 2006
	Iván Hurtado	6	2002 and 2006
	Iván Kaviedes	6	2002 and 2006
	Carlos Tenorio	6	2002 and 2006
	Edwin Tenorio	6	2002 and 2006
	Jorge Guagua	6	2006 and 2014
10	Marlon Ayoví	4	2002 and 2006
	Giovanny Espinoza	4	2006
	Cristian Mora	4	2006

List of goalscorers in World Cups

3 goals

• Agustín Delgado (2002, 2006)
• Enner Valencia (2014)

2 goals

• Carlos Tenorio (2006)

1 goal

• Iván Kaviedes (2006)
• Édison Méndez (2002)

References

1. http://www.rsssf.com/tables/50q.html
2. http://www.rsssf.com/tables/62qual.html#gr11
3. http://www.rsssf.com/tables/66qual.html#gr11
4. http://www.rsssf.com/tables/70qual.html#gr11
5. http://www.rsssf.com/tables/74qual.html#gr10
6. http://www.rsssf.com/tables/78qual.html#gr10
7. http://www.rsssf.com/tables/82qual.html#gr10
8. http://www.rsssf.com/tables/86qual.html#gr9
9. http://www.rsssf.com/tables/90qual.html#gr9
10. http://www.rsssf.com/tables/94qual.html#gr8
11. http://www.rsssf.com/tables/98qual.html#sam
12. http://www.rsssf.com/tables/2002q.html
13. http://www.rsssf.com/tables/2006q.html#sam
14. http://www.rsssf.com/tables/2010q.html#sam
15. https://www.fifa.com/worldcup/preliminaries/southamerica/standings/round1.html
16. https://www.fifa.com/mm/document/afdeveloping/technicaldevp/50/08/38/fwc%5fkorea%5fjapan%5f2002%5fa%5fpart2%5f264.pdf
17. "Hosts Germany delighted with draw". FIFA. December 10, 2005. Retrieved June 23, 2010.
18. "Ecuador's win is sweet for Suarez". FIFA. June 10, 2006. Retrieved June 23, 2010.
19. "ECUADOR 3-0 COSTA RICA". FIFA. June 15, 2006. Retrieved June 23, 2010.
20. "ECUADOR 0-3 GERMANY". FIFA. June 20, 2006. Retrieved June 23, 2010.
21. "ENGLAND 1-0 ECUADOR". FIFA. June 25, 2006. Retrieved June 23, 2010.
22. https://www.fifa.com/mm/document/afdeveloping/technicaldevp/50/08/32/fwc%5f2006%5fgermany%5f1%5f2%5f262.pdf
23. resources.fifa.com/mm/document/.../2014fwc_tsg_report_15082014web_neutral.pdf

External links

• Official website of the Ecuadorian Football Federation (in Spanish)
• Ecuador at FIFA.com