Ecuador

From a historical perspective, Ecuador have been one of the less successful soccer-playing nations of South America. Despite their previous blunders but Ecuador has grown into an important South American competitor in recent times.

The sport of football was first introduced in Ecuador through Juan Alfredo Wright, who had just returned from the university of England. On the 23rd of April, 1899, Wright along with his brother Roberto established the very first Ecuadorian soccer club, Guayaquil Sports Club. Since the popularity of football grew throughout the country, additional teams were formed. On 30 May 1925, the Federacion Deportiva Nacional del Ecuador was founded. The year was 1930 when FIFA issued an invite to a men's national team to take part in the first World Cup. The then Minister of Social Security and Sports declined the invitation as they didn't approve of this financial distribution.

In 1938 in 1938, the I Bolivarian Games were organized and Ecuador expected to be a participant in the soccer tournament. On August 8, 1938, the team played their first ever match, the match ended in a draw against Bolivia. The following match was a success for the national team with an 2-1 victory over Colombia. After a 9-1 defeat by Peru and a 5-1 win against Venezuela, Ecuador was tied for the silver medal alongside Bolivia. In a playoff, the Bolivians come out on top, and the Ecuadorians won their bronze trophy.

After finishing fourth in the 1958 South American Championship, the team was able to enter in the World Cup qualifiers for the first time. They were not able to make it to the 1962's finals following defeats by Argentina.

1998 World Cup qualifiers saw the way to qualify in CONMEBOL was changed into a league-wide home-and-away system. This had a major impact on Ecuador's performance , as they won a few significant home wins throughout the course of the season. At the end of the day they managed to secure a decent 6th-place finish, only less than Peru or Chile.

In the wake of the appointment to Hernan Dario Gomez to lead their 2002 World Cup qualifying campaign, Ecuador scored a historic victory of 1-0 against Brazil. A 5-1 victory against Bolivia was enough to leave La Tricolor just need one point to be qualified for qualifying for the World Cup. They played Uruguay and, after a successful attempt to salvage a draw of 1-1, they were able to earn their place in Japan.

Ecuador began its 2002 World Cup with a 2-0 defeat against Italy. Agustin Delgado scored Ecuador's debut World Cup goal; he scored the goal during a 2-1 loss to Mexico. While they finished 4th in group G with a 24th place overall finish, Ecuador defeated Croatia, who finished third in the previous tournament which eliminated Croats during the process.

Unfortunate results in the 2004 Copa America led to the resignation of Gomez who became replaced with Luis Fernando Suarez. Suarez guided them through the final phases of the qualifying procedure for 2006's FIFA World Cup, finishing third in the group to reach the finals. In Germany they were placed into Group A alongside host, Poland along with Poland and Costa Rica. The victories against Poland as well as Costa Rica earned Ecuador qualification to knockout stages for the first time.

After a disappointing 2014. FIFA World Cup, and an unfortunate run of not being able to make it beyond the group stage in the Copa America, Gustavo Quinteros was hired to rebuild the Ecuadorian national team. Quinteros was instrumental in helping Ecuador to reach the quarterfinals at the Copa America Centenario and started the 2018 World Cup qualifiers strong. They suffered a setback following defeat to Uruguay and finished in eighth place in the rankings.

Gomez was reinstated to lead Ecuador in the 2019 Copa America. His second stint was brief He was then dismissed following a disappointing tournament which only earned him one point.

It is believed that the Ecuadorian national soccer team play its home matches in the Estadio Olimpico Atahualpa in Quito. The stadium was inaugurated in 1951. it was initially able to hold an capacity of 45,000 but later it was diminished to only 35,724.

The stadium features an athletic track that has become one of the biggest on the continent of South America for events organized by the earlier International Association of Athletics Federations.

15 gates are located around the stadium, which allows the evacuation of the stadium to be completed in less than 10 minutes. The stadium also houses an electronic scoreboard in the northern part of the stadium. The screen, which was manufactured by the Hungarian-based firm Elektroimpex since 1985 stands 10 meters high as well as 30 meters in width.

In the arena, Ecuador defeated Uruguay at the 1993 Copa America and Brazil at the 2002 World Cup qualifiers. After being tied with Brazil on the 7th November of 2001 Ecuador became the first nation to be selected for the World Cup. Since the time, Ecuador has qualified three times.

The stadium will be demolished by the end of 2020 to make way to make way for a newer facility to prepare in 2024 for Copa America. In 2022, for the FIFA World Cup qualifiers, Ecuador will host Casa Blanca. Casa Blanca.

