Nicaragua national football team

Nicaragua
Nickname(s)	La Azul y Blanco (The Blue and White); Los Pinoleros;
Association	Nicaraguan Football Federation
Confederation	CONCACAF (North America)
Sub-confederation	UNCAF (Central America)
Head coach	Juan Vita
Captain	Juan Barrera
Most caps	Josué Quijano (62)
Top scorer	Juan Barrera (18)
Home stadium	Nicaragua National Football Stadium
FIFA code	NCA
First colours	Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	149 (10 December 2020)
Highest	92 (December 2015)
Lowest	193 (May 2001)
First international
	El Salvador 9–0 Nicaragua ; (San Salvador, El Salvador; 1 May 1929)
Biggest win
	Nicaragua 6–0 Anguilla ; (Heredia, Costa Rica; 14 October 2018)
Biggest defeat
	Honduras 10–0 Nicaragua ; (San José, Costa Rica; 13 March 1946); Netherlands Antilles 11–1 Nicaragua ; (Guatemala City, Guatemala; 2 March 1950)
CONCACAF Championship & Gold Cup
Appearances	5 (first in 1963)
Best result	Sixth place (1967)

The Nicaragua national football team (Spanish: Selección de fútbol de Nicaragua) represents Nicaragua in men's international football and is controlled by the Nicaraguan Football Federation. Nicaragua achieved its first qualification to a major international competition in 2009, as they qualified for the 2009 Gold Cup as the last entrant from Central America, after a 2–0 win over Guatemala in the fifth place match in the 2009 Nations Cup.^[3] However, the team has never qualified for the FIFA World Cup.

Due to American influence throughout the country's history, baseball has more of a following as both a pursuit and spectator event in Nicaragua than football.

History

Nicaragua travelled to El Salvador for their first ever international, losing 9–0 to the hosts on 1 May 1929. They did not play another match for over twelve years, until the qualifying group for the 1941 CCCF Championship in Costa Rica. They lost all 4 games: 7–2 to the hosts Costa Rica on 10 May, 8–0 to El Salvador on 13 May, 9–1 to the Netherlands Antilles on 15 May and 5–2 to Panama on 18 May. Therefore, Nicaragua finished bottom of the group and did not make the final group.^[4]

Recent times

After qualifying for the 2019 Gold Cup on the back of finishing ninth in Nations League qualifying, they would go on to finish bottom of the group with losses to Costa Rica, Haiti and Bermuda.^[5]

Competitive record

FIFA World Cup

The Nicaragua national football team has never qualified for the World Cup. Their last attempt was for the 2018 World Cup, when they lost 3–4 on aggregate in the third round to Jamaica, despite winning the away leg 2–3.

FIFA World Cup record									FIFA World Cup qualification record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1930	Not a FIFA member								Not a FIFA member
1934
1938
1950	Did not enter								Declined participation
1954
1958
1962
1966
1970
1974
1978
1982
1986
1990
1994	Did not qualify								2	0	0	2	1	10
1998									2	0	0	2	1	3
2002									4	0	0	4	0	10
2006									2	0	1	1	3	6
2010									2	0	0	2	0	3
2014									4	2	0	2	5	7
2018									6	5	0	1	15	5
2022	To be determined								To be determined
2026	To be determined								To be determined
Total	–	0/21	–	–	–	–	–	–	22	7	1	14	25	44

CONCACAF Gold Cup

CONCACAF Championship / CONCACAF Gold Cup record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Squad
1963	Round 1	8th	4	0	0	4	2	15	Squad
1965	Did not qualify
1967	Sixth place	6th	5	0	1	4	3	12	Squad
1969	Did not enter
1971	Did not qualify
1973	Did not qualify
1977	Did not enter
1981
1985
1989
1991	Did not qualify
1993
1996
1998
2000
2002
2003
2005
2007
2009	Group stage	11th	3	0	0	3	0	8	Squad
2011	Did not qualify
2013
2015
2017	Group stage	10th	3	0	0	3	1	7	Squad
2019	Group stage	15th	3	0	0	3	0	8	Squad
2021	Did not qualify
Total	Sixth place	5/26	18	0	1	17	6	50	—

