Paraguay National Team: La Albirroja Football Squad, Fixtures and African Kick-Off Times

The Paraguay national team, nicknamed La Albirroja for its red and white striped shirts, is the football side of the Asociación Paraguaya de Fútbol, founded in 1906, and it plays home matches at the Estadio Defensores del Chaco in Asunción. Paraguay are a CONMEBOL nation with Copa América titles in 1953 and 1979, Olympic silver from Athens in 2004 and a run to the 2010 World Cup quarter-finals. South African readers will know them as the soccer team Bafana Bafana drew 2-2 with at the 2002 World Cup.

Paraguay faced Nigeria at the 1998 World Cup and South Africa at the 2002 World Cup, then reached the quarter-finals alongside Ghana in 2010. The squad, fixtures and records modules explain the selected players, match schedules and records. The sections below explain how to read those modules, what time Paraguay kick off where you live, and why a country in red and white stripes keeps turning up in African football memory.

Who Are La Albirroja, and Where Does the Name Come From?

La Albirroja is the Paraguay national team, and the nickname refers to Paraguay's red and white striped shirts. The team is run by the Asociación Paraguaya de Fútbol, founded in 1906, and plays in CONMEBOL, the South American confederation, alongside the likes of Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay.

Paraguay played at the very first World Cup in Uruguay in 1930, beating Belgium 1-0 after losing 3-0 to the United States, so their World Cup history is as old as the tournament itself. Paraguay sit on the map between the two great powers of Argentina and Brazil, and they qualified for the 2026 World Cup, their first qualification since 2010. For a Harambee Stars or Cranes fan, that is the kind of record a football country outside the obvious giants can point to as proof of what patience and organisation can build.

Paraguay Fixtures: What Time Is Kick-Off Where You Live?

Paraguay fixtures and results sit in the modules, each with its kick-off shown in WAT, SAST, EAT and GMT, so you never have to do the sum yourself. The reason the box matters is geography. Matches in the Americas are often played in the local evening, and by the time that whistle goes in Asunción, Accra and Lagos are deep into the night, while Johannesburg, Nairobi and Kampala are later again. GMT (Accra) is the earliest of the four zones, WAT (Lagos) is an hour ahead of it, SAST (Johannesburg) two hours ahead and EAT (Nairobi and Kampala) three.

Readers in the five countries can consult the fixture listing for viewing information. That being said, the habit that serves you best is simple. Check the fixture on the day, read the kick-off in your own zone, and decide in advance whether it is a match to stay up for or one to catch as a replay before work, because a qualifier finishing after midnight in Nairobi makes for a very different evening from the same match in Accra.

Who Is in the Paraguay Squad?

The current Paraguay squad is the live module, listing the players called up for the latest international window with their clubs and positions, and it updates whenever the head coach names a new group. The squad module shows the selected players and their club affiliations. So, read the club column first, because it tells you where each player earns his living and which league matches you can watch him in during the weeks between Paraguay games.

When a World Cup squad is announced, the same module carries the full list, and it is worth a slow read to spot which names you already know from the club game.

Who Coaches Paraguay, and How Do They Play?

The head coach is named in the squad module, because coaches change, but the Paraguayan way of playing has stayed recognisable across generations: compact, organised and very hard to score against. In my opinion, the clearest proof is the 2011 Copa América, when Paraguay reached the final in Argentina without winning a game before the knockout rounds, then lost 3-0 to Uruguay. A side that travels that far on draws and resilience is built on defending as a unit, set pieces and patience. Paraguayans call that spirit garra, the grip of a team that refuses to let a match go, and it is the quality to watch for whoever stands on the touchline.

How Do You Read Paraguay's Qualifying Table?

Paraguay qualify for the World Cup through the CONMEBOL table, a single league in which every South American nation plays every other home and away, and the places at the top decide who goes to the finals. That is how Paraguay reached the 2026 World Cup, their first finals since 2010. The table, or log as South Africans say, works like any league: three points for a win, one for a draw, and goal difference to separate teams level on points. So, read the points column first and the gap to the qualifying line second.

