At Cambridge University he won his blue for football in 1883. A "speedy, two-footed defender", he appeared in two FA Cup Finals for Old Etonians, being on the winning side in 1882 against Blackburn Rovers, but losing out the following year to Blackburn Olympic.
In the 1882 final, he was part of the last "all amateur" side to win the FA Cup as well as the last team from south of Birmingham to win it during the nineteenth century. The Old Etonians fielded a team with nine players with previous FA Cup final experience, having reached the final four times in the previous seven seasons. In the match itself, de Paravicini and Arthur Kinnaird managed to contain the Blackburn Rovers forwards, whilst the Old Boys' forwards continually created problems for the Rovers' defence until Reginald Macaulay managed to steer the ball between the Blackburn goalposts for the only goal of the game.
In February and March 1883 he was selected for all three England internationals, against Scotland, Wales and Ireland. England comfortably defeated the Welsh 5–0 (with a hat trick from Clement Mitchell) and the Irish 7–0, but lost out to the Scots by the odd goal in five.
On 31 March 1883, the Old Etonians reached the FA Cup final for the third consecutive year and were comfortable favourites to defeat Blackburn Olympic. Olympic however were well organised and defeated the Old Boys 2–1 after extra time.
After his exploits in the FA Cup and for England, de Paravicini made occasional appearances for the Corinthians. He also played for Windsor football club and made representative appearances for London, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire, and The South versus The North.
