This is a record of Peru'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.
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After making their FIFA World Cup debut at Uruguay 1930, Peru next made an impact on the finals at Mexico 1970 where they beat Bulgaria and Morocco to start off the tournament with a surprising bang. The Brazil of Rivelino, Tostao, Jairzinho and Pelé put an end to that adventure 4-2 in the quarter-finals. The World cup of Argentina 1978 saw Peru end up first in their group during the first phase of the tournament, but they were later eliminated after losing all their games in the second phase. Their last World Cup appearance was in that of Spain 1982, a tournament in which Peru was viewed as a favorite. Yet, the problem came when the team basically trained too much and were tired even before the tournament had begun. They were eliminated last in their group, with 2 ties and 1 loss.
Finals
As one of the 13 national sides that accepted the invitation to the inaugural World Cup, Peru was placed in Group 3 with Romania and hosts Uruguay. With a mere 300 spectators, Peru's match against Romania holds the record of lowest attendance in a World Cup game. Peru lost (1–3) in a violent game where, in the second half, a fight broke out and a Peruvian became the first player sent off in a World Cup. A few days later, Peru and Uruguay played the inaugural match of the Estadio Centenario. The Peruvians were lauded by the spectators for their defense and the impressive ability of forward José María Lavalle; Peru lost by one goal to the eventual champions, who defeated their subsequent opponents by scoring at least 4 goals per game.
The Peruvian squad next participated in the Mexico 1970 World Cup, where they were placed in Group 4 with West Germany, Bulgaria, and Morocco. In the first game, Peru's "psychological reaction" to the 1970 Ancash earthquake caused the team to quickly concede two goals to Bulgaria. However, as Brian Glanville stated, "the elusive dribbling of Cubillas, the powerful breaks from the back four of Héctor Chumpitaz, the running of [Hugo] Sotil and [Alberto] Gallardo, turned the tide"; Peru won 3–2. The team proceeded to the quarterfinals as group runner-up after defeating Morocco (3–0) and losing to West Germany (1–3); there, Peru were eliminated by Brazil (2–4) in "a spectacular and effervescent game, a game in which both sides delighted in attack and scorned caution", and where both teams displayed "a feast of open play and goals".
In the Argentina 1978 World Cup, Peru participated as part of Group 4 with Scotland, Iran, and the Netherlands. With a midfield identified "as the best in the world" by Argentine sports magazine El Gráfico, Peru advanced to the second round as group leaders after defeating Scotland (3–1) and Iran (4–1) and drawing with the Netherlands (0–0). The second round was divided into two groups, and Peru's results placed it in Group B with Poland, Brazil, and Argentina. After losing to Brazil (0–3) and Poland (0–1), Peru was practically "out of contention" despite having one more game to play against Argentina. This last match proved controversial because the Peruvians lost by a margin (0–6) that allowed the hosts to reach the final instead of Brazil. Rumors circulated that the match had been fixed, but nothing was ever proved.
Lastly, Peru participated in the Spain 1982 World Cup as part of Group 1 with Italy, Poland, and Cameroon. Prior to the competition, Peru embarked on a practice tour that included victories against Hungary (1–2) in Budapest and France (0–1) in Paris, a tie with Algeria (1–1) in Algiers, and, upon returning home, a victory over Romania (2–0). In the World Cup finals, Peru's opening match against Cameroon ended a scoreless draw. Against Italy, Peru "put on a mix of solid defending and spectacular attacking" that resulted in a draw (1–1) against the eventual champions. Peru only needed another draw to advance in the tournament, and it managed to maintain a favorable scoreless first half against Poland, but a "mixup in the midfield" and a "tired defense" during the second half led to Peru's defeat (1–5) and early elimination.
Qualifiers
1970: Having eliminated Bolivia and Argentina in the qualifiers.
1978: After eliminating Chile and Ecuador in the qualifiers,
1982: Following another successful campaign, eliminating Colombia and favorites Uruguay (the 1980 Mundialito winners) in the qualifiers,
Peru almost qualified for Mexico 1986 once more nearly eliminating Argentina. In the final qualifying match for qualifier . However, they were faced the Argentina of Maradona. Peru led 2-1 in Buenos Aires, but Diego Armando Maradona inspired his team to a 2-2 draw which sent Argentina into the World Cup which they would later win.
Peru was thus forced to face Chile in a play-off, they lost 4-2 on Santiago and 1-0 on Lima. This was to be Peru's closest chance of qualifying until 1998.
Peru was grouped for the 1990 World Cup qualification along with Bolivia and Uruguay. All their singles games were lost, and only two goals were scored (One by José del Solar and the other by Andres Gonzales). Julio César Uribe was considered one of the best players of the team at that time.
The campaign to reach France 1998 was settled only on goal difference, as they finished even on points with Chile. The qualifying system had changed and now all teams were to face each other, and Peru had been able to maintain the 4th spot until the next-to-last match when they faced Chile at Santiago. The game was quite humiliating, specially due to the aggressions the Peruvian team faced from the Chileans. As far as it currently goes, this is currently Peru's last closest chance to qualifying.
The preliminaries for Korea/Japan 2002 were certainly not any respite from that, as the team finished eighth in the group with just four wins in eighteen matches. The fact that they only managed to score 14 goals demonstrated how far the attack had fallen since the days of Cubillas. Particularly low points of the qualifying tournament included a 3-0 loss at Venezuela and defeats in over half of their home matches to Uruguay, Ecuador, Argentina, Colombia and Brazil.
During the years of 2004 and 2005, Peru participated in the qualifier for the Germany 2006 World Cup. Peru this time hit the ground hard as conflicts with the team's management soon showed poor results in the games that were to follow. Paulo Autuori managed the squad, but was not able to achieve popularity due to a disastrous campaign that led Peru into 8th place just above Bolivia and Venezuela. Freddy Ternero also momentarily managed the squad, but was dismissed due to problems with the FPF.
The 2010 qualifiers, beginning in 2007, resulted in another set of problems for the Peruvian team. In their first four games, the team had only achieved 2 ties (both at home) and 2 losses. Not only that, but controversies between the FPF and the IPD (Peruvian Sports Institute) caused problems outside of the field for the national team.
Furthermore, a scandal shook the team as it was discovered, with informational support of prominent figures such as Jaime Bayly, that several of the players had been partying during the time they were supposedly "concentrating" for a match against Brazil. Since then, Claudio Pizarro (SV Werder Bremen), Jefferson Farfán (Schalke 04), Andrés Mendoza (Diyarbakırspor) and Santiago Acasiete (UD Almería), important figures in the team, were never considered again for the national team by coach José del Solar.
The 2008 season resulted with 3 losses, including 6-0 loss against Uruguay, 2 draws against Argentina and Colombia, and only 1 game won against Venezuela.
In 2009 "la blanquirroja" couldn't revert the situation, being the first team eliminated, at the 14th round. They only won 2 matches during this year, against Uruguay and Bolivia .