Sport in Paraguay
The national team has participated in eight World Cups, won two Copa América tournaments, and earned a silver medal at the Olympic Games in 2004.
All these accomplishments established Paraguay as the fourth most successful football nation in South America behind Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.
At the club level, Olimpia Asunción has won a total of eight international tournaments, including three Copa Libertadores and one Intercontinental Cup.
Among the most important and successful football players in Paraguayan history are Arsenio Erico, Aurelio González, Julio César Romero and José Luis Chilavert.
[11] The first Paraguayan rugby player of note was Nelson Ayala, who played with the English club Saracens F.C.
In 2013 the teams in Primera were CURDA, San Jose, Old King Club, Luque, Cristo Rey, Universidad Autónoma de Asunción, and Santa Clara.
Las Leones often fielded a strong team in Primera, but they are closer to the Posadas, Corrientes and Resistencia, than to Asunción (a 5-hour bus trip).
Teams include Santani, Coronel Oviedo, Villarica, Ciudad del Este and Presidente Franco.
From 2013 a separate Campeonato Metropolitano (Metropolitan Championship) was also established, for new developing teams from Asunción which could not yet compete in Primera.
[12] Fabrizio Zanotti has won two European Tour tournaments, and earned the gold medal at the 2019 Pan American Games.
In 2018, Paraguay's male and female national teams showed highlighted performances, winning the IHF Trophy for under-18 and under-20 championships.
[15] In the same year, the Paraguay under-24 team achieved silver medal in the Campeonato de Naciones Emergentes del Sur y Centroamérica, disputed in Palmira.
The Paraguay Fed Cup team competed in its first Fed Cup in 1991, and their best result was qualifying for the World Group play-offs in 1995. Notable male tennis players from Paraguay include males Victor Caballero, Hugo Chapacú, Ramón Delgado, Francisco González and Víctor Pecci, and female tennis players Rossana de los Ríos, Verónica Cepede Royg and Montserrat González.