CONCACAF Nations League

CONCACAF Nations League record
Season	Division	Group	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA	P/R	RK
2019−20	B	D	6	2	1	3	9	11		23rd
2022–23	B	To be determined
Total			6	2	1	3	9	11	23rd

Copa Centroamericana

Copa Centroamericana record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1991	Preliminary round	5th	2	0	0	2	2	5
1993	Preliminary round	5th	2	0	0	2	0	8
1995	Preliminary round	7th	2	0	0	2	0	7
1997	First round	6th	2	0	0	2	2	11
1999	First round	5th	2	0	0	2	0	2
2001	First round	7th	3	0	0	3	2	19
2003	Sixth place	6th	5	1	0	4	1	11
2005	Fifth place	5th	3	1	0	2	2	9
2007	Sixth place	6th	4	1	0	3	6	14
2009	Fifth place	5th	4	1	2	1	5	6
2011	Sixth place	6th	4	0	1	3	2	7
2013	Seventh place	7th	3	0	1	2	2	5
2014	Sixth place	6th	3	0	0	3	0	6
2017	Fifth place	5th	5	1	1	3	5	6
Total	Fifth place	14/14	44	5	5	34	29	116

CCCF Championship

CCCF Championship record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1941	Fifth place	5th	4	0	0	4	5	29
1943	Fourth place	4th	6	0	0	6	7	39
1946	Sixth place	6th	5	1	0	4	5	31
1948	Did not enter
1951	Third place	3rd	4	0	0	4	4	22
1953	Sixth place	6th	6	1	0	5	4	18
1955	Did not enter
1957
1960
1961	Ninth place	9th	3	0	0	3	3	18
Total	Third place	6/10	28	2	0	26	28	157

Pan American Games

Pan American Games record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1951	Did not enter
1955
1959
1963
1967
1971
1975	Preliminary round	13th	3	0	0	3	2	23
1979	Did not enter
1983
1987
1991	Preliminary round	8th	3	0	0	3	1	20
1995	Did not qualify
1999
2003
2007
2011
2015
2019
Total	Preliminary round	2/18	6	0	0	6	3	43

Central American and Caribbean Games

Central American and Caribbean Games record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1930	Did not qualify
1935
1938
1946
1950	Group stage	8th	3	0	0	3	4	19
1954	Did not qualify
1959
1962
1966
1970
1974
1978
1982	Group stage	7th	3	0	1	2	2	6
1986	Did not qualify
1990
1993
1998	Quarter-finals	8th	4	1	0	3	3	13
2002	Quarter-finals	8th	3	1	0	2	2	7
2006	Did not qualify
2010
2014
2018
Total	Quarter-finals	4/22	13	2	1	10	11	45

Central American Games

Central American Games record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1973	Runners-up	2nd	4	2	1	1	4	3
1977	Third place	3rd	6	2	0	4	6	23
1986	Third place	3rd	3	0	2	1	1	5
1990	Third place	3rd	4	0	0	4	1	11
1994	Group stage	6th	2	0	0	2	0	17
1997	Group stage	6th	2	0	0	2	3	8
2001	Group stage	5th	3	1	0	2	5	8
2006	Not held
2010	Not held
2013	Group stage	7th	3	0	0	3	1	9
2017	Third place	3rd	4	1	2	1	2	1
Total	Runners-up	9/11	31	6	5	20	23	85

All-time head-to-head record

As of 10 October 2020 after the match against Honduras.^[6]

Positive Record Neutral Record Negative Record

Opponents	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Anguilla	3	3	0	0	14	0	+14
Argentina	1	0	0	1	1	5	−4
Barbados	2	1	0	1	1	1	0
Belize	10	3	3	4	12	13	−1
Bermuda	5	2	0	3	5	7	−2
Bolivia	3	0	1	2	4	6	−2
Canada	1	1	0	0	3	1	+2
Cayman Islands	1	1	0	0	1	0	+1
Colombia	1	0	0	1	2	7	−5
Costa Rica	19	1	1	17	10	72	−62
Cuba	11	3	3	5	14	21	−7
Curaçao^[a]	8	0	1	7	3	34	−31
Dominica	4	4	0	0	10	1	+9
Dominican Republic	2	0	0	2	0	4	−4
El Salvador	30	0	3	27	20	120	−100
Guadeloupe	1	0	0	1	0	2	−2
Guatemala	24	2	3	19	14	67	−53
Haiti	8	1	2	5	9	15	−6
Honduras	25	1	3	21	16	80	−64
Jamaica	2	1	0	1	3	4	−1
Martinique	2	0	0	2	0	4	−4
Mexico	3	0	0	3	1	10	−9
Panama	27	5	1	21	24	76	−52
Puerto Rico	5	3	1	1	9	6	+3
Saint Kitts and Nevis	2	0	2	0	0	0	0
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	5	1	2	2	6	8	−2
Suriname	4	2	0	2	5	9	−4
Trinidad and Tobago	5	1	1	3	4	10	−6
United States	1	0	0	1	0	3	−3
Venezuela	1	0	1	0	1	1	0
Total (30)	216	36	28	152	191	587	−396

