Peru, Football

The Peru national football team is organised, since 1927, by the Peruvian Football Federation (FPF)[A] to represent Peru in international association football. The FPF constitutes one of the 10 members of FIFA's South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL). Peru has won the Copa América twice and qualified for FIFA World Cup finals five times (last appearing in 2018); it also participated in the 1936 Olympic football competition and has reached the semifinals of the CONCACAF Gold Cup. The team plays most of its home matches at the Estadio Nacional in Lima, the country's capital. The Peruvian team is well-known for its white shirts adorned with a diagonal red stripe, which combine Peru's national colours. This basic design has been used continuously since 1936, and gives rise to the team's common Spanish nickname, la Blanquirroja ("the white-and-red").[4] Peruvian football fans are known for their distinctive cheer ¡Arriba Perú! ("Onward Peru!").[5] Peru has longstanding rivalries with Chile and Ecuador.[6] The Peruvian national team enjoyed its most successful periods in the 1930s and the 1970s.[7] In the 1930s, Peru took part in the inaugural FIFA World Cup in 1930 and enjoyed victories in the 1938 Bolivarian Games and the 1939 Copa América, with goalkeeper Juan Valdivieso and forwards Teodoro Fernández and Alejandro Villanueva playing important roles. In the 1970s, Peru qualified for three World Cups and won the Copa América in 1975, attaining worldwide recognition; the team then notably included defender Héctor Chumpitaz and the forward partnership of Hugo Sotil and Teófilo Cubillas, often regarded as Peru's greatest player. The national team's all-time top goalscorer is Paolo Guerrero, with 35 goals, and its most-capped player is Roberto Palacios, with 128 appearances.[8] Under manager Ricardo Gareca, Peru earned third at the 2015 Copa América, reached the quarterfinals of the Copa América Centenario, and participated in the group stage of the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals.