Peru national football team

The Peru national football team (Spanish: Selección de fútbol del Perú), nicknamed La Bicolor, represents Peru in men's international football. The national team has been organised, since 1927, by the Federación Peruana de Fútbol (English: Peruvian Football Federation). It has been a member of FIFA since 1924 and a member of CONMEBOL since 1925. It was also a member of PFC, the attempt at a unified confederation of the Americas from 1946 to 1961.

Peru has won the Copa América twice, and has qualified for the FIFA World Cup five times (last appearing in 2018); the team also participated in the 1936 Olympic football competition and has reached the semi-finals of the CONCACAF Gold Cup. The team plays most of its home matches at the Estadio Nacional in Lima, the country's capital. The team wears distinctive 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").^[3] Peruvian football fans are known for their distinctive cheer ¡Arriba Perú! ("Onward Peru!") and large celebrations.^[4] Peru has a longstanding rivalry with Chile.^[5]

The Peru national team enjoyed its most successful periods thanks to footballing generations from the 1930s and the 1970s.^[6] The 1930s generation led Peru at the inaugural FIFA World Cup in 1930 and won the 1938 Bolivarian Games and the 1939 Copa América, with goalkeeper Juan Valdivieso and forwards Teodoro Fernández and Alejandro Villanueva playing important roles. The 1970s generation qualified Peru for three World Cups and won the Copa América in 1975; the team then notably included defender Héctor Chumpitaz and the forward partnership of Hugo Sotil and Teófilo Cubillas. Teodoro Fernández and Teófilo Cubillas are both often considered Peru's greatest player in history.

The national team's all-time top goalscorer is Paolo Guerrero, with 40 goals, and its two joint most-capped players are Yoshimar Yotún and Luis Advíncula, each with 130 appearances.^[7] Since February 2025, Peru is managed by the former goalkeeper Óscar Ibáñez.^[8]