Bolivia at the FIFA World Cup

This is a record of Bolivia's results at the FIFA World Cup.

The FIFA World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II.

The tournament consists of two parts, the qualification phase and the final phase (officially called the World Cup Finals). The qualification phase, which currently take place over the three years preceding the Finals, is used to determine which teams qualify for the Finals. The current format of the Finals involves 48 teams competing for the title, at venues within the host nation (or nations) over a period of about a month. The World Cup final is the most widely viewed sporting event in the world, with an estimated 715.1 million people watching the 2006 tournament final.[1]

Bolivia has qualified for the World Cup on three occasions, in 1930, 1950 and 1994, with two first editions being invited to compete. They have played in six matches at the Finals, but have lost five and drawn one, with their only goal coming against Spain in 1994.

Overall record

FIFA World Cup record FIFA World Cup qualification record
Year Round Position Pld W D* L GF GA Pld W D L GF GA
Uruguay 1930 Group stage 12th 2 0 0 2 0 8 Qualified as invitees
Italy 1934 Did not enter Declined participation
France 1938
Brazil 1950 Group stage 13th 1 0 0 1 0 8 Qualified automatically
Switzerland 1954 Did not enter Declined participation
Sweden 1958 Did not qualify 4 2 0 2 6 6
Chile 1962 2 0 1 1 2 3
England 1966 4 1 0 3 4 9
Mexico 1970 4 2 0 2 5 6
West Germany 1974 4 0 0 4 1 11
Argentina 1978 8 3 1 4 10 25
Spain 1982 4 1 0 3 5 6
Mexico 1986 4 0 2 2 2 7
Italy 1990 4 3 0 1 6 5
United States 1994 Group stage 21st 3 0 1 2 1 4 8 5 1 2 22 11
France 1998 Did not qualify 16 4 5 7 18 21
South Korea Japan 2002 18 4 6 8 21 33
Germany 2006 18 4 2 12 20 37
South Africa 2010 18 4 3 11 22 36
Brazil 2014 16 2 6 8 17 30
Russia 2018 18 4 2 12 16 38
Qatar 2022 18 4 3 11 23 42
Canada Mexico United States 2026 20 7 2 11 20 38
Morocco Portugal Spain 2030 To be determined
Saudi Arabia 2034
Total Group stage 3/22 6 0 1 5 1 20 168 43 32 93 200 326
*Denotes draws including knockout matches decided via penalty shoot-out.

List of matches

World Cup Round Opponent Score Result Venue Scorers
1930Group stage Yugoslavia0–4LMontevideo—
 Brazil0–4LMontevideo—
1950Group stage Uruguay0–8LBelo Horizonte—
1994Group stage Germany0–1LChicago—
 South Korea0–0DFoxborough—
 Spain1–3LChicagoE. Sánchez

1930 FIFA World Cup

Group Stage

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Yugoslavia 2 2 0 0 6 1 +5 4 Advance to the knockout stage
2  Brazil 2 1 0 1 5 2 +3 2
3  Bolivia 2 0 0 2 0 8 −8 0
Source: ESPN
Yugoslavia 4–0 Bolivia
 [Report 1]
Attendance: 18,306
Referee: Francisco Mateucci (Uruguay)
Brazil 4–0 Bolivia
 [Report 2]
Estadio Centenario, Montevideo
Attendance: 25,466

1950 FIFA World Cup

Group Stage

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Uruguay 1 1 0 0 8 0 +8 2 Advance to final round
2  Bolivia 1 0 0 1 0 8 −8 0
3  France 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Withdrew
Source: FIFA
Uruguay 8–0 Bolivia
 [Report 3]
Attendance: 5,284

1994 FIFA World Cup

Group Stage

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Germany 3 2 1 0 5 3 +2 7 Advance to knockout stage
2  Spain 3 1 2 0 6 4 +2 5
3  South Korea 3 0 2 1 4 5 −1 2
4  Bolivia 3 0 1 2 1 4 −3 1
Source: FIFA
Germany 1–0 Bolivia
 [Report 4]
Attendance: 63,117
South Korea 0–0 Bolivia
[Report 5]
Attendance: 54,453
Bolivia 1–3 Spain
 [Report 6]
Attendance: 63,089

Head-to-head record

Record players

Eight players have been fielded in all of Bolivia's group matches in 1994, making them record World Cup players for their country. In the 1930 and 1950 editions, Bolivia was drawn into groups with less than four teams, allowing those years' squads to earn fewer caps.

Rank Player Matches World Cups
1 Carlos Borja31994
Milton Melgar31994
William Ramallo31994
Miguel Rimba31994
Erwin Sánchez31994
Marco Sandy31994
Vladimir Soria31994
Carlos Trucco31994

Top Goalscorers

The only Bolivian goal at a FIFA World Cup was scored by Erwin Sánchez during their 1–3 defeat against Spain in 1994. Bolivia had not scored in their previous five World Cup matches.

Player Goals 1930 1950 1994
Erwin Sánchez 1 1
Total 1 001

See also

References

  1. ↑ 2006 FIFA World Cup TV Coverage Archived June 14, 2007, at the Wayback Machine (PDF), FIFA.com. Retrieved on June 6, 2007.

Reports

  1. ↑
    • "Yugoslavia vs Bolivia | Group Matches | 1930 FIFA World Cup Uruguay". FIFA. Retrieved 1 May 2026.
    • "1930 FIFA World Cup Uruguay – Matches – Yugoslavia v Bolivia". FIFA. Archived from the original on 19 December 2017. Retrieved 1 May 2026.
  2. ↑
  3. ↑
  4. ↑
  5. ↑
  6. ↑
  1. ↑ Cite error: The named reference dispute was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
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