Goal Programme - Asociación Paraguaya de Fútbol - 2002

CONMEBOL chose Asunción, Paraguay, as the home for its headquarters, partly because football is the most popular sport in Paraguay. The nation can look back with pride upon a number of success stories at both international and club level. The national team has won the Copa América twice, while Olimpia Asunción have triumphed in the Copa Libertadores twice and the Toyota Intercontinental Cup once. A number of players, such as José Luis Chilavert, Carlos Gamarra, Roque Santa Cruz and Roberto Acuña, for example, have played for European clubs. As a reflection of the popularity of futsal in Paraguay, the national association has also launched a domestic league championship, which is going from strength to strength. National teams are still to taste success on the international stage, but the sustained promotion of futsal could soon change that?

Thanks to the considerable support of the Paraguayan military, who worked free of charge, the training centre in Ypané, near Asunción, was constructed in a record time of just four months. On 5 November 2002, CONMEBOL President and member of the FIFA Executive Committee, Dr Nicolás Leoz, opened the complex in the presence of a member of the Goal Bureau, Dr Manuel Burga, the president of the Paraguayan FA, Óscar Aresio Harrison Jacquet, and other well-known figures from the worlds of sport and politics. The complex has accommodation for players and coaches, a 200m2 sports hall, medical treatment rooms, offices, changing rooms, a restaurant and a 100-seat auditorium. A media room and three pitches (including one for beach soccer) are also part of the complex.