Primera División Peruana

Infobox football league

pixels = 100
country = Peru
confed = CONMEBOL|
founded = 1928
teams = 14
relegation = Segunda División Peruana
levels = 1|
domest_cup = "None"
confed_cup = Copa Libertadores
Copa Sudamericana|
champions = Universidad San Martín de Porres
season = 2007|
website =
current = 2008 seasonThe Primera División Peruana ("Peruvian First Division") is the first professional division of the Peruvian Football League ("Liga Peruana de Futbol"). It is also known as "Torneo Descentralizado", "Division de Honor", and "Campeonato Nacional". The current league is officially named "Copa Cable Mágico" because of its main sponsor, the local cable television provider Cable Mágico. It is currently constested by 14 clubs and is expected to expand to 16 teams in 2009. The league operates a system of Apertura and Clausura and has a promotion and relegation system at the end of the season with the Segunda Division Peruana and the Copa Peru. Seasons run from February to December with teams playing 52 games each. The league is supervised by the Asociación Deportiva de Fútbol Profesional. This association is supervised by the Federación Peruana de Fútbol.

The competition has been played since 1912 but its format has changed several times over the years. The competitions played between 1912 and 1927 were unofficial and in 1928 began the official competitions. The league started out amateur and turned professional in 1951. As of 2007, the league title has been won by over 19 clubs but Universitario de Deportes, Alianza Lima, and Sporting Cristal share a total of 61 titles of the 91 contested. The most recent club to have won the league competition is Universidad San Martín de Porres which formed itself in 2004. This is the first time in 18 years that one of the "big three" football clubs of Peru did not win the league title.

History

Football was played in Peru from the start of the 20th century by British residents where a league of sorts, the Peruvian Championship ("Campeonato Peruano"), was played in the capital Lima from 1912 to 1921. The Federación Peruana de Fútbol was founded in 1922. The National Football League ("Liga Nacional de Football") was introduced, with two unofficial tournaments played in 1926 and 1927, and official F.P.F.-sanctioned tournaments starting the following year. This was still not strictly a national league as only clubs from the Lima and Callao areas could participate, but it was the strongest and the winners were regarded as national champions.

In 1951, the league, previously amateur, turned professional. In 1966 a proper national league, the Decentralized Championship ("Campeonato Descentralizado"), was introduced with teams from all over the country could participate.

Starting in 1972, many different formats were used, with preliminary metropolitan (Lima area) and a complex network of regional leagues set up to qualify for a final Decentralized Championship to find the national champions, or championship groups ("liguillas", "small leagues") following a regular season. An Apertura and Clausura format has been in place since 1997, with two half-year tournaments leading to a playoff final between its winners. With regard to foreign players, Peruvians teams are limited to three players without Peruvian citizenship per game. This has led some foreign players to become naturalized Peruvian citizens in order to give the "foreign spot" to another player that the club wishes to use.

Traditionally the strongest teams have always been from Lima and include Universitario de Deportes, Alianza Lima, Sporting Cristal and from nearby Callao, Sport Boys, though since the league has opened up, teams from the other regions have begun to make their presence felt more. In particular, a team from Cuzco, Cienciano, has been the only Peruvian team to win international tournaments (Copa Sudamericana 2003 and Recopa Sudamericana 2004), though it has yet to win the domestic championship.

Competition format

The 2008 season is split into two half-year tournaments, the Apertura and the Clausura that runs from February to December. Each is played on a home-and-away round-robin basis by 14 teams. In each half-year tournament the teams will play 26 games. The fixtures will be played on the weekends on Saturdays and Sundays, and on some occasions on Wednesdays. The winners of each half-year tournament will play for the national title in a two-legged final, but each team has to finish in the top 7 in both tournaments to earn the right to play the final; if the same club wins both tournaments, it will win the national championship automatically. Following-season Copa Libertadores berths go to each half-year tournament winner, and the best of the other teams in the aggregate table. The next best two teams earn berths for the Copa Sudamericana. The bottom two teams in the aggregate table are relegated to the Second Division. There will be an expansion for the following season from 14 to 16 teams. The champions and runners-up of the Second Division and Copa Perú will be promoted in their place.

Five teams will also participate in international competitions while they play the national championship. These international club fixtures take place during the week on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. During the Apertura, three teams will participate in the Copa Libertadores 2008. U. San Martín and Coronel Bolognesi will play in the group stage and Cienciano will have to qualify through the preliminary round. During the Clausura, two teams will participate in the Copa Sudamericana 2008. Sport Áncash will play in the first round and Universitario will have to qualify through the preliminary round.

With regard to foreign players, Peruvians teams are limited to three players without Peruvian citizenship per game. For each game, the team presents a list of 18 players; 11 on the field and 7 on the bench. In that list, no more than 3 players can be foreign players. Peruvian teams must also have its U-20 players (born after 1989) accumulate at least 1,170 minutes of game time in the Apertura but for the Clausura it was reduced.

Current teams

Clubs by titles

National titles

"As of end of 2007"

Half-year titles (1997-present)

"As of July 2008"

ee also

*Segunda División Peruana
*Copa Perú

Notes

External links

* [http://www.fpf.com.pe/ Peruvian Football Federation]
* [http://www.rsssf.com/tablesp/peruchamp.html RSSSF]