Portuguese football competitions

Portuguese football is divided into divisions (divisões, singular — divisão). The major teams play in the Primeira Liga. The other professional teams play against each other in the LigaPro. The other major competitions are the Portuguese Cup, Portuguese League Cup and Portuguese Super Cup.

Before 1922, the Portuguese teams played only local games with neighbouring clubs and later in the local championships as the Lisbon District Championship (Campeonato Distrital de Lisboa) or the Porto District Championship (Campeonato Distrital do Porto).

The nation was urging for a nationwide competition and the clubs organized the Championship of Portugal for the most important District Associations clubs (Lisbon, Porto, Coimbra, Madeira, Algarve, and Braga). This championship was played on a knock-out basis and was very similar to today's Portuguese Cup.

First held in 1922, it determined the Portuguese national champion and awarded the winning team with the same trophy that is currently awarded to the Portuguese Cup winners (although the Championship of Portugal titles don't count as Portuguese Cup titles and the winners of the Championship of Portugal no longer count as Portuguese football champions).

But after the formation of the first Portuguese Football Union (União Portuguesa de Futebol), and later (1926) Portuguese Football Federation (Federação Portuguesa de Futebol), the organization dissolved the former competitions and reformed the Portuguese football.

The Championship of Portugal was turned into the Portuguese Cup, this time with all clubs in the nation (except for those in the colonies). The Premier League (a round-basis experimental league) was transformed into the National Championship of the First Division (Campeonato Nacional da Primeira Divisão), or just First Division (Primeira Divisão) with the major clubs.

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Wikipedia