The Ecuador women's national football team () represents Ecuador in international women's football. The team is controlled by the Ecuadorian Football Federation. It made its debut in the 1995 Sudamericano. In the next edition three years later it reached the semifinals, its best result to date, losing the bronze play-off against Peru. In the 2006 edition, it ranked fifth, qualifying for the first time for the Pan American Games. It subsequently hosted the 2010 Sudamericano, narrowly missing the semifinals after tying at 9 points with Argentina and Chile. Although football is not popular for women, Ecuador marked their first-ever participation in a Women's World Cup in the Canada 2015, and also for the first time both men's and women's team participated in World Cup. History The women's national football team of Ecuador began in 1995, when the FEF scrapped together a team with players from provincial selectives and some existing clubs to compete in the South American Women's Football Championship. In 2005 a provincial selective was held, and teams were told that the winner would represent the national team. A team from Quito won, but Conmebol disqualified it as it was not a national selective. At this time no women's tournament existed neither professional nor amateur. As the base of relative success, club competition is the source to compete against national counterparts, and so as early as 2013 began the Campeonato Ecuatoriano de Futbol Femenino. With the Ministry of Sports impulsing such initiatives, the championship is mandating of at least 2 under 18 players, thinking of the Women's Sudamericano Sub 17. The country qualified for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup after successfully winning the playoff against CONCACAF representative Trinidad and Tobago, but with only amateur and part-time players on the squad, Ecuador was thumped in three games, including the record 1–10 defeat to Switzerland. Nonetheless, Ecuador impressed in their final defeat to then-defending champions Japan, only conceded a goal in the team's 0–1 loss. Ecuador stood as the worst performed team in a FIFA Women's World Cup edition before Thailand surpassed Ecuador with an even more disastrous performance in 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup. In 2019, the Ecuadorian Football Federation officially created the semi-professional Superliga Femenina, the first step toward moving to professional women's football for the team and a recognition for the team's growing popularity, and Ecuador's performance greatly improved in the 2022 Copa América Femenina. Nonetheless, Ecuador's