Uruguay national football team

Uruguay

Nickname(s)	Charrúas La Celeste Olímpica (The Olympic Sky Blue) La Celeste (The Sky Blue)
Association	Asociación Uruguaya de Fútbol
Confederation	CONMEBOL (South America)
Head coach	Oscar Tabarez, 2006-
Captain	Diego Lugano
Most caps	Rodolfo Rodríguez (79)
Top scorer	Héctor Scarone (31)
Home stadium	Estadio Centenario
FIFA code	URU
FIFA ranking	23
Highest FIFA ranking	14 (May 1994)
Lowest FIFA ranking	76 (December 1998)
Elo ranking	14
Highest Elo ranking	1 (various dates 1920-31)
Lowest Elo ranking	46 (March 1980)
Home colours Away colours
First international
Uruguay 2 - 3 Argentina (Montevideo, Uruguay; 16 May 1901)
Biggest win
Uruguay 9 - 0 Bolivia (Lima, Peru; 9 November 1927)
Biggest defeat
Uruguay 0 - 6 Argentina (Montevideo, Uruguay; 20 July 1902)
World Cup
Appearances	10 (First in 1930)
Best result	Winners, 1930 and 1950.
Copa América
Appearances	40 (First in 1916)
Best result	Winners, 1916, 1917, 1920, 1923, 1924, 1926, 1935, 1942, 1956, 1959, 1967, 1983, 1987, 1995.
Confederations Cup
Appearances	1 (First in 1997)
Best result	4th, 1997

Olympic medal record
Men’s Football
Gold	1924 Paris	Team
Gold	1928 Amsterdam	Team

The Uruguay national football team is controlled by the Asociación Uruguaya de Fútbol.

Uruguay is one of the most successful national football teams in the world. They have won two FIFA World Cups, including the first ever World Cup in 1930 as hosts, beating Argentina 4-2 in the final. They won their second title in 1950, upsetting hosts Brazil 2-1 in the final match. They also won the Gold Medals in football at the Summer Olympics twice, in 1924 and 1928, before the creation of the World Cup. They have also won the Copa América fourteen times, tied with Argentina, for most in America. They also won the 1980 Mundialito, a tournament among former World Cup champions Uruguay hosted in 1980 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first World Cup. Their success is amplified by the fact that the nation has a very small population. Uruguay is the only country in the world to win a World Cup with a general population of under 4 million inhabitants. The second smallest country to have won the World Cup is Argentina with a total population of over 37 million people. However, the level of the Uruguay national team has decreased lately as Uruguay has only qualified on one occasion in the last 4 World Cups, although it remains a strong team in South America, having reached third place and fourth place in the last two Copa América tournaments, respectively.

Contents 1 History 2 Stadium 3 Kit 3.1 World Cup Record 4 Copa América record 5 Current team status 5.1 2010 FIFA World Cup Qualification Standings 5.2 Last and next games 6 Current players 6.1 Current squad 6.2 Recent Call Ups 7 Famous players 8 Managers 9 Trivia 10 Footnotes 11 External links 12 Titles

History

Prior to 1916, Uruguay played more than 30 matches, of which all but one were against Argentina. The inaugural Copa America provided Uruguay with more varied opposition. Victories over Chile and Brazil along with a tie against Argentina enabled Uruguay to win the tournament. The following year Uruguay hosted the competition, and retained the title by winning every game. The 1919 Copa America saw Uruguay's first defeat in the tournament, a 1-0 defeat in a playoff with Brazil which went to two periods of extra time, the longest Copa America match in history.

In 1924 the Uruguay team traveled to Paris to become the first South American team to compete in the Olympic Games. In contrast to the physical style of the European teams of the era, Uruguay played a style based around short passes,^[1] and won every game, defeating Switzerland 3-0 in the gold medal match. In the 1928 Summer Olympics Uruguay went to Amsterdam to defend their title, again winning the gold medal after defeating Argentina 2-1 in the final.

Following the double Olympic triumph, Uruguay was chosen as the host nation for the first World Cup, held in 1930, the centenary of Uruguay's independence. During the World Cup, Uruguay won all its matches, and converted a 1-2 half-time deficit to a 4-2 victory against Argentina at the Estadio Centenario. Due to the refusal of some European teams to participate in the first World Cup, the Uruguayan Football Association urged other countries to reciprocate by boycotting the 1934 World Cup played in Italy. For the 1938 World Cup, France was chosen as host, contrary to a previous agreement to alternate the Championships between South America and Europe, so Uruguay again refused to participate.

