# 2000 in Paraguayan football

The following article presents a summary of the 2000 football (soccer) season in Paraguay.

## First division results
### Torneo Apertura

The Apertura tournament was played in a two-round all-play-all system, with the champion being the team with the most points at the end of the two rounds.
| Position | Team | Played | Wins | Draws | Losses | Scored | Conceded | Points |
| 1 | Olimpia | 18 | 11 | 5 | 2 | 38 | 20 | 38 |
| 2 | Sol de América | 18 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 27 | 21 | 32 |
| 3 | Guaraní | 18 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 28 | 16 | 32 |
| 4 | 12 de Octubre | 18 | 8 | 3 | 7 | 21 | 22 | 27 |
| 5 | San Lorenzo | 18 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 18 | 16 | 27 |
| 6 | Cerro Porteño | 18 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 22 | 17 | 26 |
| 7 | Sportivo Luqueño | 18 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 25 | 31 | 23 |
| 8 | Atl. Colegiales | 18 | 6 | 2 | 10 | 20 | 25 | 20 |
| 9 | Cerro Corá | 18 | 4 | 4 | 10 | 17 | 27 | 16 |
| 10 | Universal | 18 | 2 | 2 | 14 | 20 | 41 | 8 |

### Torneo Clausura

The Clausura tournament was played in a single all-play-all system. At the end, the top eight teams qualified to a playoff stage to determine the Clausura champion.
| Position | Team | Played | Wins | Draws | Losses | Scored | Conceded | Points |
| 1 | Olimpia | 9 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 14 | 6 | 16 |
| 2 | 12 de Octubre | 9 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 14 | 8 | 15 |
| 3 | Cerro Porteño | 9 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 16 | 10 | 14 |
| 4 | Guaraní | 9 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 8 | 6 | 14 |
| 5 | Cerro Corá | 9 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 9 | 8 | 13 |
| 6 | Atl. Colegiales | 9 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 9 | 9 | 13 |
| 7 | Sol de América | 9 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 11 | 10 | 11 |
| 8 | San Lorenzo | 9 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 13 | 18 | 10 |
| 9 | Universal | 9 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 9 | 17 | 6 |
| 10 | Sportivo Luqueño | 9 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 19 | 3 |

#### Clausura playoff stage

The top eight teams qualified to this stage and were given bonus points based on their final standing in the table. Two groups of four teams were made, with the top two of each group advancing to a playoff stage.

##### Group stage

Group A
| Position | Team | Played | Wins | Draws | Losses | Scored | Conceded | Bonus Points | Points |
| 1 | Olimpia | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 3 | [3] | 18 |
| 2 | Guaraní | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 5 | [1.5] | 11.5 |
| 3 | Atlético Colegiales | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 9 | [0.5] | 5.5 |
| 4 | San Lorenzo | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 14 | [0] | 4 |
Group B
| Position | Team | Played | Wins | Draws | Losses | Scored | Conceded | Bonus Points | Points |
| 1 | Cerro Porteño | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 25 | 5 | [2] | 18 |
| 2 | 12 de Octubre | 6 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 10 | [2.5] | 14.5 |
| 3 | Sol de América | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 11 | 13 | [0] | 5 |
| 4 | Cerro Corá | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 20 | [1] | 2 |

##### Semifinals

| Team 1 | Score | Team 2 |
| Olimpia | 2-2 (3 - 1 pen) | 12 de Octubre |
| Cerro Porteño | 1-2 | Guaraní |

##### Clausura final

| Team 1 | Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
| Olimpia | 4-1 | Guaraní | 1-0 | 3-1 |
Olimpia wins the Clausura tournament final by aggregate score of 4–1.

### National championship game

Since Olimpia won both the Apertura and Clausura tournaments they were declared as the national champions and no playoff game was played.
To determine the second place an extra game between the Apertura runners-up (Sol de America) and the Clausura runners-up (Guarani) was played. Guaraní won the game and were declared runners-up of 2000 (aggregate score of 5–4; first leg 3–1 win by Sol, second leg 4–1 win by Guarani).

