Date founded 1900 | Level on pyramid 1 out of 3 Number of teams 16 | |
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Liga Profesional de Primera División [ˈliɣa pɾofesjoˈnal de pɾiˈmeɾa ðiβiˈsjon] (English: First Division Professional League) also known as the Primera División (local: [pɾiˈmeɾa ðiβiˈsjon]) (English: First Division) is the highest professional football league in Uruguay and organized by the Uruguayan Football Association (AUF) .
Contents
- Format
- Season
- Participating teams
- 2017 Season
- Champions
- 1900 31
- 1932 present
- All time top scorers
- References
The first championship was held in 1900, being an amateur competition until 1932 when the league became professional. From 1900 to the 2014–15 season there have been 111 first division seasons.
The Primera División, called "Torneo Uruguayo Copa Coca-Cola" for sponsorship reasons, is regarded as the 23rd most difficult football league in the 21st century by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics.
Format
After 1994, the competition was divided in two stages, called the Opening Championship (Torneo Apertura) and Closing Championship (Torneo Clausura), with an end-of-season two-legged final match between the winners of these two tournaments.
In the 2005–06 season, the winners of the Apertura and Clausura tournaments played a two (or three) legged play-off; the winner of that playoff played against the best team in the aggregate table to decide the 2005–06 season champion.
In the 2006–07 season, the competition was reduced to 16 clubs.
Season
Originally, like other South American football leagues, the league was contested according to the calendar year, from austral summer to summer in the Southern Hemisphere. In 2005, the league started to play the "European season", from boreal summer to summer in Northern Hemisphere starting in August, with the aim of preventing clubs from losing many players in the middle of the season. In the first semester of 2005, a special tournament was held to decide the qualification to international competition.
The season of 2008–09 was intended to be the last one to be played in "European season", as the system appeared to be unable to prevent clubs from losing players between the Apertura (opening) tournament and the Clausura (closing). As of 2010 the European calendar style remains, but before the beginning of each season there have been talks to change it back to a year calendar, so far without result, until on the year 2016 when they agreed to change it back to a year calendar. So since 2017 to present, the league will have its original calendar year system.
Participating teams
A total of 57 teams have participated in the Primera Division since its inception in 1900. The Nacional has played the most seasons followed by Peñarol. Of the so-called 'minor' teams the record for most seasons lies with Montevideo Wanderers.
2017 Season
Notes: All statistics pertain only to the Uruguayan Championships organized by the Uruguayan Football Association (AUF), not including FUF tournaments of 1923, 1924 and the 1926 Interim Council tournament in seasons counted. The founding dates of clubs are those declared by the clubs themselves involved. The column "stadium" reflects the stadium where the team acts as home in their matches, but does not indicate that the team in question owns the stadium.
Champions
The Uruguayan Championship began in 1900. Between 1923 and 1925, under the Uruguayan football schism, coexisted with the AUF (Uruguayan Football Association) the FUF (Uruguayan Football Federation), dissident organ founded by Peñarol and Central. After intervention by the Uruguayan government to impose the dissolution of the FUF, in 1926 takes place a tournament in two series conducted by the Interim Council to unify the two organizations. Peñarol was the winner of the Serie A of the tournament. Note that the Football Association nor the FIFA do not recognize the titles of the championships organized by FUF or Provisional Council.
Club Atlético Peñarol is the most successful Uruguayan club with 48 titles, followed by Nacional with 46. Of clubs to win titles, only Rampla Juniors did not win multiple titles. Rampla Juniors and Wanderers were the only clubs to not win titles consecutively. Nacional hold the record title streak, winning three titles in a row twice from 1915 to 1917 and from 1922 to 1924.
It took 54 seasons before a club besides Peñarol or Nacional won a title, when Defensor won its first title 1976. Besides Peñarol or Nacional, no other club has won titles consecutively. Both Peñarol (1958 to 1962 and 1993 to 1997) and Nacional (from 1939 to 1943) hold the record title streaks winning five titles consecutively. The longest period of time since either Peñarol or Nacional won a title was from 1987 to 1991, when Defensor, Danubio, Progreso, Bella Vista, and Defensor Sporting together won five titles in that period.
1900-31
All tournaments organized by the Uruguayan Football Association (AUF) except where it indicated.
1932-present
This chart includes the leading scorer by season so there are no records for the period 1900–31.
All-time top scorers
The chart includes championships since 1900 to present days.