Peru was invited to join the Olympics for its first time in 1936, when they were to be held at Berlin. Among the line of players featured in this first participation of the "Blanquirroja" were Alejandro Villanueva, Teodoro Fernández, Juan Valdivieso, and Adelfo Magallanes. The Peruvian players, after arriving to Germany by transport of an Italian ship, were awestruck by the modern stadiums and the German idolatry of Adolf Hitler. The first match against Finland was played on August 6, 1936, and was won with great ease by the Peruvians with a 7-3 result. Peru's next match was against Austria in the quarterfinals. The match was highly contested, and the game went into overtime when the Peruvians tied the Austrians after being two goals behind. Peru scored 5 goals during overtime, of which 3 were nulled by the referee, and won by the final score of 4-2.