The traditional Ecuadorian uniform features the colors of the flag of the country and is typically an orange bottom, blue pants as well as red socks. The other colors that the dress code is blue and white and are an homage to that of Guayas Province. Between 1965 and 2021, Ecuador's crest was adorned with the Andean condor which is Ecuador's national bird over a shield that reflected the colors of Ecuador. In January of 2020 Ecuadorian Football Federation announced a rebranding of the logo. Ecuadorian Football Federation announced a redesign of their logo. It features the shield was navy blue featuring the "FEF" monogram that aimed to "abstractly construct the image of a condor".

As per detail below.

As of 26 August 2020

Position	Name
Head coach	Gustavo Alfaro
Assistant coach	Claudio Cristofanelli
Assistant coach	Carlos González
Assistant coach	Nicolás Chiesa
Goalkeeping coach	Diego Carranza
Fitness coach	Sergio Chiarelli

Detail of the players as below mentioned.

Following players were summoned to play friendly games in the friendly matches against Nigeria, Mexico and Cape Verde on 2June and 11 June 2022 respectively.

Caps and goals are updated at the time of 11 June 2022, following the game in Cape Verde.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
22	GK	Alexander Domínguez	5 June 1987 (age 35)	66	0	Tolima
1	GK	Hernán Galíndez	30 March 1987 (age 35)	11	0	Aucas
12	GK	Moisés Ramírez	9 September 2000 (age 21)	2	0	Independiente del Valle
4	DF	Robert Arboleda	22 October 1991 (age 30)	32	2	São Paulo
7	DF	Pervis Estupiñán	21 January 1998 (age 24)	26	3	Brighton & Hove Albion
17	DF	Ángelo Preciado	18 February 1998 (age 24)	24	0	Genk
3	DF	Piero Hincapié	9 January 2002 (age 20)	19	1	Bayer Leverkusen
	DF	Xavier Arreaga	28 September 1994 (age 27)	17	1	Seattle Sounders
2	DF	Félix Torres	11 January 1997 (age 25)	16	2	Santos Laguna
18	DF	Diego Palacios	12 July 1999 (age 23)	11	0	Los Angeles FC
6	DF	Byron Castillo	10 November 1998 (age 23)	10	0	León
14	DF	Jackson Porozo	4 August 2000 (age 22)	3	0	Troyes
8	MF	Carlos Gruezo	19 April 1995 (age 27)	44	1	FC Augsburg
15	MF	Ángel Mena	21 January 1988 (age 34)	43	7	León
20	MF	Jhegson Méndez	26 April 1997 (age 25)	30	0	Los Angeles FC
19	MF	Gonzalo Plata	1 November 2000 (age 21)	28	5	Valladolid
23	MF	Moisés Caicedo	2 November 2001 (age 20)	23	2	Brighton & Hove Albion
10	MF	Romario Ibarra	24 September 1994 (age 27)	22	3	Pachuca
21	MF	Alan Franco	21 August 1998 (age 24)	22	1	Talleres
	MF	José Cifuentes	12 March 1999 (age 23)	8	0	Los Angeles FC
16	MF	Jeremy Sarmiento	16 July 2002 (age 20)	8	0	Brighton & Hove Albion
5	MF	Alexander Alvarado	21 April 1999 (age 23)	3	0	LDU Quito
	MF	Dixon Arroyo	1 June 1992 (age 30)	2	0	Emelec
13	FW	Enner Valencia (captain)	4 November 1989 (age 32)	72	35	Fenerbahçe
	FW	Michael Estrada	7 April 1996 (age 26)	34	8	Cruz Azul
9	FW	Leonardo Campana	24 July 2000 (age 22)	12	0	Inter Miami
11	FW	Jordy Caicedo	18 November 1997 (age 24)	10	2	UANL
	FW	Djorkaeff Reasco	18 January 1999 (age 23)	2	0	Newell's Old Boys

