Bolivia national football team


The Bolivia national football team, also known as La Verde, has represented Bolivia in international football since 1926. Organized by the Bolivian Football Federation, it is one of the 10 members of FIFA's South American Football Confederation.
After playing in the 1930 and 1950 World Cups, they qualified just once — in 1994 where they lost 1–0 to defending champions Germany in the tournament's opening game in Chicago. Bolivia have never advanced past the first round of any World Cup, and have only scored one goal, in 1994. However, they did win the Copa América at home in 1963, and finished as runners-up in their following tournament as hosts in 1997. In the Copa América 2015 in Chile, after defeating Ecuador 3–2, they advanced to the quarter-finals for the first time since 1997. This also ended a non-winning streak in the Copa América, with their last win being on 28 June 1997, when they defeated Mexico 1–0 in the semi-finals.

History

Bolivia debuted in international football in 1926, one year after the Bolivian Football Federation was founded. As participants at the 1926 South American Championship in Chile, Bolivia scored first against the hosts, but wound up being defeated by the Chileans 7–1. Bolivia also lost their following three matches, 0–5 against Argentina, 1–6 against Paraguay and 0–6 against Uruguay.
In 1930, Bolivia was one of the teams invited to the inaugural edition of the World Cup, held in Uruguay. Drawn in Group 2 of the 1930 World Cup, Bolivia lost both its games 4–0, first to Yugoslavia at the Estadio Parque Central, and then to Brazil in the Estadio Centenario. The match versus the Yugoslavs would be the last match against non-South American opposition for Bolivia until 1972 – when they again met Yugoslavia. They returned in the 1950 World Cup, where Argentina's withdrawal from the qualifiers led Bolivia to an automatic berth. With three teams declining to play in Brazil, Bolivia was put in a group of two along with Uruguay. The Bolivians' only game was an 8–0 defeat to Uruguay at the Estádio Independência in Belo Horizonte.
title.
Bolivia's greatest football achievement was the 1963 South American Championship title, which they hosted and had the advantage of being better used to the higher altitudes. Afterwards, the country only started to resurge at an international level with the creation of the in Santa Cruz de la Sierra in 1978, a football school that revealed players such as Marco Etcheverry, Erwin Sánchez and Luis Cristaldo. Under Spanish coach Xabier Azkargorta and featuring nine players from Tahuichi, Bolivia surprisingly became the first team to beat Brazil in the South American qualifiers while playing them in La Paz, and qualified for the 1994 World Cup finishing second in Group B of the CONMEBOL qualifiers behind the Brazilians themselves. Bolivia was drawn into the tournament's Group C, and got selected as the adversary of defending champions Germany in the tournament's opening match. Bolivia played a great first half, outplaying Germany. In the second half, Lothar Matheus took a 40-yard run and with a high elbow to the jaw leveled Marco El Diablo Etcheverry. Etcheverry retaliated and was sent off. Eventually, Bolivia lost on an offside goal by Klinsman. Following a goalless draw with South Korea at Foxboro Stadium, Bolivia returned to Chicago and lost 3–1 to Spain, with Sánchez scoring the first ever Bolivian goal in the World Cup. Following that Bolivia again hosted the South American Championship, now known as Copa América, in 1997. Again, the team reached the final, to finish as runner-up to Brazil.
In the 2015 Copa América in Chile, Bolivia were in Group A, with Chile, Mexico, and Ecuador. In their match against Mexico, Bolivia drew 0–0. However, against Ecuador, Bolivia won 3–2, with goals from Raldes, Smedberg-Dalence, and Martins. From this victory against Ecuador, Bolivia made it to the next round, the quarter-finals, for the first time since the 1997 tournament, in which they hosted it. Bolivia were defeated by Peru 1–3 in the quarter-finals of the tournament. Bolivia's only goal of the game was a penalty in the last minutes of the match by Marcelo Martins Moreno.

Team image

Kit history

Bolivia's first uniforms were all white. In the 1930 FIFA World Cup, Bolivia painted before the starting match with Yugoslavia one of the letters in "Viva Uruguay" in each of the eleven starters' jerseys to please the local crowd. In the following game with Brazil, given the adversary also wore white Bolivia instead borrowed Uruguay's own blue uniform to play. Bolivia again painted a message to the hosts in the 1945 South American Championship, with the players' jerseys reading "Viva Chile". In 1946, Bolivia changed their jersey colors to black and white stripes, like the colors of the Cochabamba region. FBF reverted to white the following year. In 1957, FBF decided to use one of the colors in the Flag of Bolivia. Given red and yellow were used by many of the other South Americans, green became the primary color, leading to the nickname "El Verde".

Kit providers

Stadium

Bolivia play their home games at Estadio Hernando Siles, which has an altitude of above sea level, making it one of the highest football stadiums in the world. Many visiting teams protest that the altitude gives Bolivia an unfair advantage against opponents. On 27 May 2007, FIFA declared that no World Cup Qualifying matches could be played in stadiums above 8,200 feet above sea level. However, FIFA raised the altitude limit after months of campaigning against the ban, thus allowing the stadium to continue holding World Cup qualifying matches.

Competitive record

FIFA World Cup

Copa América

Champions Runners-up Third Place Fourth Place

FIFA Confederations Cup

Pan American Games

Results and fixtures

2019

2020

2021

Players

Current squad

The following 47 players have been called up for the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification matches against Brazil on March 27th, 2020 and Argentina on March 31st, 2020.
Caps and goals updated as of 2019, after the game against Haiti.

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up during the last twelve months. Retired players are not included.

Coaching staff

RoleName
Head coach César Farías
Assistant coach Marco Etcheverry
Assistant coach Pablo Daniel Escobar

Team records

Most capped players

Players in bold are still active at international level.
is the most capped player of the Bolivia national team, with 102 caps from 2001 to 2018.
#NameCareerCapsGoals
1.Ronald Raldes2001–20181023
2.Luis Héctor Cristaldo1989–2005934
2.Marco Antonio Sandy1993–2003936
4.José Milton Melgar1980–1997896
5.Julio César Baldivieso1991–20058515
5.Juan Manuel Peña1991–2009851
7.Carlos Fernando Borja1979–1995821
8.Miguel Ángel Rimba1989–2000800
9.Óscar Sánchez1994–2006766
9.Marcelo Martins2007–7618

Top goalscorers

Players in bold are still active at international level.
is the record all-time leading goalscorer in the history of Bolivian national team, with 20 goals in his international career.
#NameCareerGoals
1.Joaquín Botero1999–200920
2.Marcelo Martins2007–18
3.Víctor Agustín Ugarte1947–196316
4.Julio César Baldivieso1991–200515
4.Erwin Sánchez1989–200515
6Carlos Aragonés1977–198114
7.Máximo Alcócer1953–196313
7.Marco Antonio Etcheverry1989–200313
9.Miguel Aguilar1977–198311
9.Juan Carlos Arce2004–11

Managers