^ Includes matches against Netherlands Antilles.

Schedule and results

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

Win Draw Loss

2020

25 February Friendly	Nicaragua	0–0	Panama	Managua, Nicaragua
		Report		Stadium: Nicaragua National Football Stadium

6 October Friendly	Nicaragua	0–0	Guatemala	Managua, Nicaragua
20:00		Report		Stadium: Nicaragua National Football Stadium

10 October Friendly	Honduras	1–1	Nicaragua	Comayagua, Honduras
17:00	Paz 90+2'	Report	Chavarría 40'	Stadium: Estadio Carlos Miranda Referee: Óscar Donaldo Moncada (Honduras)

2021

24 March WC 1st Round Qualifying	Nicaragua	v	Saint Lucia	Managua, Nicaragua
				Stadium: Nicaragua National Football Stadium

27 March WC 1st Round Qualifying	Turks and Caicos Islands	v	Nicaragua	Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands
				Stadium: TCIFA National Academy

4 June WC 1st Round Qualifying	Nicaragua	v	Belize	Managua, Nicaragua
				Stadium: Nicaragua National Football Stadium

8 June WC 1st Round Qualifying	Haiti	v	Nicaragua	Port-au-Prince, Haiti
				Stadium: Stade Sylvio Cator Attendance: TBD

Players

Current squad

The following players were called up for a friendly match against Honduras on 10 October 2020.
Caps updated as of 10 October 2020, after the match with Honduras.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
GK	Denis Espinoza	25 August 1983	31	1	Walter Ferretti
GK	Justo Lorente	27 February 1984	28	0	Diriangén

DF	Josué Quijano	10 March 1991	66	1	Real Estelí
DF	Manuel Rosas (captain)	14 October 1983	58	2	Real Estelí
DF	Erick Téllez	28 November 1989	26	0	Diriangén
DF	Cristian Gutiérrez	6 January 1993	10	0	Real Estelí
DF	René Huete	5 June 1995	4	0	Walter Ferretti
DF	Luis López	11 September 1998	4	0	Real Estelí
DF	Marvin Fletes	12 November 1997	3	0	Walter Ferretti
DF	Jason Castellón	24 January 1992	2	0	Walter Ferretti

MF	Marlon López	2 November 1992	40	0	Real Estelí
MF	Luis Galeano	15 October 1991	32	4	ART Municipal Jalapa
MF	Kevin Serapio	9 April 1996	14	0	Managua
MF	Brandon Ayerdis	11 September 1999	12	0	Real Estelí
MF	Richard Rodríguez	13 July 1992	9	0	Real Estelí
MF	Renato Punyed	22 August 1995	8	0	Nybergsund
MF	Harold Medina	30 January 2002	1	0	Real Estelí

FW	Carlos Chavarría	2 May 1994	40	11	Club Africain
FW	Henry Garcia	21 July 1990	11	0	Real Estelí
FW	Ricardo Mendieta	18 January 1995	6	1	Managua
FW	Dshon Forbes	9 July 1997	2	0	Walter Ferretti
FW	Ezequiel Ugalde	19 September 2001	0	0	Walter Ferretti

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up for the team in the last twelve months.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Henry Maradiaga	5 February 1990	7	0	ART Municipal Jalapa	v. Guatemala, 6 October 2020
GK	Denvorn Fox	22 December 1997	1	0	Real Estelí	v. Panama, 25 February 2020

DF	Joel Obando	20 November 2000	0	0	Real Madriz	v. Guatemala, 6 October 2020
DF	Jason Ingram	20 August 1997	1	0	Santos de Guápiles	v. Panama, 25 February 2020


FW	Juan Barrera	2 May 1989	59	18	Real Estelí	v. Guatemala, 6 October 2020
^INJ Player withdrew from the squad due to an injury. ^PRE Preliminary squad. ^RET Player retired from the national team. ^SUS Player is serving suspension. ^WD Player withdrew from the squad due to non-injury issue.

