Honduras national football team

Prior to the qualification stages leading up to the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, Honduras and El Salvador found themselves in what was called the Football War. This nickname was given to the situation after an play-off game was played between the two countries to decide which would qualify for the Finals. This political crisis eventually turned into a war that lasted approximately 100 hours.

Honduras had begun qualifying by defeating Costa Rica and Jamaica. Against Jamaica, they easily won both games, 5–1 on aggregate. They beat Costa Rica 1–0 in Tegucigalpa and drew 1–1 away. This set up a final match between Honduras and El Salvador, who had eliminated Guyana and the Netherlands Antilles.

In the first game against El Salvador, Honduras won 1–0 in Tegucigalpa on 8 June 1969. Honduras were coached by Carlos Padilla Velásquez and the only goal of the game was scored by Leonard Welch. Honduras lost the second game 3–0 in San Salvador, and a play-off was required in the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City on 27 June. El Salvador won 3–2 to qualify and eliminate Honduras.

Honduras won the 1981 CONCACAF Championship and qualified for the World Cup for the first time in 1982. Despite drawing against the hosts Spain and Northern Ireland, both 1–1, they were eliminated in the first round after losing their last match to Yugoslavia 1–0.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Northern Ireland	3	1	2	0	2	1	+1	4	Advance to second round
2	Spain (H)	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	3
3	Yugoslavia	3	1	1	1	2	2	0	3
4	Honduras	3	0	2	1	2	3	−1	2

Honduras finished second in the 1985 CONCACAF Championship, losing their final match 2–1 against Canada, who went on to qualify for the 1986 World Cup. Their next major accomplishment was being runners-up at the 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup, losing against the host nation, the United States.

For the 1998 World Cup, Jamaica and Mexico eliminated Honduras at the third round stage. Despite Honduras's overwhelming 11–3 victory against Saint Vincent & the Grenadines, Jamaica defeated Mexico at Independence Park, Kingston, allowing the Reggae Boys to advance to the next round.

Since 1993, CONMEBOL has invited teams from other confederations to participate in their confederation championship, the Copa América. Honduras took part as one of the last-minute teams added for the 2001 tournament, as Argentina dropped out one day before the start. The team arrived only a few hours before the tournament's first game and with barely enough players. Despite the odds, Honduras progressed into the quarter-finals, where they defeated Brazil 2–0. In the semi-finals, Colombia knocked out Honduras 2–0.

Honduras advanced to the final round in the qualifying competition for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, but again failed to qualify after losing at home to Trinidad & Tobago, and away against Mexico in their final two matches. The match against Trinidad and Tobago saw Honduras hit the goal post seven times.

On 14 October 2009, Honduras qualified for the 2010 World Cup after a 1–0 win against El Salvador gave them the third automatic qualifying spot from the Fourth Round of CONCACAF Qualifying.[5]

Honduras faced Chile, Spain, and Switzerland in their first round group.[6] In their first match they lost to Chile 1–0, to a goal from Jean Beausejour. They then lost 2–0 to Spain, with both goals scored by David Villa. In their last match they drew 0–0 against Switzerland and were eliminated in last place in the group.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Spain	3	2	0	1	4	2	+2	6	Advance to knockout stage
2	Chile	3	2	0	1	3	2	+1	6
3	Switzerland	3	1	1	1	1	1	0	4
4	Honduras	3	0	1	2	0	3	−3	1

In the qualifying competition for the 2014 World Cup, Honduras were given a bye to the third round because of their third-place position among CONCACAF teams in the March 2011 FIFA World Rankings. They qualified for the final round by finishing first in their group, which included Panama, Canada and Cuba. After beginning with a home defeat against Panama, Honduras recovered and beat Canada 8–1 in their final match, allowing them to win the group ahead of Panama.

In the final round of qualifying, the Hexagonal, six teams faced each other in a home-and-away format. In their first two games, Honduras defeated the United States 2–1 and came back from a two-goal deficit to draw 2–2 with Mexico. They lost three of their next four matches before travelling to Mexico City to face Mexico in the Azteca. Honduras again trailed but scored twice in the second half for a stunning 2–1 win. They returned to Tegucigalpa, where they drew 2–2 against Panama, who escaped defeat with a last-minute goal by Roberto Chen. In the final two games, Honduras beat Costa Rica 1–0 at home and qualified with a 2–2 draw against Jamaica in Kingston.

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
United States	10	7	1	2	15	8	+7	22	Qualification to 2014 FIFA World Cup		—	1–0	1–0	2–0	2–0	2–0
Costa Rica	10	5	3	2	13	7	+6	18			3–1	—	1–0	2–1	2–0	2–0
Honduras	10	4	3	3	13	12	+1	15			2–1	1–0	—	2–2	2–2	2–0
Mexico	10	2	5	3	7	9	−2	11	Advance to inter-confederation play-offs		0–0	0–0	1–2	—	2–1	0–0
Panama	10	1	5	4	10	14	−4	8			2–3	2–2	2–0	0–0	—	0–0
Jamaica	10	0	5	5	5	13	−8	5			1–2	1–1	2–2	0–1	1–1	—

In the Finals in Brazil, Honduras again finished bottom of their first round group, after 3–0 defeats against France and Switzerland, and a 2–1 defeat to Ecuador. The match against France featured the first use of goal-line technology to award a goal at the World Cup: an own-goal by Honduras's goalkeeper, Noel Valladares. Against Ecuador, Carlo Costly scored Honduras's first goal in the Finals for 32 years.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	France	3	2	1	0	8	2	+6	7	Advance to knockout stage
2	Switzerland	3	2	0	1	7	6	+1	6
3	Ecuador	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	4
4	Honduras	3	0	0	3	1	8	−7	0

Honduras failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. In the Hexagonal stage they dropped into fourth place after Panama scored an 88th-minute winning goal in their last match against Costa Rica. Honduras had themselves dropped points by conceding late goals in their two previous games, against Costa Rica and the United States. They entered a play-off against Australia, and after a 0–0 draw at home, Honduras were eliminated when they lost the second leg in Sydney 3–1.

