The Ecuador national football team has appeared at four FIFA World Cups, the world's premier football tournament for national football teams. Ecuador's first participation in the World Cup was in 2002. Their best performance was in 2006, where they were eliminated in the round of 16. Qualification history From 1930 to 1938, Ecuador refrained from FIFA World Cup qualification tournaments. Its first entry was the 1950 qualifiers tournament, but withdrew from qualification. Ecuador did not enter the 1954 and 1958 tournaments. From 1962 to 1998, Ecuador failed to qualify for the world's premier football tournament. They earned their first qualification in 2002 after finishing 2nd in South America. The qualification for the second tournament in 2006 was achieved after finishing 3rd in South America. Ecuador finished 6th in South America but did not qualify for a third consecutive World Cup qualification tournament. Ecuador returned at the 2014 qualifier edition before they were eliminated from 2018 edition. World Cup record Although Ecuador has advanced past the group stage only once, nonetheless they have managed to win at least one match in each tournament they participated in. In three of the four World Cups Ecuador has played, they were coached by Colombian managers. 2002 FIFA World Cup Ecuador qualified for their first FIFA World Cup by finishing second in the CONMEBOL qualification tournament, finishing ahead of Brazil. Ecuador were drawn into Group G, alongside Mexico, Italy, and Croatia. Ecuador made a losing World Cup debut against worldpowers Italy, falling 2–0 by courtesy of a Christian Vieri double. Their next match against Mexico went better, but ended in their 2–1 defeat. Agustín Delgado scored for Ecuador's first ever World Cup goal and put them ahead, but goals from Jared Borgetti and Gerardo Torrado canceled the early strike and effectively eliminated them from the tournament. A second-half goal from Édison Méndez did seal a 1–0 consolation win in the final match against Croatia. Although they finished the tournament last in their group, they managed to eliminate Croatia, previous third-place in 1998 World Cup, from the competition. 2006 FIFA World Cup Ecuador qualified for their second FIFA World Cup by finishing third in the CONMEBOL qualification tournament. They were drawn into Group A, alongside hosts Germany, Poland, and Costa Rica. Ecuador campaign got off with a shock 2–0 win against Poland in their first game in Gelsenkirchen, with goals from Carlos Tenorio and Agustín Delgado.