Venezuela national football team

Venezuela did not participate in FIFA World Cup qualification until the 1966 qualifiers in which they were drawn with Uruguay and Peru, but failed to register a point in four games. In the 1970 qualifiers they managed to register a point, and after withdrawing from the 1974 series, repeated that in the 1978 qualifiers. The 1982 qualifiers saw them register their first win, over Bolivia. They wouldn't register another World Cup qualifying win until the 1994 series when they defeated Ecuador. A highlight of the 1998 qualifiers was goalkeeper Rafael Dudamel scoring against Argentina in a 5–2 defeat.

Despite poor results during the 1960s and 1970s, outstanding players like Luis Mendoza and Rafael Santana achieved recognition. Venezuela at that time also managed to qualify for the 1980 Summer Olympics, its first ever major international football competition Venezuela participated.

After José Omar Pastoriza's resignation during the 2002 World Cup qualifyings, Richard Páez took the technical direction of the National Team. Finishing this process, Venezuela achieved 4 victories in a row against Uruguay, Chile, Peru, and Paraguay; winning more than 1 game in row, their first away game and not finishing in the last place for the first time in their World Cup qualifying history.

However, the team failed to qualify for both the 2002, and 2006 World Cups, gaining 12 and 18 points respectively. After this, the team advanced to the second round Copa America 2007 in Venezuela, is the first time they could reach it on this competition.

In November 2007, Páez resigned after discrepancies with media and supporters.[5]

With a new coach César Farías, Venezuela national team improved their performances. At the beginning of the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying, Venezuela won its first game in World Cup qualifying against long unbeaten Ecuador in Quito. Something similar happened to Bolivia in La Paz, where Venezuela won for the first time at Bolivian altitude. Also, they received their first point against Brazil in qualifying. Despite not ultimately reaching the 2010, Venezuela achieved its best result in qualifying. They finished this round with 22 points in 18 matches, surpassing Peru and Bolivia for eighth place in the region.

On 6 June 2008, Venezuela achieved its second-ever triumph over Brazil, defeating the Seleção 2–0 in a friendly match in Boston, United States. Venezuela obtained excellent results in the 2011 Copa América when they finished fourth, their highest finish in the tournament to date. With a squad composed mostly of players playing in Europe, they began 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification with a historic result (1–0) against Argentina in Puerto La Cruz, beating the Argentines for the first time.

On 4 September 2014, Noel Sanvicente was made coach of the Venezuela national team.[6] On 5 September 2014, the team lost its first match with Sanvicente under the helm 3–1 against South Korea in Bucheon.[7]

Sanvicente's first tournament came in the 2015 Copa América, with Venezuela drawn in Group C of the competition. Their opening game finished with an upset victory over tournament favorites Colombia by 1–0, but subsequent defeats to Peru and Brazil saw La Vinotinto eliminated.

Venezuela began the World Cup qualification campaign with a 1–0 defeat against Paraguay at home, and would not earn their first point until their match against Peru, a 2–2 draw in Lima where Venezuela led until the last minute of stoppage time. Their match with Chile ended in a disappointing 4–1 defeat, Sanvicente announced his resignation a week later after mutual consent with the FVF. At the time of Sanvicente's departure, Venezuela was last in the qualification standings with a sole point, and was unofficially eliminated.

Sanvicente was replaced by former Vinotinto goalkeeper Rafael Dudamel, who decided to revamp the entire national team squad, by injecting the team with the promising young generation of Venezuelan players that finished second at the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup that was dubbed as the country's first ever football Golden Generation.[8] Under his coaching, La Vinotinto quickly improved and reached the quarterfinals in the Copa América Centenario, with two 1–0 wins over Jamaica and Uruguay and a 1–1 draw against Mexico in the group stage and then a 4–1 defeat to Argentina in the quarter-finals. In the 7th matchday of the 2018 World Cup qualifier, Venezuela lost to Colombia 2–0 in Barranquilla, the first loss against Los Cafeteros since 2009. Later, on matchday 11, Venezuela won for the first time in the qualifier, 5–0 over Bolivia in Maturín with a hat-trick from Josef Martínez and goals from Jacobo Kouffati and Rómulo Otero.

On 2 January 2020, Dudamel resigned from the national team.

