🎉
'18
First World Cup
Qualified for the first time in 2018 — a national holiday was declared.
LA MAREA ROJASECOND WORLD CUP EVER
FILE No. 40CLASS: OUTSIDERSTATUS: THE SECOND DANCEWC 2026 · USA·CAN·MEX
☆The Red Tide rises for a second World Cup.
PANAMA
La Marea Roja// the smallest of dreams made real — and now chasing a first-ever WC point
“When we first qualified, the president declared a national holiday. That's what this means.”— The view from Panama City
The record
2 — 2018, 2026
WC appearances
Group stage
Best WC finish
Final 2005, 2013, 2023
Gold Cup best
#33
FIFA Ranking
01 · The Dossier — The Soul
A baseball country
that fell for football
In a nation long devoted to baseball, football's rise has been a love story. When Panama first qualified in 2018, the country stopped — and now La Marea Roja returns, hungry for the milestones it still hasn't reached.
2018 · the first+The national holiday+CONCACAF grit+The first point
Panama CityLa Marea RojaThe 2017 nightCONCACAF battlersArriba Panamá
Panama's footballing breakthrough came on a single night in 2017, when a contentious late goal sent them to their first-ever World Cup — and the president declared a national holiday. The whole country, baseball heartland and all, fell for the game.
Russia 2018 ended in three defeats, but the experience hardened a side that's become a CONCACAF force — multiple Gold Cup finals, fearless and physical. Now, at a second World Cup, the goal is simple and historic: a first-ever World Cup point, and maybe more.
02 · The Cabinet — Honours
The milestones
No trophy — but milestones a small football nation treasures, and a growing reputation in CONCACAF.
05 · The Legend — The Pioneer
Felipe Baloy
He scored Panama's first-ever World Cup goal — Felipe Baloy, sliding in against England in 2018, a moment that made an entire nation weep with pride even in a heavy defeat.
A veteran defender and long-serving captain, Baloy was the embodiment of the generation that dragged Panamanian football onto the world map.
That goal — the country's only World Cup goal so far — is the standard the current Red Tide carries: proof that a small nation's dreams can become real.
// The Panama greats
02
Román Torres
Scored the goal that qualified them · 2017
03
Jaime Penedo
The Gold Cup hero keeper
04
Adalberto Carrasquilla
The modern midfield heartbeat
BALOY
Felipe Baloy
'18
First WC goal
©
Long-time captain
🇵🇦
The pioneer
06 · Threat Assessment
⚠ HOSTILE · THE GROUP-L GIANTS
The enemy
Group L is brutal for a side of Panama's resources — England and Croatia are among the best in the world. The realistic battle is with Ghana, with the giants offering the chance for history.
England & Croatia — the giantsMAXIMUM
Ghana — the realistic battlePIVOTAL
Zero WC points so farHISTORIC
Nobody expects Panama to advance. But this is a nation that treats every milestone as a triumph — and a first-ever World Cup point would be its own kind of glory.
The wounds
// the bittersweet firsts
// Group L — the field
England
GROUP L
The group favourites — the 2018 rematch at MetLife.
Croatia
GROUP L
The 2018 finalists — a daunting Matchday 2 in Toronto.
Ghana
GROUP L
The Black Stars — the realistic battle, and the opener.
04 · The road — The road · WC 2026
Kickoff
14
Days
09
Hours
33
Mins
37
Secs
Until Panama's first kick — vs Ghana · June 17
07 · The Heartbeat
Lightning rod
He runs the midfield and carries the flair. Adalberto 'Coco' Carrasquilla is the player who gives Panama a chance of something — a point, a goal, a moment — against far bigger names.
COCO
The midfield engineLiga MX talentPanama's creatorPumas UNAM
🎯
The engine
27
Age at the World Cup
№8
The heartbeat
Energetic, technical and brave on the ball, he is the player Panama builds around. “If a milestone comes, Coco will be at the heart of it.”
The Milestone Meter
// three more defeats, or a first-ever point?
Out without a pointHistory on the board
Current reading
The hard lesson
Drawn with England and Croatia, Panama may again find the gap to the elite too wide. But every minute on this stage is national history.
08 · Key Power · World Cup 2026
ISMAEL DÍAZ
The finisher · Club León · No. 7
Panama defends as a unit and needs its rare chances to count — and Ismael Díaz is the man to take them. A sharp, mobile forward with an eye for goal, he is the most likely source of the moment Panama craves: a first World Cup goal since Baloy, and maybe the country's first-ever point. The Red Tide's best hope of history.
🎯
The finisher
28
Age at the World Cup
№7
Club León
The last line of the file
A whole country wept just to get here.
Now Panama wants its first point.
La Marea RojaThe 2017 nightGroup LThe second danceArriba Panamá
Squad
As of 2026-06-01
Manager
Thomas Christiansen
ES