[6] The 1930s generation led Peru at the inaugural FIFA World Cup in 1930 and won the 1938 Bolivarian Games and the 1939 Copa América, with goalkeeper Juan Valdivieso and forwards Teodoro Fernández and Alejandro Villanueva playing important roles.

The 1970s generation qualified Peru for three World Cups and won the Copa América in 1975; the team then notably included defender Héctor Chumpitaz and the forward partnership of Hugo Sotil and Teófilo Cubillas.

The national team's all-time top goalscorer is Paolo Guerrero, with 39 goals, and its two joint most-capped players are Roberto Palacios and Yoshimar Yotún, both with 128 appearances.

[25][26] During one of these tours—Alianza Lima's undefeated journey through Chile in 1935—emerged the Rodillo Negro ("Black Roller"), a skillful group led by forwards Alejandro Villanueva, Teodoro Fernández and goalkeeper Juan Valdivieso.

[27] Sports historian Richard Witzig described these three as "a soccer triumvirate unsurpassed in the world at that time", citing their combined innovation and effectiveness at both ends of the field.

[6] Peru and the Rodillo Negro impressed at the 1936 Summer Olympics, won the inaugural Bolivarian Games in 1938, and finished the decade as South American champions.

Sociologists Aldo Panfichi and Victor Vich write that Los Potrillos "became the hope of the entire country"—fans expected them to qualify for the Italy 1990 World Cup finals.

[43][E] Burga's twelve-year tenure as FPF president, deemed by journalists and the public as disastrous for the national team, despite a third place at the 2011 Copa América, ended in 2014.

[56] Rory Smith, Chief Soccer Correspondent for The New York Times, referred to Peru's 2018 version of the jersey as "a classic" with a nostalgic, fan-pleasing "blood-red sash".

[3] According to historian Jaime Pulgar-Vidal Otálora, the idea for the design came from school football matches in which coloured sashes worn over the shoulder would allow two teams wearing white shirts to play against each other.

The FPF has signed contracts with manufacturers from Brazil (Penalty, 1981–82), Switzerland (Power, 1989–1991), Italy (Diadora, 1991–1992), England (Umbro, 1996–1997, 2010–2018), Ecuador (Marathon Sports, 2018–2022), and another from Germany (Puma, 1987–1989).

[66] To celebrate the centenary of Peru's independence from Spain, Lima's British community donated the original Estadio Nacional, a wooden structure with a capacity of 6,000.

[72] Despite the synthetic ground's rating of "FIFA Star II", the highest certification granted to artificial pitches, players accused the turf of causing them injuries, such as burns and bruises.

Outside the desert-like coast region of Lima, the thin atmosphere at the high-altitude Estadio Garcilaso de la Vega in Cusco has been described as providing strategic advantages for Peru against certain visiting teams.

[77] In 2017, following Peru's qualification for the Russia 2018 World Cup finals, the Peruvian Football Federation announced the creation of a new complex, the Center of National Teams, in Lima's Chaclacayo district.

[80] Originally largely exclusive to Lima's Anglophile elite and expatriates, and secluded from the rest of the city,[81] football became an integral part of wider popular culture during the 1900s and 1910s.

[83] According to the historian Carlos Aguirre, nationalist fervor spiked during the qualification phase for the 1970 World Cup finals, because the revolutionary government of General Juan Velasco Alvarado tied the national team's success with the alleged cultural, social, and psychological changes spurred by the country's new political project.

[87][G] In 2018, a FIFA-sanctioned worldwide online poll honoured the "fervent and dedicated group" of Peruvian supporters at that year's World Cup tournament with the FIFA Fan Award.

[90] During a qualifying match for the 1964 Olympics between Peru's under-20 team and its counterpart from Argentina, the Uruguayan referee Angel Payos disallowed a would-be Peruvian equaliser, alleging rough play.

[99] According to cultural historian Michael Handelsman, Ecuadorian fans consider losses to Colombia or Peru "an excuse to lament Ecuador's inability to establish itself as an international soccer power".

[8] Managers that brought outstanding changes to the Peru national team's style of play include the Hungarian György Orth and the Brazilians Didi and Tim.

[106] Víctor Benítez, Peru's defensive midfielder under Orth, attributes the Hungarian with maximizing the team's potential by accurately placing each player in their optimal positions.

[112] Chumpitaz is often cited as the team's best defender; Witzig lists him among his "Best Players of the Modern Era", and praises him as "a strong reader of the game with excellent ball skills and distribution, [who] marshalled a capable defence to support Peru's attack".

[114] Before Cubillas' appearance, Teodoro "Lolo" Fernández, a forward nicknamed El Cañonero ("The Cannoneer"), held the status of Peru's greatest player—due to his powerful shots, marksmanship, and club loyalty to Universitario.

[123] In 2022, streaming service Netflix launched "Contigo capitán", a series about Paolo Guerrero's doping ban that almost impeded his participation in the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

[23] Peru won the inaugural FIFA Fair Play Trophy, awarded at the 1970 World Cup, having been the only team not to receive any yellow or red cards during the competition.

[130] During the 1930 competition, a Peruvian became the first player sent off in a World Cup—his identity is disputed between sources as either defender Plácido Galindo or midfielder Mario de las Casas.

[H] Peru's Ramón Quiroga holds the unusual record of being the only goalkeeper to commit a foul in the opponent's side of the pitch in a match at the World Cup finals.

[142] Peru progressed past the North American tournament's first stage, despite not winning any of its matches, as the second-best ranked team in Group B behind the United States.

[142] Peru next defeated Honduras 5–3 in a heated quarter-finals match that ended a minute early due to a pitch invasion by irate Honduran fans.