Ecuador
National Team Information
General Info
CONMEBOL
La Tri, La Tricolor
Ecuador National Football Team History
Beginnings
The Ecuador National Football Team first took part in the 1938 Bolivarian Games. Their first-ever match finished in a 1-1 draw against Bolivia. In La Tri’s next match, they scored their first-ever win, a 2-1 triumph over Colombia.
Ecuador finished their first tournament with a Bronze medal. Later, they earned fourth place at the South American Championship in 1959. After the tournament, La Tri played in World Cup Qualifiers for the first time. La Tri have never won a Senior honor but their amateur team managed to win gold at the 1965 Bolivarian games.
Trying Decades
Still, the 1970s and 80s were a trying period for Ecuador. They failed to make it out of the Group Stage in five Copa Americas held during those two decades.
In 1993, a new look Ecuador squad with legends like Alex Aguinaga and Ivan Hurtado finished fourth at the Copa America on home soil. A home and away format change ahead of 1998 World Cup qualifiers proved to be fortuitous for Ecuador.
As Quito is one of the highest altitude capital cities in the world, Ecuador had a pronounced home field advantage. They failed to qualify for the 1998 World Cup but their fortunes changed when they hired Hernan Dario Gomez to take over the team ahead of 2002 qualifiers.
First World-Cup Berth
During the campaign, Ecuador National Football Team beat Brazil for the first time ever and they finished second in CONMEBOL to Argentina.
Their second-place standing clinched their first World Cup berth and forward Agustin Delgado was joint top scorer in qualifiers. In that first World Cup appearance, La Tri were eliminated in the group stage; however, they managed an upset win over Croatia as winger Edison Mendez scored the game’s only goal.
Gomez was replaced by Luis Fernando Suarez after the 2004 Copa America and he led them to a second consecutive World Cup. At Germany 2006, Ecuador qualified for the knockout stage for the first time in their history.
The 2014 Cup Incident: Death of a Top Scorer
In 2013, active national team player Christian Benitez died due to cardiac arrest. Benitez, who was one of Ecuador’s top five scorers all-time, had his number 11 jersey retired following his passing. Due to FIFA rules, his number had to be worn at the 2014 World Cup and it was taken by Felipe Caicedo. Enner Valencia scored all three of Ecuador’s goals at the tournament. Ecuador managed an impressive draw against France, but they were eliminated as they finished the Brazil 2014 group stage with one win, a draw, and a loss.
La Tri qualified for Qatar 2022 with a fourth place finish in CONMEBOL despite failing to win a game at both Copa America 2019 and 2021.
- Enner Valencia – 38 goals
- Agustín Delgado – 31 goals
- Eduardo Hurtado – 26 goals
- Christian Benítez – 25 goals
- Álex Aguinaga – 23 goals
Ivan Hurtado is Ecuador’s all-time caps leader and was a steady presence in the center of Ecuador’s defense for over two decades. He also holds the record as the youngest player to play for Ecuador, making his first appearance at 17 years and 285 days old.
Alex Aguinaga was a talented midfielder who scored as a forward. The Ibarra-born Aguinaga was a key cog in Ecuador’s 2002 World Cup qualifying campaign.
Agustin Delgado is arguably the most important player in national team history. The aerially-dominant forward helped Ecuador qualify for their first two World Cups. He scored La Tri’s first World Cup goal and retired as Ecuador’s all-time leading scorer.
The best-known Ecuadorian player of all-time, Antonio Valencia had an excellent club and international career. The versatile right-sided player won all there is to win with Manchester United and played in the 2006 and 2014 World Cups for the Ecuador National Football Team. He finished his career with La Tri with 99 appearances and 11 goals.
Enner Valencia broke Delgado’s Ecuador scoring record in October 2021, and he’s still active as of 2022. He scored all three of Ecuador’s goals in the 2014 World Cup and helped La Tri qualify for Qatar 2022.
The second Ecuador World Cup appearance marked their best-ever performance. La Tri won their opener against Poland 2-0 with goals from Carlos Tenorio and Agustin Delgado.
The next match was comfortable for La Tri as they scored their biggest margin of victory in a World Cup match. They defeated Costa Rica 3-0 in Hamburg, clinching their first knockout stage berth early.
Host Germany smashed Ecuador 3-0 in the last group game and La Tri finished second in Group A. That set up a round of 16 matchup with a talented England side.
After a scoreless first half, a David Beckham free kick sent Ecuador home. La Tri performed better than they had four years earlier, though.
At South Korea/Japan 2002, Ecuador National Football Team were drawn in a tough group with Mexico, Croatia and Italy. The debutants lost their first match 2-0 to Italy as Christian Vieri scored both of the Azzurri’s goals.
Despite an early Agustin Delgado goal, Mexico came back to win 2-1 in the second group game. In the last match, Ecuador won their first World Cup match by defeating Croatia 1-0 and eliminating them in the process.
Ecuador Soccer Leagues & Clubs:
Liga Pro Serie A:
The Liga Pro Serie A or just Serie A is the top flight Ecuadorian soccer league. There are 16 teams in Serie A and the league follows a two-stage format. The winners of each stage play each other in the Third Stage to determine the league champion. If a team wins both the First and Second stage, they are automatically crowned champions. An aggregate table is used to determine the two clubs that are relegated.
