Peru

Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s)	La blanquirroja (the white and red one)
Association	Federación Peruana de Fútbol
Confederation	CONMEBOL (South America)
Head coach	José Guillermo del Solar
Captain	Claudio Pizarro
Most caps	Roberto Palacios (117)
Top scorer	Teófilo Cubillas (26)
Home stadium	Estadio Nacional de Lima
FIFA code	PER
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	50
Highest	34 (September 1997)
Lowest	86 (February 2003)
First international
Peru 0 - 4 Uruguay  (Lima, Peru; November 1, 1927)
Biggest win
Peru 9 - 0 Bolivia  (Lima, Peru; 6 November 1927)
Biggest defeat
Brazil 7 - 0 Peru (Santa Cruz, Bolivia; 26 June, 1997)
World Cup
Appearances	4 (first in 1930)
Best result	Quarterfinals, 1970
Copa América
Appearances	27 (first in 1927)
Best result	Winners, 1939 and 1975

The Peru national football team is the national football team of Peru. The team competes with the other nine nations in the CONMEBOL conference within the FIFA. It is managed by the FPF, the governing body of Peruvian football.

Peru has had great moments in the history of this sport ever since the 1930's. During this time they participated in the first FIFA World Cup, the controversial 1936 Summer Olympics, and won their first Copa América in 1939.

Later, between 1970 and 1982, a Golden Generation of Peruvian footballers once more brought Peru into the view of the world. Teofilo Cubillas was the star of the side, scoring five goals in two different finals, and his attacking flair and skill became synonymous for the world with Peru's football team in the 1970s. The team then qualified for three out of four FIFA World Cups and won the Copa América in 1975.

Nowadays, Peru is still considered one of the best teams in the world (Usually around the 50th spot in FIFA Rankings). The country has kept producing various modern star-players like Jefferson Farfan, Nolberto Solano, Claudio Pizarro, and Jose Paolo Guerrero.

Six straight qualification failures, however, have since plagued the once proud side.

History

Football began to be practiced in Peru in the final part of the XIX century, brought by sailors--English for the most part--that made rest at the port of Callao. In Lima, clubs and teams started to be formed for the practice of the sport. The competition by that time was completely internal and every part of the country had its own league and its own teams, with the leagues of Cusco and Arequipa (Along with some from the North and Center) being the major ones. Allegedly, the first games were quite emotional due to the rivalry between creolles and foreigners. Later, new important rivalries would arise between the Limeans and the Chalacos (people from Callao). It is exactly those games that inmortalized (In Peru) the move known as "chalaca."

La Blanquirroja in the FIFA World Cup

After making their FIFA World Cup debut at Uruguay 1930, Peru next made an impact on the finals at Mexico 1970 where they beat Bulgaria and Morocco to start off the tournament with a surprising bang. The Brazil of Rivelino, Tostao, Jairzinho and Pelé put an end to that adventure 4-2 in the quarter-finals. The World cup of Argentina 1978 saw Peru end up first in their group during the first phase of the tournament, but they were later eliminated after losing all their games in the second phase. Their last World Cup appearance was in that of Spain 1982, a tournament in which Peru was viewed as a favorite. Yet, the problem came when the team basically trained too much and were tired even before the tournament had begun. They were eliminated last in their group, with 2 ties and 1 loss.

Qualifiers and Participations

1930 FIFA World Cup

In Uruguay 1930, Peru was part of group C and lost both games they played, 1:0 against Uruguay and 3:1 against Romania. As an annecdote, the game Peru played against Uruguay inaugurated the historic Estadio Centenario of Montevideo. Among the important figures of notable mention composing the Peruvian team were the goalie Juan Valdivieso, the defense Mario de Las Casas, whom would later found the club Universitario de Deportes and the forward and idol of Alianza Lima, Alejandro Villanueva.

1970 FIFA World Cup

The tale to Mexico 1970 begins from the qualification game played against Argentina in their "mythical" stadium of "La Bombonera." Previously, Peru had beaten Argentina and Bolivia in Lima. At La Paz, Bolivia beat Peru. Thus, Peru only needed a tie to qualify for the World Cup. Peru played one of their best games that day, and were capable to tie the game 2:2 and qualified for the World Cup to be played at Mexico.

