Sport in Peru
Encyclopedia
Football
Football is the most popular sport in Peru, and they have competed in four FIFA World CupFIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association , the sport's global governing body...
s.
- 19301930 FIFA World CupThe 1930 FIFA World Cup was the inaugural FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football teams. It took place in Uruguay from 13 July to 30 July 1930...
- 19701970 FIFA World CupThe 1970 FIFA World Cup, the ninth staging of the World Cup, was held in Mexico, from 31 May to 21 June. The 1970 tournament was the first World Cup hosted in North America, and the first held outside South America and Europe. In a match-up of two-time World Cup champions, the final was won by...
(Quarterfinals) - 19781978 FIFA World CupThe 1978 FIFA World Cup, the 11th staging of the FIFA World Cup, was held in Argentina between 1 June and 25 June. The 1978 World Cup was won by Argentina who beat the Netherlands 3–1 after extra time in the final. This win was the first World Cup title for Argentina, who became the fifth...
(Quarterfinals) - 19821982 FIFA World CupThe 1982 FIFA World Cup, the 12th FIFA World Cup, was held in Spain from 13 June to 11 July. The tournament was won by Italy, after defeating West Germany 3–1 in the final.-Host selection:...
The national team
Peru national football team
The Peru national football team, known as 'el equipo inca', represents Peru in international football competition and is managed by the Peruvian Football Federation . The team competes against the other nine members of FIFA's CONMEBOL conference, which encompasses the countries of South America...
has also won two Copa América
Copa América
The Copa América —previously known as South American Championship—is an international football competition contested between the men's national teams of CONMEBOL, the sport's continental governing body...
trophies: 1939
South American Championship 1939
The fifteenth edition of the South American Championship was held in Lima, Peru from January 15, 1939 to February 12, 1939.The participating countries were Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay. Although CONMEBOL member since 1927, this tournament was the first time the Ecuadorian side...
and 1975
Copa América 1975
The 1975 edition of the Copa América football tournament was played between July 17 and October 28. For the first time in the history of the event there was no fixed venue, and all matches were played throughout the year in each country. In addition, the tournament changed its name from South...
.
Football legends from Peru include Alejandro Villanueva
Alejandro Villanueva
For the stadium by this name in Peru, see Estadio Alejandro VillanuevaCarlos Alejandro Villanueva Martinez was a Peruvian football player, considered one of the most important Alianza strikers in the 1920s and 1930s.-Career:Born in Lima, he played his entire career for Alianza Lima...
, Teodoro Fernandez
Teodoro Fernández
Teodoro Fernández Meyzán , nicknamed "Lolo", was a Peruvian football striker...
, Valeriano López
Valeriano López
Valeriano López Mendiola was a football forward from Peru, nicknamed Tanque de Casma...
, Alberto Terry
Alberto Terry
Alberto "Toto" Terry Arias-Schreiber was a former Peruvian footballer who played for Universitario de Deportes and the Peruvian national team, is recognized as Peru's most important midfielders....
, Hugo Sotil
Hugo Sotil
Hugo Alejandro Sotil Yerén is a Peruvian former professional football player. Nicknamed El Cholo, he played as a striker or midfielder. Together with Teófilo Cubillas and Héctor Chumpitaz, he was one of Peru's most recognized football players of the 1970s...
, Cesar Cueto, Roberto Challe
Roberto Challe
Roberto Federico Chale Olarte, "Roberto Challe" is a former Peruvian football player, recognized as one of Peru's most important midfielders....
, Héctor Chumpitaz
Héctor Chumpitaz
Héctor Eduardo Chumpitaz González is a former footballer from Peru...
and Teófilo Cubillas
Teófilo Cubillas
Teófilo Juan Cubillas Arizaga is a Peruvian former footballer. He was selected as Peru's greatest ever player in an IFFHS poll, in which he was also included in the world's Top 50...
, Peru's most successful striker in the World Cup Finals with 10 goals.
Current renowned players include midfielder Nolberto Solano
Nolberto Solano
Nolberto Albino "Nobby" Solano Todco is a Peruvian footballer who plays for Hartlepool United. He has spent much of his career in the English Premier League and also played 95 times for Peru between 1994 and 2009...
(Hull City
Hull City A.F.C.
Hull City Association Football Club is an English association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, founded in 1904. The club participates in the Football League Championship, the second tier of English football...
), Juan Manuel Vargas
Juan Manuel Vargas
Juan Manuel Vargas Risco , is a Peruvian footballer who plays as a wing-back for Italian Serie A club A.C.F. Fiorentina, and the Peru national team and is currently the team's captain...
(Fiorentina) and strikers Claudio Pizarro
Claudio Pizarro
Claudio Miguel Pizarro Bosio is a Peruvian football forward. Pizarro plays for Werder Bremen of the German Bundesliga...
(Werder Bremen), José Paolo Guerrero
José Paolo Guerrero
José Paolo Guerrero Gonzales is a Peruvian footballer who plays as a striker for Hamburger SV and Peruvian national team. Known as the best peruvian soccer player today.- Early career :...
