Paraguay Sports – The Most Popular Sports in Paraguay
Wondering what sports the Paraguayans like to play?
Discover everything about the most popular sports in Paraguay in this post. ⚽️
The Most Popular Paraguayan Sports
Find below Paraguay national sports, ranked by popularity:
| Rank | Sport |
|---|---|
| 1 | Football |
| 2 | Basketball |
| 3 | Volleyball |
| 4 | Tennis |
| 5 | Swimming |
So there you have them, the top 5 most popular sports in Paraguay! Keep reading below for more information about each sport in Paraguay.
What is the National Sport of Paraguay?
The national sport of Paraguay is football. Like many other countries, Paraguay is crazy about football. The sport is so popular that it is part of the nation’s culture, and while it is not officially the national sport, it is the sport emblem of Paraguay.
Learn More About Paraguay Popular Sports
Paraguay is a Spanish-speaking country that lies in South America. It is bordered by Argentina, Brazil, and Bolivia, and its capital city is Asunción, which counts more than 525,000 inhabitants (but more than 2,722,000 if you include the metropolitan area!).
An interesting part of the country that I wanted to tackle is its most popular sports. In light of that, I have listed all of Paraguay popular sports, and I hope you will love them:
Football
The most popular sport in Paraguay is, by far and away, football.
The sport was introduced in the country by Dutchman William Paats, when he immigrated from the Netherlands, in 1888. Shortly after, in 1900, small competitions started being organized in the capital city of Asunción, and the Paraguayan Football Association was founded in 1906 after many football clubs were created. It joined FIFA in 1925.
Since then, football has skyrocketed in Paraguay, and there are now more than 1,600 teams spread throughout the country, as well as many national leagues.
Famous Paraguayan Football players: Roque Santa Cruz, Carlos Gamarra, Óscar Cardozo, Pablo César Aguilar, Nelson Valdez, Roberto Acuña, Juan Rodrigo Rojas, Miguel Almirón
Basketball
The second most popular sport in Paraguay is basketball.
The American sport has been around in the country since 1936. At that time, there was no governing body for it, and it was overseen by the Paraguayan Sports Association. 11 years later, the Paraguayan Basketball Federation was founded. It immediately joined the International Basketball Federation, or FIBA, in the same year.
The national basketball team has not seen a very wide success, as their best achievements are finishing as runner-up in the 1955 and 1960 South American Basketball Championship.
Famous Paraguayan Basketball players: Javier Martínez, Daniel Pérez, Diego Bareiro, José Fabio, Federico Mellone, Bruno Zanotti, Gabriel Peralta, Robertro Latraro, Alejandro Peralta
Volleyball
The third most popular sport in Paraguay is volleyball.
Volleyball is quite famous in Paraguay, even though the major achievements of the country date back to several decades ago. The men’s national team won a silver medal in the South American Volleyball Championship of 1958, and 2 bronze medals in later editions. As for the women’s team, they won a silver medal in 1964 and a bronze medal in 1967.
Like in many other countries, it is most appreciated by the youth that discovers and loves the game during their studies, usually.
Famous Paraguayan Volleyball players: Laura Ovelar
Tennis
The fourth most popular sport in Paraguay is tennis.
Tennis has always been a significant sport in the country. The national tennis team competed in their first Davis Cup in 1931, and they at best reached the quarterfinals in 1983, 1984, 1985, and 1987. As for the Fed Cup, Paraguay first attended it in 1991 and qualified for the World Group Play-offs in 1995.
Some of the most famous Paraguayan tennis players are Victor Caballero, Hugo Chapacú and Verónica Cepede Royg.
Famous Paraguayan Tennis players: Víctor Pecci, Rossana de los Ríos, Verónica Cepede Royg, Victor Caballero, Hugo Chapacú, Ramón Delgado, Francisco González, Montserrat Gonzalez
Swimming
The fifth and last most popular sport in Paraguay is swimming.
This might surprise you, considering Paraguay is one of only two landlocked countries in South America, but swimming is one of the major sports in the country.
There are lots of Paraguayan Olympic swimmers, like Marcos Prono, Verónica Prono, and Antonio Leon. Even though the country has yet to win a gold medal at the Olympic Games (it only won a silver medal once), swimming remains very popular. It might be dethroned by rugby union in the upcoming years though.
Famous Paraguayan Swimming players: Julio Abreu, Alfredo Carrillo, Alan Espínola, Andrea Prono, Genaro Prono, Marcos Prono, Verónica Prono, Antonio Leon, Ben Hockin, Karen Riveros
So there you have them, these were all the most popular sports in Paraguay. I hope you enjoyed them and that you learned something new today.
In case you want to learn more about sports in other countries, feel free to keep reading, as I still have lots of things to tell you about:
More Sport Facts!
Loved these Paraguay sports facts? Want to see what sports are the most popular in other countries?
Then check out these posts:
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