Belize national football team

The Belize national football team represents Belize in international football and is controlled by the Football Federation of Belize, a member of the Central American Football Union of CONCACAF.

This article is about the men's team. For the women's team, see Belize women's national football team.

Belize
Nickname(s)The Jaguars, The Unbelizeables
AssociationFootball Federation of Belize (FFB)
ConfederationCONCACAF (North America)
Sub-confederationUNCAF (Central America)
Head coachDale Pelayo Sr.
Most capsElroy Smith (57)
Top scorerDeon McCaulay (26)
Home stadiumFFB Field, Belmopan
FIFA codeBLZ
First colours
Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current 170 (10 December 2020)[1]
Highest114 (April–June 2016)
Lowest201 (November 2007 – January 2008)
First international
 British Honduras 1–0 Honduras 
(British Honduras; February 19, 1928)
as Belize
 El Salvador 3–0 Belize 
(San Salvador, El Salvador; November 29, 1995)
Biggest win
 Belize 7–1 Nicaragua 
(Belize City, Belize; April 17, 2002)
Biggest defeat
 Costa Rica 7–0 Belize 
(San José, Costa Rica; March 17, 1999)
 Mexico 7–0 Belize
(Monterrey, Mexico; June 21, 2008)
CONCACAF Championship
& Gold Cup
Appearances1 (first in 2013)
Best resultGroup stage (2013)

Although Belize has never qualified for a FIFA World Cup tournament, it has once qualified for a CONCACAF Gold Cup championship in 2013, in which they were eliminated in the group stage. Belize has also competed in the sub-regional Central American Cup championship in which their best result was fourth place in 2013.

History

Overview

Named British Honduras whilst under British colonial rule, the country's first international game came on February 19, 1928, beating Honduras 1–0. Following independence, Belize's first game came on December 8, 1983, in a 2–0 loss against Canada in Belize.[2] Although Belize gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1981 (and many of the UK's current colonies have international teams), Belize did not begin to regularly play international football until 1995. It made its debut at the 1995 UNCAF Nations Cup and was eliminated in the first round after losing to El Salvador and Costa Rica.

Belize has never qualified for the World Cup but finished fourth in the 2013 Copa Centroamericana. Their fourth-place finish in the 2013 Copa Centroamericana gave Belize its first qualification to a major international competition, that being the 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup.

June 2011 suspension by FIFA

On June 15, 2011, Belize kicked off its 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign against minnows Montserrat, winning 2–5 away in a match played in the Ato Boldon Stadium in Couva, Trinidad. However, the return which was scheduled for June 19 was postponed by FIFA when they suspended the FFB due to governmental interference.[3]

Facilities

FFB Field in Belmopan is the home stadium for the Belize national football team. Prior to this stadium, Belize had no facilities that met FIFA specifications. Apart from this Belize has many fields to play on but with no facilities for the players.

Competition records

World Cup record
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
1998 Did not qualify 2 0 0 2 2 6
2002 4 0 1 3 2 10
2006 2 0 0 2 0 8
2010 4 1 1 2 4 11
2014 8 4 1 3 17 13
2018 6 2 3 1 7 6
2022 To be determined To be determined
2026
Total 0/21 26 7 6 13 32 54

Gold Cup record
Main article: Belize at the CONCACAF Gold Cup
CONCACAF Gold Cup record
Year Round Position Pld W D L GF GA
1991 to 1993 Did not exist
1996 to 2002 Did not qualify
2003 Did not enter
2005 to 2011 Did not qualify
2013 Group stage 12th 3 0 0 3 1 11
2015 Did not qualify
2017
2019
2021
Total Group stage 1/14 3 0 0 3 1 11

CONCACAF Nations League
CONCACAF Nations League record
Year Division Group Pld W D* L GF GA P/R Rank
2019−20 B A 6 2 0 4 6 12 24th
2022–23 B To be determined
Total 6 2 0 4 6 12 24th

Copa Centroamericana
Copa Centroamericana record
Year Round Position GP W D L GF GA
1991Did not exist
1993Did not exist
1995Group Stage6th200215
1997Preliminary7th201112
1999Group Stage6th2002112
2001Group Stage6th201137
2003Did not enter
2005Group Stage7th300307
2007Group Stage7th300337
2009Group Stage7th301237
2011Group Stage7th301238
2013Fourth Place4th511324
2014Group Stage7th300316
2017Group Stage6th5014210
Total Fourth Place 10/13 30 1 6 23 19 69

The 1995 tournament in El Salvador saw Belize's international debut. They played the hosts in their first-ever international on November 29 in Group A. El Salvador won 3–0 with all goals coming in the second half.[4] On December 1, Belize scored their first-ever international goal as they lost 2–1 to Costa Rica and were eliminated from the tournament. Both other teams advanced to the semi-finals and were defeated there, Costa Rica's conqueror Honduras beat Guatemala in the final.

