Football War - Football results

A lightning war fought over several days in July 1969 between Honduras and El Salvador, rapidly halted by international pressure. It was so named because recriminations between the two Central American states had come to a head during the qualifying matches for the 1970 World Cup.

Football War
Date July 14-July 18, 1969 Location El Salvador-Honduras border Result negotiated cease-fire
Combatants
El Salvador	Honduras

The Football War (La guerra de fútbol, in Spanish) was a five-day war fought by El Salvador and Honduras in 1969. It had little to do with football, instead being caused by political differences between Hondurans and Salvadorans, including immigration from El Salvador to Honduras.

This general rise in tensions ultimately led to a military conflict that served to direct the attention of the citizenry of both countries outward rather than in on their own internal affairs, leaving both armies rearmed, and destroying the Central American economic integration that had been expressed in the Central American Common Market (Mercado Común Centroamericano or MCE), under whose trade rules the richer Salvadoran economy gained much ground relative to Honduras.

Rich landowners controlled the majority of arable land in El Salvador, which over time resulted in the migration of poor Salvadoran peasants to regions of Honduras near the border of El Salvador.

In 1969, Honduras decided to redistribute the land to Honduran peasants, thereby evicting the Salvadoran peasants who had lived on the land for generations. This triggered a mass return of peasants to El Salvador resulting in social upheaval as social conservatives in El Salvador were concerned that the returning peasants would strengthen calls for land reform, and military leaders were concerned that if the peasant demands for reform were not met guerrilla movements would arise.

In 1992, the Court awarded most of the disputed territory to Honduras, and in 1998, Honduras and El Salvador signed a border demarcation treaty to implement the terms of the ICJ decree. As of the beginning of 2006 demarcation had not yet been completed, but Honduras and El Salvador maintain normal diplomatic and trade relations.

The War in the Air

The war is often cited as the last occasion on which piston-engined fighters fought each other - both sides deploying former World War II American types.

Football results

June 6, 1969, Tegucigalpa: Honduras 1 - 0 El Salvador (0-0 at halftime) June 15, 1969, San Salvador: El Salvador 3 - 0 Honduras (HT: 3-0) A playoff match on June 27, 1969, Mexico: El Salvador 3 - 2 Honduras after extra time (HT: 1-2, FT: 2-2). El Salvador then ended up going to the 1970 FIFA World Cup. However, these elections were considered fraudulent and part of the military dictatorship that in effect ruled El Salvador. The social situation worsened in El Salvador as the government proved unable to satisfy the economic needs of citizens deported from Honduras. The resulting social unrest was one of the causes of the civil war in El Salvador that followed.