The Cuba national football team is controlled by the Asociación de Fútbol de Cuba, the governing body for football in Cuba.[1] They are affiliated to the Caribbean Football Union of CONCACAF.
They were the first Caribbean team to make the World Cup, which they did in 1938. There, they defeated Romania in a replay 2–1 after drawing against them 3–3. They were then eliminated in the quarter-finals by Sweden, 8–0. Cuba has not returned to the World Cup since.
Cuba finished second in the Caribbean Cup in 1996, 1999 and 2005 and won the 2012 Caribbean Cup.
History
Early history
Cuba played its first international football match on 16 March 1930 at that year's Central American and Caribbean Games. They beat Jamaica (then a British colony) 3–1 in Havana. Four days later they beat Honduras 7–0.[2] Cuba were managed by José Tapia, who remained in charge until after Cuba's 1938 FIFA World Cup campaign.
Cuba's first World Cup qualification campaign was for the 1934 FIFA World Cup in Italy. All of the CONCACAF entrants were placed in Group 11. The winner of a best-of-three tournament between the two weakest nations, Cuba and Haiti would produce a winner to play 1930 qualifiers Mexico in another round of best-of-three. The winner of that would play 1930 semi-finalists the United States of America for a place in the finals.
All of the matches between Cuba and Haiti in the first round were staged at Parc Leconte in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on 28, 1 and 4 January February 1934. Cuba won the first match 3–1 with Mario Lopez opening from a penalty and Hector Socorro scoring the second. The second match was a 1–1 draw with Lopez equalising in the 85th minute. In the final match Cuba won 6–0 with two Lopez goals, one from Hector Socorro and one from his brother Francisco.
The second round against Mexico consisted of three matches at Parque Necaxa in Mexico City. Its first match, on 4 March 1934, saw Mexico go 3–0 up with a hat-trick by Dionisio Mejia, his goals scored in the 12th, 14th and 16th minutes. Mario Lopez scored twice for Cuba with one in each half, but Mexico won 3–2.
A week later Mejia scored another hat-trick as Mexico won 5–0, and seven days later Mexico won 4–1 after Lopez opened the scoring in the 15th minute. Mexico did not qualify, their 4–2 play-off defeat to the United States was held in Rome during the finals, as the two teams had forgotten to stage it earlier
1938 World Cup
The decision to stage the 1938 World Cup in France was poorly received in the Americas, who had hoped for it to return to South America after the 1934 World Cup in Italy. All nations in South America except Brazil withdrew, and all CONCACAF nations except Cuba, thus the two qualified by default.
The tournament was held as a straight knock-out tournament of 16 nations. Cuba were drawn to play their first-ever World Cup finals match against Romania (who were making their third finals appearance) at Stade Chapou in Toulouse, on 5 June 1938. Silviu Bindea put Romania ahead after 35 minutes and Hector Socorro equalised nine minutes later. With three minutes remaining Tomas Fernandez gave Cuba the lead, but within a minute Iuliu Baratky forced extra time with a Romanian equaliser. Romania went 3–2 up in extra-time by Stefan Dobay's goal on 105 minutes, but Juan Tunas equalised for Cuba with three minutes of extra-time remaining.
The replay was held at the same stadium, on 9 June. This was at the same time as Switzerland's 4–2 replay win over Germany. Dobay put Romania 1–0 up at half-time with a 35th-minute goal, but in the second half Cuba equalised through Socorro in the 51st minute. Six minutes later, Carlos Oliviera scored the winning goal and it ended 2–1.
In the quarter-final Cuba lost 8–0 to Sweden at Stade du Fort Carre in Antibes, on 12 June. Sweden's Tore Keller and Gustav Wetterstrom each scored hat-tricks.[3]
The NAFC Championship 1949 served as CONCACAF's qualification group for the 1950 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. Cuba, the United States of America and Mexico played each other twice in a tournament held in Mexico City in September 1949. The top two would qualify. Cuba came third and did not qualify, their only point was gained from their second match, a 1–1 draw against the United States on 14 September.
