The Colombia national football team represents Colombia in international football competitions and is controlled by the Colombian Football Federation. It is a member of the CONMEBOL.
Colombia suffered over three World Cup cycles between 2002 to 2010, failing to be as strong as it had been in the 1990s, and they did not qualify for the FIFA World Cup in this period. Following the death of Andrés Escobar after the 1994 World Cup, Colombia's golden generation had faded within the end of the decade and sent Colombia into a decade of disappointment and suffering.
However, in recent times during the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, Colombia has played with a new talented golden generation since the 2011 Copa America, bringing its current rank within the top 10 for the first time since 2002, nearly 10 years around the end of the previous golden era, and into the top 5 consistently since 2004. After a 16-year long wait, Colombia finally returned after qualifying to the 2014 FIFA World Cup, where they were able to advance to the quarter-finals, the furthest Colombia has ever made it in a World Cup. Colombia's midfielder James Rodríguez won two awards, the Golden Boot for most goals and Best Goal of the Tournament.
Colombia will be playing in Group H with Poland, Senegal and Japan.
