Copa Paraguay celebrates the randomness of rural football
2025 Copa Paraguay begins this last week of May with 17 teams unaffiliated from the Paraguayan FA, many with curious and quirky stories
The slogan for Paraguay’s national cup is “La Copa de Todos” and it is an appropriate tagline for a competition that brings together sides from all 17 departments. As the brutal summer temperatures assuage in February and March, the Pre-Copa heats up across the vast South American territory. Each region hosts its own qualifiers with the winning club allowed to represent their department in the first round proper.
These UFI (Unión del Fútbol Interior) teams from the regional rural leagues play against each other, while the lowest two divisions of the APF pyramid (Primera B & C) fight it out in the same round. The prize in the second phase is a tie against an Intermedia (2nd tier) side while the Primera teams enter in the third round.
STRANDED CHACO CHAMPIONS
In the desolate Chaco region, an area roughly the size of Poland, there will be a three-way playoff between sides representing Alto Paraguay, Boquerón and Presidente Hayes. The Mennonite city of Filadelfia in Boquerón has been chosen as host city after refurbishments to the only stadium began in December 2024. Governor Harold Bergen’s Instagram suggests he is a football fan, mixed in with quotes from Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are photos of him handing out trophies, at a charity game with Chiqui Arce and curiously a meme of Lionel Messi in a PSG shirt holding up the face of a fellow Colorado Party candidate.
The qualifier from the Alto Paraguay region is a team called Olimpic Carmelo Peralta from the small border town of 4,000 people. The town is called the Entrance to the Pantanal, and is one of the most isolated places in the country, in fact the team were stranded for three days and had to be rescued by military helicopter after winning the qualifying tournament. The heavy rains turned the dirt roads to mud, but despite her remote location Carmelo Peralta is developing fast. Straddling the banks of the Paraguay River the city is a literal stone’s throw away from Brazil on the other side of the waterway. The Bioceanic Bridge is a $80m project that will unite the two countries and part of a larger billion dollar vision to unite the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans to drastically reduce exports from Brazil to China. Those dirt roads that stopped Olimpic getting home from the qualifiers could be fully paved by next year.
GOLD RUSH CITY
Down in the Eastern region we find another team profiting from their city’s new found prosperity. Torres Cué FC are based in Paso Yobái and will represent the Guairá department, home of Paraguay’s highest point Cerro Tres Kandú. However, it is what has been found below ground that has driven the sleepy town’s success - in 1996 an Ecuadorean struck gold in the very area the football club are based in, Torres Cué. Since then the city has seen a Gold Rush with a Canadian mining company exploiting much of the local area. For more on that check out this excellent piece from The Paraguay Post.
As for Torres Cué FC, who were only founded in September 2022, they have benefited in a small way from the precious metal discovered in their backyard. In 2024 the local municipality awarded them 10,000,000 guaraníes ($1,250) to make improvements to their ground. In the lead up to their first round game against 15 de Mayo -Ypoá (Paraguarí Department) they’ve managed to sign several players with professional experience. The match takes place in Carapeguá, more than 150 kilometres from Torres Cué’s home ground.
BEAUTY QUEEN RUNNING THE SHOW
In the footballing hotbed of Caazapá that has produced players such as Antonio Bareiro, Alberto Espínola, Roberto Gamarra there is one side on an unprecedented winning run. 14 de Mayo from Fulgencio Yegros have won three local titles in a row and are appearing in the Copa Paraguay for the second time. They face a direct rematch from 2023 against San Pedro de Itapúa, the latter prevailed on penalties last time around.
At the helm of 14 de Mayo, who have been around for over 100 years, is Claudia Jiménez a former beauty queen who took over the presidency in 2021. Her boardroom is now dominated by women, unprecedented not just for Paraguayan football but even more so in the traditional rural communities of the landlocked country. I have an exclusive interview with Claudia coming out in Futbolista soon, so check that out for more information on this remarkable story.
THE ULTIMATE FARMER’S LEAGUE
Our final stop on this quick tour is to the agricultural heartland of San Pedro, almost 200 km north of the capital Asunción. 29 de Junio del Barrio San Pedro from the Guajaybi league are expected to take an impressive amount of fans to Santaní for their game against General Artigas of Curuguatay. The area is known for producing soy, cotton, sugarcane, tobacco, bitter orange and the delicious pomelo. There has also been insecurity in the past in this region, one of the official club sponsors are Grupo Cowboys, a private security firm that have dotted their Instagram feed with men in bullet proof vests and long guns.
Knowing that qualification to the next phase is going to be a titanic task for the club, they opened their doors to open tryouts five weeks ago to recruit talent from the rest of the San Pedro region. Regardless of the result they have also used this success to earn funding from local authorities to improve their Rojas Barrios stadium.
For all the UFI sides representing their local regions, the chance to play on this national stage - even if it only lasts 90 minutes - is a huge achievement for these amateurs. The Copa Paraguay really is the Copa de Todos.