No national tournament existed until 1957 when the winners of both regional championships played against each other for the title.
In 2001, Emelec became the second club to reach the finals of an international tournament at the 2001 Copa Merconorte, which they also lost.
In 2008, LDU Quito became the first club to win an international title by becoming the 2008 Copa Libertadores champion.
To date, then in 2019 Independiente del Valle won the Copa Sudamericana, even before reaching their first national Championship.
[3][4] Although without any major tournament achievements until the current millennium, Ecuador was never short of footballing talent, producing players such as Alberto Spencer, Jose Villafuerte, Carlos Raffo and Antonio Valencia.
Ecuador has qualified for the World Cup a total of 4 times in the years 2002, 2006, 2014, as well as in 2022.