El Salvador national rugby league team

Not to be confused with CR El Salvador.

The El Salvador national rugby league team (Spanish: rugby league equipo nacional de El Salvador), nicknamed El Trueno Azul (English: Blue Thunder), represents El Salvador in rugby league. They had their first international 9's tournament in 2015 in Australia along with Chile in Latin America at the Cabramatta International Nines.^[1]

El Salvador

Team information
Nickname	El Trueno Azul
Governing body	-
Region	-
Head coach	Fredy Salvador Arteaga Figueroa
Captain	Alvaro Alarcon
Most caps	Eric Orellana
Top try-scorer	Daniel Godinez (5)
Top point-scorer	Alvaro Alarcon, Daniel Godinez (20)
IRL ranking	45th
Team results
First international
Chile 58–20 El Salvador  (Sydney, Australia; 31 January 2015)
Biggest win
Colombia 10-48 El Salvador  (Rochedale, Brisbane; 21 October 2018)
Biggest defeat
Chile 58–20 El Salvador  (Sydney, Australia; 31 January 2015)
World Cup
Appearances	0 (first time in -)
Best result	-

History

IRL Men's World Rankings v t e
Official rankings as of July 2025
Rank	Change	Team	Pts %
1		Australia	100
2		New Zealand	83
3		England	80
4		Tonga	62
5		Samoa	53
6		Papua New Guinea	51
7		Fiji	43
8		France	29
9	2	Netherlands	22
10		Cook Islands	22
11	2	Serbia	18
12		Wales	18
13		Malta	16
14	1	Greece	14
15	1	Ukraine	13
16		Lebanon	11
17		Italy	10
18		Ireland	9
19	5	United States	8
20	1	Jamaica	8
21	1	Czech Republic	8
22		Scotland	7
23	2	Chile	7
24	1	Philippines	7
25		Poland	5
26	1	Germany	5
27	1	Norway	5
28	2	South Africa	5
29		Brazil	4
30		Kenya	4
31		Canada	4
32		Montenegro	3
33		North Macedonia	3
34	22	Morocco	3
35	1	Argentina	3
36	1	Albania	2
37	1	Bulgaria	2
38	1	Ghana	2
39	1	Nigeria	2
40	1	Turkey	1
41	1	Cameroon	1
42	1	Japan	1
43	1	Spain	1
44	1	Colombia	1
45	1	El Salvador	0
46	1	Russia	0
47	1	Bosnia and Herzegovina	0
48	1	Hong Kong	0
49	1	Solomon Islands	0
50	1	Vanuatu	0
51	6	Hungary	0
52	1	Latvia	0
53	1	Denmark	0
54	1	Belgium	0
55	1	Estonia	0
56	1	Sweden	0
57	7	Niue	0
Complete rankings at www.internationalrugbyleague.com

See also: History of rugby league

Rugby league Has yet to be played on El Salvador soil but efforts are in place to bring rugby league to Central and South America through the Latin Heat Rugby League. In the very first full Latino team 4 Salvadorans were included.^[2] After the Latin Heat fielded enough Salvadoran players to make up a Rugby league nines team they entered into the Cabramatta International Nines tournament in 2015.^[1]

On 17 October 2015 The El Salvador national rugby league team debuted in the Latino Rugby League Sevens Tournament on 17 October 2015. They finished 1-1.^[3]

The El Salvador national rugby league team entered the 2016 Cabramatta International Nines on 30 January with a 15-man squad. Their pool consisted of Ireland, DV Koori and Malta.^[4][5][6]

On June 11, 2016 The Trueno Azul made their full 13-a-side debut playing latino rivals Chile at Henson Park, Sydney. El Salvador lost 58-20.