The following players were summoned in the last 12 months.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Jorge Pinos	3 October 1989 (age 32)	1	0	9 de Octubre	Argentina, 29 March 2022
GK	Pedro Ortiz	19 February 1990 (age 32)	6	0	Emelec	Peru, 1 February 2022
GK	Gabriel Cevallos	19 March 1998 (age 24)	0	0	Guayaquil City	El Salvador, 4 December 2021
DF	Fernando León	11 April 1993 (age 29)	6	0	Atlético San Luis	Argentina, 29 March 2022
DF	Romario Caicedo	23 May 1990 (age 32)	2	0	Emelec	Peru, 1 February 2022
DF	Andrés López	4 February 1993 (age 29)	5	0	LDU Quito	El Salvador, 4 December 2021
DF	Diego Almeida	12 February 2004 (age 18)	1	0	Barcelona U19	El Salvador, 4 December 2021
DF	Joshué Quiñónez	29 May 2001 (age 21)	1	0	FC Dallas	El Salvador, 4 December 2021
DF	Leonel Quiñónez	3 July 1993 (age 29)	1	0	Barcelona	El Salvador, 4 December 2021
DF	Gustavo Vallecilla	28 May 1999 (age 23)	1	0	Colorado Rapids	El Salvador, 4 December 2021
DF	Christian Cruz	1 August 1992 (age 30)	3	0	LDU Quito	Chile, 16 November 2021
DF	Jackson Rodríguez	7 October 1998 (age 23)	0	0	Emelec	Chile, 16 November 2021
DF	José Hurtado	23 December 2001 (age 20)	1	0	Red Bull Bragantino	Mexico, 27 October 2021
DF	Marlon Mejía	21 September 1994 (age 27)	1	0	Emelec	Mexico, 27 October 2021
DF	Luis Segovia	26 October 1997 (age 24)	1	0	Independiente del Valle	Mexico, 27 October 2021
DF	William Pacho	16 October 2001 (age 20)	0	0	Antwerp	Uruguay, 9 September 2021
DF	Franklin Guerra	12 April 1992 (age 30)	0	0	LDU Quito	Chile, 5 September 2021 INJ
MF	Joao Rojas	16 August 1997 (age 25)	8	0	Monterrey	Argentina, 29 March 2022
MF	Michael Carcelén	13 April 1997 (age 25)	5	1	Barcelona	Argentina, 29 March 2022
MF	Danny Cabezas	29 January 1993 (age 29)	2	0	Independiente del Valle	Argentina, 29 March 2022
MF	Arón Rodríguez	6 August 1999 (age 23)	0	0	Universidad Católica	Peru, 1 February 2022
MF	Jhojan Julio	11 February 1998 (age 24)	5	0	Santos	El Salvador, 4 December 2021
MF	José Carabalí	19 May 1997 (age 25)	4	0	Universidad Católica	El Salvador, 4 December 2021
MF	Jordy Alcívar	5 August 1999 (age 23)	1	0	Charlotte FC	El Salvador, 4 December 2021
MF	Freddy Mina	24 July 1998 (age 24)	1	0	Macará	El Salvador, 4 December 2021
MF	Joao Ortiz	1 May 1996 (age 26)	1	0	Independiente del Valle	El Salvador, 4 December 2021
MF	Jhonny Quiñónez	11 June 1998 (age 24)	3	1	Aucas	Mexico, 27 October 2021
MF	Fernando Gaibor	8 October 1991 (age 30)	19	2	Independiente del Valle	Colombia, 14 October 2021
MF	Junior Sornoza	28 January 1994 (age 28)	12	2	Independiente del Valle	Uruguay, 9 September 2021
MF	Washington Corozo	9 July 1998 (age 24)	1	0	Austin FC	Uruguay, 9 September 2021
FW	Ayrton Preciado	17 July 1994 (age 28)	27	3	Santos Laguna	Peru, 1 February 2022
FW	Janner Corozo	8 September 1995 (age 26)	3	1	Everton	Peru, 1 February 2022
FW	Walter Chalá	24 February 1992 (age 30)	2	1	Universidad Católica	El Salvador, 4 December 2021
FW	Bryan Angulo	30 November 1995 (age 26)	5	0	Santos	Chile, 16 November 2021
FW	Nilson Angulo	19 June 2003 (age 19)	1	0	Anderlecht	Mexico, 27 October 2021
FW	José Angulo	3 February 1995 (age 27)	0	0	Querétaro	Colombia, 14 October 2021

In the wake of the passing of Christian Benitez, the Ecuadorian Football Federation removed the number 11 of his jersey from for the team national. According to the then president of the Federation, Luis Chiriboga, to honor Benitez , the number would not be worn by any other player on the team. However because of FIFA rules, the number needed to be reinstated in this year's World Cup squad.

As of the 27th of January, 2022.
Players who are bold remain active with Ecuador.

As per detail below.