### Relegation / Promotion

* Universal automatically relegated to the second division after finishing last in the average points table based over a three-year period.
* Libertad promoted to the first division by winning the second division tournament.

### Qualification to international competitions

* Olimpia qualified to the 2001 Copa Libertadores by winning the Torneo Apertura and Torneo Clausura.
* Guaraní qualified to the 2001 Copa Libertadores by finishing as runners-up of the 2000 season.
* The remaining spot for Copa Libertadores was decided in the Pre-Libertadores playoff tournament.

#### Pre-Libertadores playoff

Four teams participated based on aggregate points during the year.
| Position | Team | Played | Wins | Draws | Losses | Scored | Conceded | Points |
| 1 | 12 de Octubre | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 8 | 6 |
| 2 | Cerro Porteño | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 6 | 6 |
| 3 | Sol de América | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 4 |
| 4 | San Lorenzo | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 13 | 1 |
* Since Cerro and 12 de Octubre finished tied in points an extra match was played, with Cerro winning 4-2 and qualifying to the 2001 Copa Libertadores.

## Lower divisions results

| Level | Tournament | Champion |
| 2nd | Intermedia | Libertad |
| 3rd (G.A. teams) | Primera de Ascenso | General Caballero ZC |
| 3rd (interior teams) | UFI Champions Cup | 3 de Febrero (Ciudad del Este) |
| 4th (G.A. teams) | Segunda de Ascenso | Capitán Figari |

## Paraguayan teams in international competitions

* 2000 Copa Libertadores:
** Cerro Porteño: round of 16
** Olimpia: group stage
** Atl. Colegiales: group stage
* Copa MERCOSUR 2000:
** Cerro Porteño: group stage
** Olimpia: group stage

## Paraguay national team

| Date | Venue | Opponents | Score | Comp | Paraguay scorers | Report |
| 2000-02-13 | Estadio Defensores del Chaco Asunción | Hungary | 1 - 1 | F | Unknown | N/A |
| March 29, 2000 | Estadio Nacional Jose Diaz Lima | Peru | 2 - 0 | WCQ 2002 | - | Report |
| April 26, 2000 | Estadio Defensores del Chaco Asunción | Uruguay | 1 - 0 | WCQ 2002 | Ayala 35' | Report |
| June 3, 2000 | Estadio Defensores del Chaco Asunción | Ecuador | 3 - 1 | WCQ 2002 | Toledo 10' Brizuela 42', 63' | Report |
| 2000-06-09 | Sydney Football Stadium Sydney | Australia | 0 - 0 | F | | N/A |
| 2000-06-12 | Suncorp Stadium Brisbane | Australia | 0 - 0 | F | | N/A |
| 2000-06-15 | Etihad Stadium Melbourne | Australia | 2 - 1 | F | Caceres 58' | N/A |
| June 29, 2000 | Estadio Nacional de Chile Santiago | Chile | 3 - 1 | WCQ 2002 | Cardozo 71' | Report |
| July 18, 2000 | Estadio Defensores del Chaco Asunción | Brazil | 2 - 1 | WCQ 2002 | Paredes 6' Campos 83' | Report |
| July 27, 2000 | Estadio Hernando Siles La Paz | Bolivia | 0 - 0 | WCQ 2002 | - | Report |
| August 16, 2000 | River Plate Stadium Buenos Aires | Argentina | 1 - 1 | WCQ 2002 | Acuña 60' | Report |
| September 2, 2000 | Estadio Defensores del Chaco Asunción | Venezuela | 3 - 0 | WCQ 2002 | G. González 30' Cardozo 34' Paredes 43' | Report |
| October 7, 2000 | Estadio El Campín Bogotá | Colombia | 0 - 2 | WCQ 2002 | Santa Cruz 3' Chilavert 89' | Report |
| November 15, 2000 | Estadio Defensores del Chaco Asunción | Peru | 5 - 1 | WCQ 2002 | Santa Cruz 15' Del Solar 25' (o.g.) Cardozo 45' Paredes 65' Chilavert 83' (p.k.) | Report |