Cuba did not compete in World Cup qualification again until 1966. They returned to participation in qualification for 1978, but the 1982 qualifiers represented a significant breakthrough- Cuba reached the final round of qualifying, and were only 2 points short of reaching the 1982 World Cup. In recent years, Cuban football has seen an improvement in results.
2000–present
They reached the Quarter-finals of the 2003 Gold Cup (where they were beaten by the USA) by defeating Canada 2–0 in the Group Stage. During the 2006 World Cup qualifiers Cuba faced Costa Rica and were only eliminated on away goals. They held Costa Rica to a draw in Havana 2–2 and later battled it out for a 1–1 draw in Costa Rica.
During the 2010 World Cup qualifiers Cuba faced Antigua & Barbuda and drew 3–3 against Antigua & Barbuda. Later in Pedro Marreo Cuba won 4–1 to advance to the semifinal round of the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifiers. Cuba was with United States, Trinidad & Tobago and Guatemala. Cuba finished in the fourth place with only a victory against Guatemala 2–1 with a goal scored by Aliannis Urgellés.
They finished in third place in the Caribbean Cup 2010 to take a place in Gold Cup 2011. In 2012 Cuba won the Caribbean Cup for the first time.
For the 2014 FIFA World Cup, the Cuban team qualified directly to the Third Round as one of the six highest ranked teams and were place in Group C with Honduras, Panama, and Canada. Although the Cuban team had several close games, they ended their qualification process with 1 draw and 5 defeats (losing home and away to Canada and Honduras and drawing to Panama in Havana in their final game after losing in Panama City). Their only goal of the qualifying campaign came from Alberto Gomes against Panama in the final game of the group stage.
Competitive record
World Cup record
Gold Cup record
CONCACAF Championship record
- 1963 – Did not enter
- 1965 – Did not enter
- 1967 – Did not qualify
- 1969 – Did not enter
- 1971 – 4th place
- 1973 – Did not enter
- 1977 – Did not qualify
- 1981 – 5th place
- 1985 – Did not enter
- 1989 – Did not qualify
NAFC Championship record
Caribbean Cup record
Players
Current squad
The following 23 players were called up for the Copa América Centenario qualifying play-offs match against Panama on January 8, 2016.[5]
Caps and goals updated as 8 January 2015 after the match against Panama.
- RET: Retired from national team.
Recent call-ups
The following players have also been called up to the Cuba squad within the last 12 months.
Previous squads
- FIFA World Cup
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- CONCACAF Gold Cup
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- Olympic football tournament
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Defection and economic migration by Cuban athletes
As well as Cuban athletes in other sports, a number of football players (such as Maykel Galindo and Osvaldo Alonso) have made the move to the United States in recent years. During the 2002 Gold Cup in Los Angeles, two Cuban players Rey Ángel Martínez and Alberto Delgado chose to remain in the United States. Striker Maykel Galindo did so during the 2005 Gold Cup. Two more, Osvaldo Alonso and Lester More did so during the 2007 Gold Cup.
