Paraguay national under-20 football team
National youth association football team
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Paraguay national under-20 football team represents Paraguay in international football competitions such as FIFA U-20 World Cup and South American Youth Football Championship.
de Fútbol
Antolín Alcaraz | |||
| Nickname | Albirrojita[1][2] | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Association | Asociación Paraguaya de Fútbol | ||
| Confederation | CONMEBOL (South America) | ||
| Head coach | Antolín Alcaraz | ||
| Captain | Gustavo Gómez | ||
| FIFA code | PAR | ||
| |||
| First international | |||
| NA | |||
| Best result | FIFA U-20 World Cup Fourth Place, 1 time (2001) South American Youth Football Championship Champions, 1 time (1971) | ||
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 before winning back-to-back tournaments at the Milk Cup in 2002 and 2003 and once again in 2006.[3] Paraguay also won the 2002 SBS Cup disputed in Shizuoka Japan.[4]
Overview
The under-20 Paraguay national football team has featured many of Paraguay's most prominent players such as Juan Bautista Agüero, Julio César Romero, Roberto Cabañas, Paulo Da Silva, Justo Villar, Salvador Cabañas and Roque Santa Cruz.
The team has participated in 10 events of the FIFA World Youth Championship and the best performance came in the 2001 World Cup held in Argentina, when Paraguay finished in the fourth place. The best performance at the South American level came in 1971 when they won the South American Youth Football Championship (also known as "Juventud de América"), along with four runners-up finishes in 1964, 1967, 1985 and 2009.
Paraguay has qualified for 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup that was held in Egypt.
Current talents for the Paraguay squad include Hernán Pérez, Robin Ramírez, Nicolás Martínez, Federico Santander and Joel Silva.[5]
Tournament records
FIFA U-20 World Cup
| FIFA U-20 World Cup | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hosts / Year | Result | GP | W | D | L | GS | GA | |
 1977 | Group stage | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 2 | |
 1979 | Quarter-finals | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 3 | |
 1981 |
Did not qualify | |||||||
 1983 | ||||||||
 1985 | Group stage | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | |
 1987 |
Did not qualify | |||||||
 1989 | ||||||||
 1991 | ||||||||
| 1993 | ||||||||
 1995 | ||||||||
 1997 | Group stage | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 6 | |
 1999 | Round of 16 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 8 | |
 2001 | Fourth place | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 8 | 11 | |
 2003 | Round of 16 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 4 | |
 2005 |
Did not qualify | |||||||
 2007 | ||||||||
 2009 | Round of 16 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 | |
 2011 |
Did not qualify | |||||||
 2013 | Round of 16 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | |
 2015 |
Did not qualify | |||||||
 2017 | ||||||||
 2019 | ||||||||
| 2023 | ||||||||
| 2025 | Round of 16 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 | |
  2027 |
To be determined | |||||||
| Total | 10/25 | 40 | 14 | 11 | 15 | 50 | 52 | |
Current squad
Paraguay announced their final 21-player squad on 19 September 2025 for the 2025 FIFA U-20 World Cup.[6]
| No. | Pos. | Player | Date of birth (age) | Club |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GK | Facundo Insfrán | 4 May 2006 (aged 19) | Olimpia |
| 2 | DF | Líder Cáceres | 8 February 2005 (aged 20) | Tembetary |
| 3 | DF | Axel Balbuena | 10 March 2006 (aged 19) | Lanús |
| 4 | DF | Alexandro Maidana | 26 July 2005 (aged 20) | Guaraní |
| 5 | DF | Lucas Quintana | 2 January 2005 (aged 20) | Cerro Porteño |
| 6 | MF | Fabrizio Baruja | 12 August 2006 (aged 19) | Olimpia |
| 7 | FW | Gabriel Aguayo | 10 February 2005 (aged 20) | Cerro Porteño |
| 8 | MF | Osmar Giménez | 25 March 2007 (aged 18) | General Caballero |
| 9 | FW | Tiago Caballero | 27 May 2005 (aged 20) | Olimpia |
| 10 | FW | Enso González | 20 January 2005 (aged 20) |  Wolverhampton Wanderers |
| 11 | FW | César Miño | 31 May 2007 (aged 18) | Guaraní |
| 12 | GK | Víctor Rojas | 1 February 2005 (aged 20) | Libertad |
| 13 | MF | Giovanni Gómez | 18 October 2007 (aged 17) | Guaraní |
| 14 | DF | Tobías Morinigo | 22 September 2005 (aged 20) | Olimpia |
| 15 | MF | Gadiel Paoli | 1 October 2005 (aged 19) | Boca Juniors |
| 16 | MF | Octavio Alfonso | 19 December 2005 (aged 19) | Guaraní |
| 17 | FW | Rodrigo Villalba | 2 March 2006 (aged 19) | Libertad |
| 18 | MF | Lucas Guiñazú | 25 August 2006 (aged 19) | Tembetary |
| 19 | FW | David Fernández | 5 January 2006 (aged 19) | Sol de América |
| 20 | DF | Ezequiel Duarte | 2 September 2006 (aged 19) | Independiente |
| 21 | GK | Francisco Hanson | 16 February 2005 (aged 20) | Sportivo Luqueño |
Head-to-head record
The following table shows Paraguay's head-to-head record in the FIFA U-20 World Cup.
| Opponent | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Argentina |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | −5 | 0.00 |
 Austria |
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 100.00 |
| Canada |
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | +3 | 100.00 |
 China |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −1 | 0.00 |
 Costa Rica |
2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 50.00 |
 Czech Republic |
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 100.00 |
| England |
1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | +0 | 0.00 |
| Egypt |
2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | +0 | 50.00 |
 France |
1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | +0 | 0.00 |
 Germany |
2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | −2 | 50.00 |
 Ghana |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −1 | 0.00 |
 Greece |
1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | +0 | 0.00 |
 Iran |
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | +2 | 100.00 |
 Iraq |
2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 1 | +3 | 50.00 |
 Italy |
1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +0 | 0.00 |
| Japan |
1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | +0 | 0.00 |
 Mali |
1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | +0 | 0.00 |
| Mexico |
2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −1 | 50.00 |
| Nigeria |
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | +1 | 100.00 |
 Norway |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −1 | 0.00 |
 Panama |
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | +1 | 100.00 |
| Portugal |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −1 | 0.00 |
| South Korea |
4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 | +1 | 50.00 |
| Soviet Union |
2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −1 | 0.00 |
 Spain |
2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | −2 | 0.00 |
 Trinidad and Tobago |
1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +0 | 0.00 |
 Ukraine |
2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | +0 | 50.00 |
 United States |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | −2 | 0.00 |
 Uruguay |
1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | +0 | 0.00 |
| Total | 39 | 14 | 11 | 14 | 50 | 51 | −1 | 35.90 |