Records

Note: Players in bold text are still active with Nicaragua. Last updated: 6 October 2020

Coaching staff

Position	Name
Head coach	Juan Vita
Technical director	Roger Rodriguez
Assistant coach	Tyron Acevedo
Goalkeeping coach	Carlos Mendieta
Physical coordinator	Jaime Ruiz
Doctor	Dr. Cupertino Borrell
Physiotherapist	Zamir Cerna
Team coordinator	Cesar Castro Trinidad
Team coordinator	Nestor Diaz

Manager history

Name	Nation	From	To	Notes
Octavio Edmundo Salas Urbina	Nicaragua	1941	1943
Eduardo Kosovic 'Edy'	Hungary	1943	N/A	[1]
Santiago Bonilla	Costa Rica	1952	1953
Ferenc Mészáros	Hungary	1961	1961
Carlos Ruiz	Nicaragua	1961	1962
Santiago Berrini	Argentina	1965	1967	[2]
Livio Bendaña Espinoza	Nicaragua	1967	1969
Omar Muraco	Argentina	1969	1970
Salvador Dubois Leiva	Nicaragua	1977	1977
Orlando Casares	Argentina	1980	1981
Ján Fülöp	Czechoslovakia	February 1984	January 1986
Salvador Dubois Leiva	Nicaragua	1991	1992
Mauricio Cruz Jiron	Nicaragua	1993	June 2001
Florencio Levia	Nicaragua	June 2001	December 2002
Maurizio Battistini	Italy	February 2003	June 2004
Marcelo Javier Zuleta	Argentina	January 2005	September 2005
Carlos De Toro	Argentina	September 2007	October 2008
Mauricio Cruz Jiron	Nicaragua	October 2008	November 2008
Ramón Otoniel Olivas	Nicaragua	November 2008	December 2009
Enrique Llena	Spain	January 2010	November 2014
Javier Londono	Colombia	November 2014	December 2014
Henry Duarte	Costa Rica	December 2014	June 2020
Juan Vita	Argentina	August 2020	-

Others

José "Chingolo" Rodríguez
Omar Zambrana

References

^ "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking". FIFA. 10 December 2020. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
^ Elo rankings change compared to one year ago. "World Football Elo Ratings". eloratings.net. 10 December 2020. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
^ "Nicaragua shocks Guatemala 2–0 to claim last berth in CONCACAF Gold Cup". CONCACAF. 29 January 2009. Archived from the original on 2 February 2009. Retrieved 29 January 2009.
^ "Nicaragua - List of International Matches". rsssf.com. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
^ "Bermuda downs Nicaragua to earn first ever Gold Cup victory". New Jersey: Gold Cup. 24 June 2019. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
^ "World Football Elo Ratings: Nicaragua".

External links

Official website (in Spanish)
Nicaragua FIFA profile
Nicaragua – List of International Matches at RSSSF.com

[7] Includes matches against Netherlands Antilles.

[FIFA_World_Rankings-1] "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking". FIFA. 10 December 2020. Retrieved 10 December 2020.

[World_Football_Elo_Ratings-2] Elo rankings change compared to one year ago. "World Football Elo Ratings". eloratings.net. 10 December 2020. Retrieved 10 December 2020.

[3] "Nicaragua shocks Guatemala 2–0 to claim last berth in CONCACAF Gold Cup". CONCACAF. 29 January 2009. Archived from the original on 2 February 2009. Retrieved 29 January 2009.

[4] "Nicaragua - List of International Matches". rsssf.com. Retrieved 4 January 2017.

[5] "Bermuda downs Nicaragua to earn first ever Gold Cup victory". New Jersey: Gold Cup. 24 June 2019. Retrieved 9 August 2019.

[6] "World Football Elo Ratings: Nicaragua".

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