Football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

in Cuba is run by the Asociación de Fútbol de Cuba. The association administers the national football team, as well as the Campeonato Nacional. Football is the second most popular sport in Cuba after baseball. It has been very popular among young people and the new generations in Cuba.

History

The first recorded football match in Cuba was in 1901. Football has struggled as sport in Cuba since Baseball is the number sport in the country. Since the 21st Century football has enjoyed a surge of popularity amongst the youth since

Raúl Castro Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz (; ; born 3 June 1931) is a retired Cuban politician and general who served as the first secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, the most senior position in the one-party communist state, from 2011 to 2021, succeedi ...

eased restrictions media, allowing international football to be televised starting with the

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. La Liga and particularly

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

and Barcelona are popular amongst the youth.

Professional football

Professional sports have been forbidden by the Cuban government since 1961, but in 2016,

Maikel Reyes Maikel Alejandro Reyes Azcuy (sometimes spelt as Maykel Reyes) is a Cuban international football player who plays for his local team Pinar del Río and the Cuba national team. Club career In January 2016, he became the first Cuban footballer ...

became the first Cuban to be allowed to sign a professional contract with a foreign team when he joined Mexican third-tier side

Cruz Azul Premier Cruz Azul Fútbol Club, A.C. Premier was a professional football team that plays in the Mexican Football League. They were playing in the Liga Premier (Mexico's Third Division). Cruz Azul Fútbol Club, A.C. Premier was affiliated with Cruz Azul wh ...

. Until then, Cuban footballers who played professionally had done so without approval of the country's football association and after fleeing the country.

League system

Campeonato Nacional de Fútbol de Cuba Campeonato Nacional de Fútbol de Cuba is the top division of the Asociación de Fútbol de Cuba, it was created in 1912. Despite being a league competition in CONCACAF, since 1990 none of the Cuban teams had played in CFU Club Championship or CO ...

is largely amateur league where 16 teams are split into four groups of four teams.

2019

National team

Cuba have only qualified for the world cup once in 1938 and were eliminated in the quarter finals. They lost 8-0 to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. Traditionally is one of the weakest teams in CONCACAF but since the 21 century has seen significant improvement qualifying for the Gold Cup and reaching the quarter finals in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

and

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

. In 2021 only amateurs with contracted to INDER ( Instituto Nacional de Deportes, Educación Fisica y Recreación) were permitted, now Cuban professional players from abroad are recruited to improve the national football team.

References

{{Cuba-sport-stub