Myujth

Nicaragua

Nickname(s)	La Azul y Blanco (The Blue and White) Los Pinoleros Albiazules
Association	Nicaraguan Football Federation
Confederation	CONCACAF (North America)
Sub-confederation	UNCAF (Central America)
Head coach	Henry Duarte
Captain	Juan Barrera
Most caps	Josué Quijano (52)
Top scorer	Juan Barrera (12)
Home stadium	Nicaragua National Football Stadium
FIFA code	NCA
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	132 (16 August 2018)
Highest	92 (December 2015)
Lowest	193 (May 2001)
Elo ranking
Current	142 (6 May 2018)
Highest	126 (3 July 2017)
Lowest	204 (May – November 2001)
First international
El Salvador 9–0 Nicaragua (San Salvador, El Salvador; 1 May 1929)
Biggest win
Nicaragua 5–0 Anguilla  (Managua, Nicaragua; 23 March 2015) Nicaragua 5–0 Cuba  (Managua, Nicaragua; 8 December 2015)
Biggest defeat
Brazil 14–0 Nicaragua  (Mexico City, Mexico; 17 October 1975)[1]
CONCACAF Championship & Gold Cup
Appearances	4 (first in 1963)
Best result	6th place, 1967

The Nicaragua national football team (Spanish: Selección de fútbol de Nicaragua) is controlled by the Nicaraguan Football Federation. Nicaragua achieved its first qualification to a major international competition in 2009, when it qualified for the 2009 Gold Cup as the last entrant from Central America, after a 2–0 win over Guatemala of the fifth place match in the 2009 Nations Cup.^[2]

Due to American influence throughout the country's history, baseball has more of a following as both a pursuit and spectator event in Nicaragua than football.

History

Nicaragua travelled to El Salvador for their first ever international, losing 9–0 to the hosts on 1 May 1929. They did not play another match for over twelve years, until the qualifying group for the 1941 CCCF Championship in Costa Rica. They lost all 4 games: 7–2 to the hosts Costa Rica on 10 May, 8–0 to El Salvador on 13 May, 9–1 to the Netherlands Antilles on 15 May and 5–2 to Panama on 18 May. Therefore, Nicaragua finished bottom of the group and did not make the final group.^[3]

FIFA World Cup record

The Nicaraguan national football team has never qualified for the World Cup. Their last attempt was for the 2018 World Cup, when they lost 3–4 on aggregate in the third round to Jamaica, despite winning the away leg 2-3.

FIFA World Cup record										FIFA World Cup Qualification record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1930	Did not enter									Declined participation
1934
1938
1950
1954
1958
1962
1966
1970
1974
1978
1982
1986
1990
1994	Did not qualify									2	0	0	2	1	10
1998										2	0	0	2	1	3
2002										4	0	0	4	0	10
2006										2	0	1	1	3	6
2010										2	0	0	2	0	3
2014										4	2	0	2	5	7
2018										6	5	0	1	15	5
2022	To be determined									To be determined
2026
Total		0/21								22	7	1	14	25	44

CONCACAF Championship record

In 1963, Nicaragua participated in the first CONCACAF Championship which included all countries of the region, North America, Central America and the Caribbean. During 1963 to 1971, only five championships were played. Nicaragua achieving only a sixth-place finish in 1967. From 1973 to 1989, no championship was played. The CONCACAF proclaimed champion of the region for the country that achieved the first place in the qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup. In 1990, the CONCACAF again created a tournament as its showpiece event to crown the regional champion of the CONCACAF. The event was named the CONCACAF Gold Cup, with the United States hosting the first competition in 1991. Nicaragua has qualified twice since the Gold Cup format started with a group stage finish in 2009, and 2017.

Year	Round	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
1963	Round 1	4	0	0	4	2	15
1965	Did not qualify
1967	Sixth place	5	0	1	4	3	12
1969	Did not enter
1971	Did not qualify
1973	Did not qualify
1977	Did not enter
1981
1985
1989
1991	Did not qualify
1993
1996
1998
2000
2002
2003
2005
2007
2009	Round 1	3	0	0	3	0	8
2011	Did not qualify
2013
2015
2017	Group stage	3	0	0	3	1	7
Total	4/24	15	0	1	14	6	42