Those who stood out in this team were Roberto Challe, Alberto Gallardo, Orlando De la Torre, Teófilo Cubillas, Mifflin, Nicolás Fuentes, and the idol that would be known as the "Captain of America," Héctor Chumpitaz. Afterwards, for the World Cup, the "Cholo" Hugo Sotil joined the team.

Peru entered the tournament in Group 4, and played against Bulgaria (3:2 victory), Morocco (3:0 victory), and Germany (3:1 loss). In the match against Bulgaria, the "Nene" Cubillas marked his first goal. Right now, he is the 6th greatest goal scorer of the World Cups at 10 marks in 3 participations.

As an annecdote to the World Cup, Peru had faced one of their worst earthquakes in history. Several people died, and one whole city was wiped from the face of the earth. Due to this, the team was quite saddened and showed a deplorable first-half against Bulgaria (Losing 2 to nothing). The tale goes on to say that someone uttered: "With this game they're killing those who survived the earthquake back in Peru." True or false, Peru was capable to turn the game back around and beat Bulgaria.

Once in the quarterfinals, Peru faced the Brazil of Pele (Whom would go on to win the cup) and lost 4:2 in a game qualified as one of the best football games in history. Current president of the FIFA, Joseph Blatter, considers it the best. Peru's historic head coach was the Brazilian Valdir Pereira, whom greatly lamented playing against his own country but certainly put up a great fight.

1978 FIFA World Cup

The Argentina 1978 finals also saw Peru finish first in its opening group, as they managed to beat Scotland and Iran, then drew with the eventual finalist, the Netherlands.

Once into the second round in 1978 - a second group stage - they did not live up to their promise, falling rather dismally to Brazil, Poland, and Argentina without scoring a goal. By Spain 1982 the team's performance declined as the team fell at the opening hurdle, drawing with Cameroon and Italy before getting crushed by Poland 5-1.

1998 FIFA World Cup Qualifier

The campaign to reach France 1998 was thwarted only by the goal difference tiebreaker, as they finished even on points with Chile.

2002 FIFA World Cup Qualifier

The preliminaries for Korea/Japan were certainly not any respite from that, as the team finished eighth in the group with just four wins in eighteen matches. The fact that they only managed to score 14 goals demonstrated how far the attack had fallen since the days of Cubillas. Particularly low points of the qualifying tournament included a 3-0 loss at Venezuela and defeats in over half of their home matches to Uruguay, Ecuador, Argentina, Colombia and Brazil.

World Cup record

• 1930 - Round 1
• 1934 - Withdrew
• 1938 - Did not enter
• 1950 - Withdrew
• 1954 - Withdrew
• 1958 to 1966 - Did not qualify
• 1970 - Quarterfinals
• 1974 - Did not qualify
• 1978 - Round 2
• 1982 - Round 1
• 1986 to 2006 - Did not qualify

Copa América

Peru 1939

This was the first international title the team won. During this time, the team had greatly improved since the World Cup and was re-assuring that dominance they had shown over Austria in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Peru won all 4 games which werea gainst Ecuador (5:2), Chile (3:1), Paraguay (2:1), and Uruguay (2:1) in the final. It's worth the mention that in this tournament Argentina and Brazil did not participate, but that doesn't take down the merit of Peru's notable act. Peruvian Teodoro Fernández also was the top goal-scorer of the tournament. As an annecdote, Peru was the fourth South American team that raised the trophy (The first three being Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil).

Brazil 1949

By this time, Peruvian football was recognized by good game and playful management of the ball. Several interesting players came to the national team, but the team faced several problems with the directors and the players themselves. Peru won all but two games. As such, the national team got third place. Paraguay and Brazil, the only ones who beat Peru, had to later play a last tie-breaker match.

Peru 2004

The 2004 Copa América, which they hosted, saw the team lose in the quarter-finals against Argentina. This began a wave of criticism against Peru's then coach Paulo Autuori, who boycotted the media[1], and his squad.

Venezuela 2007

Peru's campaign in the 2007 Copa América saw another futile attempt of the Peruvian squad, eliminated again in the quarter-finals by Argentina; the blame for this was mainly given to the tactics and formations of the current coach Julio César Uribe, who did not call the appropriate players to the national team.

