Colombia National Team: Football Squad, Los Cafeteros Stars and African Kick Off Times

The Colombia national team is the men's football side of Colombia, nicknamed Los Cafeteros, and its greatest prize is the Copa América it won as hosts in 2001. Its best World Cup run came in 2014, when Colombia reached the quarter finals for the first time and James Rodríguez took the Golden Boot with six goals. In South Africa you will often hear it called the Colombia soccer team, and it is the same yellow shirted side whichever word you use.

This guide sets out who is in the Colombia squad, who coaches them, what they have won and how their story runs from the 1990s through 2014 to the 2024 Copa América final, with kick off times for Lagos, Nairobi, Johannesburg, Accra and Kampala. Viewers in Lagos can use WAT listings to plan for Colombia matches. The live squad, fixtures, results and FIFA ranking sit above this copy and update themselves, so the words below explain how to read them.

Who Is in the Colombia Squad?

Colombia's squad module separates the selected names by playing position, with club details alongside the entries. Consult those selections to identify Colombia's representatives for the international window shown. Use the club column to see where each selected player plays.

If you are reading from Johannesburg or Nairobi, the easiest way into the squad is through the club column. Compare the club entries with the position groups to explore Colombia's selection from either city. Reading Colombia's names by position before checking their clubs reveals the positions represented in each selection.

Which Colombia Players Should You Watch?

James Rodríguez won the Golden Boot at the 2014 World Cup with six goals.

To explore Colombia's selected players beyond James, consult the names under each position heading. The club entries provide another way to identify players whose domestic matches you follow.

Who Coaches Colombia, and How Do They Play?

Néstor Lorenzo, an Argentine, is the coach who led Colombia to the 2024 Copa América final and to qualification for the 2026 World Cup. The lineup module shows each match's selected players and formation.

How Did Colombia Do at the 2026 World Cup?

Colombia were drawn in Group K of the 2026 World Cup with Portugal, DR Congo and Uzbekistan, at the first World Cup with 48 teams, hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico. The scores, the group table and every knockout result from that tournament sit in the results module, which is the place to check how far Los Cafeteros went. So, read the group table by points first, three for a win and one for a draw, and then by the tiebreakers listed beneath it, which is how the format separated sides level on points.

The 2026 draw paired Colombia with DR Congo. The Leopards were the African representatives in Group K, alongside Colombia from South America, Portugal from Europe and Uzbekistan from Asia.

What Have Colombia Won?

Colombia's one major title is the Copa América of 2001, which they won as hosts, winning all six matches without conceding a goal. That record still reads like a misprint, and in my opinion it is as clean a tournament as any international side has put together. Colombia have also been Copa América runners up twice, first in 1975 and again in 2024, when the tournament was played in the United States.

The 2024 run was the story of a team that had found itself again, playing with confidence through the knockout rounds to reach their first Copa América final since the 2001 title. Finishing second at a Copa América is a strong mark for any nation, and it gave Colombia momentum heading into the 2026 World Cup. What would turn those finals into a second title is the same thing that decided 2001, a defence that gives nothing away for a whole tournament, with the attack free to do the rest.

What Is Colombia's World Cup History?

Colombia's World Cup story runs through distinct eras, and the first that matters to African fans is Italy in 1990, when Colombia reached the last 16 and met Cameroon. Roger Milla scored twice in extra time to win it 2 to 1 for the Indomitable Lions, and that night is still what many older fans across the continent remember first about Colombia. Three years later Colombia beat Argentina 5 to 0 in Buenos Aires in a qualifier, one of the best known results in their history, and they went to the 1994 World Cup with real hope. That tournament ended in tragedy. Defender Andrés Escobar scored an own goal against the United States and, days later in July 1994, he was shot dead in Medellín, a loss the country still mourns.

The modern era began in Brazil in 2014, when Colombia reached the quarter finals for the first time, their best World Cup finish, and James won the Golden Boot with six goals. Four years later, in Russia, they reached the last 16 again and drew 1 to 1 with England before going out on penalties. For Nigerian readers, those two tournaments are the template, and they recall the joyful Super Eagles sides of the 1990s: a team at its best when its forwards are trusted to run.

Who Holds the Colombia Records?

Radamel Falcao held Colombia's scoring record with 36 international goals in 2026. James Rodríguez held the caps record with 131 appearances in 2026. The records module above keeps both figures current, along with the leading active scorers. Colombia's highest FIFA ranking is 3rd, first reached in 2013 and held again from 2014 to 2015 and in 2016, which tells you how good the 2014 generation was.

Why Los Cafeteros, and Where Do Colombia Play?

Los Cafeteros means the coffee growers, a nod to the coffee industry Colombia is famous for, and the team is also called La Tricolor after the national flag. The home shirt is yellow, usually worn with blue shorts and red socks, so the players carry the three flag colours from head to toe. If you grew up watching the Super Eagles in green, the Colombian yellow is a bright change, and on a viewing centre screen it is one of the easiest shirts in world football to pick out.

Colombia play most of their home qualifiers at the Estadio Metropolitano Roberto Meléndez in Barranquilla, on the Caribbean coast, where the heat and humidity are part of the home advantage. Visiting sides used to the cooler south of the continent have long found Barranquilla a demanding place to settle, and Colombia have leaned on that. Official ticket sales are announced by the Colombian Football Federation before each home window, so that is the place to start if you are ever planning a trip.

Colombia Fixtures: What Time Is Kick Off Where You Live?

Colombia matches usually land late at night or in the early hours across Africa, because Bogotá runs five hours behind GMT all year round with no summer time. A 20:00 home kick off in Barranquilla is 01:00 GMT in Accra, 02:00 WAT in Lagos, 03:00 SAST in Johannesburg and 04:00 EAT in Nairobi and Kampala. So, check the fixtures module for the date, competition and venue, then use the table below to plan your night, or your alarm. Friendlies played in Europe during international windows are the welcome exception, landing in the African evening.

The FIFA ranking module sits beside the fixtures and updates each time FIFA publishes a new list. Read it as a running measure of results, weighted by the strength of the opponent and the importance of the match, which is why a Copa América win moves Colombia further than a friendly. South American qualifying is a long league in which every side plays the others home and away, so the results module is best read in blocks of matches rather than game by game. Where Colombia sit relative to Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay is usually the clearest sign of their level.

Why Do Colombia Matter in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda and South Africa?

Colombia matter across the five countries mainly through the players, because no African side shares a qualifying path with them and the two only meet when a World Cup draw or a friendly brings them together. The Cameroon tie in 1990 and the draw alongside DR Congo in 2026 connect Colombia's World Cup history with African football. Club histories offer further connections: James Rodríguez joined Real Madrid in 2014 and Everton in 2020, while Davinson Sánchez joined Tottenham in 2017 and Galatasaray in 2023.

Viewing is mostly on pay TV sports channels and streaming apps in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda and South Africa, and the channel for each match is listed with the fixture rather than promised in the text. The fixture listings give viewers in Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda and South Africa the local broadcast details. For more sides to follow, our national teams hub gathers every country, from Bafana Bafana, the Black Stars and the Harambee Stars to the Cranes and the teams that cross their paths.