Jose Sanchez
Research expert covering society, economy, & politics for Latin America
Soccer in Chile - statistics & facts
Soccer has been a part of Chilean history since the nineteenth century. Moreover, since the establishment of the Football Federation of Chile (FFCh) in 1895, the country was integral in promoting this sport across South America. For instance, Chile was one of the four founding members of the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL). Chile even hosted one of the prestigious FIFA World Cup tournaments in 1962, in which the national squad finished third place in the competition. Although the Chilean team has not been able to recreate the feat of 1962 in World Cups, La Roja 鈥 as the team is commonly known in the country 鈥 has conquered regional tournaments such as the Copa Am茅rica as recently as 2015. In that year, the South American country was rated the highest in the history of the FIFA ranking of men鈥檚 national soccer squad. Since 2016, Chile鈥檚 soccer market has generated at least 100 billion Chilean pesos in revenue every year, despite the setback caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
