Ana M. López
Research expert covering travel, tourism and hospitality
Soccer has been a part of Chilean history since the nineteenth century. Moreover, since the establishment of the Football Federation of Chile (FFCh) in 1895, the country was integral in promoting this sport across South America. For instance, Chile was one of the four founding members of the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL). Chile even hosted one of the prestigious FIFA World Cup tournaments in 1962, in which the national squad finished third place in the competition. Although the Chilean team has not been able to recreate the feat of 1962 in World Cups, La Roja – as the team is commonly known in the country – has conquered regional tournaments such as the Copa América as recently as 2015. In that year, the South American country was rated the highest in the history of the FIFA ranking of men’s national soccer squads. Since 2016, Chile’s soccer market has generated at least 100 billion Chilean pesos in revenue every year, despite the setback caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Revenue of the Chilean soccer market
Out of the 126.2 billion Chilean pesos in revenue generated by professional soccer in 2021, nearly 99.5 billion were made by the Primera División, the country’s first division of professional soccer – also known as Campeonato Betsson for sponsorship reasons. Delving deeper into the most profitable clubs within Chile’s first division, that year’s title holder made roughly 14.8 billion pesos in 2021, putting it above Universidad Católica and Universidad de Chile in terms of lucrative squads. Overall, television rights are the largest source of revenue for professional teams in Chile in 2021, with half being attributable to this source.Who are Chile’s most renown players?
The current record holder of most goals with the Chilean national soccer team is Alexis Sánchez. The 34-year-old footballer started his professional career with the Club de Deportes Cobreloa, though he was soon signed by an international club: the Italian Udinese Calcio. After also having played in Argentina, Spain, and England, he has been part of the Olympique Marseille in France since 2022. Meanwhile in the Chilean first division, Fernando Zampedri, playing for Universidad Católica, became the top male goal scorer of 2022, while Sonya Keefe from Universidad de Chile won the same position in the top women’s league.