Team staff
Name Nat Position
Dale Pelayo Sr. Head coach
Philip Marin Technical director
Jack Striders Technical director
Carlos Slusher Assistant Head coach
Peter Jones Assistant Head coach
Kent Gabourel Sr. Goalkeeping coach
Shaun Woodmac Physical Trainer
Thomas Rivars Physiotherapist

Current squad

The following 19 players were called up for the Nations League B matches against  French Guiana and  Grenada in 15 and 18 November 2019.

Caps and goals updated as November 18, 2019, after the game against  Grenada.

No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1 1GK Woodrow West (1985-09-19) September 19, 1985 39 0 Juticalpa FC
12 1GK Shane Orio (1980-08-07) August 7, 1980 31 0 Belmopan Bandits
7 2DF Ian Gaynair (1986-02-26) February 26, 1986 53 2 Belmopan Bandits
8 2DF Elroy Smith (captain) (1981-11-30) November 30, 1981 60 4 Verdes FC
18 2DF Evral Trapp (1987-01-22) January 22, 1987 34 0 Verdes FC
23 2DF Tyrone Pandy (1986-01-14) January 14, 1986 17 0 Belmopan Bandits
3 3MF Norman Anderson (1997-01-25) January 25, 1997 5 0 Belmopan Bandits
4 3MF Amilton Filho (1992-04-27) April 27, 1992 2 0 Belmopan Bandits
6 3MF Sean Caliz (1996-09-01) September 1, 1996 2 0 unknown
13 3MF Ean Lewis (1991-02-25) February 25, 1991 3 1 Belize Defence Force FC
14 3MF Andrés Makin (1992-04-11) April 11, 1992 23 0 Belmopan Bandits
15 3MF Humberto Requena (1986-07-13) July 13, 1986 2 0 Belmopan Bandits
16 3MF Krisean Lopez (1998-11-02) November 2, 1998 10 3 Verdes FC
19 3MF Darrel Myvett (1993-12-15) December 15, 1993 2 0 Verdes FC
20 3MF Daniel Jimenez (1988-04-14) April 14, 1988 40 2 Belmopan Bandits
21 3MF Nana Mensah (1989-01-19) January 19, 1989 16 0 Michigan Stars FC
9 4FW Deon McCaulay (1987-09-20) September 20, 1987 53 26 Georgia Revolution FC
10 4FW Michael Salazar (1992-11-15) November 15, 1992 14 1 Houston Dynamo
17 4FW Desmond Wade (1997-08-31) August 31, 1997 0 0 Belize Defence Force FC

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up within the past 12 months.

Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club Latest call-up

Records
As of March 23, 2019
Players in bold text are still active with Belize.

Managers

Since the creation of the national team in 1995, several coaches have been in charge of managing Belize. From 1995 to 1996, Winston Michael was appointed as Belize's first ever manager. As of January 2012, the Belize national football team has had 11 managers.

Manager Period in charge Played Won Drawn Lost Win %
Winston Michael 1995–1996 4 0 0 4 000.0
Manuel Bilches 1999–2000 6 0 1 5 000.0
Leroy Sherrier Lewis 2001 5 3 1 1 060.0
Eduardo Santana 2003 0 0 0 0 !—
Anthony Adderly 2003–2006 5 0 0 5 000.0
Antonio Carlos Vieira 2006–2007 3 0 0 3 000.0
Palmiro Salas 2008 2 1 0 1 050.0
Ian Mork 2008 4 0 1 3 000.0
Renan Couoh 2008–2009 3 0 1 2 000.0
José de la Paz Herrera 2010–2012 7 2 2 3 028.6
Leroy Sherrier Lewis 2012–2013 5 1 1 3 020.0
Charlie Slusher 2013 1 0 1 0 000.0
Ian Mork 2013–2014 4 0 1 3 000.0
Leroy Sherrier Lewis 2014–2015 3 0 0 3 000.0
Jorge Nunez 2015–2016 4 2 2 0 050.0
Richard Orlowski 2016–2018 5 0 1 4 000.0
Palmiro Salas 2018-2019 6 3 1 2 050.0
Vincenzo Alberto Annese 2019-2020 6 2 1 3 033.3
Dale Pelayo Sr. 2020-present 0 0 0 0 !—

Schedule and recent results
Main article: Belize national football team results

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

2021
March 25 WC 1st Round Qualifying Haiti v Belize Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Stadium: Stade Sylvio Cator
March 30 WC 1st Round Qualifying Belize v Turks and Caicos Islands Belmopan, Belize
Stadium: FFB Stadium
June 4 WC 1st Round Qualifying Nicaragua v Belize Managua, Nicaragua
Stadium: Nicaragua National Football Stadium
June 8 WC 1st Round Qualifying Belize v Saint Lucia Belmopan, Belize
Stadium: FFB Stadium

References
  1. "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking". FIFA. December 10, 2020. Retrieved December 10, 2020.
  2. "World Football Elo Ratings: Belize". Elo Ratings. Retrieved September 28, 2019.
  3. Suspension of the Football Federation of Belize – FIFA
  4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on April 20, 2009. Retrieved 2010-11-24.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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