The Puerto Rico national football team ( es, Selección de fútbol de Puerto Rico) represents Puerto Rico in men's international

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 ...

, and are governed by the Federación Puertorriqueña de Fútbol (FPF). The team's nickname is ''El Huracán Azul'' meaning The Blue Hurricane. They are members of the

Caribbean Football Union The Caribbean Football Union (CFU) is the representative organization for football associations in the Caribbean. It represents 25 FIFA member nations, as well as 6 territories that are not affiliated to FIFA. The Union was established in Januar ...

, and part of CONCACAF. The team has never qualified for the FIFA World Cup or the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

History

1940–1990

Puerto Rico's first international match was against Cuba in 1940 in which they drew 1–1. They did not record a win until a 3–0 result in 1970 against the Bahamas. In 1972, Puerto Rico recorded a 1–0 win against Panama in a

friendly Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

. Wins between the 1980s and 1990s were mainly against the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, and Martinique.

Chris Armas years (1993–1994)

Chris Armas played for Puerto Rico in the

1993 Caribbean Cup The 1993 Caribbean Cup (known as the Shell Caribbean Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the fifth edition of the Caribbean Cup, the football championship of the Caribbean, one of the CONCACAF zones. The final stage was hosted by Jamaica. The two fi ...

. In the tournament, Puerto Rico established a 4-game win streak without conceding a goal. The competition was not then recognized by

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

, and so his five matches were considered

friendlies An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

. As a result, he was later allowed to switch his allegiance to the United States, for whom he has since been capped over 50 times.

1995–2007

Between 1995 and 2007 Puerto Rico did not record a win, and had only four draws. During this time, the team dropped down in the FIFA Rankings to 202nd.

2008–2015

Over the past few years, Puerto Rico has begun to emerge as a contender, like they were in the 1990s. In 2008, they won two games as visitors against Bermuda (1–0 and 2–0), drew 2–2 with Trinidad and Tobago. They also won for the first time since 1994 when they beat the Dominican Republic in the first round of the World Cup qualifiers. Although they lost the first leg 4–0 to

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

, they fought a 2–2 tie in the home leg in the second round. The Puerto Rican Football Federation has announced plans that would allow them to participate in the next editions of the Caribbean Cup and Gold Cup. Most capped player Andres Cabrero is the only active player as of 2021 who participated in said 2010 World Cup qualifiers. Puerto Rico was supposed to make their debut in the 21st Central American and Caribbean Games in 2010 on home soil in Mayagüez, but due to the controversy of CONCACAF not approving the stadiums, the team couldn't compete in the football event. The team was supposed to play in Venezuela instead but due to the lack of teams, the male event was canceled. Puerto Rico faced World and

European European, or Europeans, or Europeneans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe ...

champion Spain in a friendly on 15 August 2012, losing 2–1 in the Juan Ramón Loubriel Stadium in

Bayamón, Puerto Rico Bayamón (, ) is a Bayamón barrio-pueblo, city, Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality of Puerto Rico and suburb of San Juan, Puerto Rico, San Juan located in the northern coastal valley, north of Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico, Aguas Buenas an ...

. On 5 June 2015, Puerto Rico played a friendly against Bermuda, their last friendly before the qualifiers for the

2018 World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

ending in a 1–1 draw. After losing to

Grenada Grenada ( ; Grenadian Creole French: ) is an island country in the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea at the southern end of the Grenadines island chain. Grenada consists of the island of Grenada itself, two smaller islands, Carriacou and Pe ...

2–1 in the second round of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, Puerto Rico's Interim coach Jose 'Cukito' Martinez resigned and a few days later, the Uruguayan Carlos Avedissian solved his visa problems and could finally arrive as the head coach of the national team. On 11 December 2015, Puerto Rico played a friendly against MLS team New York City, losing 2–1.

