Beginnings Although El Salvador played a few games in the early part of the twentieth century, they did not form an official national team until 1921, when players such as José Pablo Huezo, Carlos Escobar Leyva or Santiago Barrachina revolutionised football in the country. In September 1921, El Salvador were invited to
Guatemala to take part in the
Independence Centenary Games, to celebrate 100 years of
Central American Independence. The tournament was contested by
Guatemala,
Honduras,
Costa Rica, and El Salvador. The Guatemalans and Costa Ricans had more experience than the Salvadorans and Hondurans. It was a
knockout tournament with Guatemala playing Honduras and El Salvador playing Costa Rica. El Salvador, wearing white shorts and black shirts, used a classic
2–3–5 scheme with their team consisting of Carlos Escobar Leyva; Spanish resident Santiago Barrachina, José Pablo Huezo; Benjamín Sandoval, Emilio Dawson, and Frenchman Emilio Detruit; Víctor Recinos, brothers Guillermo and José E. Alcaine, Guillermo Sandoval and Enrique Lindo. By half-time Costa Rica led 3–0, and at the final whistle, after two 40-minute halves, won 7–0. El Salvador's other matches in the 1920s were friendlies against Costa Rica and Honduras. They lost their first friendly 3–0 against Costa Rica, while the second and third ended in a 1–0 loss and 0–0 draw against Honduras. El Salvador finished in fourth place at the games. The
Salvadoran Football Federation was founded in 1935. By this time, El Salvador were coached by the Spaniard,
Pablo Ferre Elías. In 1938, the Salvadoran Football Federation became affiliates of
FIFA. El Salvador participated in the
1938 Central American and Caribbean Games, hosted in
Panama, which were won by
Mexico, with Costa Rica in second place. El Salvador won two and lost three of their five matches. A match for third place against
Colombia was cancelled because of the bad state of the players, and El Salvador finished in fourth place.
1940s On 26 April 1940, the first national football federation was approved, with Dr. Luis Rivas Palacios as president. In 1941, the first
Central American and Caribbean Championship (CCCF) took place in
Costa Rica, organised by
CONCACAF, the international governing body for football in North America, Central America and the Caribbean. El Salvador competed alongside
Costa Rica,
Curaçao,
Nicaragua and
Panama. El Salvador were runners-up, recording two wins, one draw and one loss. The
1943 CCCF Championship took place in San Salvador with the participation of Costa Rica,
Guatemala and Nicaragua. El Salvador were coached by the former national player
Américo González. El Salvador and Guatemala finished with the same number of points, Guatemala failed to attend a deciding play-off, resulting in El Salvador winning their first international title. El Salvador's 10–1 win over Nicaragua set the team's record for the most goals scored in a single game. It was also the second time a Salvadoran player (
Miguel "Americano" Cruz) had scored five goals in a match. In 1964, the Chilean
Hernán Carrasco Vivanco, who would later revolutionize Salvadoran football, became the coach of the national team. He led the national team for the first time at the
1965 CONCACAF Championship, hosted in Guatemala, where they won two games, drew one and lost two, finishing in fourth place. In 1966, El Salvador took part in the
Central American and Caribbean Games for the sixth time, in
Puerto Rico. They finished in fourth place. They lost 4–0 to
Hungary, 3–1 to
Israel, and drew 1–1 with
Ghana. The coach at this time was
Rigoberto Guzmán. Gregorio Bundio and his assistant José Santacolomba coached the team in the
qualifying stages for the
1970 World Cup. This was the first time that El Salvador participated in World Cup qualifying. As hosts, Mexico qualified automatically, leaving one further qualification spot available for the CONCACAF region. El Salvador won
Group 3, winning three and losing one. They qualified for a play-off against their traditional rivals, the Group 2 winners Honduras. The first game, on 8 June 1969 in the Honduran capital of
Tegucigalpa, was won 1–0 by the home team and was followed by crowd violence. El Salvador won the second game 3–0 a week later in San Salvador, which was followed by even greater violence. A play-off match took place in
Mexico City on 26 June, which El Salvador won 3–2 after extra time. On 14 July, as a result of existing tensions being exacerbated by these matches, the two countries began the hundred-hour-long conflict known as the
Football War. As a result, El Salvador and Honduras were both disqualified from entering
1969 CONCACAF Championship qualification. In the deciding World Cup qualifier, El Salvador faced
Haiti. El Salvador won the away leg 2–1, with goals from
Elmer Acevedo and
Mauricio "Pipo" Rodríguez, but lost the second leg 3–0 at home. El Salvador finally won the play-off on 8 October with a goal by
Juan Ramón "Mon" Martínez in extra time, allowing them to qualify for the World Cup finals at the first attempt. "El Pajaro Picón Picón" was a Colombian song written by
Eliseo Herrera which was very popular in El Salvador during the World Cup qualifying stages. During a radio show, Mauricio Bojórquez parodied the song, which he named "Arriba con la Selección". That parody became so famous that it became the official anthem of the El Salvador national football team.
