Current FIFA Ranking: 39
Highest FIFA Ranking: 8 (March 2001)
Lowest FIFA Ranking: 103 (May 1995)
Football Team Nickname: La Albirroja (The White and Red)
Honours: Copa America (2): 1953, 1979
Head coach: Gustavo Alfaro (Aug 2024)
Top scorer in qualifying: Antonio Sanabria (4)
Star players: Antonio Sanabria (Cremonese), Miguel Almiron (Atlanta United), Angel Romero (Corinthians)
After 16 years in the World Cup wilderness, Paraguay are back at the finals after finishing sixth in qualifying, the final automatic CONMEBOL place.
Now under the stewardship of Argentine Gustavo Alfaro, who led Ecuador to the 2022 finals, The White and Red will be led on the pitch by Atlanta United’s Miguel Almiron who was 16 years old the last time they qualified in 2010 and he recalls watching their first match – a 1-1 draw with Italy in Cape Town – with his friends at his home in the San Pablo neighbourhood of Asunción. “That fills you with pride, to see your country in this huge competition… you always dream of that.”
Their last World Cup appearance, in 2010, ended in their best finish – reached the quarter-final where they lost 1-0 to eventual winners Spain.
