The Cuba national football team have made it to one world cup finals tournament. The country has to compete with several factors which do not help the national football team. The national sport of Cuba is baseball so participation is low in other sports. They have also lost a few players to defection and migration, primarily to the United States. On top of that they do not have a professional league, so the development of talent in the country is very difficult.
The side’s one and only world cup appearance came as far back as 1938, where the Cuba national football team travelled to France to compete. In a time when there weren’t group stages the side actually managed to progress to the second round before being eliminated. Russia 2018 marks 80 years since the team last qualified.