The Bolivian Football Federation (FBF) said it received no explanation from the Venezuelan authorities after its flight charter back to La Paz was denied takeoff on Friday.
Venezuela, who has never previously qualified for a men’s World Cup, defeated Bolivia 2-0 in Maturin on Friday in a crucial qualification match for next year, which will be played in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
With three rounds of remaining matches in South America qualification, Venezuela is the seventh in the group of 10 teams-Friday’s result taking four points above the eighth place of Bolivia that would make them a play-off to reach the tournament.
After Friday’s match, the chartered flight of the Bolivian team back to the capital of the country, La Paz-where will receive 10th place in Chile on Tuesday-postponed for more than 12 hours.
Carlos Pino, team manager and coordinator of national teams for the FBF, is cited by the EFE Press Agency To say that the team was informed by the authorities of the Venezuelan airport that “there is no authorization for the flight, as international flights are suspended.”
Pino said, “Obviously, the only international flight available is ours. There are no other international flights here and are suspending our flight for no reason.”
Bolivia coach Oscar Villegas claims that the FBF had talked to Bolivian government officials and Venezuelan diplomats in La Paz, as he claims to have been informed that Peru’s national team faced a delay at the eight -hour airport when he played in Venezuela on March 25.
🔴 #Sports360Bolivia
Oscar Villegas’s discomfort for the delay that prevents the return of green to our country. pic.twitter.com/s38jo8dtze– Sports 360 (@sports_360bol) June 7, 2025
“We asked them (the Bolivian government) to contact the Venezuelan government so that they do not do the same thing with us they did with Peru,” Villegas said.
“This is normal. We waited and warned our country’s government minister last week. They did the same to Peru and kept them at this airport for eight hours. This is not unusual; this is how they deal with visitors.”
The 12-hour delay meant that Bolivia had no time to participate in its planned training session on Saturday, before the next qualification match against Chile on Tuesday.
Argentina is the only southern nation to seal the qualification for the 2026 World Cup, with five more nations automatically joining the current world champions; Ecuador, Paraguay, Brazil, Uruguay and Colombia currently occupy the remaining automatic qualification sites.
Venezuela travels to Uruguay on Tuesday, before completing his campaign in September, with a match out in Argentina and at home game against Colombia.
(Image of Bolivian team before Friday’s match in Venezuela: Jonathan Lanza/Nurphoto via Getty Images)