2016–2017

Carlos Avedissian Carlos may refer to: Places ;Canada * Carlos, Alberta, a locality ;United States * Carlos, Indiana, an unincorporated community * Carlos, Maryland, a place in Allegany County * Carlos, Minnesota, a small city * Carlos, West Virginia ;Elsewhere ...
/
Jack Stefanowski Jack Stefanowski (born March 26, 1975) is a Polish-born American soccer manager, formally head coach of the Nepal national football team and the former interim head coach of Puerto Rico national football team, also having coached various clubs in P ...
era

Carlos Avedissian took charge of the team in 2015 forming a roster mainly of players from the Puerto Rico local leagues. On 22 May 2016, Puerto Rico played a friendly match against the United States for the first time ever ending in a 3–1 loss. For discrepancies with the Federation, Avedissian was substituted by Jack Stefanowski for the second round on an interim basis. With this team mainly of local players, Puerto Rico advanced for the first time to the third round of the

2017 Caribbean Cup qualification The 2017 Caribbean Cup qualification began in March 2016. The qualification competition determined which Caribbean national teams would play in the 2017 Caribbean Cup and the 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Participants 25 teams from the 31 CFU members ...

when they defeated

and

Antigua and Barbuda Antigua and Barbuda (, ) is a sovereign country in the West Indies. It lies at the juncture of the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean in the Leeward Islands part of the Lesser Antilles, at 17°N latitude. The country consists of two maj ...

in the second round, only two games away from reaching the CONCACAF Gold Cup for the first time. Stefanowski had to leave the technical director position because he was an assistant for Puerto Rico FC. On 3 September 2016, Puerto Rico faced India for the first time in an international friendly match at the Mumbai Football Arena, but were defeated in the contest 1–4.

Carlos García Cantarero Carlos García Cantarero (born 4 November 1961) is a Spanish football manager. García Cantarero managed Atlético Madrid, Levante and Elche in Segunda División, as well as four teams in Segunda División B. Later, he coached extensively in C ...
era

After Stefanowski left the team to continue with Puerto Rico FC, Carlos Cantarero assumed as head coach of the national team with Jose Cukito Martinez (who had coached most of the local players in the Puerto Rico League) as assistant coach. The team played three friendlies, two against the Dominican Republic and one against India, prior to the third round matches against Antigua and Barbuda and

Curaçao Curaçao ( ; ; pap, Kòrsou, ), officially the Country of Curaçao ( nl, Land Curaçao; pap, Pais Kòrsou), is a Lesser Antilles island country in the southern Caribbean Sea and the Dutch Caribbean region, about north of the Venezuela coast ...

. Coach Cantarero couldn't coach in the friendlies due to VISA problems. After the second friendly against the Dominican Republic Assistant Coach Martinez left the team prior to the trip to India and David Guillemat assumed the position. Regardless of the administrative debacle, and coaching changes, Puerto Rico lost the decisive match against Curaçao after being 2–0 up front for which Curaçao as head of group advanced to the Gold Cup. Puerto Rico didn't play an international match until the summer of 2017 when they played to a scoreless draw against Indonesia. After the devastation of Hurricane Maria in September that left the entire island powerless. On 7 October it was reported MLS club,

Orlando City SC Orlando City SC is an American professional soccer club in Orlando, Florida, that competes as a member of the Eastern Conference in Major League Soccer (MLS). Orlando City SC began play in 2015 as the 21st franchise in MLS, succeeding the USL ...

announced a ''Fuerza Puerto Rico’ Friendly'' for 4 November with all the net proceeds from the match going towards the ''United for Puerto Rico'' initiative to raise funds and aid recovery efforts for the island. Reactivating the national team for a 3rd time this year. The friendly marked Orlando City’s last game of 2017, as well team captain,

Kaká Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite (; born 22 April 1982), commonly known as Kaká () or Ricardo Kaká, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. In his prime as a playmaker at AC Milan, a period marke ...

with the lions. Puerto Rico lost the exhibition match 6–1.

2018

In May 2018, the Puerto Rican Football Federation announced that Carlos Cantarero would no longer continue as head coach of the national team, with former Honduran player Amado Guevara taking over as head coach.

