close
Jump to content

Football in Venezuela

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Football in Venezuela
CountryVenezuela
Governing bodyFederación Venezolana de Fútbol
National teamVenezuela
National competitions
Club competitions
List
International competitions

Football is a widely practiced and popular sport in Venezuela, although the sport has lagged behind baseball in popularity.[1][2][3][4][5] Approximately 60% of the people in Venezuela are considered association football fans.[6] The country has proven one of the biggest underachievers in CONMEBOL and was formerly known as the Cenicienta of the region.[7]

History

[edit]

The Federación Venezolana de Fútbol was established in 1926 following the creation of the Liga Venezolana in 1921.[8] Professionalism was not established until 1957 with the Copa de Venezuela arriving two years later. Caracas Fútbol Club are the country's most successful club side. A second division was added in 1979[9] with a third added in 1999 and a fourth in 2006.[10][11]

Men's professional football

[edit]



Level Divisions
1st Primera División
18 clubs
↓↑ 2 clubs
2nd Segunda División
20 clubs
↓↑ 2 clubs
3rd Tercera División
39 clubs + 9 Reserve teams

International

[edit]

Venezuela national football team played their first game in 1938 and since then have been one of South America's weakest teams.[12] Following Ecuador's qualification for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Venezuela are now the only CONMEBOL member to have never appeared at a World Cup finals. However the team are no longer seen as pushovers and are now recognised as stern opposition.[13] Their growing status was further demonstrated by their hosting of the Copa América 2007 during which they reached the quarter-finals. Furthermore, during the Copa América 2011, held in Argentina, they even improved this performance and reached the semifinals, after knocking out the Chilean team in the quarter-finals. They eventually lost in the semifinals against Paraguay.[14][15]

An under-20 team, an under-17 team and a women's team also compete.[16]

In 2017, Venezuela achieved one of its biggest ever feat in its football history, by becoming the fourth South American country after Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, to reach the final of any FIFA competitions, when its U-20 side reached the final of 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup for the first time.[17] Chile would follow this step in the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup later.

Football stadiums in Venezuela

[edit]

Stadiums with a capacity of 40,000 or higher are included.

#StadiumCapacityCityHome team(s)
1Estadio Monumental de Maturín52,000MaturínMonagas Sport Club
2Estadio Metropolitano de Fútbol de Lara47,913BarquisimetoUnión Lara
3Estadio Metropolitano de Mérida42,200MéridaEstudiantes de Mérida FC
4Centro Total de Entrenamiento Cachamay41,600Ciudad GuayanaAtlético Club Mineros de Guayana
5Estadio José Pachencho Romero40,800MaracaiboUnión Atlético Maracaibo

Women's football in Venezuela

[edit]

Football is growing in popularity in Venezuela, but many professional female players move to other countries to maintain their careers.[18][19][20]

Attendances

[edit]

The Venezuelan top-flight football league clubs and their average home league attendance in 2018 are listed in the table below. The average league attendance was 2,619.

#ClubAverage
1Caracas5,082
2Zamora4,710
3Deportivo Táchira4,005
4Estudiantes de Mérida3,964
5Monagas3,870
6Deportivo Lara3,139
7Zulia2,625
8Mineros de Guayana2,361
9Puerto Cabello2,333
10Carabobo2,132
11Trujillanos2,066
12Portuguesa1,968
13Aragua1,867
14Deportivo Anzoátegui1,847
15Deportivo La Guaira1,796
16Metropolitanos1,264
17Estudiantes de Caracas1,243
18Atlético Venezuela881

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ↑ "Venezuelan football making strides both at home and internationally". ESPN. Retrieved 2014-03-18.
  2. ↑ "World Cup stickers sweep soccer-agnostic Venezuela". www.ksl.com. Retrieved 2025-08-31.
  3. ↑ "Richards: Peru, Venezuela redefining Copa, South America - Copa America News | FOX Sports on MSN". Msn.foxsports.com. 2014-05-21. Retrieved 2015-03-18.
  4. ↑ "La vinotinto: South America's footballing exception". The Economist. Economist.com. 2014-06-11. Retrieved 2015-03-18.
  5. ↑ "When Saturday Comes - Venezuela". Wsc.co.uk. 2012-07-09. Retrieved 2015-03-18.
  6. ↑ "(Soccer) Football Fans by Country 2025". 4 April 2024.
  7. ↑ "When Saturday Comes - When Saturday Comes". Wsc.co.uk. 2012-07-09. Archived from the original on 2010-11-19. Retrieved 2015-03-18.
  8. ↑ Lang, Jack (10 July 2024). "Baseball is Venezuela's national sport – but the 2024 Copa America shows why that might be changing". The New York Times. Retrieved Oct 6, 2024 – via NYTimes.com.
  9. ↑ "Venezuela - List of Second Level Champions and Runners Up". Rsssf.com. 2014-02-26. Retrieved 2015-03-18.
  10. ↑ "Venezuela - List of Third and Fourth Level Champions and Runners Up". Rsssf.com. 2009-06-12. Retrieved 2015-03-18.
  11. ↑ "Venezuela - Primera División - Streaming and TV Schedule, Fixtures, Results". www.livesoccertv.com. Retrieved 2026-05-22.
  12. ↑ Jamie Rainbow (2011-07-04). "Venezuelan football: a brief history". Worldsoccer.com. Archived from the original on 2014-03-19. Retrieved 2015-03-18.
  13. ↑ Vickery, Tim (2004-10-07). "BBC SPORT | Football | World Football | Venezuela no longer a joke". News.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2015-03-18.
  14. ↑ Vickery, Tim (2013-03-04). "BBC Sport - Venezuela's paradox illustrates the perils of football globalisation". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2015-03-18.
  15. ↑ Alejandro Pérez and Tim Sturtridge (2011-03-19). "Venezuela's brightest star Yohandry Orozco ready to shine - European - Football". Independent.co.uk. Retrieved 2015-03-18.
  16. ↑ "Under-20 World Cup: Can Venezuela shock England in the Suwon final?". BBC Sport. 9 June 2017. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
  17. ↑ "Under-20 World Cup: Can Venezuela shock England in the Suwon final?". BBC Sport. June 9, 2017.
  18. ↑ "Migrate to win: the struggles of Venezuelan women footballers – MMB Latin America". mmblatinamerica.blogs.bristol.ac.uk.
  19. ↑ "Venezuela's 'warrior women' fighting for equality on the football field | openDemocracy". Retrieved Oct 6, 2024.
  20. ↑ "Venezuelan women's football dream is born". www.fifa.com.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Football_in_Venezuela&oldid=1355539943"