Other tournament records

Copa Centroamericana The tournament has been held since 1991 as the UNCAF Nations Cup and serves as a qualifying event for the CONCACAF Gold Cup. The competition was re-branded as the Copa Centroamericana from the 2011 edition. Nicaragua has participated in all of the tournaments and has managed to get up to Fifth place in 2009. Year Round Pld W D* L GF GA 1991 Preliminary round 2 0 0 2 2 5 1993 Preliminary round 2 0 0 2 0 8 1995 Preliminary round 2 0 0 2 0 7 1997 First round 2 0 0 2 2 11 1999 First round 2 0 0 2 0 2 2001 First round 3 0 0 3 2 19 2003 Sixth Place 5 1 0 4 1 11 2005 Fifth Place 3 1 0 2 2 9 2007 Sixth Place 4 1 0 3 6 14 2009 Fifth Place 4 1 2 1 5 6 2011 Sixth Place 4 0 1 3 2 7 2013 Seventh Place 3 0 1 2 2 5 2014 Sixth Place 3 0 0 3 0 6 2017 Fifth Place 5 1 1 3 5 6 Total Fifth Place 44 5 5 34 29 116 Central American and Caribbean Games 1930 – Did not qualify 1935 – Did not qualify 1938 – Did not qualify 1946 – Did not qualify 1950 – Group Stage 1954 – Did not qualify 1959 – Did not qualify 1962 – Did not qualify 1966 – Did not qualify 1970 – Group Stage 1974 – Quarter Final 1978 – Group Stage 1982 – Group Stage 1986 – Did not qualify 1990 – Did not qualify 1993 – Did not qualify 1998 – Quarter Final 2002 –Quarter Final 2006 – Did not qualify 2010 – Did not qualify 2014– Did not qualify 2018– Did not qualify

CCCF Championship record The Nicaragua national football team have competed in the CCCF Championship in six occasions. Nicaragua won third place at the 1951 CCCF Championship. Year Round Pld W D* L GF GA 1941 Fifth place 4 0 0 4 5 29 1943 Fourth Place 6 0 0 6 7 39 1946 Sixth Place 5 1 0 4 5 31 1948 Did not enter 1951 Third Place 4 0 0 4 4 22 1953 Sixth Place 6 1 0 5 4 18 1955 Did not enter 1957 Did not enter 1960 Did not enter 1961 Ninth Place 3 0 0 3 3 18 Total 6/10 28 2 0 26 28 157 Pan American Games record 1951 to 1971 – Did not enter 1975 – Round 1 1979 to 1987 – Did not enter 1991 – Round 1 1995 to 2015 – Did not Qualify Central American Games 1973 – Silver Medal 1977 – Bronze Medal 1986 – Bronze Medal 1990 – Bronze Medal 1994 – Round 1 1997 – Round 1 2001 – Round 1 2013 – Round 1 2017 – Fourth Place

Personnel

Current staff

Position	Name
Head Coach	Henry Duarte
Assistant Coach	Mario Alfaro Mercado
Goalkeeping coach	Carlos Mendieta
Physical Coordinator	Jaime Ruiz
Doctor	Dr. Cupertino Borrell
Physiotherapist	Zamir Cerna
Team Coordinator	Cesar Castro Trinidad
Team Coordinator	Nestor Diaz

Schedule and results

The following is Nicaragua's schedule and results for the 2017 season.

Key

  Win
  Draw
  Loss

2017

Nicaragua  v  Dominican Republic

8 November Friendly	Nicaragua	0–3	Dominican Republic	Diriamba, Nicaragua
18:30 (UTC-6)		Report	Rodríguez  19' L. Espinal  48' Rodríguez  76'	Stadium: Estadio Cacique Diriangén Referee: Jaime Herrera (El Salvador)

Dominican Republic  v  Nicaragua

11 November Friendly	Dominican Republic	1–0	Nicaragua	San Cristóbal, Dominican Republic
21:00 (UTC-4)	Rodríguez  85'	Report		Stadium: Estadio Panamericano Referee: Juan Carlos Hidalgo (Dominican Republic)

2018

Nicaragua  v  Cuba

22 March Friendly	Nicaragua	3–1	Cuba	Managua, Nicaragua
18:30 (UTC−6)	Chavarría  35' Moreno  40' Barrera  72'	Report	Santa Cruz  12'	Stadium: Nicaragua National Football Stadium Attendance: 1,500 Referee: Nitzar Sandoval (Nicaragua)

Nicaragua  v  Cuba

25 March Friendly	Nicaragua	3–3	Cuba	Managua, Nicaragua
17:30 (UTC−6)	Barrera  9' Galeano  14' Moreno  47'	Report	Sanamé  40' Olivares  81' Caballero  90+2'	Stadium: Nicaragua National Football Stadium Referee: Tatiana Guzman (Nicaragua)

