Abbreviation LFP Headquarters Madrid Membership 42 football clubs | Type Sports association Region served Spain | |
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Formation July 27, 1984; 32 years ago (1984-07-27) | ||
The Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional (National Professional Football League), also known as the Liga de Fútbol Profesional (LFP) and more known as the LaLiga, is a national sports association responsible for administering the two professional football leagues in Spain - the Primera and Segunda División. The organisation was founded in 1984.
Contents
Competition
The 42 member clubs of the LFP are grouped into two divisions: La Liga (20 clubs) and Segunda División (22 clubs). In any given season a club plays each of the others in the same division twice, once at their home stadium and once at that of their opponents. This makes for a total of 38 games played each season in LaLiga and 42 in Segunda División.
Clubs gain three points for a win, one for a draw, and none for a defeat. At the end of each season, the club with the most points in LaLiga Santander is crowned champion. If points are equal, the head-to-head records determine the winner. If still equal, the goal difference and then goals scored become the deciding factors. As for Segunda División, at the top end three clubs win promotion to LaLiga, with the bottom three LaLiga clubs taking their places. At the lower end, four club are relegated to Segunda División B, while four teams from Segunda División B join LaLiga 1|2|3 in their stead.
General Assembly
The General Assembly is the deliberative assembly of the LFP. It is composed of the 42 football clubs and public limited sports companies (Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D.) that make up the Primera and Segunda División. Each club/S.A.D. is usually represented by its respective president.
President
The president, along with the other members of the Executive Committee, is responsible for the day-to-day running of the organisation. The current president is Javier Tebas, who was elected to the post in April 2013.
Television rights
In February 2011 the LFP threatened strike action if the Spanish government did not lift the ruling that one game per week must be shown free. The ruling was introduced in 1997 and the LFP want it lifted for the 2012–13 season. Spain's LFP threatens to halt games over TV row. Recently (2015) RFEF announced that they would stop the games from 16 May onwards, following a row with Spanish Authorities where RFEF is demanding Spanish Authorities to stop interrupting in LFP's financial issues. They said in a statement: "Regarding the decision adopted by the RFEF's General Assembly to indefinitely suspend all football competitions at every level, the LFP states that it has taken the corresponding legal actions in defence of the rights and legitimate interests of the clubs, as well as the rights of the competitions that it organises and that have been grossly affected by the aforementioned decision by the RFEF. The RFEF's decision is null and void by law... given that the sports law and the current co-ordination agreement attributes to the LFP the right to organise professional competitions and approve the sporting calendar of those competitions. The LFP expressly reserves the right to take legal action to claim for the serious damages as well as any financial, sporting, social or any other type of harm that may arise from the RFEF's decision."
Sponsorship
On 22 November 2013, Huawei became the global partner of Liga de Fútbol Profesional. The official ball supplier for the Liga de Fútbol Profesional is Nike who have had the contract since the 1996–97 season when they took over from Adidas.