Football in
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
is run by the
Asociación de Fútbol de Cuba
The Asociación de Fútbol de Cuba is the official governing body of the sport of association football, football in Cuba including the Cuba national football team, National Team. The league is composed of one amateur division with total of 8 team ...
. 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
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...
is the number sport in the country. Since the 21st Century football has enjoyed a surge of popularity amongst the youth since
Raúl Castro eased restrictions media, allowing international football to be televised starting with the
2010 world cup
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.
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' ...
and particularly
Real Madrid and
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
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. 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 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.
Traditionally is one of the weakest teams in
CONCACAF
The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football,, ; french: Confédération de football d'Amérique du Nord, d'Amérique centrale et des Caraïbes, . Dutch language, Dutch uses the English name. abbreviated as CON ...
but since the 21 century has seen significant improvement qualifying for the
Gold Cup and reaching the quarter finals in
2015 and
2017
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.
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
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