Primera División (Costa Rica)
 |
|
| Founded | June 13, 1921 |
|---|---|
| Country | Costa Rica |
| Confederation | CONCACAF |
| Number of teams | 12 |
| Level on pyramid | 1 |
| Relegation to | Liga de Ascenso |
| International cup(s) |
Champions League CONCACAF League |
| Current champions |
Herediano (26th title) (Torneo Verano 2017) |
| Most championships | Saprissa (33 titles) |
| TV partners |
Extra TV Repretel Teletica |
| Website | UNAFUT.com |
 2017–18 season
|
|
The Liga de Fútbol de Primera División, commonly known as Liga FPD, and Campeonato Banco Popular for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional association football division in Costa Rica. It is administrated by the Unión de Clubes de Fútbol de la Primera División (UNAFUT), and played by 12 teams, with the last-placed team relegated to the Liga de Ascenso.
The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) ranks the Liga FPD as the 51st strongest league in the world, and the 2nd strongest within CONCACAF, behind Mexico's Liga MX.
The league was founded in 1921, with Herediano crowned as the first champions.Saprissa is the most successful club having won the championship a record 33 times. Saprissa, joined with Alajuelense (29 titles) and Herediano (26 titles) have dominated the league.
The Liga FPD features a format in which two separate tournaments are held over the course of one particular season. The tournaments are named Torneo de Invierno and Torneo de Verano, based on the Costa Rican seasons; as a result, the Invierno tournament is played during the rainy season between August and December, while the Verano tournament is played during the dry season between January and May.
A separate tournament is played on stages. The first stage follows the usual double round-robin format. During the course of a tournament, each club plays every other club twice, once at home and once away, for a total of 22 matchdays. Teams receive three points for a win, one point for a draw, and no points for a loss. Teams are ranked by total points, with the top-four clubs at the end of the stage qualifying to the second stage. The second stage consists of a quadrangular in which the best four teams qualified will face each other twice again, adding 6 additional matchdays. If the top team of the first stage also wins the quadrangular, the club will be crowned as champions; otherwise, a double-legged final will be played between the winners of the first stage and the winners of the quadrangular to determine the champion.
...
Wikipedia