Country | Uruguay |
---|---|
Confederation | CONMEBOL |
Founded | 1900 |
Number of teams | 16 |
Level on pyramid | 1 out of 3 |
Relegation to | Segunda División |
International cup(s) |
Copa Libertadores Copa Sudamericana |
Current champions |
Nacional (2016) |
Most championships | Club Nacional de Football (46) |
Top goalscorer | Fernando Morena (230) |
TV partners | Tenfield, Gol TV |
Website | Primera División |
2017 season |
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) .
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.
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.
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.