Copa América record

Famous players

Current Squad

Head coach: Vacant

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Leao Butrón	March 6, 1977			San Martín
2	2DF	Miguel Villalta	16 June, 1981			Sporting Cristal
3	2DF	Santiago Acasiete	22 November, 1977			UD Almería
4	2DF	Walter Vílchez	20 February, 1983			Cruz Azul
5	2DF	Alberto Rodriguez	31 March 1984			S.C. Braga
6	2DF	Jhoel Herrera	9 July, 1980			GKS Belchatow
7	3MF	Jair Cespedes				Sport Boys
8	3MF	Juan Carlos Bazalar	23 February, 1968			Cienciano
9	4FW	José Paolo Guerrero	1 January 1984			Hamburg
10	3MF	Juan Carlos Mariño	2 January, 1982			Cienciano
11	4FW	Ysrael Zúñiga	27 August, 1976			Melgar
12	1GK	George Forsyth	20 June, 1982			Alianza Lima
13	2DF	Paolo de la Haza	November 30, 1983			Cienciano
14	4FW	Claudio Pizarro	October 3, 1978			Chelsea F.C.
15	3MF	Edgar Villamarín	April 1, 1983			Cienciano
16	4FW	Andrés Augusto Mendoza	26 April, 1978			Metalurh Donetsk
17	4FW	Jefferson Farfán	20 October, 1984			PSV Eindhoven
18	3MF	Pedro García	14 March, 1974			San Martín
19	3MF	Damián Ísmodes	10 March, 1989			Sporting Cristal
20	4FW	Roberto Jimenez	26 April, 1983			San Lorenzo de Almagro
21	1GK	Juan Flores				Cienciano
22	2DF	John Galliquio	1 December, 1979			Universitario de Deportes

Other players

Goalkeepers

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
	1GK	Joel Pinto				Alianza Lima
	1GK	Diego Penny				Bolognesi
	1GK	Eric Delgado				Sporting Cristal

Defenders

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
	2DF	Amilton Prado	6 May, 1979			Sporting Cristal
	2DF	Ismael Alvarado				Alianza Lima
	2DF	Manuel Corrales				FC Metz
	2DF	Luis Hernandez				Sporting Cristal
	2DF	Martín Hidalgo				SC Internacional

Midfielders

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
	3MF	Rinaldo Cruzado				FC Grasshoppers
	3MF	Rainer Torres				Sporting Cristal
	3MF	Miguel Cevasco				Universitario
	3MF	Juan Vargas				Calcio Catania
	3MF	Nolberto Solano				Newcastle United
	3MF	Henry Quinteros				Lech Poznan
	3MF	Alexander Sanchez				GKS Belchatow

Strikers

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
	4FW	Wilmer Aguirre				FC Metz
	4FW	Miguel Mostto				Barnsley FC
	4FW	Jair Baylon				Sporting Braga
	4FW	Hernan Rengifo				Lech Poznan
	4FW	Daniel Chavez				Club Brugge
	4FW	Piero Alva				Skoda Xanthi
	4FW	Juan Diego Gonzales Vigil				Benfica

Players Recently Retired from the Team

• Jorge Soto
  
• Juan Jayo
  
• Oscar Ibañez
  
• Miguel Rebosio

Managers

• Jack Greenwell, 1939
• Valdir "Didi" Pereira, World Cup 1970
• Marcos Calderón, World Cup 1978
• Roberto Challe, World Cup 1986 Qualifier

• Miguel Company (1990 – 1991, 1994 – 1995)
• Vladimir Popović (1991 – 1993)
• Juan Carlos Oblitas (1995 – 1999)
• Francisco Maturana (1999 – 2000)
• Julio César Uribe (2000 – 2002)
• Paulo Autuori (2002 – 2005)
• Freddy Ternero (2005 – 2006)
• Franco Navarro (2006)
• Julio César Uribe (2007)
• José Guillermo del Solar (2007)

Kit Evolution

1927-1929

1930-1939

1940-1969

Current (1970)

Current (Alternative)

2nd Current (Alternative)

List of Recent International Matches

Date	Venue	Opponents	Result	Score	Type
June 3, 2007	Vicente Calderon Stadium Madrid, Spain	Ecuador	W	2 - 1	Friendly match
June 6, 2007	Mini Estadi Barcelona, Spain	Ecuador	L	2 - 0	Friendly match
June 26, 2007	Estadio Metropolitano de Mérida Mérida, Venezuela	Uruguay	W	3 - 0	Copa América 2007
June 30, 2007	Estadio Polideportivo de Pueblo Nuevo San Cristóbal, Venezuela	Venezuela	L	0 - 2	Copa América 2007
July 3, 2007	Estadio Metropolitano de Mérida Mérida, Venezuela	Bolivia	D	2 - 2	Copa América 2007

Under 17 Team

Early in the year of 2007, the Peruvian U-17 team has been giving brand new stars and hopes to the "blanquirroja" and its fans. After their first FIFA U-17 World Cup appearance in 2005 (Peru as host nation), the team has greatly improved in skill and determination. Their first World Cup saw them lose with merely 1 point.

