The 1969 play-off match between El Salvador and Honduras (two teams that are not only neighbors but rivals) was filled with anticipation and aggression. This playoff match would decide which nation would be attending the world cup, and which would be staying home. El Salvador and Honduras had each won one match which forced a third, and final, play-off match.1 In the prior matches, fights had broken out between fans in the street and in the stands during the game. But on the day of the final play-off, a much more significant event would take place. The game was scheduled in Mexico City: a third-party country with no bias toward either team. The day of the playoff, El Salvador dissolved all diplomatic ties with Honduras right before the match.
In the first game between the two nations, Honduras won the match 1-0 in its own capital. Some Hondurans stayed outside of the hotel that the El Salvador team had been staying at and threw rocks, set off car alarms and threw firecrackers.2 The 2nd match took place in San Salvador, where the home fans would watch their team win by a commanding score of 3-0. Before the 2nd match took place, the Honduran National team had a security force with them at all times. During the game the security at the stadium was extremely tight with lots of alcohol and weapons confiscated as a security precaution. As the Honduran national anthem played, the home team and fans were extremely disrespectful towards the players and their country. This caused some whiplash for El Salvadorians living in Honduras as their businesses were boycotted and vandalized.3 Leading up to the series of matches, the two nations were in a deep dispute over land reform and immigration. El Salvador was sending its poorest citizens into Honduras so the wealthy could maintain their land.4 El Salvador had a much bigger population than Honduras. Honduras had a population of about 2 million, where as El Salvador had a population of almost 4 million.5
However, they had a significantly smaller amount of land which forced more than 275,000 El Salvadorians to flee into Honduras, causing poverty and crime.6 Honduras accused the El Salvadorians of stealing jobs from the native people of Honduras. But after the 2nd games violence, El Salvador accused Honduras of staying silent while El Salvadorians living in Honduras were raped, murdered, robbed, and oppressed. Neither side was willing to negotiate to the smallest extent, which led to tensions building up even more. In the final match between the two teams, El Salvador won the game in overtime with the score of three to two.7 This caused numerous Salvadorians to be killed in Honduras.8
On July 14th, 1969, almost 3 weeks after the final playoff game, El Salvador bombed targets inside of Honduras. They crippled Honduras by attacking their main airport which left them unable to react to the attack at optimal speed.9 El Salvador then attacked from the ground by marching through the two main roads that connect the countries. Only one day later, the El Salvadorian army had pushed Honduras back over 8 kilometers. The El Salvadorian Army continued to make steady progress. They were nearing the capital city of Honduras, Tegucigalpa, when Honduras finally pushed back. The Honduran Air Force attacked Llopango base. The bombers eventually progressed to Acajutla port, which was important because it was home to El Salvadorian oil refineries. Later that evening huge smoke clouds covered the coast as the the oil refineries were bombed.10
Fearing that the nearing El Salvadorian army would overtake the capital, Honduras called the Organization of American States for help. The Organization of American States (OAS) had an urgent meeting on the evening of July 15th and called for El Salvador to withdraw its troops from Honduras ensuring that its people living in Honduras would not be harmed.11 El Salvador refused, demanding reparations be paid to them and their citizens. El Salvador attempted to further the attack the capital city, but they were unable to proceed with the attack. The previous strike on their oil refineries had destroyed their line of fuels and supplies and they no longer had supplies arriving every other day. Somoza Debayle, the dictator of Nicaragua was also helping Hondurans by arming them with weapons and providing ammunition. The OAS worked night and day in order to provide a cease-fire that would please both parties. Finally, on the night of July 18th, a ceasefire was arranged and became effective two days later.12
Although the cease-fire had been called, El Salvador refused to leave Honduras. They stayed until they were threatened by the OAS with economic sanctions against them. The El Salvador government finally withdrew troops on August 2, 1969. The aftermath of the 100-hour war was anything but slim. More than 2000 civilians were killed, with more than 100,000 immigrants displaced.13 Although they were no longer at war with each other, these two nations peace treaty only came into force on December 10, 1980.14
- Paul Joseph, The SAGE Encyclopedia of War: Social Science Perspectives, 2017 s.v . “Soccer War.” ↵
- Hatcher Graham, Salem Press Encyclopedia, 2013, s.v “Soccer War.” ↵
- Steve C. Ropp, 1982, “The War of the Dispossessed: Honduras and El Salvador, 1969. Thomas P. Anderson.” The Hispanic American Historical Review, no. 2: 296. JSTOR Journals, EBSCOhost (accessed February 5, 2018). ↵
- Richter, Ernesto, John Beverly, Bob Dash, and Irma Fernandez Dash. “Social Classes, Accumulation, and the Crisis of “Overpopulation” in El Salvador” Latin American Perspectives, 7, 1980 ↵
- Ernesto Richter, John Beverly, Bob Dash, and Irma Fernandez Dash. “Social Classes, Accumulation, and the Crisis of “Overpopulation” in El Salvador”, Latin American Perspectives, 7, 1980. ↵
- Charles Clements, Witness to War: an American Doctor in El Salvador (New York; Bantam Book, 1984). ↵
- Hatcher Graham, Salem Press Encyclopedia, 2013, s.v “Soccer War.” ↵
- Charles Clements, Witness to War: an American Doctor in El Salvador (New York; Bantam Book, 1984). ↵
- Charles Clements, Witness to War: an American Doctor in El Salvador (New York; Bantam Book, 1984). ↵
- Charles Clements, Witness to War: an American Doctor in El Salvador (New York; Bantam Book, 1984). ↵
- Charles Clements, Witness to War: an American Doctor in El Salvador (New York; Bantam Book, 1984). ↵
- Charles Clements, Witness to War: an American Doctor in El Salvador (New York; Bantam Book, 1984). ↵
- Charles, Clements, Witness to War: an American Doctor in El Salvador (New York; Bantam Book, 1984). ↵
- Charles Clements, Witness to War: an American Doctor in El Salvador (New York; Bantam Book, 1984); and United Nations -Treaties Series, General Peace Treaty Between the Republics of El Salvador and Honduras, 1980, https://peacemaker.un.org/sites/peacemaker.un.org/files/HN-SV_801030_GeneralTreatyOfPeaceElSalvadorHonduras.pdf. ↵
106 comments
Luke Lopez
This article was very informative on the conflict between El Salvador and Honduras. I have not heard of this conflict before and it is interesting to hear that the soccer games had major effects on these two countries. These effects include the Salvadorians being killed in Honduras after El Salvador won a game in overtime. It is terrible that these countries had to bring their conflict into the soccer games.