At the 2011 Copa América championship, Venezuela reached the semi-finals round for the first time by defeating Chile in the quarter-final, 2–1. Despite their commanding presence against Paraguay in their semifinal, Venezuela was unable to convert their chances into goals. They would eventually lose 5–3 to Paraguay in a penalty shootout after remaining scoreless in normal and extra time. Venezuela and Peru played for third place at the Estadio Ciudad de La Plata, where Venezuela would suffer their biggest loss of the tournament, losing 4–1 to Peru and falling into fourth place overall. Nonetheless, it was their best ever finish at the competition.

Group B:

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Brazil	3	1	2	0	6	4	+2	5
Venezuela	3	1	2	0	4	3	+1	5
Paraguay	3	0	3	0	5	5	0	3
Ecuador	3	0	1	2	2	5	−3	1

Results:

Brazil  v  Venezuela

3 July 2011 Group stages	Brazil	0–0	Venezuela	La Plata, Argentina
16:00 UTC-3		Report		Stadium: Estadio Ciudad de La Plata Referee: Raúl Orosco (Bolivia)

Venezuela  v  Ecuador

9 July 2011 Group stages	Venezuela	1–0	Ecuador	Salta, Argentina
18:30 UTC-3	C. González  61'	Report		Stadium: Estadio Padre Ernesto Martearena Referee: Wálter Quesada (Costa Rica)

Paraguay  v  Venezuela

13 July 2011 Group stages	Paraguay	3–3	Venezuela	Salta, Argentina
19:15 UTC-3	Alcaraz  32' Barrios  62' Riveros  85'	Report	Rondón  5' Miku  89' Perozo  90+2'	Stadium: Estadio Padre Ernesto Martearena Referee: Enrique Osses (Chile)

Chile  v  Venezuela

17 July 2011 Quarterfinals	Chile	1–2	Venezuela	San Juan, Argentina
19:15 UTC-3	Suazo  69'	Report	Vizcarrondo  34' Cichero  80'	Stadium: Estadio del Bicentenario Referee: Carlos Vera (Ecuador)

Venezuela  v  Paraguay

20 July 2011 Semifinals	Venezuela	0–0 (3–5 p)	Paraguay	Mendoza, Argentina
21:45 UTC-3		Report		Stadium: Estadio Malvinas Argentinas Referee: Francisco Chacón (Mexico)
	Penalties
	Maldonado Rey Lucena Miku		Ortigoza Barrios Riveros Martínez Verón

Peru  v  Venezuela

23 July 2011 Third-place match	Peru	4–1	Venezuela	La Plata, Argentina
16:00 UTC-3	Chiroque  41' Guerrero  63', 89', 90+2'	Report	Arango  77'	Stadium: Estadio Ciudad de La Plata Referee: Wilmar Roldán (Colombia)

Source:[12]

Adidas jersey worn during the 2014 World Cup qualifying

Period	Manufacturer
1981–1991	Adidas
1993–1996	Forte
1996–1997	Polmer
1998–1999	Aba Sport
2000–2005	Atlética
2005–2018	Adidas
2019–	Givova

