From a historical perspective, Ecuador have been one of the less successful soccer-playing nations of South America. Despite their previous blunders but Ecuador has grown into an important South American competitor in recent times.
The sport of football was first introduced in Ecuador through Juan Alfredo Wright, who had just returned from the university of England. On the 23rd of April, 1899, Wright along with his brother Roberto established the very first Ecuadorian soccer club, Guayaquil Sports Club. Since the popularity of football grew throughout the country, additional teams were formed. On 30 May 1925, the Federacion Deportiva Nacional del Ecuador was founded. The year was 1930 when FIFA issued an invite to a men's national team to take part in the first World Cup. The then Minister of Social Security and Sports declined the invitation as they didn't approve of this financial distribution.
In 1938 in 1938, the I Bolivarian Games were organized and Ecuador expected to be a participant in the soccer tournament. On August 8, 1938, the team played their first ever match, the match ended in a draw against Bolivia. The following match was a success for the national team with an 2-1 victory over Colombia. After a 9-1 defeat by Peru and a 5-1 win against Venezuela, Ecuador was tied for the silver medal alongside Bolivia. In a playoff, the Bolivians come out on top, and the Ecuadorians won their bronze trophy.
After finishing fourth in the 1958 South American Championship, the team was able to enter in the World Cup qualifiers for the first time. They were not able to make it to the 1962's finals following defeats by Argentina.
1998 World Cup qualifiers saw the way to qualify in CONMEBOL was changed into a league-wide home-and-away system. This had a major impact on Ecuador's performance , as they won a few significant home wins throughout the course of the season. At the end of the day they managed to secure a decent 6th-place finish, only less than Peru or Chile.
In the wake of the appointment to Hernan Dario Gomez to lead their 2002 World Cup qualifying campaign, Ecuador scored a historic victory of 1-0 against Brazil. A 5-1 victory against Bolivia was enough to leave La Tricolor just need one point to be qualified for qualifying for the World Cup. They played Uruguay and, after a successful attempt to salvage a draw of 1-1, they were able to earn their place in Japan.
Ecuador began its 2002 World Cup with a 2-0 defeat against Italy. Agustin Delgado scored Ecuador's debut World Cup goal; he scored the goal during a 2-1 loss to Mexico. While they finished 4th in group G with a 24th place overall finish, Ecuador defeated Croatia, who finished third in the previous tournament which eliminated Croats during the process.
Unfortunate results in the 2004 Copa America led to the resignation of Gomez who became replaced with Luis Fernando Suarez. Suarez guided them through the final phases of the qualifying procedure for 2006's FIFA World Cup, finishing third in the group to reach the finals. In Germany they were placed into Group A alongside host, Poland along with Poland and Costa Rica. The victories against Poland as well as Costa Rica earned Ecuador qualification to knockout stages for the first time.
After a disappointing 2014. FIFA World Cup, and an unfortunate run of not being able to make it beyond the group stage in the Copa America, Gustavo Quinteros was hired to rebuild the Ecuadorian national team. Quinteros was instrumental in helping Ecuador to reach the quarterfinals at the Copa America Centenario and started the 2018 World Cup qualifiers strong. They suffered a setback following defeat to Uruguay and finished in eighth place in the rankings.
Gomez was reinstated to lead Ecuador in the 2019 Copa America. His second stint was brief He was then dismissed following a disappointing tournament which only earned him one point.