The

sport Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

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 ...

in the country of

Belize Belize (; bzj, Bileez) is a Caribbean and Central American country on the northeastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a wate ...

is run by the

Football Federation of Belize The Football Federation of Belize (FFB), formerly known as the Belize National Football Association (BNFA) and founded in 1980, is the sport governing body, governing body of football (soccer), football in Belize. It is a member of Fédération ...

. The association administers the Belize national football team, as well as the Belize Premier Football League. Football is the most popular sport in Belize.

Origins

Football was played only in the port city of Belize City where, since 1919/20, a regional soccer championship was held each year, dominated by a team called Preston in the first decade. On occasion, teams from other parts of the country also competed in this league. It was only in the 1970s that a country-wide first league called Interdistrict Championship established itself. This resulted in the Belize Premier Football League, which up until the season 2011, which was replaced in 2012 by the still existing

Premier League of Belize The Premier League of Belize is the highest competitive football league in Belize. It was founded on 28 December 2011 after the merger between the Belize Premier Football League and the Super League of Belize. History The formation of the leag ...

International tournaments

Both the club teams and the national team played only a subordinate role on the international level and have hardly left their mark on international football. The biggest success of the national team was a fourth place at the

Copa Centroamericana The Copa Centroamericana (, Spanish for "Central American Cup") was the main association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ''Unión Centroamericana de Fútbol'' ( UNCAF), the sport's Central A ...

of 2013, when Belize were able to prevail in the pre-season group against Guatemala (0-0) and Nicaragua (2-1) and advanced to the semi-final. There, the team lost 0-1 to Honduras and then in the game for third place with the same result against El Salvador. Belize was the only one to participate in the

2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 12th CONCACAF Gold Cup competition and the 22nd CONCACAF regional championship overall in CONCACAF's fifty years of existence. The United States was the host nation. The competition began on 7 July 2013 at the ...

, where Belize lost all her games (1: 6 against the USA, 0: 1 against Costa Rica and 0: 4 against Cuba).

League system

References

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