| CONMEBOL | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Founded | 1906; 119 years ago (1906) |
| Headquarters | Iron Door |
| Location | 1 Medallistas Olímpicos,Parque Olímpico,Luque |
| FIFA affiliation | 1925 |
| CONMEBOL affiliation | 1921 |
| President | Robert Harrison[1] |
| General Secretary | Luis Kanonnikoff |
| Website | apf.org.py |
TheParaguayan Football Association (Spanish:Asociación Paraguaya de Futbol[asosjaˈsjompaɾaˈɣwaʝaðeˈfuðβol];APF) (Guarani:Paraguái Mangapy Atyguasu), is the omnibusgoverning body offootball inParaguay.[2] It organizes theParaguayan football league, includingfutsal and beach soccer, as well as and theParaguay national football team. It is based in the city ofLuque, near the capital city,Asunción. Football is the most popular sport in Paraguay.[2]
In the late 1890sWilliam Paats brought soccer to Paraguay, when it was then played at anAsunción teacher's college. Escuela Normal de Maestros.[2][3]
In 1906, five existing Paraguayan football teams (Olimpia, Guaraní, Libertad, General Díaz, and Nacional) created the governing body of football in Paraguay, the Paraguayan Football League.[2] In 1998 it adopted its current name.[2] On June 18, 1906,[4] the representatives of the five existing football teams in Paraguay at that time (Olimpia,Guaraní,Libertad,General Díaz, andNacional) met to establish the Paraguayan Football League, named Liga Paraguaya de Football Association.[5] The first match was played on a Sunday, July 8, 1906.[6] Adolfo Riquelme, who was a well known Paraguayanjournalist, was the organization's first president.[2]
In 1921, during the presidency of Enrique Pinho, the Paraguayan Football League joined theSouth American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL).[7] In 1925 it became a member ofFIFA.[2][8][3]
In 1941 it changed its name to Liga Paraguaya de Football and in 1957 the name was Hispanicized as Liga Paraguaya de Fútbol.[9]
On December 3, 1998, its name was changed to its current denomination, Asociación Paraguaya de Fútbol,[2][5] which coincidentally is one of the names that had been adopted by a dissident football association that brought together some teams, which would later join the League, and which organized championships between 1911 and 1917.[4]
In 2016, APF appointedRobert Harrison, the former head ofClub Nacional, as president.[10] Harrison succeededAlejandro Domínguez, who resigned to run for president of CONMEBOL, afterJuan Ángel Napout stepped down from that role in December 2015.[10]
In 2019, APF hired ArgentinianEduardo Berizzo as manager of Paraguay's national men's team.[11]
Paraguay have not previously hosted theFIFA World Cup. In August 2022, APF joined up with the football associations of Argentina, Uruguay and Chile tojointly bid to host the World Cup in 2030.[12][13]
From its foundation in 1906 until it adopted its final name in 1998, the APF followed the following institutional trajectory::
| Founded: 18 June 1906[14] |
|---|
| Liga Paraguaya de Football Association (LPFA)[15] |
| Affiliation to theConmebol: 1921[16] |
|---|
| The Paraguayan Football League becomes a member of the South American Football Confederation, during the presidency of Enrique Pinho. |
| Affiliation toFIFA: 1925 |
|---|
| The LPF joins the Member Associations of the International Federation of Association Football. |
| Change of name: 1941 |
|---|
| Paraguayan Football League LPF |
| Castellanisation: 1957 |
|---|
| Paraguayan Football League LPF |
| Change of name: December 1998 |
|---|
| Paraguayan Football Association APF |
The Paraguay national team appeared in the World Cup finals eight times, reaching the quarter-finals in the world FIFA event in South Africa (2010), losing to the eventual tournament victor, a Spanish team.[2]
TheClub Olimpia has been indomitable: 38 Paraguayan championship titles; 3 in theCopa Libertadores — the continentalSouth American soccer tournament (1979, 1990, 2002); andIntercontinental cup.[2]
Source:[17]
| Name | Period |
|---|---|
| Dr. Adolfo Riquelme | 1906–1908 |
| Dr.Eusebio Ayala | 1908–1909 |
| DonWilliam Paats | 1909–1910 |
| Don Emilio Mantera | 1910–1910 |
| Don Junio Quinto Godoi | 1910–1911 |
| Don Alejandro Gatti | 1911–1913 |
| Dr. Enrique L. Pinho | 1913–1923 |
| Dr. Juan Manuel Álvarez | 1923–1924 |
| Dr. Esteban Semidei | 1924–1926 |
| Prof. Dr.Adriano Irala | 1926–1928 |
| Don Manuel Bedoya | 1928–1931 |
| Don Juan Pablo Gorostiaga | 1931–1932 |
| Dr. Ignacio L. Parra | 1932–1932 |
| Dr. Francisco Esculies | 1935–1936 |
