This is a record of Bolivia's results at the FIFA World Cup. The FIFA World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II.
The tournament consists of two parts, the qualification phase and the final phase (officially called the World Cup Finals). The qualification phase, which currently take place over the three years preceding the Finals, is used to determine which teams qualify for the Finals. The current format of the Finals involves 32 teams competing for the title, at venues within the host nation (or nations) over a period of about a month. The World Cup Finals is the most widely viewed sporting event in the world, with an estimated 715.1 million people watching the 2006 tournament final.[1]
Bolivia have qualified for the World Cup on three occasions, in 1930, 1950 and 1994, with two first editions being invited to compete. They have played in six matches at the Finals, but have lost five and drawn one, with their only goal coming against Spain in 1994.
| FIFA World Cup record | width=1% rowspan=41 | FIFA World Cup qualification record | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Round | Position | ||||||||||||||
 1930 | Group stage | 12th | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 8 | Qualified as invitees | |||||||
 1934 | Did not enter | Declined participation | ||||||||||||||
 1938 | ||||||||||||||||
 1950 | Group stage | 13th | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8 | Qualified automatically | |||||||
 1954 | Did not enter | Declined participation | ||||||||||||||
 1958 | Did not qualify | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 6 | |||||||||
 1962 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||||||||
| 1966 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 9 | ||||||||||
 1970 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 6 | ||||||||||
| 1974 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 11 | ||||||||||
 1978 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 10 | 25 | ||||||||||
 1982 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 6 | ||||||||||
| 1986 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | ||||||||||
| 1990 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 5 | ||||||||||
| 1994 | Group stage | 21st | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 22 | 11 | ||
| 1998 | Did not qualify | 16 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 18 | 21 | |||||||||
 2002 | 18 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 21 | 33 | ||||||||||
 2006 | 18 | 4 | 2 | 12 | 20 | 37 | ||||||||||
 2010 | 18 | 4 | 3 | 11 | 22 | 36 | ||||||||||
| 2014 | 16 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 17 | 30 | ||||||||||
| 2018 | 18 | 4 | 2 | 12 | 16 | 38 | ||||||||||
 2022 | 18 | 4 | 3 | 11 | 23 | 42 | ||||||||||
 2026 | To be determined | To be determined | ||||||||||||||
  2030 | ||||||||||||||||
 2034 | ||||||||||||||||
| 2038 | ||||||||||||||||
| Total | Group stage | 3/26 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 20 | 168 | 43 | 32 | 93 | 200 | 326 | ||
| width=80 | World Cup | width=90 | Round | width=120 | Opponent | width=60 | Score | width=40 | Result | width=100 | Venue | Scorers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1930 | Group stage | 0–4 | align=center bgcolor="#ffbbbb" | L | Montevideo | |||||||
| 0–4 | align=center bgcolor="#ffbbbb" | L | Montevideo | |||||||||
| 1950 | Group stage | 0–8 | align=center bgcolor="#ffbbbb" | L | Belo Horizonte | |||||||
| 1994 | Group stage | 0–1 | align=center bgcolor="#ffbbbb" | L | Chicago | |||||||
| 0–0 | align=center bgcolor="#ffffbb" | D | Foxborough | |||||||||
| 1–3 | align=center bgcolor="#ffbbbb" | L | Chicago | E. Sánchez | ||||||||
| FIFA World Cup matches (by team) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opponent | Wins | Draws | Losses | Total | Goals scored | Goals conceded | |
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | ||
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 | ||
| 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | ||
Eight players have been fielded in all of Bolivia's group matches in 1994, making them record World Cup players for their country. In the 1930 and 1950 editions, Bolivia was drawn into groups with less than four teams, allowing those years' squads to earn fewer caps.
| Rank | Player | Matches | World Cups |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carlos Borja | 3 | 1994 |
| Milton Melgar | 3 | 1994 | |
| William Ramallo | 3 | 1994 | |
| Miguel Rimba | 3 | 1994 | |
| Erwin Sánchez | 3 | 1994 | |
| Marco Sandy | 3 | 1994 | |
| Vladimir Soria | 3 | 1994 | |
| Carlos Trucco | 3 | 1994 | |
The only Bolivian goal at a FIFA World Cup was scored by Erwin Sánchez during their 1–3 defeat against Spain in 1994. Bolivia had not scored in their previous five World Cup matches.