The Copa Paraguay is a knockout football competition in men's domestic Paraguayan
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
, starting in 2018 and succeeding the defunct
Torneo República. The project for its creation was officially presented in December 2017 and approved by the
Paraguayan Football Association's Executive Committee on 20 February 2018.
The competition starts in April and ends in November, with the winner of the cup qualifying for the following year's
Copa Libertadores
The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...
(
Copa Sudamericana until the
2022
The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...
edition). If the cup winner has already qualified for South American competitions through the league, then the cup runner-up (or the third-placed team) will qualify. If the top three teams have all already qualified for South American competitions through the league, then the best-placed team in the
Paraguayan Primera División
The División Profesional de la Paraguayan Football Association, Asociación Paraguaya de Fútbol (; "Professional Division of the Paraguayan Football Association"), also known as the Primera División (; "first division"), or due to sponsorship ...
that has not yet qualified for an international competition will qualify for the Copa Sudamericana. Starting from the
2021 edition, the winner also qualifies for the
Supercopa Paraguay.
Format
For its first edition in
2018
Events January
* January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency.
* January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...
, the competition was divided into two stages: a preliminary stage and the national stage.
In the preliminary stage, teams from the
Primera B,
Primera C, and the
UFI competed for 20 berths to the national stage: 7 Primera B teams, 6 from the Primera C, and 7 from the UFI qualified for the next stage of the competition.
In the national stage, the 12
Primera División teams and the 16
División Intermedia teams entered the competition, for a total of 48 teams which were drawn into 24 ties, with the winners qualifying for the second round. The 12 second round winners as well as the four best losers advanced to the round of 16. From that point onwards, the Copa Paraguay continued as a single-elimination tournament.
However, starting from
the following edition, the competition was expanded from 48 to 64 teams, allowing for greater participation from teams from the lower tiers and scrapping the preliminary round. It continued being a single-elimination tournament, with all teams entering the competition in the first stage. In April 2022, APF confirmed that a total of 74 teams would join the 2022 edition.
Paraguay: ¿Cómo será el nuevo formato?
/ref>
Results
Performance by club
Performance by leagues
''As of 2024''
References
External links
Copa Paraguay on the APF's website
{{National football Cups (CONMEBOL region)
National association football cups
Football in Paraguay