Paraguayan kids get taste of World Cup at FIFA Museum

ASUNCION - Many Paraguayan children dream of seeing their national team play in a World Cup and now, after visiting the FIFA Museum in Asuncion, it feels a little more real as they look forward to their country being back on the biggest stage of all.

Paraguay have played in seven World Cups, including the first in 1930, but their last appearance was back in 2010 when they reached the quarter-finals.

In 2030 they will be back, and playing in Asuncion at the tournament, which will be hosted by Spain, Portugal, and Morocco but will also feature matches in Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina to commemorate the centenary of the first World Cup, hosted and won by Uruguay.

FIFA decided in 2023 that Argentina would host a game to commemorate them finishing runners-up in the first tournament, while Paraguay also get one in recognition of the country being the home of South Americas governing body CONMEBOL.

The South American matches will be the first three played in the tournament and all six host nations will qualify automatically.

FIFA is holding its 75th Congress on Thursday outside the Paraguayan capital, where CONMEBOL headquarters are located, and has sent its treasures - trophies, medals, jerseys, and soccer boots - to South America.

I feel like Im on the field touching the cup and that Im playing. I feel like Paraguay won it, nine-year-old Franco Caballero told Reuters, as he excitedly walked through the exhibit minutes after its inauguration.

Paraguay, which played in four consecutive World Cups between 1998 and 2010, have not returned to the tournament since it was played in South Africa, where they lost in the quarter-finals to Spain, who went on to lift the trophy.

In the current South American qualifiers, Paraguay are in fifth place, which would give them