Peru U20

The Peru National Under-20 football team was founded in the 1950s and made their debut at the 1954 South American U-20 Championship. Peru placed Fourth in the tournament and again in 1958. The youth team's most successful period was in the 1950s to 70s, placing fourth in five of the seven South American Youth Championships. Some of the Peruvian players of these tournaments went on to play for the senior team, which qualified and performed well at the 1970 FIFA World Cup and won the 1975 Copa América. Despite the team's good performance, they failed to qualify for the inaugural 1977 FIFA World Youth Championship. Despite this setback, the Peruvians managed to beat Maradona's Argentina 2–1 on the occasion of the 1977 South American U-20 Championship. To date, this is Peru's only victory over Argentina in the tournament.

In 1981, Peru declined participation for that years Youth Championship and did not enter to the World Cup.

Much like the senior team, the youth team faced a decline in performance, not advancing past the First Round in any Youth Championship from 1983 to 2011. It wasn't until 2013 where Peru reached the Final Round of the 2013 South American Youth Football Championship, for the first time since 1975, notably by eliminating Brazil 2–0.

Peru placed fifth in the tournament and reached the final round again in 2015 and 2019. Around the same time, the senior team qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup for the first time in 36 years and reaching the 2019 Copa América final. Players such as Claudio Pizarro and Jefferson Farfán would go on to the senior team, helping Peru achieve these feats. Peru was set to host the 2025 South American U-20 Championship in Arequipa, but CONMEBOL stripped the country of hosting rights due to instability within the Peruvian Football Federation.