Jose Sanchez
This was a great read. It was sad to see that sports, which I believe help unify the world, caused more division between these two countries. The OAS job as a mediator shows the importance of intergovernmental organizations in helping resolve disputes and maintaining stability. I was also glad to see that despite it taking a while for a peace treaty to be signed, they did formally end the war.
Megan Copeland
With any sport you play, it’s not fun to lose, but to go to war because of it is crazy to think about. The people living in Honduras did not have to kill and treat the Salvadorians like that, because it was not their fault El Salvador’s soccer team won. Also, I feel like El Salvador should not have reacted the way they did with bombing Honduras, because it started a bunch of unnecessary drama between the two nations. Many civilians lost their lives over a soccer game, which is supposed to be played for fun.
Nathan Alba
Would this be the definition of a sore loser? I mean to go to war after a soccer match seems kind of silly. I know there were other issues going on before the game, but for the game to be almost like the initial “trigger” would have to make the players who lost feel bad (I would think). I had never known something like this had ever happened, but as the title describes, technically both teams did end up losing. It’s sad that civilians had to die, for something that seems quite petty in retrospect. Hopefully in the future we can avoid international conflicts that spur from the outcome of sporting events.
Kacey Diaz
It’s crazy to read about what people will do to one another and in this case just because of a game. Obviously tensions were already rising between the two counties but to go to the extent were thousands of people were killed and injured is really sad. I can’t imagine having to live in a area where violence is literally outside your doorstep. Hopefully things have gotten better since.
Valeria Perez
It amazes me the amount of hatred people can manifest because of their passion for their team. I know that this was a culmination of political circumstances but wouldn’t a soccer match be a good place to put those differences aside at least for a few hours?
This article was eye-opening. I had no idea this had ever happened and the losses that both countries suffered. This should be a reminder for us to always attempt to compromise.
Christopher Vasquez
This takes new meaning to: “it’s just a game!” The fans of both nations should have been able to leave their feelings for each nation and team on the field; allowing it to become perverse, seeping into the lives of the personal and political lives of the fans and politicians, caused the tensions to rise to a level that should never have occurred. It’s a shame that the way the nations were treating each other lead to a need for an increased, more personal security. No single act was more alarming to me than El Salvador dissolving all diplomatic relations the day of the playoff match. Even though the citizens were acting immature, I did not, and would never have, expected El Salvador to sever ties with Honduras over something as simple and inconsequential as a soccer match. What is even more disappointing as that military action was taken in response to each nation’s provocations, causing the OAS to become involved. This is a lesson to all: calm heads prevail.
Rosa Castillo
The El Salvadorians and the Hondurans had so much anger towards one another. This anger did not just stem from a soccer match rivalry but from already apparent political issues affecting the two countries. This article is well written in its intensity on the topic and insightful history provided about the war between two countries. This is a great example on how one can integrate a passion with a topic that would not normally correlate with politics and human rights.
Daniel Linstead
This article did a very good job of explaining the rivalry between these two teams. Its hard to believe that humans are capable to do what they did over a sporting event. However, going along with this article, it is like that through out England with the different rivalries they have. For example, the Millwall, West Ham derby is know to be dangerous for everyone involved that is why the haven’t played each other in many many of years. It is crazy how passionate people get over an event.
Gabrien Gregory
While I understand the possible friendly rivalry-turned-bad scenario, I think there were perhaps many more political implications leading up to the Hondurans and Salvadorians committing such actions against each other. This article provides a small important dialogue for the Organization of American States. Organizations like these truly can and have helped resolved conflict around the region. I can not believe this even happened over such a petty issue, but am equally as surprised to see that it was resolved so quickly and without much military involvement. I enjoyed learning something new by reading this well written article.