The Guatemala national team were founded in 1919 and became affiliated to FIFA in 1946. The team play in the CONCACAF region and regularly compete in the Gold Cup every 2-3 years. Their highest FIFA world ranking came in 2006 when they reached the heights of 50th compared to their current ranking in the low 100s. Still, in November 1995, the nation was ranked a fairly abysmal 163rd.
Despite not being a particularly well known football country, they have competed in three Olympic Games. In 1968, they managed to reach the quarter finals. However, they were eliminated in the first round on the other two occasions. The team has also never managed to qualify for the World Cup in their history. Nevertheless, they have come close on numerous occasions with the team making the final six CONCACAF countries on four occasions.
Here is the new Guatemala Umbro home shirt for 2012/13 [...]
Guatemala have recently signed a deal with Umbro to replace Puma as their shirt manufacturers [...]
Guatemala have recently released their new national team shirts which have been manufactured by Puma. The home shirt is blue with a sash of white running through the shirt from the left shoulder to the bottom right of the shirt [...]
The Gold Cup is where the team has found their most success in a more competitive playing field. The team became Gold Cup champions in 1967 and were runners up in 1965 and 1969. They have also finished 4th and 5th on numerous occasions. The country also achieved success on a smaller scale in 1983 when they won a silver medal at the Pan American games. The team also regularly compete in the UNCAF Nations Cup which also gives the winner automatic qualification to the Gold Cup.
Despite the calibre of opposition being weaker than in most tournaments, Guatemala has only won the tournament once in 2001. Nevertheless, they have finished as runner up on four occasions and in third place three times. In fact, their worst ever performance in the competition was in 2009 where they exited in the first round.
