Football as National Sports in Guatemala
Football as National Sports in Guatemala. Guatemala might be one of the small countries that can be found in Central America. Nevertheless, just like other Latin countries, people in Guatemala have a big passion for football. It seems that football is the most popular sport in this country. The football activity in this country is held under the Federación Nacional de Fútbol de Guatemala. It means the national football and the Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Guatemala of this country will also be under this federation. International football lovers might not be that familiar with international football players from Guatemala, but the football competition atmosphere in this country is quite active and attractive actually.
Local Tournament
The interest of football in Guatemala can be seen from the local tournament of the country. The capital city of the country. Guatemala City becomes the place where the first football called The Guatemala FC football club was established. This is also the place where the second club. Olympic FC was built at the beginning of the 20th century. Those two clubs joined the Copa Centroamericana in 1904 as their first competition. It was also interesting that both teams had to meet each other ten times during the competition. The second competition was joined by three football clubs. Soon after, the fun of football was not only centered in Guatemala City because another football club was established in Quetzaltenango that is the second-largest city in Guatemala.
Nevertheless, the introduction of professional football in the country was started by the establishment of the Campeonato de Liga in 1942-1943. Football in Guatemala was developed further since then but it seems that the competition was dominated by CSD Comunicaciones and SCD Municipal from Guatemala City became a kind of major rivals.
International Competitions
There is no doubt that with the existing football clubs and the professional football system in Guatemala. The country took part in the international football competition. It includes international club football competitions such as the CONCACAF Champions Cup. It was a big success for CSD Municipal to win the championship in 1974. The national team of Guatemala also took part in some international competitions. The best result achieved by the national team of Guatemala might be placed at the fourth place for the 1996 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Unfortunately, the Guatemalan national team is not qualified for any FIFA World Cup yet.
League System
Because of the popularity of football in Guatemala, this country holds a national football competition. The league system includes three divisions. The highest level of the football league in the country must be Liga Nacional that includes 12 football clubs in the competition. There is also the Primera Division. It can be considered as the second level league in Guatemala with more football clubs attending the competition. There are 20 football clubs within this division but they are divided into two series with ten football clubs for each series. Under Primera Division, Segunda Division is joined by 40 football clubs with five series. Last but not least, 92 football clubs are joining the Tercera Division with 16 series to play.