(SV Hamburg) and Jefferson Farfán
Jefferson Farfán
Jefferson Agustín Farfán Guadalupe is a Peruvian football player, playing for Schalke 04 in the Bundesliga.-Club career:Farfán began his professional career with Alianza Lima of Peru, with whom he signed for in 2001...
. Alianza Lima
Alianza Lima
Club Alianza Lima is a Peruvian First Division football club who plays at the Estadio Alejandro Villanueva in the La Victoria District of Lima, Peru. They are one of the most famous and well supported clubs in the country and the oldest team in the Peruvian First Division.Alianza enjoyed success...
, Sporting Cristal
Sporting Cristal
Club Sporting Cristal is a Peruvian football team. Based in the Rímac District, in the department of Lima, it plays in the professional league known as the Peruvian First Division. Founded on November 16, 1926 in the Rimac District given its approval to the merger and Snuff Sporting merging with...
, and Universitario de Deportes
Universitario de Deportes
Club Universitario de Deportes, also known as Universitario, or more popularly as [La] "U", is a Peruvian football club located in Lima. It is the most successful football club in Peru. The club was founded in 1924 under the name Federación Universitaria by students of the National University of...
are the biggest teams in Peru. In 2003, Cienciano won the Copa Sudamericana beating Argentinian club River Plate
Club Atlético River Plate
Club Atlético River Plate is an Argentine sports club based in the Nuñez neighborhood of Buenos Aires. It is best known for its professional football team, which currently competes in Nacional B, the second tier of Argentine football....
, and then proceeded to beat Latin American powerhouse Boca Juniors
Boca Juniors
Club Atlético Boca Juniors is an Argentine sports club based in La Boca neighborhood of Buenos Aires. It is best known for its professional football team, which currently plays in the Primera División....
(Also from Argentina) in the Recopa Sudamericana
Recopa Sudamericana
The Recopa Sudamericana is an annual football match-up between the reigning champions of the previous year's Copa Libertadores and the Copa Sudamericana, South America's premier club competitions....
played in Miami. Sporting Cristal was finalist in the Copa Libertadores de America 1997, South Americas most important football tournament. Also Universitario de Deportes but in 1972.
Taekwondo
TaekwondoTaekwondo
Taekwondo is a Korean martial art and the national sport of South Korea. In Korean, tae means "to strike or break with foot"; kwon means "to strike or break with fist"; and do means "way", "method", or "path"...
was first introduced in Peru by John Polar. Polar, an Arequipeños instructor master the art of Taekwondo in Cochabamba, Bolivia, and introduced this form of Martial Art in the early 1970s. The first Peruvian Taekwondo Clubs were to be found in Arequipa.
Late in 1970's Sa Bum Nim Byon Oh Park, introduce Taekwondo in Lima. By about 1979, Sa Bum Nim Jon Hye, after a few years spent in Argentina also joined Byon Oh Park in disseminating Taekwndo in Lima.
Simultaneously to these two, John Polar and Byong Oh Park, Alex Velazques was doing Taekwondo with a reduced number of practices along with "La Yegua" Leiblinger who later moved to Argentina.
It was Byon Oh Park, who introduced the regulated form of Taekwondo and started to teach to some new Taekwondo instructors. Of those, Percy Vergara and Juan Infantas were the main instructors and the ones who started the dissemination of Taekwondo to bigger audiences. Both Percy Vergara and Juan Infantas started to run a Taekwondo Club in the San Marcos University. They also open up a Club, Black Belt Taekwondo Club where most of their best students from San Marcos continued training.
In 1981, the first open martial arts competition was run. In this competition, practitioners from Kung Fu, Shotokan Karate, Kyokushinkai and other styles, along with Taekwondo took part. It was the first time Taekwondo athletes were to take part in any open national event. It was also the golden debut of Taekwondo as the first three places were for Taekwondo teams.
3rd Place: Black Belt Taekwondo
2nd Place: San Marcos Taekwondo
3rd Place: Jon Hye Taekwondo Academy.
It is in that tournament that names of Cesar Landeo (Black Belt) and Luis Oshiro (Jon Hye) became famous and well known. Cesar Landeo in particular attracted the attention of athletes of different styles in Martial Arts.
After this experience Taekwondo grew up in popularity and a number of Clubs and academies started to flourish. Late in 1981, Saboming Ki Hyung Lee arrived to Peru and joined forces into making this sport even more popular. Percy Vergara started clubs in Regattas Lima, as Cesar Landeo started one in the Engineering National University (UNI) where he graduated as Electrical engineer. The UNI team has won more than 10 university championships between 1981 and 1994 at university level. Other Takwondo Clubs appeared and flourished, thanks also to the contribution of Ki Bong Lee, So Yong Kim and Eui Wan Chong.
In the south of Peru, Taekwondo was disseminated by Professor Angel Cabrera, Angle Leon, while in the north by Professor Luis Benites.
