Belize national football team

Belize
Nickname(s)	The Jaguars, The Unbelizeables
Association	Football Federation of Belize (FFB)
Confederation	CONCACAF (North America)
Sub-confederation	UNCAF (Central America)
Head coach	Vincenzo Alberto Annese
Most caps	Elroy Smith (57)
Top scorer	Deon McCaulay (26)
Home stadium	FFB Field, Belmopan
FIFA code	BLZ
First colours	Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	170 (11 June 2020)[1]
Highest	114 (April–June 2016)
Lowest	201 (November 2007 – January 2008)
Elo ranking
Current	176 7 (2 April 2020)[2]
Highest	166 (September 2018)
Lowest	189 (January 2008)
First international
	British Honduras 1–0 Honduras ; (British Honduras; February 19, 1928)
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
Appearances	1 (first in 2013)
Best result	Group stage, 2013

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.

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.[3] 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.[4]

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	To be determined								To be determined
Total		0/21							26	7	6	13	32	54

Gold Cup record

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
Total	Group stage	1/14	3	0	0	3	1	11

Copa Centroamericana

Copa Centroamericana record
Year	Round	Position	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA
1991	Did not exist
1993	Did not exist
1995	Group Stage	6th	2	0	0	2	1	5
1997	Preliminary	7th	2	0	1	1	1	2
1999	Group Stage	6th	2	0	0	2	1	12
2001	Group Stage	6th	2	0	1	1	3	7
2003	Did not enter
2005	Group Stage	7th	3	0	0	3	0	7
2007	Group Stage	7th	3	0	0	3	3	7
2009	Group Stage	7th	3	0	1	2	3	7
2011	Group Stage	7th	3	0	1	2	3	8
2013	Fourth Place	4th	5	1	1	3	2	4
2014	Group Stage	7th	3	0	0	3	1	6
2017	Group Stage	6th	5	0	1	4	2	10
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.[5] 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
Vincenzo Alberto Annese		Head coach
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 qualifying match against Guyana in March 23, 2019.
Caps and goals updated as November 16, 2018, after the game against Puerto Rico.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Woodrow West	(1985-09-19) September 19, 1985	33	0	Verdes FC
22	1GK	Shane Orio	(1980-08-07) August 7, 1980	31	0	Belmopan Bandits

8	2DF	Elroy Smith (captain)	(1981-11-30) November 30, 1981	56	5	Verdes FC
7	2DF	Ian Gaynair	(1986-02-26) February 26, 1986	47	1	Belmopan Bandits
13	2DF	Dalton Eiley	(1983-12-10) December 10, 1983	40	0	Belmopan Bandits
	2DF	Trevor Lennen	(1983-06-05) June 5, 1983	36	1	Belmopan Bandits
18	2DF	Evral Trapp	(1987-01-22) January 22, 1987	28	0	Verdes FC
23	2DF	Mike Atkinson	(1994-12-02) December 2, 1994	5	0	Oxford City FC

	3MF	Elroy Kuylen	(1983-06-06) June 6, 1983	32	5	Verdes FC
20	3MF	Daniel Jimenez	(1988-04-14) April 14, 1988	37	2	Belmopan Bandits
14	3MF	Andrés Makin	(1992-04-11) April 11, 1992	20	0	Police United
21	3MF	Nana Mensah	(1989-01-19) January 19, 1989	10	0	Michigan Stars FC
	3MF	Nahjib Guerra	(1994-08-18) August 18, 1994	6	0	Verdes FC
16	3MF	Krisean Lopez	(1998-11-02) November 2, 1998	5	3	Verdes FC
	3MF	San Méndez	(1994-09-21) September 21, 1994	2	0	Verdes FC

9	4FW	Deon McCaulay	(1987-09-20) September 20, 1987	46	26	Georgia Revolution FC
	4FW	Harrison Róchez	(1983-11-29) November 29, 1983	39	5	Police United
	4FW	Michael Salazar	(1992-11-15) November 15, 1992	11	1	RGVFC Toros
4	4FW	Randy Padilla	(1991-03-17) March 17, 1991	2	0	Chimal FC

Records

As of March 23, 2019

Players in bold text are still active with Belize.

