A Brief History of the Guatemala Football Journey
A Brief History of the Guatemala Football Journey. Guatemala is a country that has a very high interest in football. Football seems to have become a culture inherent in Guatemala. Football is very popular with various groups of people in this country. But do you know how to travel from football in the country of Guatemala? Guatemala has a long history of football. Please note that football in Guatemala has a federation called the Federación Nacional de Fútbol de Guatemala which is the body that acts as a football controller in the country of Guatemala, especially those controlling the Guatemalan national soccer team.
The history of Guatemalan football
The history of Guatemalan football begins since the founding of the Guatemalan soccer federation which was founded in 1919 and began to join FIFA which is an international football federation in 1946 and became a member of CONCACAF. In its initial journey the Guatemalan team had participated in several Olympic tournaments in 1968, 1976 and 1988. In 1967, the Guatemalan Team had won the 1967 CONCACAF championship by beating Haiti 2-1, Mexico 1-0, Trinidad and Tobago 2-0 and Nicaragua 2-0. Performance given by Guatemala is increasing by passing the 1968 Olympic Tournament held in Mexico City. The Guatemalan team made it into the next round. But in the end had to lose to the Hungarian country with a score of 1-0. Even so, the Guatemala national team has not been able to qualify for the World Cup final tournament.
The journey of the Guatemala national team is very long
The national team continues to struggle to get to a higher level. The CONCACAF Gold Cup in 1996 was a good start for the Guatemalan national team because at this time one of Guatemala’s talented players, Carlos Ruiz managed to score the most goals for the team at that time. The Guatemalan team won the bronze medal at the 1983 Pan American Games in Caracas, Venezuela. For the first time Guatemala were able to qualify for the World Cup in 1958.
also check Carlos Ruiz
The history of Guatemalan football is very tested when they have to struggle to qualify for the FIFA World Cup. Starting in the 2006 FIFA World Cup championship where the team had to fight to defeat various opponents to advance in the World Cup. On the way to this World Cup, the Guatemalan team suffered many defeats and they had to accept fifth place. In the same year the mainstay of the Guatemalan main player had to resign from the world of football namely Juan Carlos Plata and Martin Machon.
In the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers until the 2014 World Cup
the team was still struggling to get through to the World Cup with a long match and full of challenges. The team experienced many difficulties especially with the release of 3 mainstay players such as Guillermo Ramirez. Gustavo Cabrera and Yony Flores who were involved in serious problems around money laundering and bribery which required them not to compete for life in football.
In 2016 or precisely on October 28, 2016, FIFA gave a suspension to the Guatemalan football federation regarding allegations of corruption and several issues ranging from refusing the committee’s mandate to run a FEDEFUT business, changing laws and regulating elections. After nearly two years of procrastination, finally on May 31, 2018 the FEDEFUT normalization committee began operating again. The history of Guatemala football is so long with various challenges.