Current squad

The El Salvador national team selected for the 2016 Cabramatta International Nines tournament were:

Other Nat.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Pts
Australia	Wing	Javier Alarcon	(1995-07-20) 20 July 1995 (age 30)	3	0
Australia	Wing	Eric Orellana	(1991-06-03) 3 June 1991 (age 34)	8	0
Australia	Centre,Second-row	Michael Alarcon	(1995-02-14) 14 February 1995 (age 30)	5	4
Australia	Centre,Wing	Michael Zamora-Rivera	(1991-06-19) 19 June 1991 (age 34)	3	0
Australia	Five-eighth	Miguel Gonzalez	(1990-08-31) 31 August 1990 (age 34)	3	4
Australia	Halfback	Alvaro Alarcon	(1991-02-21) 21 February 1991 (age 34)	5	20
Australia	Prop	Fredy Artega Figueroa	(1981-03-22) 22 March 1981 (age 44)	5	6
Australia	Prop	JC Mendez	(1993-01-29) 29 January 1993 (age 32)	5	0
Australia	Prop	Josh Guzman	(1998-09-01) 1 September 1998 (age 26)	8	0
Australia	Prop	Roque-Joel Perez Mejia	(1988-12-13) 13 December 1988 (age 36)	6	0
Australia	Hooker	Ronnie Rivas	(1983-06-18) 18 June 1983 (age 42)	6	0
Australia	Second-row	Walter Godinez	(1974-11-23) 23 November 1974 (age 50)	8	0
USA	Second-row	Edgar Ayala	(1992-08-28) 28 August 1992 (age 33)	3	0
Australia	Second-row	Junior Alarcon	(1997-07-31) 31 July 1997 (age 28)	5	4
Australia	Lock	Daniel Godinez	(1985-03-31) 31 March 1985 (age 40)	6	20

Competitive record

Below is table of the representative rugby league nines matches played by El Salvador up until 12 October 2015:^[7]

Opponent	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn	Win %	For	Aga	Diff
American Samoa	1	-	1	-	0%	4	46	-42
Chile	1	-	1	-	0%	20	34	-14
Malta	1	-	1	-	0%	4	30	-26
Niue	1	-	1	-	0%	10	24	-14
Thailand	1	-	1	-	0%	10	20	-10
Uruguay	1	1	0	-	100%	22	14	8
Total	5	1	4	-	17.667%	70	164	-98

The following is a table of full 13-a-side test matches.

Opponent	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn	Win %	For	Aga	Diff
Chile	1	-	1	-	0%	20	58	-38
Uruguay	1	-	1	-	0%	46	10	36
Total	1	0	1	-	0%	20	58	-38

IRL Rankings

IRL Men's World Rankings v t e
Official rankings as of July 2025
Rank	Change	Team	Pts %
1		Australia	100
2		New Zealand	83
3		England	80
4		Tonga	62
5		Samoa	53
6		Papua New Guinea	51
7		Fiji	43
8		France	29
9	2	Netherlands	22
10		Cook Islands	22
11	2	Serbia	18
12		Wales	18
13		Malta	16
14	1	Greece	14
15	1	Ukraine	13
16		Lebanon	11
17		Italy	10
18		Ireland	9
19	5	United States	8
20	1	Jamaica	8
21	1	Czech Republic	8
22		Scotland	7
23	2	Chile	7
24	1	Philippines	7
25		Poland	5
26	1	Germany	5
27	1	Norway	5
28	2	South Africa	5
29		Brazil	4
30		Kenya	4
31		Canada	4
32		Montenegro	3
33		North Macedonia	3
34	22	Morocco	3
35	1	Argentina	3
36	1	Albania	2
37	1	Bulgaria	2
38	1	Ghana	2
39	1	Nigeria	2
40	1	Turkey	1
41	1	Cameroon	1
42	1	Japan	1
43	1	Spain	1
44	1	Colombia	1
45	1	El Salvador	0
46	1	Russia	0
47	1	Bosnia and Herzegovina	0
48	1	Hong Kong	0
49	1	Solomon Islands	0
50	1	Vanuatu	0
51	6	Hungary	0
52	1	Latvia	0
53	1	Denmark	0
54	1	Belgium	0
55	1	Estonia	0
56	1	Sweden	0
57	7	Niue	0
Complete rankings at www.internationalrugbyleague.com

See also

• Sports portal

• Chile national rugby league team
• Rugby league in the Americas