After a gloomy year in which Chilean football was left out of the World Cup for the third consecutive time, 2026 appears as the opportunity to make profound changes that rescue their value and identity hit by failures and loss of competitiveness.
The choice of a new coach for La Roja, the renewal of the leadership of the National Professional Football Association and the commitment to a renewed national tournament With new skills they will be the pillars to redirect the destiny of Chilean football.
Everything indicates, however, that the real turn will begin after the electoral scenario of the ANFP is resolved, whose votes will be held in November 2026, to end the presidency of Pablo Milad.
La Roja, between the itinerary and Pellegrini
With just two victories in 18 games, the Chilean team hit rock bottom in 2025 at the end last in the South American Qualifiers. The process closed under the interim leadership of Nicolás Córdova, who succeeded the failed cycles of Argentines Eduardo Berizzo and Ricardo Gareca.
With 2026 in which La Roja will only play friendlies in the three FIFA Date windows, The ANFP seems determined to maintain the interim position of Nicolás Córdova so that the decision of the new coach will be made by Milad’s replacement, who announced that he will leave office after two terms.
The wait would also be linked to the possibility of realizing the great desire of hire the outstanding Chilean coach Manuel Pellegrinicurrently at Spanish club Betis, and who could finish his career in Europe before 2027.
The established idea is that the “Engineer” assumes the process towards the 2030 World Cup, with qualifiers that will begin in a year and a half and a Copa América that will be played in 2028
Finb to the Milad era in the ANFP
Chilean soccer clubs will look for a new president for the ANFP that redirects the destiny of the institution,After more than five years of crisis of results and questions to the economic management of the Milad era.
The current manager has not fulfilled its promise to execute the separation between the Association, regent of the league, and the Federationin charge of the national teams; nor with the establishment of a fan registry within the protocol to protect security in the stadiums and end violence.
A consensus figure has not yet emerged as a candidate within an electoral panorama that is anticipated to be intense. The objective is to revive an institution that has been trying to overcome the debacle caused by the flight of Sergio Jadue for ten years.after his involvement in the FIFA Gate case.
A new tournament for Chilean soccer on the field in 2026
The first major transformation of Chilean football for 2026 will be the evolution of the Super Cup towards a ‘Final Four’ format and the dispute of the newly created League Cupwhich leaves the calendar with three official tournaments and guarantees a significant increase in the number of matches.
The change dictated by the obligation of the ANFP to settle a historic debt with the television station TNT Sportscaused by the suspension of matches during 2019 and 2020, could improve the competitiveness of Chilean clubs that have lost international hierarchy.
The season will begin in January with the Super Cup converted into a quadrangular between the league champion, Coquimbo Unidos, and the second Universidad Católica, and the winner of the Chile Cup, Huachipato, and the other finalist Deportes Limache.
The start of the National championship will be brought forward, which maintains its 30-date format, and in March the League Cup will debut, which, unlike the Chile Cup, Only First Division teams will play it.
2026 represents a restructuring forced by circumstances for Chilean football, where the absence of the World Cup ended up being the catalyst for a profound transformation, whose success will depend on the decisions made in a crucial year for the ANFP.
