From 1930 to 1938, Ecuador refrained from FIFA World Cup qualification tournaments. Its first entry was the 1950 qualifiers tournament, but withdrew from qualification. Ecuador did not enter the 1954 and 1958 tournaments. From 1962 to 1998, Ecuador failed to qualify for the world's premier football tournament. They earned their first qualification in 2002 after finishing 2nd in South America. The qualification for the second tournament in 2006 was achieved after finishing 3rd in South America. Ecuador finished 6th in South America but did not qualify for a third consecutive World Cup qualification tournament. Ecuador returned at the 2014 qualifier edition before they were eliminated from 2018 edition.