Most Caps
#	Player	Caps	Career
1	Elroy Smith	57	2004–
2	Ian Gaynair	48	2007–
3	Deon McCaulay	47	2007–
4	Dalton Eiley	41	2005–
5	Harrison Roches	40	2004–
6	Trevor Lennen	37	2005–
=	Daniel Jiménez	37	2008–
8	Woodrow West	34	2008–
9	Elroy Kuylen	33	2009–
10	Shane Orio	31	2000–

Top Goalscorers
#	Player	Goals	Career
1	Deon McCaulay	23	2007–
2	Elroy Kuylen	6	2009–
3	Dion Frazer	5	2000–2008
=	Harrison Róches	5	2004–
=	Elroy Smith	5	2004–
6	Norman Nuñez	3	1995–2005
=	Vallan Symms	3	2000–2011
=	Bent Burgess	3	2000–2002
=	Krisean Lopez	3	2008–
10	Daniel Jiménez	2	2008–

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	2004–2006	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[6]	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[7]	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

Schedule and recent results

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

2019

August 31, 2019 Friendly	Belize	1–1	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	Belmopan, Belize
				Stadium: Isidoro Beaton Stadium Referee: Efren Guy (Belize)

September 2, 2019 Friendly	Belize	1–0	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	Belmopan, Belize
				Stadium: Isidoro Beaton Stadium Referee: Juan Alas (Belize)

September 5, 2019 CONCACAF Nations League B	French Guiana	3–0 Awarded	Belize	Cayenne, French Guiana
20:00		Report		Stadium: Stade Municipal Dr. Edmard Lama

September 8, 2019 CONCACAF Nations League B	Belize	1–2	Grenada	Belmopan, Belize
16:00	McCauley 24'	Report	Paterson 59' (pen.) Charles 90+3'	Stadium: Isidoro Beaton Stadium Referee: Erick Lezama (Nicaragua)

October 10, 2019 CONCACAF Nations League B	Belize	0–4	Saint Kitts and Nevis	Belmopan, Belize
17:00		Report	Sterling-James 12' Liburd 48' (pen.), 56', 63'	Stadium: Isidoro Beaton Stadium Referee: Sergio Reyna (Guatemala)

October 13, 2019 CONCACAF Nations League B	Saint Kitts and Nevis	0–1	Belize	Basseterre, St. Kitts and Nevis
18:00		Report	Smith 3' (pen.)	Stadium: Warner Park Referee: Jaime Herrera (El Salvador)

November 14, 2019 CONCACAF Nations League B	Belize	2–0	French Guiana	Belmopan, Belize
18:00	Lewis 4' McCaulay 70'	Report		Stadium: Isidoro Beaton Stadium Referee: Erick Lezama (Nicaragua)

November 17, 2019 CONCACAF Nations League B	Grenada	3–2	Belize	St. George's, Grenada
19:00	Charles 14', 59', 68'	Report	Gaynair 32' Salazar 55'	Stadium: Kirani James Athletic Stadium Referee: José Torres (Puerto Rico)

References

"The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking". FIFA. June 11, 2020. Retrieved June 11, 2020.
Elo rankings change compared to one year ago. "World Football Elo Ratings". eloratings.net. April 2, 2020. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
"World Football Elo Ratings: Belize". Elo Ratings. Retrieved September 28, 2019.
Suspension of the Football Federation of Belize – FIFA
"Archived copy". Archived from the original on April 20, 2009. Retrieved 2010-11-24.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
As World Cup soccer coach, Mork's gotta Belize Archived July 17, 2011, at the Wayback Machine – San Diego Union Tribune
As World Cup soccer coach, Mork's gotta Belize Archived July 17, 2011, at the Wayback Machine – San Diego Union Tribune

External links

Football Federation of Belize official website
Belize at FIFA.com
Official Instagram

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[FIFA_World_Rankings-1] "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking". FIFA. June 11, 2020. Retrieved June 11, 2020.

[World_Football_Elo_Ratings-2] Elo rankings change compared to one year ago. "World Football Elo Ratings". eloratings.net. April 2, 2020. Retrieved April 2, 2020.

[3] "World Football Elo Ratings: Belize". Elo Ratings. Retrieved September 28, 2019.

[4] Suspension of the Football Federation of Belize – FIFA

[5] "Archived copy". Archived from the original on April 20, 2009. Retrieved 2010-11-24.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

[6] As World Cup soccer coach, Mork's gotta Belize Archived July 17, 2011, at the Wayback Machine – San Diego Union Tribune

[7] As World Cup soccer coach, Mork's gotta Belize Archived July 17, 2011, at the Wayback Machine – San Diego Union Tribune

National football teams of North America, Central America, and the Caribbean (CONCACAF)
North America	Canada Mexico United States
Central America	Belize Costa Rica El Salvador Guatemala Honduras Nicaragua Panama
Caribbean	Anguilla Antigua and Barbuda Aruba Bahamas Barbados Bermuda¹ Bonaire³ British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Cuba Curaçao Dominica Dominican Republic French Guiana^{2 3} Grenada Guadeloupe³ Guyana² Haiti Jamaica Martinique³ Montserrat Puerto Rico Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Saint Martin³ Sint Maarten³ Suriname² Trinidad and Tobago Turks and Caicos Islands U.S. Virgin Islands
Defunct	Netherlands Antilles
1: Inside the North American zone, but CFU member. 2: South American country, but affiliated to CONCACAF and CFU. 3: Full or associate CONCACAF member, but non-FIFA member.