Thomas Rayer

The moment that put Thomas Rayer on Paraguayan football's map came from the bench in Quito. On 28 February 2024, in the second leg of a Copa Libertadores round of 32 tie against Ecuador's El Nacional, he came on as a substitute and scored in the 89th minute. Sportivo Trinidense won 1-0, enough to go through on the away-goals rule after a 1-1 draw in Asunción, and sent the club into the round of 16 of the continent's premier competition for the first time in its history.

Rayer's route to that stage began outside the top flight. He arrived at Sportivo Trinidense from Deportivo Capiatá, and was part of the squad when Trinidense won the División Intermedia in 2022, the result that earned the club promotion to Paraguay's top division. He scored the goal that settled the decisive match of that campaign.

Born in Buenos Aires, the Argentine right-footed player has since become a fixture in Trinidense's league side, appearing in 78 league matches with 7 goals and 9 assists, alongside a single Copa Paraguay appearance and ten continental matches, in which he has scored twice.

There is no record of Rayer having represented Argentina or Paraguay at international level, and his career to date reads as a club story: a free transfer that coincided with a promotion, and a substitute's goal that gave Sportivo Trinidense a night it had never had before.