Uruguay again won the World Cup in 1950, beating hosts Brazil in a surprise result at the Maracanã Stadium, a match known as the Maracanazo.

Since 1950, the national team has had mixed performances in the World Cup, achieving fourth place in 1954 and 1970, but failing to qualify on several occasions. A new generation headed by Francescoli emerged in the mid-1980s, which qualified for the 1986 and 1990 World Cups, reaching the second round. During the 2000s, the less successful generation of Recoba, Forlán and Montero among others qualified for the 2002 World Cup, but were unable to leave the group stage.

Nevertheless, during the same time period from the 1950s, Uruguay won the Copa America six times, most recently in 1995, when Uruguay also hosted the tournament. Each of the seven occasions when the Copa America has been hosted in Uruguay has resulted in the Uruguayan team winning the tournament.

Stadium

Since 1930, Uruguay have played their home games at the Estadio Centenario in the Uruguayan capital Montevideo. The stadium was built as a celebration of Uruguay centenary of independence, and had a capacity of 100,000 when first opened. The stadium hosted several matches in the 1930 World Cup, including the final, which was watched by a crowd of 93,000.^[2] Crowds for Uruguay's home matches vary greatly depending on the importance of the match and the quality of the opposition. World Cup qualifying matches often attract crowds of between 60,000 and 70,000, but friendlies sometimes have attendances significantly below 20,000.

Kit

Current Uruguay kits were adopted in 1910 as an homage to the now defunct River Plate F.C. (the old Uruguayan River club, although the current CA River Plate use a similar red and white striped kit at home and often a light blue away jersey too).

The first international match ever for a Uruguayan team took place in Montevideo in 1889 against "Buenos Aires Team". The "Montevideo Team",playing as the first Uruguay national representative,was the still active Montevideo Cricket Club (now only at rugby). The first official international was played again in Montevideo in 1901. In that occasion the Uruguay national team used Albion F.C kit: Albion, in fact, had won the first game outside Uruguay, over Argentine club Retiro in 1896 at Buenos Aires. After this game, between 1901-1910, several games between Uruguay and Argentina had Uruguay wearing striped blue and white and Argentina a plain turquoise jersey, the direct opposite to the kits from 1910 to the present day. The red kit was used in all the Copa América of Santa Beatriz in Peru in 1935 where Uruguay won the tourney. After that was never used again until 1991 when it was finally adopted as away jersey.

Four stars appear above the team logo on the jersey. Two represent Uruguay's 1930 and 1950 World Cup victories whereas the other two indicate the gold medal win at the 1924 and 1928 Summer Olympics, considered at that time the most important national teams world-wide football competition.

1889 (Montevideo C.C kit)	1901 (Albion F.C kit)	1901 - 1910	1901 - 1910	1901 - 1910	1901 - 1910
1901 - 1910	1910 - 1990 and 1996 - 2008	1991 - 1996	1935

World Cup Record

Year	Round	Position	GP	W	D*	L	GS	GA
1930	Champions	1	4	4	0	0	15	3
1934	Withdrew	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1938	Withdrew	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1950	Champions[3]	1	4	3	1	0	15	5
1954	Semi-Finals	4	5	3	0	2	16	9
1958	Did Not Qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1962	Round 1	13	3	1	0	2	4	6
1966	Quarter-finals	7	4	1	2	1	2	5
1970	Semi-Finals	4	6	2	1	3	4	5
1974	Round 1	13	3	0	1	2	1	6
1978	Did Not Qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1982	Did Not Qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1986	Round 2	16	4	0	2	2	2	8
1990	Round 2	16	4	1	2	1	2	5
1994	Did Not Qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1998	Did Not Qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2002	Round 1	26	3	0	2	1	4	5
2006	Did Not Qualify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	10/18	2 Titles	40	16	10	14	65	57

*Denotes draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.

**Gold background color indicates that the tournament was won. Red border color indicates tournament was held on home soil.

Copa América record

Main article: Copa América

1916 - Winners 1917 - Winners 1919 - Runners-up 1920 - Winners 1921 - Third place 1922 - Third place 1923 - Winners 1924 - Winners 1925 - Withdrew 1926 - Winners 1927 - Runners-up 1929 - Third place 1935 - Winners 1937 - Third place 1939 - Runners-up

1941 - Runners-up 1942 - Winners 1945 - Fourth place 1946 - Fourth place 1947 - Third place 1949 - Sixth place 1953 - Third place 1955 - Fourth place 1956 - Winners 1957 - Third place 1959 - Sixth place 1959 - Winners 1963 - Withdrew 1967 - Winners

1975 - Semifinals 1979 - Round 1 1983 - Winners 1987 - Winners 1989 - Runners-up 1991 - Round 1 1993 - Quarterfinals 1995 - Winners 1997 - Round 1 1999 - Runners-up 2001 - Fourth place 2004 - Third place 2007 - Fourth place

Current team status

Uruguay is currently participating in the 2010 World Cup qualifiers.

Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONMEBOL)

2010 FIFA World Cup
Qualification Standings

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  Paraguay 10 7 2 1 18 6 +12 23  Brazil 10 4 5 1 15 4 +11 17  Argentina 10 4 4 2 13 7 +6 16  Chile 10 5 1 4 14 13 +1 16  Uruguay 10 3 4 3 19 10 +9 13  Ecuador 10 3 3 4 12 17 −5 12  Colombia 10 2 5 3 4 8 −4 11  Venezuela 10 3 1 6 12 18 −6 10  Bolivia 10 2 3 5 13 22 −9 9  Peru 10 1 4 5 5 20 −15 7   Argentina  – 3–0 R15 2–0 R13 1–1 1–1 R17 2–1 R11 Bolivia  R12 – R17 0–2 0–0 R16 4–2 3–0 2–2 R13 Brazil  0–0 0–0 – R16 0–0 5–0 R14 R12 2–1 R18 Chile  1–0 R14 0–3 – 4–0 R18 0–3 2–0 R12 R15 Colombia  2–1 R11 0–0 R17 – R15 0–1 R14 0–1 1–0 Ecuador  R14 3–1 R11 1–0 0–0 – R12 5–1 R17 0–1 Paraguay  R16 R15 2–0 R13 R18 5–1 – 1–0 1–0 2–0 Peru  1–1 R18 1–1 R11 1–1 R13 0–0 – R15 1–0 Uruguay  R18 5–0 R13 2–2 R16 0–0 R11 6–0 – 1–1 Venezuela  0–2 5–3 0–4 2–3 R12 3–1 R17 R16 R14 –

Last and next games

• Last game:  Uruguay 0 - 0 France  - Paris, France - 19 November 2008 - F.
• Next game: TBA

KEY: F = Friendly match; WCQ2010 = 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification

Current players

Current squad

Below is the squad for friendly against France on November 19 2008. caps and goals as of 14 October 2008.

No. Pos. Player DoB (Age) Caps Goals Club GK Fabián Carini 26 December 1979 (1979-12-26) (age 29) 72 0 Real Murcia GK Sebastián Viera 7 March 1983 (1983-03-07) (age 26) 27 0 Villarreal DF Martín Cáceres 7 April 1987 (1987-04-07) (age 22) 10 0 Barcelona DF Diego Godín 16 February 1986 (1986-02-16) (age 23) 25 3 Villarreal DF Bruno Silva 29 March 1980 (1980-03-29) (age 29) 10 0 Ajax DF Carlos Adrián Valdez 2 May 1983 (1983-05-02) (age 26) 14 0 Reggina DF Diego Lugano 2 November 1980 (1980-11-02) (age 28) 30 2 Fenerbahçe MF Mathías Cardacio 2 October 1987 (1987-10-02) (age 22) 0 0 AC Milan MF Sebastián Eguren 8 January 1981 (1981-01-08) (age 28) 15 2 Villarreal MF Walter Gargano 24 July 1984 (1984-07-24) (age 25) 19 0 Napoli MF Jorge Andrés Martínez 5 April 1983 (1983-04-05) (age 26) 12 0 Catania MF Maximiliano Pereira 8 June 1984 (1984-06-08) (age 25) 45 0 Benfica MF Alvaro Pereira 28 January 1985 (1985-01-28) (age 24) 0 0 Cluj MF Diego Pérez 18 May 1980 (1980-05-18) (age 29) 44 0 AS Monaco MF Cristian Rodríguez 30 September 1985 (1985-09-30) (age 24) 29 3 FC Porto FW Sebastián Abreu 17 October 1976 (1976-10-17) (age 33) 46 27 River Plate FW Edison Cavani 14 February 1987 (1987-02-14) (age 22) 3 1 Palermo FW Diego Forlán 19 May 1979 (1979-05-19) (age 30) 50 19 Atlético Madrid FW Vicente Sánchez 7 December 1979 (1979-12-07) (age 29) 30 5 Schalke 04 FW Luis Suárez 24 January 1987 (1987-01-24) (age 22) 17 6 Ajax

Recent Call Ups

The following players have also been called up to the Uruguay squad after Copa America.