Honduras have won the UNCAF Nations Cup four times: in 1993, 1995, 2011 and 2017.

Copa América record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Squad
2001	Third place	3rd	6	3	1	2	7	5	Squad
Total	Third place	—	6	3	1	2	7	5	—

• Since 1993, the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) has invited non-CONMEBOL nations to Copa América tournaments.

The following 21 players were called up for the friendly match against Guatemala on 15 November 2020.[8][9]
Caps and goals updated as of 16 November 2020 after the match against Guatemala.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Luis López	(1993-09-13) 13 September 1993	28	0	Real España
22	1GK	Edrick Menjívar	(1993-03-01) 1 March 1993	1	0	Olimpia
	1GK	Alex Güity	(1997-09-20) 20 September 1997	0	0	Olimpia
2	2DF	Raúl Santos	(1992-08-02) 2 August 1992	2	0	Motagua
3	2DF	Maynor Figueroa (Captain)	(1983-05-02) 2 May 1983	163	5	Unattached
4	2DF	Marcelo Pereira	(1995-05-27) 27 May 1995	12	0	Motagua
6	2DF	Omar Elvir	(1989-11-28) 28 November 1989	1	0	Motagua
13	2DF	Franklin Flores	(1996-05-18) 18 May 1996	1	0	Real España
15	2DF	Denil Maldonado	(1998-05-26) 26 May 1998	5	0	Everton
23	2DF	Ilce Barahona	(1998-09-27) September 27, 1998	2	0	Platense
	2DF	Carlos Meléndez	(1997-12-08) 8 December 1997	0	0	Vida
	2DF	Elvin Oliva	(1997-10-24) 24 October 1997	0	0	Olimpia
5	3MF	Kervin Arriaga	(1998-01-05) 5 January 1998	1	0	Marathón
7	3MF	Edwin Rodríguez	(1999-09-25) 25 September 1999	4	0	Olimpia
8	3MF	Carlos Pineda	(1997-09-23) 23 September 1997	7	0	Olimpia
10	3MF	Alexander López	(1992-06-05) 5 June 1992	32	3	Alajuelense
14	3MF	Boniek García	(1984-04-11) 11 April 1984	126	3	Unattached
16	3MF	Jhow Benavídez	(1995-12-26) 26 December 1995	5	0	Real España
11	4FW	Juan Ramón Mejía	(1988-08-01) 1 August 1988	4	1	UPNFM
12	4FW	Jonathan Toro	(1996-10-21) 21 October 1996	6	3	Chaves
19	4FW	Douglas Martínez	(1997-06-05) 5 June 1997	4	1	Real Salt Lake
20	4FW	Darixon Vuelto	(1998-01-15) 15 January 1998	3	0	Real España

The following players have been called up to the Honduran squad in the last 12 months.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
DF	Emilio Izaguirre	(1986-05-10) 10 May 1986	111	5	Unattached	v.  Nicaragua, 10 October 2020
DF	Éver Alvarado	(1992-01-30) 30 January 1992	28	1	Olimpia	v.  Nicaragua, 10 October 2020
DF	Jonathan Paz	(1995-06-18) 18 June 1995	1	1	Olimpia	v.  Nicaragua, 10 October 2020
MF	Jorge Álvarez	(1998-01-28) 28 January 1998	9	1	Olimpia	v.  Nicaragua, 10 October 2020
MF	Héctor Castellanos	(1992-12-28) 28 December 1992	5	0	Motagua	v.  Nicaragua, 10 October 2020
MF	Edwin Solano	(1996-01-25) 25 January 1996	4	0	Marathón	v.  Nicaragua, 10 October 2020
MF	Kevin López	(1996-02-03) 3 February 1996	2	0	Motagua	v.  Nicaragua, 10 October 2020
MF	Luis Argeñal	(1997-12-09) 9 December 1997	0	0	UPNFM	v.  Nicaragua, 10 October 2020
MF	Luis Palma	(2000-01-17) 17 January 2000	0	0	Vida	v.  Nicaragua, 10 October 2020
FW	Alberth Elis	(1996-02-12) 12 February 1996	42	10	Boavista	v.  Guatemala, 15 November 2020 COV
FW	Anthony Lozano	(1993-04-25) 25 April 1993	33	9	Cádiz	v.  Guatemala, 15 November 2020 COV
FW	Jorge Benguché	(1996-05-21) 21 May 1996	3	2	Boavista	v.  Guatemala, 15 November 2020 INJ
FW	Rubilio Castillo	(1991-11-26) 26 November 1991	27	6	Royal Pari	v.  Nicaragua, 10 October 2020
FW	Yeison Mejía	(1998-01-18) January 18, 1998	0	0	Real Sociedad	v.  Nicaragua, 10 October 2020
INJ Withdrew due to injury COV Withdrew due to COVID-19 PRE Preliminary squad WD Withdrew for personal reasons