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.

World cup history

1938

2018

1938

France

In 1938 the Cuba national football team made it to their one and only world cup finals tournament. There they defeated Romania in a replay in the first round. It is important to remember that this was before group stages were introduced. After a 3-3 extra-time draw, the two teams replayed and Cuba prevailed 2-1. After all that work they went on to lose to Sweden 8-0 in the next round. Despite this it still represented a huge achievement for a team which only played their first international match in 1930. Unfortunately that was the Cuba national football team’s only appearance at a world cup finals to date.

2018

Russia

The Cuba national football team entered qualifying in the second round. It was a short and not so sweet campaign for the side. They faced Curacao over two legs, and after the first ended 0-0, and the second 1-1 at home, Cuba were eliminated on away goals.

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