The following article presents a summary of the 2008 association football season in Paraguay. One of the most noticeable changes in the 2008 season is that the first division tournament will not longer have a single champion for the year; instead there will be two champions in the season, one being the winner of the Apertura tournament and the other being the winner of the Clausura tournament.
First division results The first division tournament was divided in two sections: the Apertura and the Clausura and had 12 teams participating in a two round all-play-all system. The team with the most points at the end of the two rounds was crowned as the champion.
Torneo Apertura
Torneo Clausura
Aggregate table
Qualification to international competitions Libertad qualified to the 2009 Copa Libertadores (by winning the Torneo Apertura and Clausura) and the 2009 Copa Sudamericana. Club Guaraní qualified to the 2009 Copa Libertadores as the second best finisher in the aggregate points table. Nacional qualified to the 2009 Copa Libertadores as the third best finisher in the aggregate points table. Cerro Porteño qualified to the 2009 Copa Sudamericana as the fourth best finisher in the aggregate points table.
Relegation The team with the worst average points over the last three years is automatically relegated to the second division league, and the second-worst team plays a playoff match against the second division runner-up. The winner of the playoff match plays in the first division the following year.
TeamAveragePointsPlayed200620072008 Libertad2.17927912683/4095/44101/44 Cerro Porteño2.02325912692/4092/4475/44 Nacional1.48419012653/4060/4477/44 Olimpia1.406180 12650/4076/4454/44 Sol de América1.36312086N/A57/4463/44 Sportivo Luqueño1.33517112656/4066/4449/44 Tacuary1.335171 12666/4051/4454/44 Guaraní1.26516212642/4041/4479/44 2 de Mayo1.12614212658/4034/44 50/42 12 de Octubre1.13214512642/4049/4453/44 3 de Febrero1.06213612636/4049/4451/44 Silvio Pettirossi0.5002242N/AN/A22/44
To promotion game (against second division runner-up) Relegated to Liga Paraguaya: Segunda División Last Updated: December 24, 2008. *
Promotion game The promotion was played between 3 de Febrero and the second division runner-up General Caballero ZC. The first game ended with a 3-0 score favorable to 3 de Febrero, while the second finished 2-1 in favor of General Caballero. Since the aggregate score was 4-2 for 3 de Febrero, they remain in the first division.
Paraguayan teams in international competitions
Team Copa Libertadores 2008 Copa Sudamericana 2008 Libertad Group Stage(finished 4th in the group) First Round(eliminated by Defensor Sporting) Club Sportivo Luqueño Group Stage(finished 3rd in the group) N/A Cerro Porteño Preliminary Round(eliminated by Cruzeiro) N/A Olimpia N/A First Round(eliminated by Universidad Católica)
Paraguay national team The following table lists all the games played by the Paraguay national football team in official competitions during 2008.
DateVenueOpponentsScoreCompParaguay scorersReport February 7, 2008 2 - 0 Friendly March 27, 2008 3 - 0 Friendly May 22, 2008 Nippatsu Mitsuzawa StadiumJapan 1 - 1 2008 Kirin Cup Cristian Bogado May 27, 2008 Saitama Stadium 2002Japan 0 - 0 2008 Kirin Cup June 1, 2008 Stadium MunicipalFrance 0 - 0 Friendly June 15, 2008 Defensores del ChacoAsunción, Paraguay 2 - 0 WCQ 2010 Santa Cruz Cabañas Report June 18, 2008 Estadio Hernando SilesLa Paz, Bolivia 4 - 2 WCQ 2010 Santa Cruz Haedo Valdez Report August 21, 2008 1 - 1 Friendly Cristian Riveros September 6, 2008 Estadio MonumentalBuenos Aires, Argentina 1 - 1 WCQ2010 Heinze Report September 9, 2008 Defensores del ChacoAsunción, Paraguay 2 - 0 WCQ2010 Riveros Haedo Valdez ReportOctober 11, 2008 El CampínBogotá, Colombia 0 - 1WCQ2010 Cabañas ReportOctober 15, 2008 Defensores del ChacoAsunción, Paraguay 1 - 0 WCQ2010 Cardozo ReportNovember 19, 2008 Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex Muscat, Oman 0 - 1F Vera N/A KEY: F = Friendly match; WCQ2010 = 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
References
External links Paraguay 2008 by Eli Schmerler and Juan Pablo Andrés at RSSSF Diario ABC Color