1970s In the World Cup finals El Salvador were drawn into a group with
Belgium, Mexico and the
Soviet Union. El Salvador lost their first game 3–0 to Belgium in Mexico City on 3 June. The second match, against Mexico on 7 June, was marred by a controversial call near the end of the first half, with the score still at 0–0. The Egyptian referee
Ali Kandil appeared to signal for a free kick to El Salvador in their own half. However, a Mexican player took the kick, passing to
Javier Valdivia, who scored. The Salvadoran players protested vigorously, to the extent of physically jostling the Bermudan linesman, Keith Dunstan, but the goal was allowed to stand. El Salvador restarted the game by kicking the ball into the crowd in protest. They eventually lost 4–0. The team's third game took place on 10 June, with El Salvador losing 2–0 to the Soviet Union to finish at the bottom of Group A. El Salvador advanced from the first round of
1971 CONCACAF Championship qualification by beating
Nicaragua 4–2 on aggregate. In the second round, they withdrew from their play-off against Honduras, allowing their opponents to qualify by default. The national team also took part in the
1973 CONCACAF Championship qualification, which doubled as qualification for the
1974 World Cup, but they did not advance to the
final stage after they were eliminated by Guatemala 2–0 on aggregate (1–0, 1–0). The team was managed by
Hector D'Angelo. In
1977 CONCACAF Championship qualification, El Salvador finished second in their group, behind Guatemala and ahead of Costa Rica and Panama, to qualify for the
final tournament, hosted in Mexico. They finished in third place, behind Haiti and Mexico, with the hosts winning the tournament. In their first match on 15 June in
Elche, they were
defeated 10–1 by Hungary, a World Cup Finals record margin of victory. A silver lining was that
Luis Ramírez Zapata scored the country's first World Cup goal during the game, albeit when the Salvadorans were already 5–0 down. When Zapata scored, some Salvadorans cried out not to celebrate the goal because it might make the Hungarians angry and encourage them to score more. Displaying much-improved levels of organisation and commitment, El Salvador lost 1–0 to
Belgium on 19 June in Elche and 2–0 to the world champions,
Argentina, on 23 June in
Alicante. There were several reasons the tournament went so badly for El Salvador. First of all, their reduced squad meant that they omitted Gilberto Quinteros and Miguel González. According to
Luis Guevara Mora, the 20-year-old goalkeeper, the
Salvadoran Football Federation decided to take members of the Federation, as well as their friends and family, and spent so much money they could not afford to bring a full squad. The team took many stops throughout Europe under the direction of the Federation, taking three days to arrive in Spain and were the last team to do so. Once they arrived, there was more trouble.
Adidas sent four white and three blue uniforms for each player, but only three white and one blue arrived. The remaining uniforms were said to have been taken away by the association. They decided to play with the white uniform and keep the blue as a keepsake. Next, someone stole the balls that the team needed to train with. The day before the match against Hungary, the Hungarians had the 25 balls the organization had given them while El Salvador had none and were unable to train. To make things even worse, El Salvador had never seen Hungary play, and the only knowledge that they had about the team was an outdated video that they had bought. On the field there were more problems. Hungary's fourth goal was caused by
Francisco Jovel's sudden deafness after he had received a heavy blow on the cheek. When Guevara Mora called to him to stop a ball, the defender did not hear him, and the ball went past Jovel in front of the net. After the match, the Salvadoran squad had a tense meeting with the coaching staff and Federation. The coach was dismissed immediately and the matches against Belgium and Argentina were managed by players Jovel, Huezo and Fagoaga. Although the tournament overall was a big disappointment, Jorge "Mágico" González was considered by the national and international press as the best player, and he stayed in Spain to play for
Cádiz CF and
Real Valladolid. In
1985 CONCACAF Championship qualification, El Salvador beat
Puerto Rico 8–0 on aggregate (5–0, 3–0) to qualify for the
final tournament. They were placed in a group with Honduras and
Suriname, with the top team advancing. They finished second in the group with five points, In qualification,
La Selecta defeated Nicaragua 5–2 on aggregate (3–2, 2–0) and advanced to the final tournament. In the finals, they played three games, drawing one and losing two, finishing in last place and failing to advance to the
1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup. This was their first appearance at the Gold Cup. At the finals of the 1996 Gold Cup, El Salvador defeated
Trinidad and Tobago 3–2, with goals from
Raúl Díaz Arce (2) and
Ronald Cerritos in their first game, but then lost 2–0 to the
United States and did not advance from the first round. At the
1997 UNCAF Nations Cup, hosted in Guatemala, El Salvador lost 3–0 to Honduras in their first match but defeated Panama 2–0 in their second. In the second group stage they finished in third place, losing 1–0 to both Guatemala and Costa Rica, and drawing 0–0 against Honduras. They advanced to the
1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup, hosted in the
United States. El Salvador were coached by
Kiril Dojcinovski. In the group stage, they drew 0–0 with Guatemala, and lost to Brazil (4–0) and Jamaica (2–0). In
1998 World Cup qualification, El Salvador received a bye to the third round, where they were drawn into a group with Canada, Cuba, and Panama. They finished second behind Canada and advanced to the six-team final round. El Salvador finished in fifth place with two wins, four draws, and four defeats.
2000s In
2002 World Cup qualification, El Salvador topped a first round group ahead of Belize and Guatemala, but finished third behind and Jamaica in the second round, and were eliminated. In the
2001 UNCAF Nations Cup in Honduras, El Salvador topped their first-round group, defeating Nicaragua 3–0, Panama 2–1, and drawing 1–1 with the hosts. In the final round they drew all their games to finish third and advance to the
2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup. They were coached by
Carlos Recinos. In the Gold Cup, El Salvador lost their first match in Group A to Mexico (1–0), but defeated Guatemala by the same score, with a goal from
Santos Cabrera. This allowed them to advance to the quarter-finals of the Gold Cup for the first time, but they lost 4–0 at that stage to the eventual champions, the United States. At the
2003 UNCAF Nations Cup in Panama, El Salvador finished third again, with
Juan Ramón Paredes as head coach. In the tournament, they won 2–1 against Panama, lost 1–0 to Costa Rica, beat Nicaragua 3–0 and Honduras 1–0, and lost 2–0 against Guatemala. They qualified for the
2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup, where they were drawn into Group C with
Martinique and the United States. El Salvador 2–0 lost to the United States but beat Martinique 1–0 with a goal from
Marvin González. In the quarter-finals, they were beaten 5–2 by Costa Rica, with three of the seven goals coming from penalty kicks. The
2006 World Cup qualifiers and
2005 UNCAF Nations Cup, hosted in Guatemala, were both huge disasters for El Salvador. In the former they received a bye to the second round, where they inched past Bermuda 4–3 on aggregate (2–1, 2–2). In the third round they finished last in a group that contained Jamaica, Panama and the United States, with just four points from six games. In the 2005 UNCAF Nations Cup they went out in the first round after losing against Panama (1–0) and Costa Rica (2–1), which meant they also failed to qualify for the
2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup. They were coached by
Carlos Cavagnaro. Coached by
Carlos de los Cobos, El Salvador hosted the
2007 UNCAF Nations Cup, and won their first-round group after 2–1 wins over Belize and Nicaragua, and a 0–0 draw with Guatemala. In the semi-finals, they lost 1–0 to the eventual champions, Costa Rica, and finished the tournament in fourth after Guatemala beat them by the same scored in the third place play-off. This allowed them to qualify for the
2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup, where they began with a 2–1 win against Trinidad and Tobago 2–1, with goals from
Ramón Sánchez and
Dennis Alas. They lost their next two matches against Guatemala (1–0) and the United States (4–0) and exited the tournament. On 16 June 2007, El Salvador met Hungary at the
Estadio Cuscatlán in a repeat of their match at the 1982 World Cup. Many of the same players that had played the original World Cup match played again. The match was drawn 2–2, with goals from
Lázár Szentes and
Ferenc Csongrádi for Hungary and two goals from Luis Ramírez Zapata for El Salvador. At the
2009 UNCAF Nations Cup in
Honduras, El Salvador finished second in their group after Belize 4–1, drawing 1–1 with Nicaragua and losing 2–0 to Honduras, and Nicaragua. Their semi-final against Costa Rica was called off after 60 minutes, with Costa Rica leading 1–0, when El Salvador were reduced to six players.
Alexander Escobar and
Eliseo Quintanilla were sent off in the first half, while
Deris Umanzor,
Rodolfo Zelaya and their goalkeeper
Juan José Gómez were injured and had to leave the field after El Salvador had already used their three substitutions. The game was awarded as a 3–0 win to Costa Rica. In the third place play-off, they lost 1–0 to Honduras after a goal by
Roger Espinoza. At the
2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup, El Salvador began by beating Costa Rica 2–1, with two goals by
Osael Romero. However, they lost 1–0 against Canada and Jamaica and were eliminated.
2010s In
2010 World Cup qualification El Salvador beat
Anguilla 16–0 on aggregate and Panama 3–2 on aggregate in the first two rounds. In their third round group, they finished second in the group behind Costa Rica, ahead of Haiti and Suriname, to advance to the
Hexagonal round. Despite drawing against the United States and beating Mexico, El Salvador finished in fifth place and were eliminated.
Rudis Corrales was their top scorer in qualification with 8 goals. On 11 May 2010, the
FIFA Emergency Committee suspended the
Salvadoran Football Federation (FESFUT) on account of government interference, as the statutes ratified by the FESFUT general assembly in August 2009 had not been entered in the country's official register, and that the government had failed to acknowledge the authority of the Normalisation Committee set up to represent FESFUT. The suspension was lifted by 28 May, allowing
La Selecta to participate in international tournaments. El Salvador's
under-21 team qualified for the
2010 Central American and Caribbean Games (CAC) in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. However, CONCACAF decided to suspend football at the 2010 CAC shortly after. El Salvador were also able to participate in the
qualifying tournament for the
2012 Summer Olympics. In the
2011 Copa Centroamericana, the new version of the reorganized UNCAF Nations Cup, El Salvador qualified from their first-round group in second place after defeating Nicaragua 2–0 and Belize 5–2, and losing 2–0 against Panama. In the semi-finals they lost 2–0 to Honduras, and lost 5–4 in a penalty shootout to Panama, after a 0–0 draw. This performance qualified El Salvador for the
2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup. The team was coached by
José Luis Rugamas. Forward
Rafael Burgos jointly received the Golden Boot with Costa Rica's
Marco Ureña, with three goals. In April 2011, two months before the start of the Gold Cup, José Luis Rugamas was replaced as coach by
Rubén Israel. At the Gold Cup, El Salvador began with a 5–0 defeat to Mexico. They drew 1–1 with Costa Rica, with
Rodolfo Zelaya's 25-yard free-kick opener being equalised by a Costa Rican goal in injury time, and beat Cuba 6–1 to reach the knockout stage for the first time since 2003. In the quarter-finals they drew 1–1 with Panama, with Panama scoring a controversial equaliser through
Luis Tejada one minute from the end. Their coach Israel called the decision an "error of haste." Panama won the penalty shoot-out 5–3. In
2014 World Cup qualification, El Salvador received a bye to the second round, where they began with a 3–2 win against the
Dominican Republic, with goals scored by
Rodolfo Zelaya (2) and
Cristián Bautista. They then beat the
Cayman Islands 4–1 with goals from Bautista,
Luis Anaya (2) and
Xavier García before winning the return against the Dominican Republic 2–1. They beat the Cayman Islands 4–0 at home, with goals by
Víctor Turcios,
Steve Purdy,
Jaime Alas and
Herbert Sosa. The last of these was the thousandth goal scored by the national team. Two comfortable wins over Suriname gave them a perfect record of six wins in six matches. In the next round, El Salvador snatched a draw against Costa Rica in
San José after being 2–0 down, but a home defeat against Mexico four days later precipitated the departure of Israel, whose poor relations with
Jaime Rodríguez, the president of the National Institute of Sport Salvador (INDES) were widely known. The
Salvadoran Football Association (FESFUT) named the Mexican
Juan de Dios Castillo as his replacement. Despite a good start, a 1–0 win in a friendly match against
Guatemala, a 2–2 draw at the Estadio Cuscatlán in a qualifier against modest
Guyana earned him the wrath of the public. A 3–2 victory in
Georgetown, with a penalty saved by El Salvador's goalkeeper
Dagoberto Portillo in additional time, kept their qualifying hopes alive, but these were ended by a 1–0 home defeat against Costa Rica. Juan de Dios Castillo was sacked in November 2012 and replaced on 17 December by the Peruvian
Agustín Castillo, a five-time national champion with
C.D. FAS. El Salvador finished third in the
2013 Copa Centroamericana, allowing them to qualify for the
2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup in the United States. In that tournament, a 1–0 win over Haiti allowed them to qualify from the group stages in third place, but they lost 5–1 to the host nation in the quarter-finals. In
2018 World Cup qualification, El Salvador won knockout ties against
Saint Kitts and Nevis and Curaçao to reach the fourth round group stage, but they finished bottom of a group containing Mexico, Honduras and Canada with two draws and four defeats from their six matches.
2020s After
COVID-19 restrictions had loosened up a bit, El Salvador organized a friendly match against the US in December 2020 to start things off again. However, they lost 6–0 to the CONCACAF giants.
2022 FIFA World Cup qualification were soon on the horizon and El Salvador had to play against Grenada and Montserrat in the March 2021 calendar. El Salvador won at home against Grenada in a 2–0 victory and tied with Montserrat in a grueling 1–1 match. This was when El Salvador needed a change fast and they soon sacked
Carlos de los Cobos. They hired a
Hugo Pérez as their new coach, who was also coaching the El Salvador Sub-23s in the Olympic Qualifiers in the same year. Hugo Perez made radical changes to the team and called up more newer players to help represent El Salvador. When June rolled by, El Salvador's next opponents were the US Virgin Islands and Antigua & Barbuda. El Salvador crushed the Virgin Islands with a 7–0 victory away and won again at home against Antigua in a 3–0 win; El Salvador were on their way to the second round of qualifications. El Salvador then faced off against Saint Kitts & Nevis in a round robin format. El Salvador managed to pull off a 0–4 victory away and a 2–0 victory at home, which got them to the final round of qualifications for the first time in over 10 years. In preparation for the upcoming
2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup, El Salvador organized three friendlies. On June 26, El Salvador played against Guatemala to a 0–0 standstill. However, Hugo Perez was trying to experiment with more younger and less or known players at the time to form an underwhelming B Team. El Salvador then flew to Croatia to face their next opponents. On July 2, La Selecta faced off against
NK Istra 1961 to a 2–1 defeat. On July 4, El Salvador faced the Asian Cup winners,
Qatar, to a 1–0 defeat. On July 11, El Salvador played their first game in the
2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup against their Central American rivals,
Guatemala, to a 2–0 victory. On July 14, El Salvador faced
Trinidad & Tobago to another 2–0 victory to land El Salvador in the Quarter-Finals and gain 6 points for the first time in the Gold Cup. On July 18, El Salvador played their last game against
Mexico to prove how much they've grown or not. El Salvador lost to Mexico in a tense 1–0 defeat. In the quarter-finals, El Salvador faced off against
Qatar and lost once again in a 3–2 defeat, ending their Gold Cup run. On September 19, 2023, FESFUT hired Spanish manager
Rubén de la Barrera to coach to the El Salvador national team. Barrera would leave after 3 months and
David Dóniga would take over on January 2, 2024. It was announced to the public that a friendly bout was arranged by
Inter Miami CF (where
Lionel Messi was playing at the time) to face off against El Salvador on 19 January 2024 in Estadio Cuscatlán, where the match ended in a 0–0 stalemate. From the period of friendlies in February to March, El Salvador faced
Costa Rica to a 2–0 defeat in San Jose, then faced
Bonaire to a highly scrutinized 1–1 result in Washington DC, then took on world champions
Argentina to a 3–0 defeat, and eventually ended with a match against
Honduras in a vigorous 1–1 draw. On June 6,
2026 World cup qualifiers commenced in the CONCACAF region as El Salvador faced
Puerto Rico to an excruciating draw of 0–0. However, on June 9, El Salvador took on
Saint Vincent and The Grenadines away and ended up claiming the victory in a 1–3 result. It was a significant breakthrough as El Salvador has never won a match since 2022 against
Grenada. After 2 friendly matches against
Peru (0–1 loss June 14) and
Guatemala (0–1 win July 27), El Salvador prepared themselves for the upcoming
CONCACAF Nations League in a duration of 3 months. In the month of September, El Salvador defeated Montserrat (1–4) and Bonaire (2–1). In October, El Salvador faced off against Saint Vincent and The Grenadines twice, each sharing wins (2–3 win and 1–2 loss). In November, El Salvador concluded their campaign by defeating Bonaire and Montserrat; all in a 1–0 verdict and topping their group to ascend to Nations League A after relegation. The team and
David Dóniga were heavily criticized during this period for mediocre performances. On February 24, 2025, David Doniga would end up relinquishing his position as head coach for the national team. On February 25, 2025,
INDES and
FESFUT would officially proclaim
Hernán Darío Gómez to be the new incumbent head coach of the national team. From March to May, El Salvador played 3 exhibition fixtures where they faced
Houston Dynamo(2–1 loss),
Pachuca(1–1 draw), and Guatemala(1–1 draw). On June 7 and 10, El Salvador concluded their
2nd round of qualifiers against Anguilla and Suriname. El Salvador defeated Anguilla 0–3 and measured up to a highly contested 1–1 draw against Suriname at home and advance to the
final round of qualifying. In the same month, El Salvador would go on to have one of their worst
Gold Cup performances since
1998. Only able to claim one point from Curaçao in a 0–0 draw, failing to score a single goal, and finishing their tenure with 2 losses against Honduras and Canada, which would drop them into last place in their group. El Salvador would participate in the
final round of world cup qualifiers from September to November of 2025. From the period time that was given to them, El Salvador managed to defeat Guatemala away in their first fixture. However, El Salvador failed to secure any meaningful results afterwards; losing the rest of their 5 games (home and away) to Suriname, Panama, and Guatemala. El Salvador concluded their campaign with only three points and finishing last in their group.
Match fixing The national team has had accusations of several players losing matches on purpose in exchange for monetary rewards. Some of these allegations involved games against
Venezuela, Mexico, USA, and Costa Rica. Fourteen players were handed lifetime bans from football on 20 September 2013:
Luis Anaya,
Osael Romero,
Ramón Sánchez,
Christian Castillo,
Miguel Granadino,
Miguel Montes,
Dagoberto Portillo,
Dennis Alas,
Darwin Bonilla,
Ramón Flores,
Alfredo Pacheco,
José Mardoqueo Henríquez,
Marvin González, and
Reynaldo Hernández.
Carlos Monteagudo received a ban of 18 months.
Eliseo Quintanilla and
Víctor Turcios received six-month bans.
Alexander Escobar, Christian Sánchez, and under-20 goalkeeper Yimmy Cuellar received bans of 30 days. After a further 20-day investigation, Rodrigo Martínez was sentenced to a ban of five years,
Rodolfo Zelaya to a ban of one year, and
Benji Villalobos to a ban of six months. On 6 September 2016, the team revealed that they had turned down an offer to ensure that their result against Canada saw Honduras progress to the
next round of World Cup qualification. Their coach
Ramon Maradiaga was later fined 20,000 Swiss francs and banned from football for two years for not disclosing the approach. ==Stadium==