Paraguay national under-20 football team represents

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

in international football competitions such as

FIFA U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members' men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 when i ...

and

South American Youth Football Championship The South American Youth Football Championship, also known as South American U-20 Championship (; ), branded as CONMEBOL Sub 20, is a South American football tournament organized by the CONMEBOL for South American national teams of men under age o ...

. The team's most successful period was mostly during 2001 to 2003 and once again in 2006, achieving Fourth place at the

2001 FIFA World Youth Championship The 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship took place in Argentina between 17 June and 8 July 2001. The 2001 championship was the 13th contested. The tournament took part in six cities, Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Mendoza, Rosario, Salta, and Mar del ...

before winning back-to-back tournaments at the

Milk Cup SuperCupNI, formerly called the Northern Ireland Youth Soccer Tournament and the Dale Farm Milk Cup, is an international youth football tournament held annually in Northern Ireland. The cup matches are mainly played in the North Coast area of ...

in 2002 and 2003 and once again in 2006. Paraguay also won the 2002 SBS Cup disputed in Shizuoka Japan.

Overview

The under-20 Paraguay national football team has seen and delivered along the years many of Paraguay's best talents such as Juan Bautista Agüero,

Julio César Romero Julio César Romero Insfrán (born 28 August 1960), also known as Romerito, is a Paraguayan former professional footballer who played as a midfielder, considered among the greatest players in Paraguayan football history. He is the only Paraguay ...

, Roberto Cabañas,

Paulo Da Silva Paulo César da Silva Barrios (born 1 February 1980) is a Paraguayan former professional international footballer who played as a centre-back. He is one of the players in football with most official appearances ever with over 1,039 official a ...

Justo Villar Justo Wilmar Villar Viveros (born 30 June 1977) is a Paraguayan former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Other than in his own country, he also played in Argentina, Spain and Chile, in a senior career that lasted 22 years. A ...

Salvador Cabañas Salvador Cabañas Ortega (born 5 August 1980) is a Paraguayan former professional footballer who played as a striker internationally for the senior Paraguay national team, and earlier for the national U17 and U20 teams. Cabañas played for ...

and

Roque Santa Cruz Roque Luis Santa Cruz Cantero (; born 16 August 1981) is a Paraguayan professional footballer who plays as a striker for Paraguayan Primera División club Libertad. He is the record goal scorer and has earned over 100 caps for the Paraguay n ...

. The team has participated in 8 events of the

FIFA World Youth Championship The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members' men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 when i ...

and the best performance came in the 2001 World Cup held in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, when Paraguay finished in the fourth place. The best performance at the South American level came in 1971 when they won the

(also known as "Juventud de América"), along with four runners-up finishes in 1964, 1967, 1985 and

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

. Paraguay has qualified for

2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 17th edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, which was hosted by Egypt from 24 September to 16 October 2009. The tournament was initially going to take place between 10 and 31 July. However, the 2009 FIFA Confede ...

that was held in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. Current talents for the Paraguay squad include Hernán Pérez,

Robin Ramírez Robin Ariel Ramírez González (born 11 November 1989), also known as Robin Ramírez, is a Paraguayan footballer who plays as forward for Sportivo Iteño in the Paraguay División Intermedia. Career It started in the club's training Club Lib ...

, Nicolás Martínez,

Federico Santander Federico Javier Santander Mereles (born 4 June 1991) is a Paraguayan professional footballer who plays as a forward for Uruguayan club Nacional and the Paraguay national team. Club career Early career Santander started in the youth divisions ...

and Joel Silva.

Tournament records

FIFA U-20 World Cup

Current squad

announced their 23-man squad on 8 January 2025 for the

2025 South American U-20 Championship The 2025 South American U-20 Championship was the 31st edition of the South American U-20 Championship (, ), the biennial international youth football championship organised by CONMEBOL for the men's under-20 national teams of South America. It was ...

. On 14 January 2025, forward

Ezequiel González Ezequiel "Equi" González (; born 10 July 1980 in Rosario) is a former Argentine midfielder. Career González started playing professionally at home-based first division Rosario Central in 1997. His success in the club from Rosario (Santa F� ...

was replaced by David Fernández due to an injury. Head coach:

Aldo Duscher Álvaro 'Aldo' Pedro Duscher (born 22 March 1979) is an Argentine football manager and former player who played as a defensive midfielder. He is the current manager of the Paraguay national under-20 team. Renowned for his physical presence on t ...

Head-to-head record

The following table shows Paraguay's head-to-head record in the

References

External links

APF Website
{{South American Football Under-20 South American national under-20 association football teams