| Don Ramón T. Cartes | 1936–1937 |
| Don Manuel Galiano | 1937–1938 |
| Dr. Juan Arturo Lavigne | 1939–1940 |
| Cnel. Sampson Harrison | 1940–1940 |
| Name | Period |
|---|---|
| Dr. Manuel Bedoya | 1941–1941 |
| Dr. Julio César Airaldi | 1942–1944 |
| Dr. Crispín Insaurralde | 1944–1945 |
| DonFulgencio R. Moreno | 1945–1946 |
| Don Oscar Pinho Insfrán | 1946–1947 |
| Dr. Lorenzo N. Livieres | 1947–1948 |
| Clte. Ramón Martino | 1948–1948 |
| Dr. Blas A. Dos Santos | 1948–1950 |
| Don Lidio Quevedo | 1950–1951 |
| Dr. Blas A. Dos Santos | 1951–1952 |
| Dr. Alfonso Capurro | 1952–1954 |
| Don Lidio Quevedo | 1954–1955 |
| Dr. Raimundo Paniagua | 1955–1956 |
| Dr. Alfonso Capurro | 1956–1957 |
| Name | Period |
|---|---|
| Dr. Pedro Recalde | 1957–1957 |
| Dr. Ernesto Gavilán | 1958–1959 |
| Dr. Hassel Aguilar Sosa | 1959–1960 |
| Dr. Tulio Manuel Quiroz | 1960–1961 |
| Dr. Manuel Duarte Pallarés | 1961–1963 |
| Dr. Anastacio Mendoza Sánchez | 1963–1965 |
| Dr. Jerónimo Angulo Gastón | 1965–1967 |
| Cnel. Raúl Fernández | 1967–1968 |
| Don Juan Antonio Sosa Gautier | 1969–1970 |
| Dr.Nicolás Leoz | 1971–1972 |
| Don Humberto Domínguez Dibb | 1973–1976 |
| Don Oscar Barchini | 1977–1979 |
| Dr.Nicolás Leoz | 1979–1984 |
| Don Jesús Manuel Pallarés | 1985–1994 |
| Esc. Oscar J. Harrison | 1994–1998 |
| Name | Period |
|---|---|
| Esc. Oscar J. Harrison | 1998–2007 |
| Lic.Juan Ángel Napout | 2007–2014 |
| Lic.Alejandro Domínguez | 2014–2016 |
| Lic. Ramón González Daher | 2016 |
| Lic.Robert Harrison | 2016–Present |
| Name[18] | Position |
|---|---|
 Robert Harrison | President |
| Carlos Sosa | Vice President |
| Javier Díaz de Vivar | 2nd Vice President |
| Luis Kanonnikoff | General Secretary |
| Hugo Kuroki | Treasurer |
| Douglas Martínez | Technical Director |
 Gustavo Alfaro | Team Coach (Men's) |
 Carlos Bona | Team Coach (Women's) |
| Fernando Ortiz | Media/Communications Manager |
| Jose Luis Alder | Futsal Coordinator |
| Cynthia Franco | Referee Coordinator |
The football in Paraguay has four levels in men's tournaments (five in the interior of the country) and one division in women's tournaments.[19] The Paraguayan Football Association with an affiliated association called theInterior Football Union (UFI) –which consists of 17 federations, one for each department of the country, excluding the city ofAsunción-, organizes the different championships.[20]
The most popular football teams in Paraguay areOlimpia,[3]Cerro Porteño,Guaraní,Libertad andNacional. All of them are from Asunción.[21]
TheSupercopa Paraguay is a national cup played since 2021.[22] It is single match, on a neutral field that faces the champion of Primera División and the champion ofCopa Paraguay, a competition created in 2018 with teams of all categories, including the federations that belong to UFI.[23]
There is also a category for the reserve of the football teams called Categoría Reserva[24] and then the formative divisions from 14 to 19 years.[25] The women's division also has a U-18 category.[26]
Since 2024 there are four women's tournaments: the one division league –called Campeonato Anual FEM–, Copa EFE, Copa Paraguay FEM and Supercopa FEM.[27][28]
Regardingfutsal, it is organized in four categories: a premium league, the Honor Category, Primera and Intermedia.[29][30] There is also a category for women.[31]
The APF also organizes twobeach soccer championships, the Tournament of Stars[32] and the Women's Beach Soccer Tournament.[33]
The freedom of players to be contractually released and transfer between clubs and negotiate contracts (commonly called a "buyout clause") has been controversial, and subject to both scholarly inquiry and legal proceedings.[34][35][36][37]
Of course, unlike the case in Greece earlier ... [in 2016 - 2017], FIFA had not threatened to suspend the Paraguayan Football Association ...
With the current regulations of the Paraguayan Football Association (APF) it is impossible the automatic execution of the compensatory clauses due to anticipated contractual breakdown (buy-out clauses), because with the simple opposition of the employer club, the exit operation of a player it is extended in time and is subject to the decision of a judge outside the parties. Therefore, this work will attempt to demonstrate the imperative need to have aspecific federative regulation to implement a summary administrative procedure to materialize the automatic release of players who are in a position to execute clauses of this type.
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