Today Taekwondo, although it has lost the prestige it gained by the mid 90's is still going strong, while great efforts are done to restore its stand in the Peruvian Sport. The tireless effort of Cesar Landeo and Carlos Fuller should soon restore this.
In the 2008 Olympic Games, Peruvian Peter López
Peter López
Peter López Santos is a Peruvian taekwondo fighter. He is most recognized for being a top international featherweight athlete for the Peruvian Taekwondo Team at present.-Biography:...
finished 4th.
Volleyball
Another popular sport is Women's volleyball (Silver medal in Seoul 1988 Olympic Games, Runners-up in World Championship in 1982 and 12 times South American champion).Surfing
Felipe Pomar, 2nd World Surfing Championship, Peru 1965, Sofia MulanovichSofia Mulanovich
Sofía Mulánovich Aljovín is a Peruvian surfer. She is the first Peruvian surfer ever to win an Association of Surfing Professionals World Championship Tour event. She is the first South American ever to win the World Title. In 2004, she won three out of the six World Championship Tour events, and...
, Women's World Surf Champion in 2004 and 2005.
Sailing
Peru is the only country of the region that has won the Central, South American & Caribbean Championships for six years in Sunfish Class. In the Optimist Class, it was three times World Champion in Team-Racing in 1997, 1998, and 1780, and have more South American Champions in J24J24
J24, J-24 or J.24 may refer to:* HMS Hebe , a United Kingdom Royal Navy minesweeper which saw service during World War II* J/24, the worlds most produced keelboat and most popular one-design offshore sailboat...
, Windsurf, Laser Class
Laser class
Meanings of Laser Class:* Laser : a class of sail boat* Laser safety: classification of laser products concerning safety hazards...
and Lightning
Lightning
Lightning is an atmospheric electrostatic discharge accompanied by thunder, which typically occurs during thunderstorms, and sometimes during volcanic eruptions or dust storms...
.
Shooting
Peruvian shooters have won 3 of Peru's 4 OlympicOlympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
medals. Edwin Vásquez won Peru's only gold medal in London 1948 Olympic Games, while Francisco Boza (Los Angeles 1984), and Juan Giha (Barcelona 1992) both won silver medals.
Tennis
Luis HornaLuis Horna
Luis Horna Biscari is a former tour professional tennis player from Peru, who turned professional in 1998. Horna plays right-handed, he has a strong serve for a relatively short player and the forehand is his best stroke. He uses a single-handed backhand and his favourite surface is clay...
and Jaime Yzaga
Jaime Yzaga
Jaime Yzaga Tori is a former professional tennis player from Peru.Yzaga played on the professional tour from 1984 to 1996....
are the most famous Peruvian tennis players. Tennis Hall of Famer and Davis Cup and Wimbledon winner Alejandro Olmedo was born in Peru but played for the United States. Laura Arraya is a best Peruvian Tennis player in women's. Her brother is Pablo Arraya
Pablo Arraya
Pablo Guillermo Arraya , is a former tennis player from Peru.Arraya was born in Córdoba, Argentina, and turned professional in 1980. He represented his native country at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, where he was defeated in the first round by Argentina's Javier Frana. The right-hander won...
, a former Peruvian tennis player.
Although the sport is not quite as popular as others in Peru, the Peruvian tennis team generally does well and is usually at the Americas Zone Group I. Twice Peru has gotten to the World Group playoffs in 1989 and 1994, but was not able to advance into the prestigious World Group. In 2007, the Peruvian team, commanded by Luis Horna
Luis Horna
Luis Horna Biscari is a former tour professional tennis player from Peru, who turned professional in 1998. Horna plays right-handed, he has a strong serve for a relatively short player and the forehand is his best stroke. He uses a single-handed backhand and his favourite surface is clay...
and Iván Miranda
Ivan Miranda
Iván Miranda Chang , is a professional tennis player from Peru. He achieved a career-high singles ranking of World No. 104 in 2003....
, beat the Belarus
Belarus
Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...
team of Max Mirnyi
Max Mirnyi
Max Mirnyi is a professional tennis player from Belarus.Today Mirnyi is a doubles specialist, but he also enjoyed a good singles career, finishing in the top 50 in the world for seven straight years, as well as representing Belarus in Davis Cup competition since April 1994, where he holds a...
and Vladimir Voltchkov
Vladimir Voltchkov
Vladimir Nikolayevich Voltchkov is a Belarusian tennis player. Voltchkov reached the semi-final at the 2000 Wimbledon, where, as a qualifer, he lost to Pete Sampras in straight sets...
, and will play in the 2008 World Group.
Club Lawn Tennis de la Exposición is located in the district of Jesús María in Lima, it is the usual court where Peru plays. The court was found in 1884, and was the home scenario for the golden generation of Peruvian tennis players of the 1980s. Its principal colosseum was named after the Buse Brothers, Enrique and Eduardo Buse. Enrique played at Wimbledon and the US Open in 1946 and again at the US Open in 1951.