# El Salvador at the 1982 World Cup (1982)

URL: https://allhistories.com/el-salvador/timeline/1982-el-salvador-at-the-1982-world-cup
Location: Elche, Spain
Themes: main-event

El Salvador's national football team had qualified for the World Cup finals only once before, in 1970 in Mexico, and had a bitter history with Honduras after the 1969 Football War. In 1981 it qualified for Spain 1982 in a CONCACAF final round, a rare moment of national celebration in the middle of the civil war. On 15 June 1982 in Elche, Hungary beat El Salvador 10–1 in the opening group match, the biggest margin of victory in World Cup finals history. Substitute László Kiss scored three goals in seven minutes, the fastest hat-trick in the tournament's history. Luis Ramírez Zapata scored El Salvador's only goal of the competition. The team then lost 1–0 to Belgium and 2–0 to Argentina and went out at the first stage, with zero points. The defeat remained the heaviest in World Cup history, but its significance is mostly cultural: footballers from a country at war became briefly visible to the world. The team had qualified in 1981 despite the fighting, and its players are remembered in El Salvador for the 1982 appearance, which has not been repeated. At this point in the timeline (15 June 1982), the President of El Salvador was Álvaro Magaña (2 May 1982 – 1 June 1984).

## Why it matters
The result is a footnote of World Cup history and a symbol of normal life in a country at war.

Ruler at the Time: [Álvaro Magaña](https://allhistories.com/el-salvador/rulers/alvaro-magana)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — 1982 FIFA World Cup](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982_FIFA_World_Cup)
- [Encyclopaedia Britannica — El Salvador at the 1982 World Cup](https://www.britannica.com/search?query=El+Salvador+at+the+1982+World+Cup)
- [UN Truth Commission — From Madness to Hope](https://www.usip.org/publications/1993/03/truth-commission-el-salvador)
- [Wikipedia — Civil War (period overview)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvadoran_Civil_War)