Club Guaraní is a Paraguayan football team, based in the neighbourhood of Pinozá in outer Asunción. Founded on 12 October 1903, it is one of the oldest and one of the most successful in the country, with eleven Primera División titles, and has never been relegated to a lower division.
Club Guaraní is the second oldest Paraguayan football club. It was founded in 1903 under the name of "Football Club Guaraní" and its first president was Juan Patri. The name of the club derives from the Guaraní people, a big part of Paraguayan culture and history. The colours of the club, black and yellow, were proposed by the Melina brothers (also among the founders of the club) in reference to the colours of Uruguayan club Peñarol, where the Melina brothers played for a few years. The mentioned colors were also used by English privateer Francis Drake in his emblem and shield, which is another reason why they were chosen to represent the club.[1]
Guaraní is one of the traditional teams from the Paraguayan football league and during their history they have won a total of ten championships and were runners-up in fourteen occasions. The most successful era in their history was in the 1960s, where they had an excellent team that won three titles. This era is known as the "golden decade" by the Guaraní fans.[citation needed]
Along with Olimpia, they play the "clásico añejo" (the oldest derby) because they are the two oldest teams from Paraguay. Also, Guaraní, Cerro Porteño and Olimpia are the only teams that have never played in the second division of the Paraguayan league.[citation needed]
In late May 2010, Guaraní became champions after 26 years after defeating Olimpia in a match that ended 2–1 to clinch the 2010 Apertura title.[citation needed]
One of the club's youth teams played at the 2008 Torneo di Viareggio,[2] the 2010 Torneo di Viareggio,[3] the 2012 Torneo di Viareggio[4] and the 2014 Torneo di Viareggio. The team is also the best-positioned Paraguayan team at the U-20 Copa Libertadores reaching the third place in the 2022 edition.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
1980s
José Luis Chilavert (1984)2000s
Aldo Barreto (2003–04) Aureliano Torres (2004–06) Federico Santander (2008–10), (2011–12), (2013–15)2010s
Marcelo Palau (2012), (2014–) Julio César Cáceres (2013–) Fernando Fernández (2013–15)
César Caicedo (2014)[5]Non-CONMEBOL players
Kenji Fukuda (2004) Yuki Tamura (2010)[6] Atilio López Ondino Viera (1963–64) Cayetano Ré (1985) Julio Comesaña (1988)
Oscar Malbernat (1993) Rolando Chilavert (1999) Cayetano Ré (2000) Aníbal Ruiz (2000–01) Gustavo Costas (2001–03) Carlos Diarte (2003) Juan Amador Sánchez (2005) Alberto Jose Fanesi (Jan 1, 2006 – Jan 1, 2007)
Roberto Rojas (2007) Félix Darío León (Feb 2008 – Aug 20, 2011)
Beto Almeida (Aug 23, 2011 – Nov 29, 2011) James Freitas (interim) (2011) Pablo Caballero (Dec 20, 2011 – July 9, 2012) Diego Alonso (July 12, 2012 – June 18, 2013)
Fernando Jubero (interim) (2013) Gustavo Díaz (July 3, 2013 – Aug 6, 2013) Fernando Jubero (interim) (Aug 7, 2013 – Dec 10, 2015) Fabricio Bassa (Dec 16, 2015–Feb 23, 2016) Francisco Arce (Feb 23, 2016–Aug 3, 2016) Daniel Garnero (Aug 6, 2016–Dec 7,2017) Sebastián Saja (Dec 8, 2017–Mar 26, 2018) Fernando Burgo (interim) (2018) Juan Manuel Azconzábal (2018) Gustavo Florentín (2018–2019) Gustavo Costas (2019–2021) Fernando Jubero (2021–2022) Hernán Rodrigo López (2023) Juan Pablo Pumpido (2023) Pablo De Muner (2023) Lucas Bovaglio (2023–2024) Francisco Arce (2024–)