Chile national football team

• 1. Introduction

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  Chile's national football team left an unexpected mark on the Copa América on the 12th of October 1926. In a match against Bolivia, a Chilean player scored the first corner-kick goal the competition had ever seen. It was a small moment, but a revealing one. La Roja, as the team is known, has always had a way of arriving at important moments in the sport's history.

  Over the following century, Chile appeared at nine FIFA World Cups and competed at some of the continent's most significant tournaments. The team built a reputation that ran from the heroic to the notorious. Its federation counts itself among the oldest on the continent. La Roja has collected titles and survived bans. It produced a golden generation that briefly made Chile the dominant force in South American football. How that generation rose, what threatened it, and what has come since is the story this documentary tells.

  Valparaíso, a port city on Chile's Pacific coast, is where the national team's story begins.

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• 2. Roots and First Records

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  The Federación de Fútbol de Chile was founded in Valparaíso on the 19th of June 1895. It was the second oldest football federation in South America. Chile was also one of the four founding members of CONMEBOL, the South American football confederation, alongside Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay. In 1916, those four nations competed in the first South American Championship, the competition that later became the Copa América.

  Chile's debut at the FIFA World Cup came in 1930, at the inaugural tournament held in Uruguay. The squad beat Mexico and France in its first two matches without conceding a goal. A 3-1 defeat to Argentina in the final group game ended Chile's run. At the 1950 World Cup, Chile recorded a 5-2 victory over the United States but was still eliminated in the first round.

  The high point of Chile's early World Cup history arrived in 1962, when the country hosted the tournament. La Roja reached the semi-finals, losing 2-4 to Brazil, the eventual champion. Chile then beat Yugoslavia 1-0 to finish in third place, the best position the country has ever achieved at a World Cup.

  Guillermo Subiabre holds a peculiar place in football history. He was the first player to miss a penalty kick at a World Cup, playing for Chile against France in 1930. Four decades later, at the 1974 World Cup, Carlos Caszely of Chile became the first player ever sent off with a red card. His match that day was against West Germany. Caszely would later captain the Chilean national team from 1982 to 1985, long after that red card had become a piece of football history.

  Caszely's successor as captain was Roberto Rojas. His time leading the side would end in circumstances that put Chile in front of the sport's governing body.

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• 3. El Maracanazo

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  On the 3rd of September 1989, Chile and Brazil met at the Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro. The occasion was a 1990 FIFA World Cup qualifying match. Brazil led 1-0 at the time, and Chile needed a win. Then goalkeeper Roberto Rojas fell to the pitch, appearing to be injured. A firework had been thrown from the stands by a Brazilian fan named Rosenery Mello do Nascimento. It was smouldering on the pitch about a yard away from Rojas.

  After Rojas was carried off the field, Chile's players and coaching staff declared the conditions unsafe. They refused to resume the game, and the match was abandoned. The explanation seemed convincing at first. Video footage of the match later showed the firework had not made contact with Rojas. Medical examinations found no traces of gunpowder on the wound. The injury was determined to be a cut, not an impact from the explosive device.

  Rojas later confessed that he had a razor blade concealed in his glove and had cut himself deliberately. It was part of a plan to cancel the match and prevent Brazil from qualifying ahead of Chile. FIFA awarded the victory to Brazil and banned Chile from the qualifiers for the 1994 FIFA World Cup. Rojas received a lifetime ban. An amnesty was eventually granted to him in 2001. The episode became known as El Maracanazo, named after the stadium where it occurred.

  On the 19th of July 2007, the Chilean Football Federation handed down another significant punishment. Six national team players were banned for twenty international matches each following an incident during the Copa América. The players had destroyed hotel property while drunk. Captain Jorge Valdivia was among those sanctioned, along with defenders Álvaro Ormeño, Rodrigo Tello, Jorge Vargas, and Pablo Contreras, and striker Reinaldo Navia.

  Chile had qualified to the quarter-finals at that Copa América, beating Ecuador 3-2 and drawing 0-0 with Mexico. Two subsequent defeats ended the campaign, including a 6-1 loss to Brazil. Manager Nelson Acosta resigned after the elimination. All players except Ormeño sent letters of apology, and the remaining portion of their bans was lifted.

  Former Argentina manager Marcelo Bielsa was given the task of rebuilding the squad for the 2010 World Cup qualifiers.

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• 4. Bielsa's Revolution

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  Marcelo Bielsa took charge of Chile ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. On the 16th of October 2008, Chile beat Argentina 1-0 in a qualifier. It was the first time Chile had beaten Argentina in a qualification competition. Bielsa received widespread acclaim for the result. The victory also contributed to the end of Alfio Basile's tenure as Argentina's manager.

  Chile finished second in the qualifying standings and earned a place at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. It was the country's first World Cup appearance in twelve years. The squad won group stage matches against Honduras and Switzerland before a 0-3 defeat to Brazil in the round of 16 ended the campaign. Bielsa extended his contract with Chile through 2015 after the tournament.

  Bielsa had publicly stated that he would resign if Jorge Segovia were elected as president of the Chilean Football Federation. Segovia's election was subsequently annulled. Even so, Bielsa kept his word and stepped down in February 2011. Claudio Borghi succeeded him in March 2011. A string of poor results and sustained criticism led Borghi to step down in November 2012.

