Chile

The Federación de Fútbol de Chile is the second oldest South American federation, having been founded in Valparaíso on 19 June 1895. Chile was one of the four founding member nations of CONMEBOL. Together with Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay, the four competed in the first South American Championship, later to be renamed the Copa América, in 1916. On 12 October 1926, Chile made the first corner-kick goal in Copa América history in a match against Bolivia. Chile was one of the thirteen national teams that competed in the inaugural World Cup in 1930. The team started off well, beating Mexico and France without conceding a goal. A 3–1 loss to Argentina in the final game left the Chilean team in second place within the group, eliminating it from the tournament. In the 1950 World Cup, Chile defeated the United States, 5–2, but nevertheless was eliminated in the first round.

The best Chilean result in the World Cup was third place in 1962, as the host nation. Chile lost 4–2 to eventual champion Brazil in a semi-final but went on to defeat Yugoslavia 1–0 to earn third place. Chilean players made two World Cup firsts: the first player to miss a World Cup penalty kick was the Chilean Guillermo Subiabre, in a 1930 FIFA World Cup match against France, and Carlos Caszely of Chile became the first player to be sent off with a red card, during a match against West Germany at the 1974 World Cup.

A scandal known as "El Maracanazo" occurred on 3 September 1989. At a 1990 FIFA World Cup qualifying match at Rio de Janeiro's Maracanã stadium, Brazil led Chile 1–0 and La Roja needed to win. Chilean goalkeeper Roberto Rojas fell to the pitch with an apparent injury to his forehead. A firework had been thrown from the stands by a Brazilian fan named Rosenery Mello do Nascimento and was smouldering about a yard away. After Rojas was carried off the pitch, the Chilean players and coaches claimed that conditions were not safe and they refused to return, so the match was abandoned. However, video footage of the match showed that the firework had not made contact with Rojas. FIFA forfeited the game to Brazil, Chile was banned from the qualifiers for the 1994 FIFA World Cup, and Rojas was banned for life, although an amnesty was granted in 2001.

On 19 July 2007, the Chilean Football Federation banned six of the national team players, because of "internal indiscipline" during the Copa América tournament, for 20 international matches each as they destroyed the team hotel property while drunk. The players banned were captain Jorge Valdivia, defenders Álvaro Ormeño, Rodrigo Tello, Jorge Vargas, Pablo Contreras and striker Reinaldo Navia. Nelson Acosta's resignation as manager came after Chile were knocked out of the 2007 Copa América. After serving 10 matches from the ban, all players aside from Ormeño sent a letter of apology acknowledging their actions which lifted the ban. Chile had qualified to the quarter-finals after a 3–2 win against Ecuador, and a 0–0 draw against Mexico. But two losses, one of those being a 6–1 defeat against Brazil, sealed Acosta's fate. Former Argentina manager Marcelo Bielsa was given the task of becoming the Chile national team manager in preparation for the 2010 World Cup qualifiers.

On 16 October 2008, Chile beat Argentina 1–0 for the first time in a qualifying competition, making history. Marcelo Bielsa was acclaimed for this accomplishment by both Chilean and Argentinian people. This match was seen as one of the reasons that ended Alfio Basile's tenure as the Argentina coach.

After finishing in second place of the CONMEBOL qualifiers for the 2010 FIFA World Cup held in South Africa and reaching the round of 16 at the tournament, head coach Marcelo Bielsa extended his contract with the Chile national team until 2015. Bielsa stated that he would leave his position if Jorge Segovia were elected as President of the Chilean Football Board. He followed through on this threat, despite Segovia's election being annulled, and resigned in February 2011. Claudio Borghi then became Chile's manager in March 2011.

After a string of bad performances and harsh criticisms, Claudio Borghi stepped down as Chile's manager in November 2012. A new manager, Jorge Sampaoli, was appointed in December 2012. A disciple of Marcelo Bielsa, Jorge Sampaoli broke new records for La Roja by winning 10, drawing 3, and losing only 3 of 15 games as the head of the Chile national team.

With Sampaoli, Chile were able to qualify for 2014 FIFA World Cup, reaching to the round of 16, where Chile lost to host nation Brazil on penalties.

In the 2015 Copa América, Chile won their first game against Ecuador, with 2–0 being the score. In their second game, Chile drew against Mexico. Chile advanced to the knockout stage as Group A winners with 7 points and most goals scored of any team in the tournament (10). Then they beat Uruguay in the quarterfinals and Peru in the semi-finals. In the final, Chile defeated Argentina on penalties (4–1) after a 0–0 draw, to win their first Copa America title.

In January 2016, just six months after winning the 2015 Copa America, Jorge Sampaoli stepped down as Chile's manager. A new manager, the Argentinean Juan Antonio Pizzi, was appointed at the end of the same month, who then led La Roja to a second Copa America Centenario 2016 victory after again beating Argentina in the final.

In the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup held in Russia, for which they had qualified by winning the Copa America, Chile won their first group stage match against Cameroon with 2–0 being the score. In their second match against the Germany, Chile drew after a hard match and both team scored 1. In their final game of the group stage against Australia, Chile drew once again but qualified to the knockout stage on virtue of having more points than Australia, though having less points than Germany. In the semis, after a tense and exciting match, Chile came out on top, beating Portugal on Penalties, 3–0 and hence they qualified for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup Final. In their first ever final in a FIFA-sanctioned tournament, Chile faced Germany and lost 1–0.

On 10 October 2017, after losing 3–0 to Brazil, Chile failed to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, causing an end to what was perceived as their "golden generation". They ended up being the highest ranked team that failed to qualify at 9th, placing sixth in the round-robin after losing out on overall goal difference to Peru, the number of points being equal.