Asunción – the centre of all things football – Game of the People
PARAGUAY isn’t exactly a footballing backwater – it is set to be one of the many 2030 World Cup venues, after all – but it is among South America’s less visible nations. That said, they reached the last 16 of the 2026 edition of the competition and have participated in nine in total, including 1930. Paraguay is also where the headquarters of CONMEBOL, the South American Football Confederation, are located.
A country of just 6.5 million people, with the metropolitan area of Asunción accounting for more than 2.5 million, it is no surprise football in Paraguay revolves around the capital city. Every league championship has been won by a team from Asunción, with 109 of 134 titles secured by just three clubs: Olimpia, Cerro Porteña and Libertad.
Asunción is a football city in every sense of the word; 75% of its population have an interest in the game and rivalry between its many clubs can be intense. There are around 20 notable soccer stadiums of all shapes and sizes. The oldest derby – “el clasico más añejo” – involves Olimpia and Guaraní, but there are many permutations in the city, including Olimpia versus Cerro Porteño (the “Super Clásico”) and Olimpia versus Libertad (“Clásico Blanco y Negro). Earlier this year, Olimpia’s game with Cerro Porteño was marred by tear gas, rubber bullets and pitch invasions, underlining the heated nature of meetings between the two biggest names in Paraguayan football.
The game arrived in Paraguay in the late 1800s and there are several interpretations concerning its early days: it was popularly believed that British railroad workers introduced the sport in the form of casual games with their Paraguayan counterparts; equally possible, it is said football was taken to the country by a Dutchman, Wilhelm Paats, who happened to buy a leather ball on his travels and shared the joy of kicking it around with the locals.
At this stage in Paraguay’s history, the country was still recovering from a particularly bloody war with the so-called Triple Alliance of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. This war, which lasted between 1864 and 1870, decimated the male population of Paraguay, with around 80-90% killed in combat. The country endured a dark time, fell steeply into poverty and was hampered by being landlocked and surrounded by rather hostile neighbours.
It was not until the early 20th century that clubs in Asunción and other parts of Paraguay were formed. Essentially, the capital was where most football was played. The oldest club is
Olimpia, who were founded in 1902 in what is now known as the barrio of Marsical López. Wilhelm Paats was instrumental in the formation of the club and chose a name that honoured the Greek city where the Olympic Games were born. A year later, Guaraní were established in the Pinozá neighbourhood of Asunción, a club that adopted the colours of none other than Sir Francis Drake, the English explorer and privateer.
Over the next few years, more clubs emerged, with Nacional kicking off in 1904 after being organised by students at the Colegio Nacional de la Capital, one of Asunción’s most prestigious schools, and Libertad from the Las Mercedes district starting out in 1905. Libertad, although 26-times champions, have often been overshadowed by the big two of Olimpia (48 titles) and Cerro Porteño (35), but they won the Apertura title in 2025. Olimpia were regarded by many as the club of the establishment as they had strong links with General Alfredo Stroessner, the leader of the nation between 1954 and 1989. The club’s president between 1974 to 1990 and 1995 to 2004 was Osvaldo Domínguez Dibb, a politician and businessman who was also regarded as an oligarch. He made much of his money during the time of Stroessner. When Dibb left Olimpia, the club went into something of a decline.
Needless to say, in recent times, Paraguay’s top clubs have struggled to keep pace with their Argentine and Brazilian rivals in the Copa Libertadores. Only three times in the past 10 years has a Paraguayan club reached the last eight and in 2026, the last of the four representatives, Cerro Porteño, were knocked out in the round of 16. Paraguay has three Libertadores triumphs to its name and they were all achieved by Olimpia, in 1979, 1990 and 2002. The first of those, in 1979, was part of a golden year for Paraguayan football as the national team won the Copa América, beating Chile in the final.
Those halcyon days seem so far away today, but Paraguay has the chance to step into the limelight in 2030. The Estadio Osvaldo Domínguez Dibb is being rebuilt for the occasion, taking the capacity to 46,000, but two years into the project, the site remains dormant.
That’s not the case for football in the capital city. Given the number of clubs from Asunción, there are local derbies in every round of fixtures in the División de Honor. This week its Olimpia v Nacional and in seven days’ time Libertad face Guaraní and Nacional meet Recoleta. On November 5, it’s the big one, Cerro Porteño v Olimpia. In Asunción, the action never stops.
Main Photo: Alan Martinez via Unsplash
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