This is a record of Colombia's results at the FIFA World Cup. The FIFA World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II.
The tournament consists of two parts, the qualification phase and the final phase (officially called the World Cup Finals). The qualification phase, which currently takes place over the three years preceding the finals, is used to determine which teams qualify for the finals. The current format of the finals involves 48 teams competing for the title, at venues within the host nation (or nations) over a period of about a month. The World Cup final is the most widely viewed sporting event in the world, with an estimated 715.1 million people watching the 2006 tournament final.
Colombia has appeared in the FIFA World Cup on seven occasions, in 1962, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2014, 2018 and 2026.
Overall record FIFA World Cup recordYearRoundPositionPldWD*LGFGA 1930 Not a FIFA member 1934 1938 Withdrew 1950 Banned by FIFA 1954 Banned by FIFA 1958 Did not qualify 1962Group stage14th3012511 1966Did not qualify 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990Round of 1614th411244 1994Group stage19th310245 199821st310213 2002Did not qualify 2006 2010 2014Quarter-finals5th5401124 2018Round of 169th421163 2022Did not qualify 2026 Round of 16 10th 5 3 2 0 5 1 2030To be determined 2034TotalQuarter-finals7/2327125103731 *Draws include knockout matches decided via penalty shoot-out
By match YearRoundOpponentsScoreColombia scorers 1962Group 11–2Zuluaga4–4Aceros, Coll, Rada, Klinger0–5 1990Group D2–0Redín, Valderrama0–11–1RincónRound of 161–2 Redín 1994Group A1–3Valencia1–2Valencia2–0Gaviria, Lozano 1998Group G0–11–0Preciado0–2 2014Group C3–0Armero, Gutiérrez, Rodríguez2–1Rodríguez, Quintero4–1Cuadrado, Martínez (2), RodríguezRound of 16 2–0Rodríguez (2)Quarter-final1–2 Rodríguez 2018Group H1–2Quintero3–0Mina, Falcao, Cuadrado1–0MinaRound of 16 1–1 Mina 2026Group K3–1Muñoz, Díaz, Campaz1–0Muñoz0–0 Round of 32 1–0Arias Round of 16 0–0
By opponent CountryPlayedWonDrawnLostGFGAGD 2 1 0 1 5 3 +2 2 1 0 1 3 2 +1 2 0 1 1 1 3 -2 2 0 0 2 1 4 -3 2 0 0 2 0 6 -6 1 1 0 0 3 0 +3 1 1 0 0 3 0 +3 1 1 0 0 31 +2 1 1 0 0 2 0 +2 2 1 1 0 2 0 +2 1 1 0 0 2 1 +1 1 1 0 0 1 0 +1 1 1 0 0 1 0 +1 1 1 0 0 1 0 +1 1 1 0 0 1 0 +1 1 0 1 0 4 4 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 2 -1 1 0 0 1 1 2 -1 1 0 0 1 1 2 -1
Colombia at the 1962 FIFA World Cup In the 1962 qualifiers, they faced Peru in a two-game series and qualified for their first World Cup.
Colombia qualified.
At Chile 1962, Colombia lost 2–1 to South American champions Uruguay in their opening match. They then drew 4–4 with the reigning European champions Soviet Union in one of biggest shocks at Chile 1962. In this game, Colombia scored four goals against Soviet goalkeeper Lev Yashin, widely considered the best goalkeeper in football history. Also in that game, Marcos Coll scored the only Olympic goal in World Cup history. Additionally, in coming back from three goals down to draw the match, the Colombians completed the biggest comeback to draw in World Cup history. Unfortunately, their campaign ended with a 5–0 defeat to Euro 1960 runners-up Yugoslavia, so they went out in the group stage.
Group One
Colombia at the 1990 FIFA World Cup At Italia '90, Colombia defeated United Arab Emirates 2–0, lost to Yugoslavia 1–0, and earned their place in the Round of Sixteen after a dramatic 1–1 draw with West Germany, which would later win the Cup. Group D
During their Round of Sixteen match against Cameroon, the game went into extra time after a 0–0 draw. In an unfortunate moment, goalkeeper René Higuita failed to protect the ball from the goal line, enabling Cameroon striker Roger Milla to snatch it from him, and score Cameroon's decisive second goal. Milla struck twice, giving Cameroon a 2–0 lead in extra time. Colombia would score in the 115th minute, but were unable to get an equalizer.
Colombia at the 1994 FIFA World Cup
Qualification — CONMEBOL Group One
Colombia qualified. Argentina advanced to the CONMEBOL / CONCACAF / OFC Intercontinental Play-off.
Colombia finished top of their qualifying group without having lost a match, which included a historic 5–0 win over Argentina in Buenos Aires. Expectations of the team were high, some even naming them as favourites to win the tournament.
The match between Colombia and Romania was the first game for either side in the group phase. Romania took the lead in the 16th minute with their first attack of the match when Raducioiu took on three defenders before firing home a low shot. On the half hour mark, Hagi made it 2–0 when he noticed Córdoba out of position and dipped a cross over his head into the net. Valencia pulled a goal back for the Colombians in the 43rd minute when he headed in a corner from Perez. In the second half, Raducioiu put the result beyond doubt with his second goal in the final few minutes.
