Cuba national football team
 |
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| Nickname(s) | Leones del Caribe (Lions of the Caribbean) |
|---|---|
| Association | Football Association of Cuba |
| Confederation |
CONCACAF (North America) |
| Sub-confederation | CFU (Caribbean) |
| Head coach | Julio Valero |
| Most caps | Yénier Márquez (126) |
| Top scorer | Lester Moré (29) |
| Home stadium | Estadio Pedro Marrero |
| FIFA code | CUB |
| FIFA ranking | |
| Current | 154  3 (12 January 2017)
|
| Highest | 46 (November–December 2006) |
| Lowest | 175 (December 1994) |
| Elo ranking | |
| Current | 118 (14 June 2015) |
| Highest | 52 (February 2005) |
| Lowest | 143 (January 1965) |
| First international | |
 Cuba 3–1 Jamaica  (Havana, Cuba; 16 March 1930) |
|
| Biggest win | |
Cuba 9–0 Puerto Rico  (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; 27 May 1995) |
|
| Biggest defeat | |
 Sweden 8–0 Cuba (Antibes, France; 12 June 1938)  Soviet Union 8–0 Cuba (Moscow, Soviet Union; 24 July 1980) |
|
| World Cup | |
| Appearances | 1 (first in 1938) |
| Best result | Quarter-finals, 1938 |
| CONCACAF Championship & Gold Cup |
|
| Appearances | 10 (first in 1971) |
| Best result | Fourth place, 1971 |
The Cuba national football team is controlled by the Asociación de Fútbol de Cuba, the governing body for football in Cuba. They are affiliated to the Caribbean Football Union of CONCACAF.
They were the first Caribbean team to make the World Cup, which they did in 1938. There, they defeated Romania in a replay 2–1 after drawing against them 3–3. They were then eliminated in the quarter-finals by Sweden, 8–0. Cuba has not returned to the World Cup since.
Cuba finished second in the Caribbean Cup in 1996, 1999 and 2005 and won the 2012 Caribbean Cup.
Cuba played its first international football match on 16 March 1930 at that year's Central American and Caribbean Games. They beat Jamaica (then a British colony) 3–1 in Havana. Four days later they beat Honduras 7–0. Cuba were managed by José Tapia, who remained in charge until after Cuba's 1938 FIFA World Cup campaign. Cuba's first World Cup qualification campaign was for the 1934 FIFA World Cup in Italy. All of the CONCACAF entrants were placed in Group 11. The winner of a best-of-three tournament between the two weakest nations, Cuba and Haiti would produce a winner to play 1930 qualifiers Mexico in another round of best-of-three. The winner of that would play 1930 semi-finalists the United States of America for a place in the finals. All of the matches between Cuba and Haiti in the first round were staged at Parc Leconte in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on 28, 1 and 4 January February 1934. Cuba won the first match 3–1 with Mario Lopez opening from a penalty and Hector Socorro scoring the second. The second match was a 1–1 draw with Lopez equalising in the 85th minute. In the final match Cuba won 6–0 with two Lopez goals, one from Hector Socorro and one from his brother Francisco. The second round against Mexico consisted of three matches at Parque Necaxa in Mexico City. Its first match, on 4 March 1934, saw Mexico go 3–0 up with a hat-trick by Dionisio Mejia, his goals scored in the 12th, 14th and 16th minutes. Mario Lopez scored twice for Cuba with one in each half, but Mexico won 3–2. A week later Mejia scored another hat-trick as Mexico won 5–0, and seven days later Mexico won 4–1 after Lopez opened the scoring in the 15th minute. Mexico did not qualify, their 4–2 play-off defeat to the United States was held in Rome during the finals, as the two teams had forgotten to stage it earlier
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