  The appointment that came next, in December 2012, would produce the most decorated chapter in La Roja's history.

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• 5. The Golden Generation

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  Jorge Sampaoli was appointed Chile's head coach in December 2012. In fifteen matches, he won ten, drew three, and lost just three, a record no previous Chile manager had matched. His time in charge coincided with the emergence of a group that would define La Roja for years. That generation included Alexis Sanchez, Arturo Vidal, Eduardo Vargas, Gary Medel, Mauricio Isla, and Claudio Bravo.

  Chile qualified for the 2014 FIFA World Cup by finishing third in the qualifying standings. At the tournament in Brazil, Chile eliminated defending champion Spain with a 2-0 win in the group stage. In the round of 16, Chile held host nation Brazil to a 1-1 draw through 120 minutes. Chile then lost the penalty shoot-out 2-3.

  At the 2015 Copa América, held in Chile, La Roja opened with a 2-0 win against Ecuador. A 3-3 draw with Mexico followed in the second group game. Chile advanced from Group A as winners with seven points, scoring ten goals, more than any other team in the competition. Chile defeated Uruguay in the quarter-finals and Peru in the semi-finals. In the final, Chile and Argentina drew 0-0 after normal time. Chile won 4-1 on penalties to claim their first Copa América title.

  Chile had previously been Copa América runners-up on four occasions before that 2015 victory. Sampaoli stepped down in January 2016. Argentinian manager Juan Antonio Pizzi was appointed at the end of the same month. Pizzi led Chile to a second Copa América title at the 2016 Centenario tournament in the United States. Argentina was again beaten in the final.

  At the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia, Chile opened the group stage with a 2-0 win over Cameroon. A 1-1 draw with Germany and another draw with Australia followed. Chile advanced in second place. In the semi-finals, Chile beat Portugal 3-0 on penalties. In the final, Chile faced Germany again and lost 0-1.

  On the 10th of October 2017, Chile lost 0-3 to Brazil in the last match of their 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign. The defeat ended Chile's campaign. Chile finished sixth in the round-robin, losing the final qualifying spot to Peru on overall goal difference despite equal points. At the time, Chile ranked ninth in the world, making them the highest-ranked team not to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. Juan Antonio Pizzi resigned after the result.

  Alexis Sanchez, whose 168 caps and 51 international goals were both all-time records for La Roja, remained active for the national team. But the era his generation had shared was over.

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• 6. La Roja's Home

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  Construction of the Estadio Nacional Julio Martínez Prádanos in Santiago began in February 1937. The stadium opened on the 3rd of December 1938 in the commune of Ñuñoa. It has been Chile's primary venue for international qualifying matches ever since.

  The official registered capacity is 49,000 spectators, though the stadium has surpassed 75,000 on occasions of high demand. The all-time attendance record is 85,262, set on the 26th of December 1962 for a club match between Universidad Católica and Universidad de Chile. The Estadio Nacional has hosted four Copa América finals and the final of the 1962 FIFA World Cup. The 1987 FIFA World Youth Championship final was also held there.

  Chile's home kit has carried a red jersey and blue shorts since the 1947 South American Championship. That color scheme has remained in place through every change of kit supplier since. In August 2010, Puma agreed to supply the national team's kit at three million US dollars per year. The contract ran from 2011 to 2015, replacing Brooks Sports, which had held the deal since 2004. Nike took over after the 2015 Copa América. The contract ended in 2021 when the Chilean Football Federation sued Nike for missing payments. During the 2021 Copa América, Chile covered the Nike logo on their jerseys with a flag. On the 1st of September 2021, Adidas was announced as the new kit supplier, with a deal running through 2026.

  Red shorts were introduced as a home kit option for the first time in 2016. The change arrived just as the team's fortunes on the pitch were shifting.

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• 7. After the Peak

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  At the 2019 Copa América, Chile beat Colombia on penalties in the quarter-finals. A 0-3 defeat to Peru followed in the semi-finals. At the 2021 Copa América, Chile reached the quarter-finals before a 0-1 defeat to Brazil ended the campaign. The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign also fell short. Chile finished seventh in the standings with five wins, four draws, and nine losses.

  The 2024 Copa América marked the lowest point in recent years. Chile was eliminated in the group stage for the first time since 2004. The team collected only two points and failed to score a single goal in the tournament. In the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign, Chile finished at the bottom of the standings. The team recorded two wins, five draws, and eleven losses, missing the World Cup for a third consecutive cycle.

  The Clásico del Pacífico, or Pacific Derby, is the name for the rivalry between Chile and Peru. The fixture carries weight far beyond the score line. It draws on border disputes and the legacy of the War of the Pacific in the nineteenth century. CNN World Sport editor Greg Duke has ranked it among the top ten football rivalries in the world. Chile first met Peru in a competitive match at the 1935 South American Championship, losing 1-0. The meetings between the two sides have produced some of the most intense matches in South American footballing history.

  Alexis Sanchez served as Chile's national captain from 2024 to 2025, a role that then passed to Gabriel Suazo. Head coach Nicolás Córdova called up a squad for friendlies against Portugal and DR Congo in June 2026. Chile's run of consecutive World Cup absences stretches back to 2018. Reversing that record is the task La Roja carries into the qualifying cycle ahead.

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