No. Pos. Player DoB (Age) Caps Goals Club DF Gerardo Alcoba 25 November 1984 (1984-11-25) (age 24) 2 0 Peñarol (Friendly v. Japan, 20 August) DF Damián Suárez 27 April 1988 (1988-04-27) (age 21) 0 0 Defensor Sporting (Friendly v. Norway, 28 May 2008) 34 DF Carlos Diogo 18 July 1983 (1983-07-18) (age 26) Zaragoza (Copa America) 35 DF Darío Rodríguez 17 September 1974 (1974-09-17) (age 35) 51 4 Peñarol (Copa America) MF Diego Pérez 18 May 1980 (1980-05-18) (age 29) 44 0 AS Monaco (Friendly v. Japan, 20 August) MF Jorge Rodríguez 13 January 1985 (1985-01-13) (age 24) 1 0 River Plate (Friendly v. Japan, 20 August) MF Robert Flores 13 May 1986 (1986-05-13) (age 23) 2 0 River Plate (Friendly v. Norway, 28 May 2008) MF Diego De Souza 14 July 1984 (1984-07-14) (age 25) 0 0 Defensor Sporting (Friendly v. Colombia, 6 February 2008) 31 MF Egidio Arévalo 1 January 1982 (1982-01-01) (age 27) Monterrey (WCQ v. Brazil, December 2007) 32 MF Pablo García 11 May 1977 (1977-05-11) (age 32) 68 5 PAOK F.C. (WCQ v. Paraguay, October 2007) 33 MF Mario Regueiro 9 September 1978 (1978-09-09) (age 31) 29 1 Aris FC (WCQ v. Paraguay, October 2007) 36 MF Fabián Canobbio 8 March 1980 (1980-03-08) (age 29) 8 0 Real Valladolid (Copa America) FW Sebastián Fernández 23 May 1985 (1985-05-23) (age 24) 3 0 Banfield (v. Friendly v. Norway, 28 May 2008) FW Henry Giménez 13 March 1986 (1986-03-13) (age 23) 2 0 River Plate (Friendly v. Norway, 28 May 2008) FW Álvaro Recoba 17 March 1976 (1976-03-17) (age 33) 69 12 Panionios F.C. (Copa America)

Famous players

Hugo de León Carlos Aguilera José Leandro Andrade Víctor Rodríguez Andrade Pablo Bengoechea Carlos Bueno Martín Cáceres Julio Montero Castillo Luís Alberto Cubilla Víctor Espárrago Daniel Fonseca Diego Forlán Javier Chevantón Enzo Francescoli Diego Lugano Ladislao Mazurkiewicz

Paolo Montero José Nasazzi Omar Oscar Míguez Santiago Ostolaza Rubén Paz Álvaro Recoba Ángel Romano José Santamaría Héctor Scarone Juan Alberto Schiaffino Rubén Sosa Obdulio Varela Darío Silva Marcelo Saralegui Gianni Guigou

Venancio Ramos Víctor Hugo Diogo Darío Pereyra Roberto Matosas Pedro Virgilio Rocha Fernando Álvez Roque Maspoli Alcides Ghiggia Pedro Petrone Gustavo Poyet Antonio Alzamendi José Batlle Perdomo William Castro Fernando Kanapkis Sebastián Abreu

most caps

1.Rodolfo Rodriguez [79] 1976-1986

2.Enzo Francescoli [72]

3.Fabian Carini [72]

4.Alvaro Recoba [69]

5.Angel Romano [68]

6.Pablo Garcia [68]

7.Carlos Aguilera [65]

8.Paolo Montero [61]

9.Jorge Barrios [61]

10.Pedro Petrone [57]

11.Nelson Gutierrez [57]

top goalscorers

1.Hector Scarone (31) 1917-1930

2.Angel Romano (28)

3.Oscar Miguez (27)

4.Pedro Petrone (27)

5.Sebastian Abreu (27)

6.Carlos Aguilera (23)

7.Hector Castro (20)

8.Diego Forlan (19)

9.Ruben Sosa (19)

World Cup winning captain

1930 Jose "El gran mariscal" Nasazzi 51(1)

1950 Obdulio "El negro jefe" Varela 45(9)

Managers

1916: Jorge Pacheco 1916: Alfredo Foglino 1917 - 1918: Julián Bértola 1919 - 1920: Severino Castillo 1920 - 1922: Ernesto Fígoli 1922 - 1923: Pedro Olivieri 1923 - 1924: Leonardo De Lucca 1924 - 1926: Ernesto Meliante 1926: Andrés Mazzali 1926: Ernesto Fígoli 1927 - 1928: Luis Grecco 1928 - 1932: Alberto Suppici 1932 - 1933: Raúl Blanco 1933 - 1941: Alberto Suppici 1941 - 1942: Pedro Cea 1942 - 1945: José Nasazzi 1945 - 1946: Aníbal Tejada

