Moises Caicedo has already featured at one FIFA World Cup™, back in 2022. Since then, he has established himself as a driving force for European powerhouses Chelsea. One of the first names on the team sheet, Caicedo has become a cult hero at Stamford Bridge and been instrumental to the Blues’ recent success, including most notably their FIFA Club World Cup 2025™ conquest, which was sealed in style with the 3-0 pummelling of Paris Saint-Germain in the final in New York New Jersey.
In a nutshell, though he is still only 24, the supremely talented schemer has earned the right to dream big. Where the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2026™ is concerned, these lofty hopes involve breaking new ground with his native Ecuador, who, despite having first featured at the competition as late as 2002, can now consider themselves relative regulars.
At the upcoming tournament in Canada, Mexico and the United States, La Tri will be lining up at their fifth instalment of the global showpiece overall and their second on the spin, and they boast a core of talented and battle-hardened youngsters who are lighting up leagues across the world.
Many of these, like Caicedo, cut their teeth on the ultimate stage last time out in Qatar. That campaign provided plenty of cause for optimism, with the South Americans having kicked off with an assured 2-0 win over the hosts before holding the Netherlands to a 1-1 draw, even if the bubble eventually burst when a 2-1 defeat by Senegal put paid to their hopes of progressing from Group A.
Having finished second – behind only world champions Argentina – in the CONMEBOL qualifiers for this year’s global bonanza, Sebastian Beccacece’s troops are now bidding to lay their 2022 demons to rest and kick on. In the process, they will be aiming to emulate the nation’s greatest exploit at the competition to date: a run to the Round of 16 at Germany 2006, where Ecuador exited at the hands of England.
FIFA recently caught up with Caicedo, who made no bones about his burning ambition to achieve big things with his country.
Moises Caicedo: Our fans play a really important role. Hearing Ecuadorians in the crowd screaming our names gives us a massive boost and drives us on to keep raising our game. We want to do them proud: we know that they spend their hard-earned money to come and cheer us on and will stop at nothing to support the team. That often means travelling long distances, and we’re really grateful to the fans for backing us to the hilt. We always look to repay that with our work ethic out on the pitch.
I don’t want to get into how far we could go, but what I can tell you is that we’re going to savour the occasion and try to perform to the best of our ability. We’ll seek to impose our game and will give absolutely everything. We’re all working hard with our clubs and every time we report for international duty, which is vital, as it’ll allow us to hit the ground running once the World Cup comes around.
It’s a badge of pride. Not everyone gets to play in the World Cup, so we’ve got to take pride in having qualified. Having said that, we know that it’s a short competition and we have to make the most of it. We can’t settle for just qualifying: we know we’re capable of more. We’re well aware of the quality in our ranks, and we’re raring to take that next step so that the days when simply qualifying was the be-all and end-all are confined to the past.
I’m really looking forward to going back to the United States. It’ll bring back fond memories, and I’ll head there with a smile on my face and full of motivation to replicate what I did at the Club World Cup, only this time with my national team.
