Paraguay’s first-ever GAA Cup Final, held on Sunday 7 December, 2025, at the “Heroes of Curupayty” Rugby Stadium in Luque, resulted in a heroic win for “The Elephants”, one of Paraguay GAA’s three teams.
Featuring a jumbo-sized best-of-three games format for the final, The Elephants beat the Jaguars 2-0, irrevocably writing themselves into the history books as the inaugural champions of the Paraguay GAA Cup, with no need to play the final game.
Goals flowing
With the action split into three short games of 15 minutes each, to allow the players some recovery time in the warm Paraguayan evening, both teams got off to a quick start with a point each in the first half of the first game.
The goals started flowing after a short drinks break, with Victor Viera and Patrick McEnroy scoring superb volleys for The Elephants and The Jaguars respectively, before Andrew Kaminsky muscled his way through The Jaguars’ defence to score a superb individual goal to give The Elephants a 7-4 victory in the first game.
After finishing first in the Paraguay GAA League, The Elephants now needed just a win or a draw from the remaining two games to be crowned champions.
The Elephants trumpeting for joy
When the action resumed for the second game, The Jaguars leapt into an early lead with a point, only for The Elephants to score a point themselves to level the scores once more. Another point apiece kept the scores level into the second half, before Victor Viera scored a big-footed tap-in at close range to put The Elephants 5-3 up.
Despite valiant efforts from The Jaguars to claw their way back into the game, The Elephants’ thick-skinned defence left them trumpeting for joy at the final whistle, earning themselves a place in the history books and a day they will never forget.
Man of the Match: Andrew Kaminsky
Andrew, a Paraguayan resident originally from Canada, was new to the sport when he joined a training session for Paraguay GAA in February this year, and was delighted to be named Man of the Match.
“I was never a good football player, but I played a few other sports, and Gaelic Football is a mix of everything. I have made so many great friends by joining this club and we are always looking for new players. Come and give it a try, maybe you will be Man of the Match in the Cup Final next year!”
Gaelic Football in Paraguay
Paraguay GAA’s meteoric rise was started by Suraphot “Mozz” Piokliang, the founder of Paraguay GAA and formerly a player for a local GAA club in Bangkok, Thailand. He brought the sport to Paraguay less than 18 months ago by organising a kickabout in a local Asunción park, shortly after joining the American School of Asunción as a teacher, which has since morphed into a community of 100+ people with three teams.
Mozz spoke to The Asunción Times post-match, immediately after helping to seal victory for The Elephants, and was magnanimous in victory.
“I am thankful for having this group of friends and community that has come together and built this. I am very proud of the teams and the players, and am really looking forward to 2026!”
After the final whistle, both teams, and their supporters, celebrated the inaugural Cup Final with a trunk-load of beer and a kicking competition for the fans.
Join the club!
If you are interested in having a go at Gaelic Football, contact Las Arpas on Instagram, or send a message to club president Giovani Teixeira at +595 972 237 4321. The team practices twice per week and players of all skill levels are welcome to join.
The club is actively recruiting players to join their friendly community, and perhaps to help them compete internationally in Argentina, and overseas. Apart from Mozz, who played Gaelic football in Thailand, none of the current members had any Gaelic football experience before joining Las Arpas.
