Guyana

Guyana (then British Guiana) played its first international football match on 21 July 1905, a 4–1 defeat against neighboring British colony Trinidad and Tobago. Its next match was almost 16 years later, on 28 January 1921, a 2–1 away victory against Suriname. The two teams met again in Suriname on 27 August 1923, in the Martinez Shield, and this time the home side won 2–1. British Guiana regularly participated in the Martinez Shield between 1923 and 1933, winning the tournament in 1929, 1931, and 1932.

It played two more matches against Trinidad and Tobago in Suriname in 1937, both resulting in defeats: 3–0 and 3–2. In 1944, British Guiana participated in a triangular tournament in Trinidad and Tobago, facing its national team and Barbados. It won two matches against Barbados (1–0 and 3–0) before drawing 1–1 and losing 3–0 to Trinidad and Tobago. In the final of this triangular tournament, it again lost 3–0 to Trinidad and Tobago.

In November 1947 British Guiana played in a Standard Life tournament in Trinidad and Tobago. They beat the hosts 2–1 in their opening game on 5 November before beating Jamaica 2–0 the very next day. On 10 November they drew 0–0 with Jamaica before losing 2–0 to Trinidad and Tobago in the last game on 14 November.

British Guiana played its first home games in 1950 against Trinidad and Tobago: these were British Guiana's first matches since the Standard Life tournament. British Guiana lost 1–0 and 4–1 before winning 1–0. The last match played under the name British Guiana was the 1–1 draw against Barbados in January 1966.

After gaining independence in 1966, Guyana played its first official competitive matches during the qualifiers for the 1971 CONCACAF Championship against Suriname. The first match, away, was lost 4–1 and the home match on 21 September 1971 was lost 3–2 as Suriname advanced 7–3 on aggregate. In 1976 Guyana entered its first ever World Cup qualification campaign with the aim of reaching the 1978 FIFA World Cup in Argentina. Guyana and Suriname were drawn in a two-legged preliminary in the Caribbean section of CONCACAF qualification and Guyana won the first leg 2–0 at home on 4 July 1976. The second leg in Paramaribo was lost 3–0 which allowed Suriname to advance.

Guyana participated in its first Caribbean Cup finals in 1991, where it finished in 4th place. But the 2000s got off to a bad start with a FIFA suspension which prevented him from participating in the qualifiers for the 2002 World Cup.

Guyana had a remarkable calendar year in 2006, with eleven successive wins, including five CONCACAF Gold Cup qualifiers. These results boosted Guyana's spot in the FIFA World Rankings by 87 spots in little over a year. As a consequence, the team rose to the top 12 in CONCACAF and were in the third rank of seeds in the World Cup qualifying draw.

At the 2006–07 Caribbean Nations Cup, Guyana finished top of Group A in Stage One, then top of Group H in Stage Two (which they hosted), and finished 3rd in the Bobby Sookram Group, missing out on a semi-final berth on goal difference alone. Had Guyana reached the semi-finals, they would have qualified for the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Having qualified for the final phase of the 2010 Caribbean Cup, held in Martinique, Guyana finished last in Group I with one point from a 1–1 draw with Guadeloupe.

With the return of international coach Jamaal Shabazz, Guyana finished top of a group containing Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados and Bermuda to reach the third round of qualifying for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. They qualified with one game to go with a 2–1 home win against Trinidad and Tobago on 11 November 2011.

Guyana organised friendly matches in 2012 against Panama (20 May), Colombia (28 May) and Bolivia (15 August) for the first team. In the third round group, they finished last, behind Mexico, Costa Rica and El Salvador, with one point from their six matches.

From November 2012 to October 2014 Guyana did not play a single international fixture. This amongst other factors led to FIFA stepping in and removing the GFF executive at the end of 2014.

With FIFA stepping into Guyana once again, a FIFA Normalisation Committee was installed to regularise football in Guyana. With this came the search for a National Team Head Coach with Jamaal Shabazz reinstalled initially for one game versus Barbados on February 2, 2015. As Guyana had lost many first team players to retirement since 2012, the squad was a new younger group with major gaps in the goalkeeper and defensive areas.

Having finished 7th in the 2019–2020 CONCACAF Nations League qualifiers, the Guyanese team have earned the right to participate for the first time in the CONCACAF Gold Cup in the 2019 edition.

Placed in Group D of the tournament alongside the host country (the United States), Panama and Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana was eliminated in the first round with only one draw (1–1 against Trinidad and Tobago).

During the qualifying tournaments for the 2022 and 2026 World Cups, Guyana was quickly eliminated (1st round and 2nd round in 2022 and 2026 respectively).

Promoted to League A of the 2024–25 CONCACAF Nations League, the Golden Jaguars were immediately relegated. They missed the opportunity to compete in the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup, being eliminated in the prelims by Guatemala in two legs (3–2 and 0–2).