Cuba U20

Second place at the CONCACAF Youth Tournament came twice, in 1970 and 1974, with a third-place finish in between in 1973 — and for four decades that remained the ceiling for Cuban football at any age level. The senior team never reached a World Cup; the under-20 side got there first, in Turkey in 2013, and left after three group-stage defeats without a point. It took twelve years to earn the return trip.

The 2024 CONCACAF U-20 Championship put Cuba third and sent them to Chile for the 2025 FIFA U-20 World Cup, into a group with Argentina, Italy and Australia. Karel Pérez, the captain and a left-back at Alajuelense, scored in the opening 3-1 loss to Argentina. Two matches later came the moment the run is remembered for: a 2-2 draw with Italy, both goals scored from the penalty spot by Michael Camejo. It was the first point a Cuban national team, at any age group, had taken from a FIFA World Cup. Australia then closed out the tournament for them, 3-1, and Cuba went home with the record it had come for already banked.

The Football Association of Cuba, founded in 1924 and in FIFA since 1929, still calls the youth side by the senior team's nickname, The Lions of the Caribbean, and dresses it in the same red home shirt with white change kit. The squad trains and plays out of the Estadio Pedro Marrero in Havana, a ground built to hold around 28,000. Yunielys Castillo coached the team through the qualifying cycle and the World Cup itself. Alessio Raballo, who came through Torino and Parma's academies, and winger Jade Quiñones were among the squad in Chile; goalkeeper Yurdy Hodelin started the group games. The next assignment is the following CONCACAF U-20 Championship, the route back to a tournament Cuba has now stopped fearing.