La Liga Pro Teams 2022-2023 Season
| Team |
|---|
| Aucas |
| Barcelona |
| Cumbayá |
| Delfín |
| Deportivo Cuenca |
| El Nacional |
| Emelec |
| Gualaceo |
| Guayaquil City |
| Independiente del Valle |
| LDU Quito |
| Libertad |
| Mushuc Runa |
| Orense |
| Técnico Universitario |
| Universidad Católica |
Primera Categoría Serie B:
Another league for Ecuador soccer betting is the Primera Categoría Serie B. Ten teams are in the Ecuadorian second tier and the season runs from February to December.
There are two separate double round-robin stages for a total of 36 games each. The two teams with the most points in the aggregate table earn promotion to Serie A. Meanwhile, the bottom two teams go down to the third tier.
Primera Categoría Serie B Clubs 2023:
| Team |
|---|
| 9 de Octubre |
| América de Quito |
| Chacaritas |
| Cuniburo |
| Imbabura |
| Independiente Juniors |
| Macará |
| Manta |
| Vargas Torres |
Ecuador Cups & Tournaments
Ecuador’s soccer teams compete in the annual Copa Ecuador, which was only just created in 2018. A total of 48 teams contest the knockout-style tournament. Those 48 are the 20 Provincial champions, 10 Serie B teams and 16 Serie A teams. The Serie A sides enter the tournament in the round of 32, thus receiving a first round bye. The Copa Ecuador champions advance to the Copa Libertadores and Supercopa Ecuador.
The Supercopa Ecuador is a popular match for Ecuador soccer betting. This annual match pits the Serie A champions vs. the Copa Ecuador winners.
LDU Quito have won both previous editions of the match but the 2023 match features Aucas and Independiente del Valle. If a team wins both the league and the Copa Ecuador, the second club in the match is the Copa Ecuador runners up.
Ecuador Soccer Betting Information
Betting on the La Liga Pro
Ecuador soccer betting is primarily done on Serie A. Ecuadorian teams also regularly take part in the Copa Libertadores, South America’s version of the Champions League. Heading into the 2023 season, a total of four clubs have won 54 of the total 65 championships. Barcelona SC from Guayaquil are the most successful club in Serie A, with 16 titles. Another Guayaquil club, Emelec, isn’t far behind with 14 championships. Quito clubs El Nacional and LDU have 13 and 11 titles, respectively. LDU are also the only team from Ecuador to win the Copa Libertadores, which they did in 2008. In 2022, though, Aucas won their first-ever Serie A crown.
There was a massive home advantage in 2022 and there’s usually a big one, regardless. Home teams won 46 percent of the time, lost just 25 percent of the time and drew 29 percent of their matches. Punters should take note of how the altitude can impact matches. Guayaquil, which is home to three clubs, is barely above sea level. Meanwhile, there are six Quito clubs in Serie A in the 2023 season. Quito is over 9000 feet above sea level and is certainly not an easy place to play for players not used to the altitude.
The league isn’t typically high scoring and two or fewer goals were scored 57 percent of the time in 2022. Both teams scored 50 percent of the time and clean sheets were kept in 59 percent of matches in 2022. The league has shown a surprising amount of parity during the last few seasons as well. Six different clubs have won the last six titles heading into the 2023 season. Keep this in mind when betting on outright odds.
Ecuador National Team Betting Tips & Odds
Betting tips typically advise tempering expectations with the Ecuador national team. La Tri have certainly had good players in their ranks over the last few decades but have never won a senior trophy. In fact, they’ve never made a major final. Their best result at a major tournament is fourth place in the 1959 and 1993 editions of the Copa America.
Despite not much success, Ecuador have managed to qualify for four of the last six World Cups. In those appearances, they’ve managed to win a game in each. However, their only knockout stage appearance came in 2006, when they lost 1-0 to England. From 1999 to 2015, Ecuador failed to make it out of the Copa America group stage but have fared better in recent tournaments. In 2016 and 2021, they managed to reach the quarterfinals but their recent Copa America record is nothing to write home about. Over the last three editions of Copa America, they have just a 1-6-5 record.
In 2021, they went 0-3-2. Still, Ecuador managed to go 7-5-6 in CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers and earn an automatic berth to the World Cup. There, Ecuador went 1-1-1 and just barely missed out on the knockout stage. Enner Valencia scored three of Ecuador’s four goals at the tournament but is 33 years old and may not still be playing when World Cup 2026 rolls around. Ecuador do have some exciting young talents like Gonzalo Plata, Moises Caicedo and Jeremy Sarmiento, though. Expect them to have another chance to qualify for the World Cup next time around.
Summary
The standard of play in Ecuador is by no means low. While the league gets overshadowed by Brazil and Argentina’s domestic leagues, it can be a decent option for betting. Ecuadorian players are going abroad more frequently and are generally respected on an international level.
Ecuador’s national team has failed to win silverware but that doesn’t mean there aren’t opportunities to bet on them. When they play in Ecuador, they’re very difficult to beat. They lost only one of their nine home matches in 2022 World Cup Qualifiers.
