Chile

The Chile national football team is controlled by the Football Federation of Chile, a member of FIFA and CONMEBOL. Chile isn’t one of the world strongest teams, though it boasts one of the oldest histories. Chile participated in the first World Cup in 1930. Since that the team reached the World Cup seven times but inconsistent sport policy prevented the team from becoming a stable representative of Latin American football.

Staying behind such favorites as Argentina, Brazil or Uruguay the Chilean squad struggles to make it to the World Cups and in 1998 the team performed quite well in France, when the team managed to pass the group stage to be beaten by fellow American team of Brazil in the 1/8 final.

In 2002 and 2006 did not qualify for the global championships. In 2010 the team faced a ‘déjà vu’ in South Africa recalling the 1998 Cup. The squad finished second in their group but was forced to leave the tournament after defeat from Brazil in the play-off game.

The most significant achievement was reached in 1962, when the team finished third in the World Cup. In 1955, 1956, 1979 and in 1987 the team finished runner-up in the Copa America.

Today Claudio Borghi is the head coach, Lionel Sanches played the largest number of games (84) and Marcelo Salas is the best goal-scorer (37). The squad holds the 12th position in the FIFA World Rankings.