Liga_Paraguaya:_Primera_División

Paraguayan Primera División

Paraguayan Primera División

Top-flight professional football league in Paraguay

The División Profesional de la Asociación Paraguaya de Fútbol (locally [diβiˈsjom pɾofesjoˈnal de la asosjaˈsjom paɾaˈɣwaʝa ðe ˈfuðβol]; "Professional Division of the Paraguayan Football Association"), also known as the Primera División (IPA: [pɾiˈmeɾa ðiβiˈsjon]; "first division"), or due to sponsorship reasons Copa de Primera TIGO-Visión Banco, is the top-flight professional football league in Paraguay. Currently, there are 12 teams in the first division.

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The most successful club is Olimpia, with 46 championships. The most recent champions are Libertad, having won the 2023 Clausura tournament. As of 2022, IFFHS ranked the league as the 10th strongest in the world and 3rd in South America.[1]

History

Liga Paraguaya's first game was played in 1906, after the director of the El Diario newspaper, Don Adolfo Riquelme, brought to his office on 18 June 1906, the representatives of the five existing football teams in Paraguay at that time (Olimpia, Guaraní, Libertad, General Díaz, and Nacional) to create the governing body of football in Paraguay: the Liga Paraguaya de Fútbol (known today as Asociación Paraguaya de Fútbol). The representatives were William Paats and Junio Godoy (Olimpia) Ramón Caballero, Manuel Bella and Salvador Melián (Guaraní), Juan Escalada (Libertad), César Urdapilleta (General Díaz), and Vicente Gadea (Nacional).[2] The Liga Paraguaya saw Club Guaraní as the first champion in 1906, after defeating Olimpia in the final.

The Primera División was founded in 1906 with 5 teams, and turned professional in 1935 when 10 clubs broke away from the amateur leagues to form a professional league. Since 1996 the format of tournament was changed to Torneo Apertura and Clausura, but since 2008 each tournament is independent.

Traditionally, the dominance of Olimpia and Cerro Porteño went mostly unchallenged for decades. All of this changed at the turn of the 21st century. Since then, Libertad has been the most dominant club, while Nacional and Guaraní have also experienced success at the local level.

Format

The league is currently contested by 12 teams that play home and away games in a round-robin format. The league is traditionally divided into two halves: the Torneo Apertura (Opening Tournament) from February to July, and the Torneo Clausura (Closing Tournament) from July to December.

Relegation is based on an averaging system. At the end of each season, the two teams with the worst three-year averages are relegated, and the two best teams in the "División Intermedia" (second division) are promoted to Primera División.

International cup participation

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Since 2017, Paraguay have eight slots in international cups (four in the Copa Libertadores de America and four in the Copa Sudamericana). These eight slots will be filled by eight teams.

In the Copa Libertadores, the winner of the Apertura and Clausura tournaments qualify automatically. The third (going into the second round play-off) and fourth (going into the first round play-off) representatives are the best placed non-champion teams from the accumulative table of both the Apertura and Clausura.

In the Copa Sudamericana, the 4th, 5th and 6th best placed teams from the Apertura and Clausura accumulative table qualify for the first stage, alongside the winners of the Copa Paraguay.

Teams

The following are the teams in the first division in 2024:

Locations of the 2024 Primera División teams
Locations of the 2024 Primera División teams – Asunción
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Notes
  1. Teams occasionally play home matches at Estadio Defensores del Chaco in Asunción.

List of champions

Complete list of champions since 1906. Paraguayan football turned professional since the 1935 season.

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Titles by club

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Topscorers

Main article: Primera División de Paraguay topscorers

Sponsors

Main sponsors

Current official sponsors

  • Coca-Cola (1987-2004/2011-present)
  • Pilsen (1988-2007/2011-present)
  • Caña Fortin
  • Vino Toro
  • Lácteos Trébol
  • Lácteos Lactolanda
  • Pastas Anita
  • Supermercado Superseis
  • Supermercado La Bomba
  • Supermercado Arete
  • Supermercados Kingo
  • Bein TV (1999-present)
  • DirecTV (1999-present)
  • GOL TV (2003-presente)

Former official sponsors

Media coverage

Main article: List of Paraguayan Primera División broadcasters

See also

References

  1. [1]
    Brazil have the world’s best national league in 2022, South Africa rated at 53 after a previous 31 slot
  2. [2]
    Historia de la APF Archived 22 June 2008 at the Wayback Machine
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