1946: Guzmán Vila Gomensoro 1946 - 1955: Juan López 1955: Juan Carlos Corazzo 1955 - 1957: Hugo Bagnulo 1957 - 1959: Juan López 1959: Héctor Castro 1959 - 1961: Juan Corazzo 1961 - 1962: Enrique Fernández 1962 - 1964: Juan Corazzo 1964 - 1965: Rafael Milans 1965 - 1967: Ondino Viera 1967 - 1969: Enrique Fernández 1969 - 1970: Juan Hohberg 1970 - 1973: Hugo Bagnulo 1974 - 1974: Roberto Porta 1974 - 1975: Juan Alberto Schiaffino 1975 - 1977: José María Rodríguez

1977: Juan Hohberg 1977 - 1979: Raúl Bentancor 1979 - 1982: Roque Máspoli 1982 - 1987: Omar Borrás 1987 - 1988: Roberto Fleitas 1988 - 1990: Oscar Tabárez 1990 - 1993: Luis Cubilla 1993 - 1994: Ildo Maneiro 1994 - 1996: Héctor Núñez 1996 - 1997: Juan Ahuntchaín 1997 - 1998: Roque Máspoli 1998 - 2000: Víctor Púa 2000 - 2001: Daniel Passarella 2001 - 2003: Víctor Púa 2003 - 2004: Juan Ramón Carrasco 2004 - 2006: Jorge Fossati 2006 - Present: Oscar Tabárez

Trivia

• Uruguay and Argentina hold the record for the most international matches played between two countries.^[4] The two teams have faced each other 161 times since 1901. The first match against Argentina was the first official international match to be played outside the United Kingdom and Ireland.^[5]

Footnotes

External links

• RSSSF archive of results 1902-
• The Official Uruguay football association website
• Uruguayan Players in the world

Titles

Preceded by Inaugural Champions	World Champions 1930 (First title)	Succeeded by 1934 Italy
Preceded by 1938 Italy	World Champions 1950 (Second title)	Succeeded by 1954 West Germany
Preceded by Inaugural Champions	South American Champions 1916 (First title) 1917 (Second title)	Succeeded by 1919 Brazil
Preceded by 1919 Brazil	South American Champions 1920 (Third title)	Succeeded by 1921 Argentina
Preceded by 1922 Brazil	South American Champions 1923 (Fourth title) 1924 (Fifth title)	Succeeded by 1925 Argentina
Preceded by 1925 Argentina	South American Champions 1926 (Sixth title)	Succeeded by 1927 Argentina
Preceded by 1929 Argentina	South American Champions 1935 (Seventh title)	Succeeded by 1937 Argentina
Preceded by 1941 Argentina	South American Champions 1942 (Eighth title)	Succeeded by 1945 Argentina
Preceded by 1955 Argentina	South American Champions 1956 (Ninth title)	Succeeded by 1957 Argentina
Preceded by 1959 Argentina	South American Champions 1959 (Tenth title)	Succeeded by 1963 Bolivia
Preceded by 1963 Bolivia	South American Champions 1967 (Eleventh title)	Succeeded by 1975 Peru
Preceded by 1979 Paraguay	South American Champions 1983 (Twelfth title) 1987 (Thirteenth title)	Succeeded by 1989 Brazil
Preceded by 1993 Argentina	South American Champions 1995 (Fourteenth title)	Succeeded by 1997 Brazil

International football
FIFA · World Cup · Confederations Cup · U-20 World Cup · U-17 World Cup Olympics · Asian Games · All-Africa Games · Pan American Games · Island Games · Minor Tournaments World Rankings · Player of the Year · Teams · Competitions · Organizations · Codes
Asia AFC - Asian Cup Africa CAF - Africa Cup of Nations North America CONCACAF - Gold Cup South America CONMEBOL - Copa América Oceania OFC - Nations Cup Europe UEFA - European Championship Non-FIFA NF-Board - Viva World Cup
National football teams of South America (CONMEBOL)
Argentina | Bolivia | Brazil | Chile | Colombia | Ecuador | Paraguay | Peru | Uruguay | Venezuela |
FIFA World Cup Winners
5 titles: Brazil (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 & 2002) 4 titles: Italy (1934, 1938, 1982 & 2006) 3 titles: Germany (1954, 1974 & 1990) 2 titles: Uruguay (1930 & 1950) • Argentina (1978 & 1986) 1 title: England (1966) • France (1998)