Road to the 2007 World Cup

In 2007, the Peruvian under 17 football team went to the 2007 South American Under 17 Football Championship that started the 4th of March of that year. In the debut match, the Peruvian team had to face the powerful Brazil. Even though Brazil was the obvious favorite, the Peruvians won the match 2-1 with one goal scored by Reimond Manco and the impressive peruvian forward La Torre.^[1]

After that match, Peru won most of the following matches and ended first in its group (qualifying to the last round) with Reimond scoring another goal.

In the final round of the tournament (where the first 5 qualified to the 2007 FIFA U-17 World Cup) Peru won the first match against Venezuela. Yet, on the next match, Brazil crushed Peru by 4-0 and after that Colombia beat Peru by 3-0. So by the fourth match Brazil, Colombia and Argentina where already qualified for the world cup and Peru, Venezuela and the host Ecuador had to fight for the last qualification spot.

The fifth match saw Peru with the obligation to defeat Ecuador. The match started horribly for Peru when Ecuadorian player Minda scored at the first minutes of play. Peru answered quickly when Reimond Manco assisted Peruvian midfielder Sanchez for a goal. Ecuador wasn't ready to give up, and it scored once again at the 20th minute of the first half. Peru was almost eliminated from the championship, but they once more reacted in the second half and Peru repeatedly attacked Ecuador. Ecuador's goalkeeper Mendoza proved a great challenge, but finally--at the minute 35 of the second half--Reimond Manco scored an olympic goal caused by a mistake from Mendoza. Ecuadorian goalkeeper Mendoza cried because his error caused Ecuador's elimination, and Peru moved once step closer to the World Cup.^[2]

For the last match against Argentina, Peru had to lose for at least 4 goals to be eliminated. Peru was capable to draw the match and classified to the world cup and Reimond Manco was named the best player of the championship by the Conmebol.^[3]

Date	Venue	Opponents	Result	Score
March 4, 2007	Riobamba, Ecuador	Brazil	W	2 - 1
March 6, 2007	Riobamba, Ecuador	Bolivia	W	4 - 1
March 8, 2007	Ambato, Ecuador	Chile	L	1 - 3
March 10, 2007	Ambato, Ecuador	Ecuador	D	0 - 0
March 16, 2007	Ibarra, Ecuador	Venezuela	W	2 - 1
March 18, 2007	Ibarra, Ecuador	Brazil	L	0 - 4
March 20, 2007	Ibarra, Ecuador	Colombia	L	0 - 3
March 23, 2007	Latacunga, Ecuador	Ecuador	D	2 - 2
March 25, 2007	Quito, Ecuador	Argentina	D	1 - 1

International Hexagonal of Niigata

Their most recent accomplishment is that of winning the hexagonal played in Niigata, Japan. The team had previously beaten the local Albirex Niigata football team and Japan to advance into the finals to successfully beat the Hungarian team.

The U-17 squad currently has Juan Jose Oré as their Head Coach.

Date	Venue	Opponents	Result	Score	Type
July 13, 2007	Sport Island Seibo Niigata, Japan	Albirex Niigata	W	3 - 0	International Hexagonal of Niigata
July 15, 2007	Big Swan Stadium Niigata, Japan	Japan	W	1 - 0	International Hexagonal of Niigata
July 16, 2007	Big Swan Stadium Niigata, Japan	Hungary	W	2 - 0	International Hexagonal of Niigata

External links

• Peru FA
• FIFA team profile

Preceded by 1937 Argentina	South American Champions 1939 (First title)	Succeeded by 1941 Argentina
Preceded by 1967 Uruguay	South American Champions 1975 (Second title)	Succeeded by 1979 Paraguay

Template:Fb start

Template:Fb end