The team went into their second group game against the United States knowing they had to win to have any chance of progressing. On the 35th minute Andrés Escobar attempted to cut out a cross but accidentally deflected the ball into his own net. Earnie Stewart took the US two goals in front after scoring in the 56th minute. Valencia scored a consolation goal for Colombia in the closing minutes of the match. They did win their final group match 2–0 over Switzerland, but it was not enough to help them progress
Group A
USA1 – 1SwitzerlandColombia1 – 3RomaniaSwitzerland4 – 1RomaniaUSA2 – 1ColombiaSwitzerland0 – 2ColombiaUSA0 – 1Romania
Andrés Escobar
Six days after Colombia's last match against Switzerland, Andrés Escobar was shot in Medellín by known drug cartel criminals. Escobar had previously scored an own goal in the group stage match against the United States.
Colombia at the 1998 FIFA World Cup Colombia began their qualification rounds in South America well and ended in third place with 28 points, 2 points below Argentina who was in 1st place with 30 points. They ended in Group G with Tunisia, England, and Romania.
Qualification For France 98: A total of 10 CONMEBOL teams entered the competition. The South American zone was allocated 5 places (out of 32) in the final tournament. Brazil, the defending champions, qualified automatically, leaving 4 spots open for competition between 9 teams.
Argentina, Paraguay, Colombia and Chile qualified.
Group G
England2 - 0TunisiaRomania1 - 0ColombiaColombia1 - 0TunisiaRomania2 - 1EnglandColombia0 - 2EnglandRomania1 - 1Tunisia
In their opening match, Adrian Ilie of Valencia CF gave Romania a 1–0 victory over Colombia after he placed a magnificent chip shot in the 44th minute from some that sailed over goalkeeper Faryd Mondragón into the net.
Colombia's second match was against Tunisia. Colombia's Léider Preciado struck seven minutes from the end to give a 1–0 win.
Although England needed only a draw to guarantee a place in the final 16, Darren Anderton drove home a fiercely struck angled drive in the 20th minute. David Beckham curled in a free kick nine minutes later and England won the game 2–0. Colombia was thus eliminated.
Colombia at the 2014 FIFA World Cup After 16 years out of the World Cup, Colombia won their first match against Greece by a score of 3–0, marking the country's best ever performance in FIFA World Cup. The first goal was scored by Pablo Armero five minutes after the kick-off, Teofilo Gutierrez scored the second goal from a corner shot, James Rodriguez made their final score during the three minutes overtime. Colombia went on to beat Ivory Coast 2-1 and Japan 4–1. For the first time in history, Colombia won their group in group stages at the Fifa World Cup. They defeated Uruguay 2–0 in the Round of 16, marking the deepest run in the World Cup ever for the Colombia national team. They met Brazil in the quarter-finals and were narrowly defeated 2–1, bringing to an end their most successful World Cup campaign to date. Final standings
Brazil (host), Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador and Uruguay qualified. Group C
Colombia3 - 0Greece2 - 1JapanColombia2 - 1Ivory CoastJapan0 - 0GreeceJapan1 - 4ColombiaGreece2 - 1Ivory Coast
The two teams had met in one previous match, in a friendly in 1994, where Colombia won 2–0. Colombia midfielder Fredy Guarín was suspended for the match, after being sent off in the team's final qualifier against Paraguay.
Colombia took the lead within five minutes, Juan Cuadrado's cutback was converted by Pablo Armero via a deflection off Greek defender Kostas Manolas. Colombia extended the lead in the second half, when Abel Aguilar flicked on a corner kick from James Rodríguez and Teófilo Gutiérrez scored from close range. Greece's best chance fell to Theofanis Gekas, who headed against the bar. In stoppage time, Cuadrado set up James to complete the scoring with a low shot.
The 3–0 scoreline was Colombia's biggest win to date in the World Cup.
The two teams had never met before.
After a goalless first half, Colombia scored first when James Rodríguez headed in Juan Cuadrado's corner. The lead was extended six minutes later when Ivory Coast was caught in possession, and Teófilo Gutiérrez released substitute Juan Quintero to score. Ivory Coast reduced the deficit through Gervinho, who received a pass from Arthur Boka in the left wing, dribbled past three Colombian players and shot home.
The second goal of the tournament by James allowed him to join Bernardo Redín and Adolfo Valencia as the only Colombian players to score more than one goal in the World Cup.
The two teams had met in two previous matches, most recently in a friendly in 2007, and also in the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup group stage, won by Colombia 1–0.
Colombia took the lead mid-way through the first half, with Juan Cuadrado taking a penalty kick, shooting low down the middle after Japan centre back Yasuyuki Konno fouled Colombia striker Adrián Ramos in the box. Japan then equalised through Shinji Okazaki's headed goal from a cross from Keisuke Honda on the right in first half stoppage time. Colombia's James Rodríguez was introduced after the half time break, and was credited for providing two assists for two goals scored by Jackson Martínez, on 55 minutes when he shot low to the net with his left foot, and 82 minutes when he curled the ball in from the right of the penalty area with his left foot, before finishing off the scoring with a strike of his own, assisted by Ramos, where he beat the last man before clipping the ball over the goalkeeper. Colombia, which had already qualified for the knockout stage but needed a point to be certain of winning the group, finished as group winners with a perfect record of three wins out of three, while Japan, which had to win the match to have any chance to qualify, were eliminated.
Faryd Mondragón became the oldest player to make an appearance in the history of the World Cup, at the age of , when he came on for the last five minutes of the match, breaking the record of Roger Milla, who played at the 1994 World Cup at the age of 42. He also set the record for the longest time between World Cup appearances as 15 years and 363 days had passed since his last versus England at the 1998 World Cup, breaking Alfred Bickel's record of 12 years and 13 days between appearances (1938–1950).
Eighth-finals