Unlike other South American nations, and akin to some Caribbean nations,baseball is extremely popular in Venezuela, which diverts athletic talent away from football, contributing to its historic lack of success inCONMEBOL competitions. As of 2025, they are the only CONMEBOL side to have never qualified for the World Cup. Often Venezuela would go through entire qualification tournaments without recording a single win, although this has not happened since 1998. Until2011, their best finish at theCopa América was fifth in their first entry, in1967. It is only recently with the spread of the World Cup's popularity in nations where football was not the primary sport (such as Canada, Japan, the United States, and Australia) that the national team found incentives to increase player development and fan support. As of December 2019, Venezuela has the highest position on the FIFA World Ranking of any team that has not yet qualified for the World Cup, being ranked 25th.[4]
Venezuela did not participate inFIFA World Cup qualification until the1966 qualifiers in which they were drawn withUruguay andPeru, but failed to register a point in four games. In the1970 qualifiers they managed to register a point, and after withdrawing from the1974 series, repeated that in the1978 qualifiers. The1982 qualifiers saw them register their first win, over Bolivia. They wouldn't register another World Cup qualifying win until the1994 series when they defeatedEcuador. A highlight of the1998 qualifiers was goalkeeperRafael Dudamel scoring againstArgentina in a 5–2 defeat.
Despite poor results during the 1960s and 1970s, outstanding players likeLuis Mendoza andRafael Santana achieved recognition. Venezuela also managed to qualify for the1980 Summer Olympics around this time, the first-ever major international football competition they participated in.
AfterJosé Omar Pastoriza's resignation during the2002 World Cup qualifying campaign,Richard Páez took over as head coach of the national team. In their remaining qualifiers, Venezuela achieved 4 victories in a row againstUruguay,Chile,Peru, andParaguay; in terms of World Cup qualifying matches, this was the first time the team won more than one game in row, the first time they won away from home, and the first time they avoided finishing in last place in their entire history.
The team nevertheless failed to qualify for the2002 World Cup, or the2006 World Cup, gaining 16 and 18 points respectively. However, the team did achieve progression to the second round of the2007 Copa America on home soil.
In November 2007, Páez resigned after disagreements with the media and supporters.[5]
With a new coachCésar Farías, Venezuela national team improved their performances. At the beginning of2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying, Venezuela won its first game in World Cup qualifying against long unbeaten Ecuador inQuito. Something similar happened to Bolivia inLa Paz, where Venezuela won for the first time at Bolivian altitude. Also, they received their first point againstBrazil in qualifying. Despite not ultimately reaching the 2010 World Cup, Venezuela achieved its best result in qualifying. They finished this round with 22 points in 18 matches, surpassing Peru and Bolivia for eighth place in the region.
On 6 June 2008, Venezuela achieved its first-ever triumph over Brazil, defeating theSeleção 2–0 in a friendly match inBoston, United States. Venezuela obtained excellent results in the2011 Copa América when they finished fourth, their highest finish in the tournament to date. With a squad composed mostly of players playing in Europe, they began2014 World Cup qualification with a historic result (1–0) against Argentina inPuerto La Cruz, beating the Argentines for the first time.
Match betweenGalicia (in white) and Venezuela (in burgundy).
On 4 September 2014,Noel Sanvicente was made coach of the Venezuela national team.[6] The team's first match under Sanvicente was againstSouth Korea inBucheon on 5 September 2014, ending in a 3–1 defeat.[7]
Sanvicente's first tournament came in the2015 Copa América, with Venezuela drawn inGroup C of the competition. Their opening game finished with an upset victory over tournament favoritesColombia by 1–0, but subsequent defeats to Peru and Brazil sawLa Vinotinto eliminated.[citation needed]
Venezuela began theWorld Cup qualification campaign with a 1–0 defeat againstParaguay at home, and would not earn their first point until their match against Peru, a 2–2 draw inLima where Venezuela led until the last minute of stoppage time. Their match with Chile ended in a disappointing 4–1 defeat. Sanvicente announced his resignation a week later after mutual consent with the FVF. At the time of Sanvicente's departure, Venezuela was last in the qualification standings with a sole point.
Sanvicente was replaced by former Vinotinto goalkeeperRafael Dudamel, who decided to revamp the entire national team, by injecting the team with the promising young generation of Venezuelan players that finished second at the2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup that was dubbed as the country's first-ever football Golden Generation.[8] Under his coaching,La Vinotinto quickly improved and reached the quarterfinals in theCopa América Centenario, with two 1–0 wins overJamaica and Uruguay and a 1–1 draw againstMexico in the group stage and then a 4–1 defeat to Argentina in the quarter-finals. In the 7th matchday of the 2018 World Cup qualifier, Venezuela lost to Colombia 2–0 inBarranquilla, the first loss againstLos Cafeteros since 2009. Later, on matchday 11, Venezuela won for the first time in the qualifier, 5–0 overBolivia inMaturín with a hat-trick fromJosef Martínez and goals fromJacobo Kouffati andRómulo Otero.
On 2 January 2020, Dudamel resigned from the national team.
Venezuela first participated at theCopa América in1967, and finished fifth after defeating Bolivia 3–0 with a side containing Mendoza and Santana. The1975 tournament saw Venezuela drawn in a group with Brazil and Argentina, and finished bottom with an 11–0 defeat to Argentina. In the1979 edition, which would be the international swansong for Mendoza and Santana, they drew 0–0 with Colombia and 1–1 with Chile. A highlight of the1989 tournament was midfielderCarlos Maldonado's four goals. In the1993 series, Venezuela drew with Uruguay and the United States.
The team's overall Copa América record has been relatively poor (goal difference 33–145 before the 2011 Copa América), but the "Auge Vinotinto" (Vinotinto Rise) period in the early 2000s (decade) brought increased attention to the sport in the country, which in turn brought increased support from both government and private institutions. Said support contributed greatly to the "Vinotinto's" rise in quality. In 2007, during theCopa América held in Venezuela, the team progressed to the quarterfinals for the first time in its history after finishing first in a group containing Peru, Bolivia, and Uruguay. Venezuela's 2–0 victory over Peru during the competition was its first Copa América victory since 1967.
At the2011 Copa América championship, Venezuela reached the semi-finals round for the first time by defeating Chile in the quarter-final, 2–1. Despite their commanding presence against Paraguay in their semifinal, Venezuela was unable to convert their chances into goals. They would eventually lose 5–3 to Paraguay in a penalty shootout after remaining scoreless in normal and extra time. Venezuela and Peru played for third place at theEstadio Ciudad de La Plata, where Venezuela would suffer their biggest loss of the tournament, losing 4–1 to Peru and falling into fourth place overall. Nonetheless, it was their best-ever finish at the competition.
Venezuela made its international debut in theCentral American and Caribbean Games held inPanama in 1938, wearing thevinotinto (burgundy) color. The burgundy color originated from the uniform of the Venezuelan National Guard.[9] In the1967 Copa América Venezuela also wore thePeñarol shirt vChile to avoid colors clash, as Venezuela had arrived in theEstadio Centenario (Peñarol's frequent venue) with no alternate shirts.[10]
In 1993, a vertical band with the colors of theNational flag was added to the left side of the jersey, which changed its colors to a more traditional red tone. This lasted until 1996 when Venezuela returned to thevinotinto tone.[11]
In 1998 Venezuela adopted a yellow/blue/red scheme, similar to their flag colors, by Mexican manufacturer "ABA Sports".[11] The national team returned to the traditional color in 2000. It has been remaining (with few changes)[12] as the main uniform up to present days.
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