The following 39 players was called up for the 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification postponed matches against Colombia and Paraguay that were going to be played on 23 and 31 March 2020, respectively.
Caps and goals are correct as of 19 November 2019, after the match against Japan.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
	1GK	Wuilker Faríñez	(1998-02-15) 15 February 1998	22	0	Lens
	1GK	Rafael Romo	(1990-02-25) 25 February 1990	12	0	Silkeborg
	1GK	José Contreras	(1994-10-20) 20 October 1994	6	0	Deportivo Táchira
	1GK	Joel Graterol	(1997-02-13) 13 February 1997	0	0	América de Cali
	2DF	Roberto Rosales	(1988-11-20) 20 November 1988	81	1	Leganés
	2DF	Alexander González	(1992-09-13) 13 September 1992	46	1	Mirandés
	2DF	Mikel Villanueva	(1993-04-14) 14 April 1993	25	2	Málaga
	2DF	Wilker Ángel	(1993-03-18) 18 March 1993	23	2	Akhmat Grozny
	2DF	Rolf Feltscher	(1990-10-06) 6 October 1990	23	0	LA Galaxy
	2DF	Jhon Chancellor	(1992-01-02) 2 January 1992	15	0	Brescia
	2DF	Ronald Hernández	(1997-09-21) 21 September 1997	15	0	Aberdeen
	2DF	Yordan Osorio	(1994-05-10) 10 May 1994	10	0	Zenit Saint Petersburg
	2DF	Luis Mago	(1994-09-15) 15 September 1994	9	1	Universidad de Chile
	2DF	Bernardo Añor	(1988-05-24) 24 May 1988	3	0	Caracas
	2DF	Nahuel Ferraresi	(1998-11-19) 19 November 1998	3	0	Porto B
	2DF	Gabriel Benítez	(1993-09-30) 30 September 1993	1	0	Atlético Venezuela
	3MF	Tomás Rincón (Captain)	(1988-01-13) 13 January 1988	101	1	Torino
	3MF	Luis Manuel Seijas	(1986-06-23) 23 June 1986	70	2	Santa Fe
	3MF	Rómulo Otero	(1992-11-09) 9 November 1992	33	6	Atlético Mineiro
	3MF	Jhon Murillo	(1995-11-21) 21 November 1995	29	4	Tondela
	3MF	Arquímedes Figuera	(1989-10-06) 6 October 1989	28	1	Universidad César Vallejo
	3MF	Juan Pablo Añor	(1994-01-24) 24 January 1994	21	1	Málaga
	3MF	Júnior Moreno	(1993-07-20) 20 July 1993	20	1	D.C. United
	3MF	Yangel Herrera	(1998-01-07) 7 January 1998	18	2	Granada
	3MF	Yeferson Soteldo	(1997-06-30) 30 June 1997	17	1	Santos
	3MF	Jefferson Savarino	(1996-11-11) 11 November 1996	13	1	Atlético Mineiro
	3MF	Renzo Zambrano	(1994-08-26) 26 August 1994	5	0	Portland Timbers
	3MF	Ronaldo Lucena	(1997-02-27) 27 February 1997	3	0	Jaguares de Córdoba
	3MF	Bernaldo Manzano	(1990-07-02) 2 July 1990	3	0	Atletico Bucaramanga
	3MF	Eduard Bello	(1995-08-20) 20 August 1995	2	0	Antofagasta
	3MF	Samuel Sosa	(1999-12-17) 17 December 1999	1	0	Alcorcón
	4FW	Salomón Rondón	(1989-09-16) 16 September 1989	80	30	Dalian Professional
	4FW	Darwin Machís	(1993-02-07) 7 February 1993	23	6	Granada
	4FW	Fernando Aristeguieta	(1992-04-09) 9 April 1992	19	1	Mazatlán
	4FW	Adalberto Peñaranda	(1997-05-31) 31 May 1997	16	0	Watford
	4FW	Sergio Córdova	(1997-08-09) 9 August 1997	8	0	Augsburg
	4FW	Andrés Ponce	(1996-11-11) 11 November 1996	7	1	Akhmat Grozny
	4FW	Jan Carlos Hurtado	(2000-03-05) 5 March 2000	3	0	Boca Juniors
	4FW	Jhonder Cádiz	(1995-07-29) 29 July 1995	2	0	Dijon

Friendlies not recognized by FIFA are not counted.

The following players have been called up for the team in the last 12 months.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
DF	Williams Velásquez	(1997-04-22) 22 April 1997	0	0	Portland Timbers 2	v.  Japan, 19 November 2019 PRE
MF	José Martínez	(1994-08-07) 7 August 1994	0	0	Philadelphia Union	v.  Japan, 19 November 2019 PRE
PRE Preliminary squad WD Withdrew from the squad

Midfielder Juan Arango has played the most matches for Venezuela: 129 between 1999 and 2015.

Salomón Rondón is the player with the most goals scored.

Blue highlights denotes active players. Only FIFA International A matches are being counted.

Blue highlights denotes active players. Only FIFA International A matches are being counted.

     Champions       Runners-up       Third Place       Fourth Place  

South American Championship / Copa América record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1916 to 1963	Did not participate
1967	Fifth place	5th	5	1	0	4	7	16
1975	Group stage	10th	4	0	0	4	1	26
1979		10th	4	0	2	2	1	12
1983		10th	4	0	1	3	1	10
1987		10th	2	0	0	2	1	8
1989		10th	4	0	1	3	4	11
1991		10th	4	0	0	4	1	15
1993		11th	3	0	2	1	6	11
1995		12th	3	0	0	3	4	10
1997		12th	3	0	0	3	0	5
1999		12th	3	0	0	3	1	13
2001		12th	3	0	0	3	0	7
2004		11th	3	0	1	2	2	5
2007	Quarter-finals	6th	4	1	2	1	5	6
2011	Fourth place	4th	6	2	3	1	7	8
2015	Group stage	9th	3	1	0	2	2	3
2016	Quarter-finals	6th	4	2	1	1	4	5
2019		7th	4	1	2	1	3	3
2021	Qualified
2024
Total	Fourth place	18/46	62	8	13	42	47	171