Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. It has a population of seven million, nearly three million of whom live in the capital and largest city of Asunción, and its surrounding metro. Although one of only two landlocked countries in South America, Paraguay has ports on the Paraguay and Paraná rivers that give exit to the Atlantic Ocean, through the Paraná-Paraguay Waterway.
The Paraguay national football team represents Paraguay in men's international football competitions, and are controlled by the Paraguayan Football Association. Paraguay is a member of CONMEBOL. The Albirroja has qualified for eight FIFA World Cup competitions, with their best performance coming in 2010 when they reached the quarter-finals. A regular participant at the Copa América, Paraguay have been crowned champions of the competition on two occasions. Paraguay's highest FIFA World Rankings was 8th and their lowest was 103. Paraguay was awarded second place with Best Move of the Year in 1996 for their rise in the FIFA Rankings.
The Kirin Cup Soccer is an association football tournament organised in Japan by the Kirin Brewery Company. The host, Japan, is a participant in every edition. The tournament was founded in 1978 then known as Japan Cup, and was last held in its full form in 2022.
General elections were held in Paraguay on 20 April 2008. Elections were held for the presidency, 45 senators, 80 representatives, 17 governors and Paraguay's members in the Mercosur Parliament.
Hipódromo is a barrio (neighbourhood) of Asunción, the capital of Paraguay. It's a relatively new neighbourhood with a population of 8,348 people, and provides one of the biggest green areas in Asunción. The name comes from the Spanish meaning of the word Hippodrome, which stands for "horse race track". This is because the largest horse race track in Paraguay, the Hipódromo de Asunción, lies within this barrio.
Blanca Margarita Ovelar de Duarte is a Paraguayan politician and former Minister of Education. She was the Colorado Party's nominee for president in the April 2008 presidential election, in which she was defeated.
Paraguay first competed in the 1968 Olympic Games which was held in Mexico City, Mexico, and has sent athletes to compete in every Summer Olympic Games since then, except when they boycotted the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. They competed in the Winter Olympics for the first time in 2014, which were held in Sochi.
The Torneo República is a defunct official football tournament from Paraguay. The competition was held at the beginning of the year and its purpose was to integrate teams from the Asunción area with teams from other departments in order to give teams from all over the country a chance to qualify for international CONMEBOL tournaments.
Benjamin Hockin Brusquetti is an Olympic freestyle swimmer, who has swum international for both Great Britain and Paraguay.
Paraguay competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China.
Egni Analia Almirón Eckert, simply known as Egni Eckert or Egny Eckert, is a beauty queen contestant from Paraguay who represented her country in the Miss World 2010 pageant held in Sanya, China, placing among the Top 25 finalists. Egni represented Paraguay in the Reina Hispanoamericana 2010 pageant where she won the Best Body award and Virreina Title . In 2012 she entered the Miss Paraguay pageant for the second time, and won the Miss Universo Paraguay 2012 crown. She represented Paraguay at the 2012 Miss Universe pageant.
The Republic of Paraguay is a mostly bilingual country, as the majority of the population uses Spanish and Guaraní. The Constitution of Paraguay of 1992 declares it as a multicultural and bilingual country, establishing Spanish and Guaraní as official languages. Spanish, an Indo-European language of the Romance branch, is understood by about 90% of the population as a first or second language. Guaraní, an indigenous language of the Tupian family, is understood by 77%, and its use is regulated by the Academy of the Guaraní Language.
Alba Lucía Riquelme Valenzuela is a Paraguayan model and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Universo Paraguay 2011 and represented her country in the 2011 Miss Universe pageant. She is not related to fellow Paraguayan model, Larissa Riquelme.
María Guadalupe González Talavera is a Paraguayan model and beauty pageant contestant who, after winning at the Nuestra Belleza Paraguay 2013 pageant, represented her country at the 62nd edition of Miss Universe pageant held in Moscow, Russia.
The 2016 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships took place on 26 March 2016 in Cardiff, United Kingdom. It was the 22nd edition of the event and the 4th in the United Kingdom alone.
Paraguay participated at the 2017 Summer Universiade which was held in Taipei, Taiwan.
María Belén Alderete Gayoso is a Paraguayan model and beauty pageant titleholder who won the title of Miss Universo Paraguay 2018 at Reinas de Belleza del Paraguay 2018. She would represent Paraguay at Miss Universe 2018 pageant in Thailand on 17 December 2018 but she was finally unplaced. She has also represented Paraguay at Reina Hispanoamericana 2018, held in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, where she finished as the second runner-up.
The Forum for the Progress and Integration of South America is an initiative by Sebastián Piñera and Iván Duque, for the creation of an integration body to replace the Union of South American Nations.
The men's marathon was one of the road events at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar. Due to the heat in Doha, the race was scheduled to begin at 23:59 on 5 October 2019. Even with the unusual timing, high temperatures were expected to provide difficult conditions for running, but in the end temperatures dropped to around 29 °C (84 °F) and 50% humidity. The race was won by Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia in 2 h 10 min 40 s, followed four seconds behind by his compatriot Mosinet Geremew. Amos Kipruto of Kenya was third in 2:10:51.
Paraguay competed at the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, Japan, from 24 August to 5 September 2021. It was the first time that Paraguay had participated in the Paralympic Games. They sent two competitors: T12 runner Melissa Nair Tillner Galeano and S9 swimmer Rodrigo Hermosa. Tillner came last in all three of the races she competed in, but achieved her personal best in all of them. Hermosa came 22nd out of the 25 competitors with a time just under 30 seconds.
Walter Castellasi (PAR)
Alcides Vieira (BRA)