In 2008, defections occurred during two separate tournaments held in the United States. In March, seven players from the U-23 national football, including Yeniel Bermúdez, Yordany Álvarez and Yendry Díaz defected during the 2008 CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying tournament while the team was based in Tampa, FL. In October, two days before the country's World Cup Qualifier versus the USA, Reynier Alcántara and Pedro Faife walked away from the team's hotel near Washington, D.C.. During the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup, Yosniel Mesa defected while the team was in Charlotte, North Carolina.[10] During the 2015 Gold Cup, forward Keiler García defected to the United States before the team's first match against Mexico in Chicago.[11]
Recent results and forthcoming fixtures
| Date |
Venue |
Opponent |
Result |
Competition |
| 25 March 2015 |
 Estadio Cibao, Santiago |
Dominican Republic |
3–0 |
Friendly |
| 30 March 2015 |
 Montego Bay Sports Complex, Montego Bay |
Jamaica |
0–3 |
Friendly |
| 10 June 2015 |
 Ergilio Hato Stadium, Willemstad |
Curaçao |
0–0 |
2018 WCQ |
| 14 June 2015 |
 Estadio Pedro Marrero, Havana |
Curaçao |
1–1 |
2018 WCQ |
| 9 July 2015 |
 Soldier Field, Chicago |
 Mexico |
0–6 |
2015 Gold Cup |
| 12 July 2015 |
University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale |
 Trinidad and Tobago |
0–2 |
2015 Gold Cup |
| 15 July 2015 |
Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte |
 Guatemala |
1–0 |
2015 Gold Cup |
| 18 July 2015 |
M&T Bank Stadium, Baltimore |
United States |
0–6 |
2015 Gold Cup |
| 23 September 2015 |
Estadio Panamericano, Havana |
 Nicaragua |
0–1 |
Friendly |
| 25 September 2015 |
Estadio Panamericano, Havana |
Nicaragua |
1–1 |
Friendly |
| 8 December 2015 |
Nicaragua National Football Stadium, Managua |
Nicaragua |
0–5 |
Friendly |
| 12 December 2015 |
Estadio Independencia, Estelí |
Nicaragua |
0–1 |
Friendly |
| 16 December 2015 |
 Estadio Juan Ramón Brevé Vargas, Juticalpa |
Honduras |
0–2 |
Friendly |
| 8 January 2016 |
 Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City |
Panama |
0–4 |
2016 CACQ |
Coaches
References
External links
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| | General | |
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| | Statistics | |
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| | FIFA World Cup | |
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| | CONCACAF Championship / Gold Cup | |
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| | CFU Caribbean Cup | |
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| | Other Tournaments | |
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| | CFU Championship | |
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| | Caribbean Cup | |
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| | Champions | |
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| | Runners-up | |
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| | Third place | |
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| | Fourth place | |
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| | Eliminated in the quarter-finals | |
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| | Eliminated in the first round | |
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- 1930
- 1934
- 1938
- 1950
- 1954
- 1958
- 1962
- 1966
- 1970
- 1974
- 1978
- 1982
- 1986
- 1990
- 1994
- 1998
- 2002
- 2006
- 2010
- 2014
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| Squads |
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- 1 Reinoso
- 2 López
- 3 Frometa
- 4 Sánchez
- 5 Dreké
- 6 Espinosa
- 7 Roldán
- 8 Povea
- 9 Lara
- 10 Núñez
- 11 Hernández
- 12 Martinez
- 13 Pereira
- 14 Delgado
- 15 Massó
- 16 Madera
- 17 Loredo
- Coach: Ivanics
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| | North America | |
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- 1: Inside the North American zone, but CFU member.
- 2: South American country, but affiliated to CONCACAF and CFU.
- 3: Full or associate CONCACAF member, but non-FIFA member.
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| | | | National teams | |
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| | League system | |
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| | Domestic cups | |
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| | Awards |
- Footballer of the Year
- Top scorers
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| | Lists |
- All-time Table
- Champions
- Clubs
- International footballers
- Foreign players
- Venues
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- Men's clubs
- Women's clubs
- Men's players
- Women's players
- Expatriate players
- Managers
- Referees
- Venues
- Seasons
- Records
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| | | | Asia | | |
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| | Africa | |
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| North America,
Central America
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| | Oceania | |
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| | Europe | |
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| | Non-FIFA | |
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| | Games | |
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(5 May 2016).svg.png){kind=small}
Sweden 8–0 Cuba 
Soviet Union 8–0 Cuba 
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1934
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1950
1954
1962
1966
1974
1978
1982
1990
2002
2010
2014
2018
2022
Károly Katzer (1934–35)
František Churda (1963–64)
Kim Yong-Ha (1970–71)
Miguel Company (2000–04)
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