Association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
is the most popular sport in
Bolivia, where the first modern set of rules for the sport were established in 1923, which were a major influence on the development of the modern laws of the game. Bolivia has over 2,000 football clubs.
Bolivia is home to one of the oldest football clubs (
Oruro Royal
Oruro Royal is the oldest Bolivian football club from Oruro
Oruro (Hispanicized spelling) or Uru Uru is a city in Bolivia with a population of 264,683 (2012 calculation), about halfway between La Paz and Sucre in the Altiplano, approximat ...
) in South America. The top domestic league, the Liga Professional de Futbol Bolivia, is currently considered one of the most important leagues in South America. The country also is home to the famous
Tahuichi Academy which has delivered many Bolivian football stars.
It has traditionally been a male-dominated sport, but women's football has become increasingly prominent in recent years.
History
Football was founded perhaps in late 19th century with the introduction of British sailors, Chileans, Peruvians and Argentines to the country. Nonetheless, the consequence of the
War of the Pacific
The War of the Pacific ( es, link=no, Guerra del Pacífico), also known as the Saltpeter War ( es, link=no, Guerra del salitre) and by multiple other names, was a war between Chile and a Bolivian–Peruvian alliance from 1879 to 1884. Fought ...
slowed the progress of Bolivian football, and only into 20th century, the sport became popular.
National teams
The FBF runs several national teams, including
men's,
women's and youth teams (
Olympic
Olympic or Olympics may refer to
Sports
Competitions
* Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896
** Summer Olympic Games
** Winter Olympic Games
* Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...
,
U-20,
U-17).
Despite being typically one of the weaker teams in South America, Bolivia has already participated in three
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...
, at
1930
Events
January
* January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will b ...
,
1950
Events January
* January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed.
* January 5 – Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 crashes in a snowstorm. All 19 ...
and
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...
; but only scored one goal throughout three competitions.
Erwin Sánchez
Erwin Sánchez Freking (born 19 October 1969) is a Bolivian former footballer who played as an attacking midfielder with scoring range, and is the current manager of Oriente Petrolero.
Dubbed ''Platini'',[Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...]
at 1994. In their first two participations, Bolivia was invited; and the team only qualified for 1994 edition. At the
Copa América however, Bolivia has a better and prestigious record, winning one at
1963
Events January
* January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Co ...
and finished runners-up at
1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...
, both held at home. Bolivia also participated in one
FIFA Confederations Cup at
1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...
in Mexico, their fourth FIFA tournament they have played, and scored two goals.
The U-17 Bolivian team is more successful, having won one U-17 Copa América and participated in two
FIFA U-17 World Cup
The FIFA U-17 World Cup, founded as the FIFA U-16 World Championship, later changed to U-17 in 1991 and to its current name in 2007, is the world championship of association football for male players under the age of 17 organized by ''Fédération ...
.
Defunct cup competitions
Defunct cup competitions include:
*
Copa Bolivia
La Copa Bolivia is an official football competition organized by the Bolivian Football Federation, which is played by the direct elimination system, the winner of which qualifies for a Copa Simón Bolívar.
History
La Copa Bolivia was first hel ...
(1976–2002)
* Copa Departamental (1984–1999)
Qualification for CONMEBOL competitions
Clubs who do well in either the La Liga, Copa Aerosur or Copa Simon Bolivar can qualify to compete in various
CONMEBOL-organised South America-wide competitions in the following season. The number of Bolivian clubs playing in South America in any one season can range from six to eight, depending on the qualification scenarios or one of the Bolivian team who wins the
Copa Libertadores or
Copa Sudamericana.
Bolivian football league system
La Liga
The
La Liga
The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...
was founded in 1977 after Copa Simón Bolívar's top clubs broke away from the Football League in a successful effort aimed at increasing their income at the expense of clubs in the lower divisions. Links with the La Liga were maintained, and each season the bottom each two clubs are relegated the bottom club directly and the second last plays a play-off against the runner-up of the second division. La Liga is contested between 12 clubs each season (there was 16 club between 1977–1991). The current champions are Club
Oriente Petrolero
Club Deportivo Oriente Petrolero () is a Bolivian football club based in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. They play at the 38,000-capacity Estadio Tahuichi Aguilera. Oriente have been Bolivian champions five times, Copa Aerosur winners two ti ...
. Each club in La Liga in any given season owns one twentieth of a share in the league itself, meaning that they are all supposedly equal owners with equal rights and responsibilities.
Copa Simon Bolivar
Although the oldest league in Bolivia,
Copa Simón Bolívar now ranks second in the hierarchy of Bolivian football since the split of Bolivia's top clubs in 1977 to form the La Liga. The Copa Simon Bolivar has 18 member clubs evenly divided among three groups, to qualify for this cup club from
Primera A (champions and runner-up). Despite the organisational split, promotion and relegation of clubs still takes place between the Primera A and the Primera B.
References
See also
*
Bolivia national football team
The Bolivia national football team ( es, Selección de fútbol de Bolivia), also known as ''La Verde'', has represented Bolivia in international football since 1926. Organized by the Bolivian Football Federation (FBF), it is one of the ten me ...
{{Football in South America