After a rollercoaster qualifying campaign, the Panama team finished their path to the 2026 World Cup unbeaten, sealing their qualification on November 18 with a 3-0 victory over El Salvador, and benefited from Guatemala's 3-1 win over Suriname, a result that gave them their second World Cup ticket in history. Panama debuted in Russia 2018 and will face their second World Cup participation in 2026 with the aim of improving their previous performance, in which they finished last in the table. Placed in group L, alongside England, Ghana, and Croatia, Panama will go 'to compete and give war,' said Panama's coach, the Hispano-Dane Thomas Christiansen. Meanwhile, the women's futsal team was the protagonist by qualifying for their first World Cup in the history of the discipline. The women's 'La Roja' debuted in the Concacaf qualifiers with a 6-1 thrashing of Curaçao in the first match of both teams in group E, which also includes Aruba, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and Cuba. On the local front, Plaza Amador conquered the bicampeonato. 2025 was a year of intense sporting activity in Panama, but within that wide compendium, football occupied a privileged place due to the classification to the World Cup 2026. In addition, they obtained the silver medal in the 2025 Central American Games after losing the final against Guatemala. In the men's branch, Panama hung the gold medal in futsal at the Central American Games of Guatemala by defeating Nicaragua in the last day and adding 10 points in the all-against-all format, after surpassing Costa Rica (silver) and Guatemala (bronze). At the Bolivarian Games of Ayacucho (Peru), the Panamanians stayed with the silver medal, by falling in the final on penalties against Paraguay. The senior women's national team of Panama began their journey towards the 2027 World Cup in Brazil. In the Apertura, they defeated San Francisco to add their eighth star and in the Clausura they reached their ninth title after defeating Alianza. Led by Spanish Toña Is, they played seven friendlies before the start of the qualifiers, with a balance of four wins, one draw, and two defeats.