Team image

Kit suppliers

Schedule and results

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

2022

2023

Coaching staff

Coaching history

:Caretaker managers are listed in ''italics''. * Eduardo Ordóñez Munguira (1959) *

Raúl Marchant González Raul, Raúl and Raül are the Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, Spanish, Galician, Asturian, Basque, Aragonese, and Catalan forms of the Anglo-Germanic given name Ralph or Rudolph. They are cognates of the French Raoul. Raul, Raúl or Raül may r ...

(1966) * '' Egberto Morales Carrasco'' (1972) * / Luis Villarejo (1974–1975) * Carlos Martinolli (1978–1979) * Joe Serralta (1979–1982) * Juan "Saso" Tullier (1982–1984) * Ricardo "Richie" Romano (1985–1990) * Víctor Hugo Barros (1990–1991) * Arnie Ramirez (1992) * Oscar Rosa (1992) * Cristóbal Vaccaro (1996) * José Luis "Majo" Rodríguez (1999) *

Raimundo Gatinho The name Raimundo may refer to: * Raimundo, 2nd Duke of Castel Duino (1907–1986) * Raimundo Calcagno, Spanish screenwriter * Raimundo Rolón, brief President of Paraguay * Raimundo Orsi, Argentinian footballer * Raimundo Diosdado Caballero, Catho ...

(2000) *

Toribio Rojas Toribio Rojas Gamboa (born 14 February 1945) is a Costa Rican retired football player who worked for ten years as a manager in Puerto Rico. Playing career Rojas earned his place in the history of Ramonense, when he scored the goal that lifted ...

(2002–2003) * Víctor Hugo Barros (2004) * Colin Clarke (2007–2011) * ''

Jack Stefanowski Jack Stefanowski (born March 26, 1975) is a Polish-born American soccer manager, formally head coach of the Nepal national football team and the former interim head coach of Puerto Rico national football team, also having coached various clubs in P ...

'' (2011) * Adrian Whitbread (2011) * Jeaustin Campos (2011–2013) * Víctor Hugo Barros (2013–2014) * '' Jose Martinez'' (2015) *

Carlos Avedissian Carlos may refer to: Places ;Canada * Carlos, Alberta, a locality ;United States * Carlos, Indiana, an unincorporated community * Carlos, Maryland, a place in Allegany County * Carlos, Minnesota, a small city * Carlos, West Virginia ;Elsewhere ...

(2015–2016) * ''

'' (2016) *

Carlos García Cantarero Carlos García Cantarero (born 4 November 1961) is a Spanish football manager. García Cantarero managed Atlético Madrid, Levante and Elche in Segunda División, as well as four teams in Segunda División B. Later, he coached extensively in C ...

(2016–2018) * Amado Guevara (2018–2019) * Elgy Morales (2019–2021) * Dave Sarachan (2021–present)

Players

Current squad

The following 24 players were called up to the squad for the

2022–23 CONCACAF Nations League The 2022–23 CONCACAF Nations League is the second season of the CONCACAF Nations League, an international association football competition involving the men's national teams of the 41 member associations of CONCACAF. The group phase of the tourna ...

matches against British Virgin Islands and

Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territory—the largest by population in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located to the ...

on 9 and 12 June 2022, respectively. ''Caps and goals correct as of 12 June 2022, after the match against

''.

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up within the last 12 months. ^WD ^PRE ^PRE ^WD ^WD ^PRE ^PRE ;Notes *^INJ = Withdrew due to injury *^PRE = Preliminary squad / standby *^RET = Retired from the national team *^SUS = Serving suspension *^WD = Player withdrew from the squad due to non-injury issue.

Records

:''Players in bold are still active with Puerto Rico.''

Most capped players

Top goalscorers

Competitive record

FIFA World Cup

CONCACAF Gold Cup

CONCACAF Nations League

CFU Caribbean Cup

Pan American Games

References

External links

Official website

Puerto Rico FIFA profile

at RSSSF.com {{National sports teams of Puerto Rico Caribbean national association football teams