The CONMEBOL table rewards the thing Paraguay do best, which is taking points from difficult away trips. Altitude in La Paz and Quito, long journeys and loud stadiums make every away draw worth more than it looks, much like a draw in Kumasi or Kano feels in the Ghanaian or Nigerian leagues. When the module is live during a qualifying campaign, look at home and away results separately, because a team that wins at the Defensores del Chaco and draws on the road is, it could be argued, usually doing enough to stay in the race.

What Have Paraguay Won, and How Far Have They Gone at the World Cup?

Paraguay have won the Copa América twice, in 1953 and 1979, and took Olympic silver at the 2004 Athens Games after a 1-0 final defeat to Argentina. They also reached the Copa América final in 2011. Paraguay qualified for the 2026 World Cup after their previous finals appearance in 2010. The knockout years before 2010 tell a story of fine margins: a 3-0 round of 16 loss to England in 1986, Laurent Blanc's golden goal for France in 1998 and Oliver Neuville's 88th minute winner for Germany in 2002.

In South Africa in 2010, Paraguay beat Japan on penalties in the round of 16 and then lost 1-0 to Spain in the quarter-final, their best finish through 2010. Spain went on to win the tournament, which says something about the size of that task. For Black Stars fans, the same tournament sits close to the heart, because Ghana reached the quarter-finals too and went out to Uruguay on penalties. The table that follows sets out selected Paraguay World Cup milestones. The records module carries subsequent tournament comparisons.

Who Holds the Paraguay Records?

Roque Santa Cruz had scored 32 international goals for Paraguay by 2022, and the records module carries the appearance leaders and the live totals. Around Santa Cruz sit the legends a Lagos debate still reaches for. José Luis Chilavert, the goalkeeper of the 1998 and 2002 World Cups, scored free kicks and penalties for his country and was named the IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper in 1995, 1997 and 1998, which, it could be argued, makes him the most unusual great of the modern game. Salvador Cabañas, the striker older fans remember from the 2000s, completes the group most often named first.

Where Do Paraguay Play, and How Do You Get Tickets?

Paraguay play home matches at the Estadio Defensores del Chaco in Asunción, a ground that opened in 1917 and is named after the soldiers who fought in the Chaco War. The name tells you how much the stadium means to the country, because it ties the national team to a national memory rather than to a sponsor. On a qualifying night the stands fill with red and white stripes, and the noise comes through even on a small screen in a Surulere viewing centre. For a neutral watching from Africa, it is perhaps the easiest picture on the continent to recognise at a glance.

Tickets for Paraguay home matches are sold through the Asociación Paraguaya de Fútbol and its official partners, and tickets for World Cup finals through FIFA's official channels. For an African reader, that usually means a trip planned around a tournament rather than a single qualifier, and the safest habit is to buy from the official seller and nowhere else. If you are watching from home instead, the fixtures module gives the date and the kick-off in your own zone, which is how most fans across the five countries will see the stripes.

Why Do Paraguay Matter in South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Uganda?

Paraguay matter in Africa because they keep turning up at the moments African football remembers. South Africa met them at the 2002 World Cup, where the sides drew 2-2 and Paraguay went through to the round of 16. For Nigerians, the defining match is the 3-1 Paraguay win over the Super Eagles in the 1998 group stage in France, in a group that also held Spain and Bulgaria, and it is a result Nigerians still search for. Both sides went through from that group, so, in my opinion, the night reads now less as a wound than as a lesson in how Paraguay close out a match.

Ghana's link is the 2010 parallel, when the Black Stars and La Albirroja both reached the quarter-finals in South Africa. Kenya and Uganda have no World Cup meeting with Paraguay, so Harambee Stars and Cranes fans mostly follow the side through Paraguayan players in European club football and in fantasy squads. None of the five African nations competes with Paraguay for anything now, which makes them an ideal team to adopt as a neutral, one you can enjoy without a knot in your stomach. More sides worth following in the same way sit in our national teams section.

Is It the Paraguay National Team or the Paraguay Football Team?

Both are right, and readers choose by country. Fans in Nigeria, Ghana and Uganda mostly search for the Paraguay national team, South Africans tend to type Paraguay football team, and Kenyans use both, while the Paraguay squad is what everyone looks for when a call up is announced. In Asunción the side is simply La Albirroja, and commentators from Lagos to Nairobi use that name. So, whichever words you type, you reach the same team, the same red and white stripes and Roque Santa Cruz's 32 international goals, recorded by 2022.