This is a record of Jamaica's results at the FIFA World Cup. The FIFA World Cup, sometimes called the Football World Cup or the Soccer World Cup, but usually referred to simply as the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II.
The tournament consists of two parts, the qualification phase and the final phase (officially called the World Cup Finals). The qualification phase, which currently take place over the three years preceding the Finals, is used to determine which teams qualify for the Finals. The current format of the Finals involves 48 teams competing for the title, at venues within the host nation (or nations) over a period of about a month. The World Cup final is the most widely viewed sporting event in the world, with an estimated 715.1 million people watching the 2006 tournament final.2006 FIFA World Cup TV Coverage (PDF), FIFA.com. Retrieved on June 6, 2007.
Jamaica has qualified for the finals of the FIFA World Cup once, playing in the 1998 tournament after they finished third in the final round of CONCACAF qualifying. Although they beat Japan 2–1 in their third and final group game, two earlier defeats meant they failed to progress to the round of 16.
Overview
Qualification recordYearRoundPosition*Squad 1930Did not enterDeclined participation 1934 1938 1950 1954 1958 1962 1966Did not qualify 8 2 3 3 8 21 1970 4 0 0 4 2 11 1974WithdrewWithdrew 1978Did not qualify 2 0 0 2 1 5 1982Did not enterDeclined participation 1986WithdrewWithdrew 1990Did not qualify 4 2 1 1 4 6 1994 8 2 3 3 9 11 1998 Group stage 22nd 3 1 0 2 3 9 Squad 20 11 6 3 24 15 2002Did not qualify 16 6 2 8 14 18 2006 8 2 5 1 11 6 2010 8 5 1 2 19 6 2014 16 3 6 7 14 19 2018 8 2 1 5 6 21 2022 14 2 5 7 12 22 2026 12 8 2 2 20 6 2030To be determinedTo be determined 2034TotalGroup stage1/2531 0239116373346124161
1998 FIFA World Cup In 1996, the Jamaican Football Federation hired Brazilian René Simões to take charge of the team. After comfortably getting through the second round, they finished top of their group in the third round to qualify through to the Hexagonal where the top three qualified through to the finals. A slow start in the finals saw the national team winless from the first four games of the final round. But 1–0 wins against El Salvador, Canada and Costa Rica gave the national team some hope with Deon Burton scoring the winning goal in two of those matches. After a 0–0 draw against Mexico, Jamaica secured their qualification with a 2–2 draw against El Salvador to make their first (and to date only) appearance at a World Cup with the following day being declared a national holiday.
Squad Head coach: Renê Simões
Group H table
Jamaica vs. Croatia
Argentina vs Jamaica
Japan vs Jamaica
Head-to-head record OpponentWin %Total
Player records Most appearances Nine players were fielded in all three of Jamaica's FIFA World Cup matches in 1998, making them record World Cup players for their country.
RankPlayerMatches1Walter Boyd3Deon Burton3Robbie Earle3Ricardo Gardner3Ian Goodison3Paul Hall3Fitzroy Simpson3Frank Sinclair3Theodore Whitmore3
Goalscorers
On 14 June 1998 Robbie Earle scored Jamaica's first ever FIFA World Cup goal, coming in their opening match against Croatia in Lens. Theodore Whitmore then scored two goals in Jamaica's only World Cup win, a 2–1 victory over Japan, making him Jamaica's top scorer at World Cup tournaments.
Player Goals 1998 Theodore Whitmore 2 2 Robbie Earle 1 1 Total 3 3
See also Jamaica at the CONCACAF Gold Cup Jamaica at the Copa América North, Central American and Caribbean nations at the FIFA World Cup
References