FOOTBALL AND NATIONAL IDENTITY IN CENTRAL AMERICA: A comparative analysis of the cases of Guatemala, El Salvador and Costa Rica

Abstract

The article analyzes on a general level the historic path of soccer in Guatemala, El
Salvador and Costa Rica since the beginning of its practice - in the late 19th century
— to the middle of the 20th century. Likewise, it attempts to explain why soccer in
the two first countries failed to transmit a feeling of national ownership, and why in
Costa Rica it obtained an important place in the imaginary collective one, mainly in
the Valle Central.