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines  v  Nicaragua

8 September 2019-20 CNLQ	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	v	Nicaragua	Arnos Vale, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
15:00 (UTC-4)				Stadium: Arnos Vale Stadium

Nicaragua  v  Anguilla

14 October 2019-20 CNLQ	Nicaragua	v	Anguilla
17:00 (UTC-6)

Nicaragua  v  Haiti

17 November 2019-20 CNLQ	Nicaragua	v	Haiti
18:00 (UTC-6)

2019

Barbados  v  Nicaragua

24 March 2019-20 CNLQ	Barbados	v	Nicaragua
20:00 (UTC-4)

Players

Current squad

The following 25 players were selected for the Friendlies against Cuba on March 22 and 25, 2018.
Caps and goals updated as of March 25, 2018 after the match against Cuba.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
	1GK	Justo Lorente	(1994-02-27) February 27, 1994 (age 24)	26	0	UNAN Managua
	2DF	Cyril Errington	(1992-03-30) March 30, 1992 (age 26)	13	0	Club Always Ready
	2DF	Luis Fernando Copete	(1989-12-03) December 3, 1989 (age 28)	28	3	Deportivo Pasto
	2DF	Josué Quijano	(1991-03-10) March 10, 1991 (age 27)	52	1	Real Estelí F.C.
	2DF	Manuel Rosas	(1983-10-14) October 14, 1983 (age 34)	37	2	Real Estelí F.C.
	2DF	Bismarck Veliz	(1993-09-10) September 10, 1993 (age 24)	14	0	Managua F.C.
	3MF	Juan Barrera (Captain)	(1989-03-02) March 2, 1989 (age 29)	46	12	Boyacá Chicó F.C.
	3MF	Marlon López	(1992-11-02) November 2, 1992 (age 25)	33	0	Real Estelí F.C.
	3MF	Maykel Montiel	(1993-01-27) January 27, 1993 (age 25)	11	0	UNAN Managua
	3MF	Alexis Somarriba	(1994-05-11) May 11, 1994 (age 24)	6	0	Juventus Managua
	4FW	Daniel Cadena	(1987-02-09) February 9, 1987 (age 31)	25	3	Mérida AD
	4FW	Ariagner Smith	(1999-09-11) September 11, 1999 (age 18)	4	0	FK Spartaks Jūrmala
	4FW	Carlos Chavarría	(1994-05-02) May 2, 1994 (age 24)	26	7	Birkirkara F.C.
	4FW	Luis Galeano	(1991-10-15) October 15, 1991 (age 26)	21	4	Real Estelí F.C.
	4FW	Jaime Moreno	(1995-03-30) March 30, 1995 (age 23)	7	2	Atlético Malagueño

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up to the Nicaragua squad in the past 12 months.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Denver Fox	(1996-04-24) April 24, 1996 (age 22)	0	0	Real Estelí F.C.	v.  Dominican Republic, November 11, 2017
GK	Diedrich Téllez	(1984-10-31) October 31, 1984 (age 33)	15	0	Diriangén FC	CONCACAF Gold Cup
DF	Oscar Acevedo	(1997-03-18) March 18, 1997 (age 21)	0	0	Real Estelí F.C.	v.  Dominican Republic, November 11, 2017
DF	Jason Casco	(1990-02-13) February 13, 1990 (age 28)	27	0	Real Estelí F.C.	v.  Curaçao, June 17, 2017INJ
DF	Luis Copete	(1989-02-12) February 12, 1989 (age 29)	28	3	C.D. Sonsonate	CONCACAF Gold Cup
DF	Jason Ingram	(1997-08-20) August 20, 1997 (age 21)	1	0	Juventus Managua	v.  Dominican Republic, November 11, 2017
DF	Oscar López	(1992-02-27) February 27, 1992 (age 26)	10	0	Juventus Managua	v.  Dominican Republic, November 11, 2017
DF	Erick Téllez	(1989-01-28) January 28, 1989 (age 29)	26	0	Diriangén FC	CONCACAF Gold Cup
MF	Jason Coronel	(1993-10-06) October 6, 1993 (age 24)	8	0	UNAN Managua	v.  Haiti, March 28, 2017
MF	Bryan García	(1995-05-25) May 25, 1995 (age 23)	22	3	Real Estelí F.C.	CONCACAF Gold Cup
MF	Allan Mercado		2	0	Juventus Managua	v.  Dominican Republic, November 11, 2017
MF	Jonathan Moncada	(1998-01-03) January 3, 1998 (age 20)	0	0	Unattached	v.  Dominican Republic, November 11, 2017
MF	Luis Peralta	(1988-10-12) October 12, 1988 (age 29)	19	1	Managua F.C.	CONCACAF Gold Cup
MF	Elvis Pinel	(1988-12-18) December 18, 1988 (age 29)	30	1	Real Estelí F.C.	CONCACAF Gold Cup
FW	Jorge García	(1998-08-27) August 27, 1998 (age 20)	9	1	Deportivo Walter Ferretti	v.  Dominican Republic, November 11, 2017
FW	Luis Gutiérrez	(1996-11-04) November 4, 1996 (age 21)	2	0	Diriangén FC	v.  Curaçao, June 17, 2017
FW	Eulises Pavón	(1993-01-06) January 6, 1993 (age 25)	21	2	UNAN Managua	CONCACAF Gold Cup
FW	Daniel Reyes	(1990-07-21) July 21, 1990 (age 28)	14	1	UNAN Managua	v.  Bolivia, June 2, 2017
FW	Ariagner Smith	(1998-07-01) July 1, 1998 (age 20)	3	0	FK Spartaks Jūrmala	v.  Dominican Republic, November 11, 2017

Records

Note: Players in bold text are still active with Nicaragua.
Last updated: March 25, 2018

Manager history

Name	Nation	From	To	Notes
Octavio Edmundo Salas Urbina	Nicaragua	1941	1943
Eduardo Kosovic 'Edy'	Hungary	1943	N/A	[1]
Santiago Bonilla	Costa Rica	1952	1953
Ferenc Mészáros	Hungary	1961	1961
Carlos Ruiz	Nicaragua	1961	1962
Santiago Berrini	Argentina	1966	1967	[2]
Livio Bendaña Espinoza	Nicaragua	1967	1969
Omar Muraco	Argentina	1969	1970
Salvador Dubois Leiva	Nicaragua	1977	1977
Jan Fulop	Czechoslovakia	1985	1986
Salvador Dubois Leiva	Nicaragua	1991	1992
Mauricio Cruz Jiron	Nicaragua	1993	June 2001
Florencio Levia	Nicaragua	June 2001	December 2002
Maurizio Battistini	Italy	February 2003	June 2004
Marcelo Javier Zuleta	Argentina	January 2005	September 2005
Carlos De Toro	Argentina	September 2007	October 2008
Mauricio Cruz Jiron	Nicaragua	October 2008	November 2008
Ramón Otoniel Olivas	Nicaragua	November 2008	December 2009
Enrique Llena	Spain	January 2010	November 2014
Javier Londono	Colombia	November 2014	December 2014
Henry Duarte	Costa Rica	December 2014	Present

Others

• 
  José "Chingolo" Rodríguez
  


• 
  Omar Zambrana
  

International Match Records

As of 25 March 2018^[4]

  Positive Record
  Neutral Record
  Negative Record

Opponent	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
Anguilla	2	2	0	0	8	0	+8
Belize	9	3	2	4	13	18	−5
Bermuda	4	2	0	2	5	5	0
Bolivia	2	0	0	2	2	4	−2
Cayman Islands	1	1	0	0	1	0	+1
Canada	1	1	0	0	3	1	+2
Costa Rica	18	0	1	17	10	71	−61
Cuba	9	3	2	4	14	20	−6
Curaçao	8	0	1	7	3	34	−31
El Salvador	28	0	2	26	19	115	−96
Dominica	2	2	0	0	3	0	+3
Dominican Republic	2	0	0	2	0	4	−4
Guadeloupe	1	0	0	1	0	2	−2
Guatemala	20	1	1	18	12	65	−53
Haiti	6	1	2	3	9	11	−2
Honduras	19	1	1	17	11	64	−53
Jamaica	2	1	0	1	3	4	−1
Martinique	1	0	0	1	0	2	−2
Mexico	2	0	0	2	0	6	−6
Panama	25	5	0	20	21	70	−49
Puerto Rico	5	3	1	1	9	6	+3
Suriname	2	2	0	0	4	1	+3
Saint Kitts and Nevis	1	0	1	0	0	0	0
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	5	0	1	1	3	6	−3
Trinidad and Tobago	5	1	1	3	4	10	−6
United States	1	0	0	1	0	3	−3
Total	177	28	16	133	154	521	−367

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nicaragua national football team.

• A Picture of the Team


• FENIFUT – Nicaraguan Football Federation


• 
  Nicaragua – List of International Matches at RSSSF.com (Last updated: 7 July 2004)