Venezuelan Primera División

"Venezuelan League" redirects here. For the baseball league, see Venezuelan Professional Baseball League.

For other leagues called Primera División, see Primera división (disambiguation).

Primera División

Country	Venezuela
Confederation	CONMEBOL
Founded	1957
Number of teams	20
Level on pyramid	1
Relegation to	Segunda División
Domestic cup(s)	Copa Venezuela
International cup(s)	Copa Libertadores Copa Sudamericana
Current champions	Zamora (2015)
Most championships	Caracas FC (11 titles)
Website	FVF's website
2015 season

The Primera División (pronounced: [pɾiˈmeɾa ðiβiˈsjon]; English: First Division), or Liga Venezolana (locally: [ˈliɣa βenesoˈlana]; English: Venezuelan League) is the top-flight professional football league of Venezuela. It was created in 1921 and turned professional in 1957. It's organized by the Federación Venezolana de Fútbol and from the season 2007-08 the league will consist of 18 clubs.

Format

The 20 teams play two single-round tournaments each year: the Apertura (February to June), and the Clausura (August to December). The league table is kept like a normal European league table, one point for ties, three points for wins.

The absolute champion is decided between the Apertura and Clausura champions. If the same team is the champions of both tournaments that team is the absolute champion.

International qualification

• The winner of the Apertura and Clausura tournaments qualify to the group phase of the Copa Libertadores, (The absolute champion qualifies as Venezuela 1 and the runner up as Venezuela 2).

• The team with the most points in the entire season (Apertura + Clausura) qualifies to the preliminary round of the Copa Libertadores as Venezuela 3.

• The second and third team with the most points in the entire season qualifies to the Copa Sudamericana as Venezuela 1 and Venezuela 2.

• If a team won both tournaments that team qualify to the Copa Libertadores as Venezuela 1, then the first and second team with the most points in the entire season qualify to the Copa Libertadores as Venezuela 2 and Venezuela 3 and the fourth and fifth team with the most points in the entire season qualify to the Copa Sudamericana as Venezuela 1 and Venezuela 2.

• If the winner of the Copa de Venezuela does not qualify to the Copa Libertadores through the aforementioned manners or through the point total in the entire season, they take the Venezuela 2 spot in the Copa Sudamericana.

Relegation

• The two lowest placed teams in the entire season (Apertura + Clausura) are automatically relegated to the Segunda División

2013/14 teams

Aragua

Atlético El Vigía

Caracas

Deportivo Anzoátegui

Deportivo Lara

Deportivo Táchira

Estudiantes

Llaneros

Mineros de Guayana

Monagas

Trujillanos

Yaracuyanos

Zamora

Zulia

Caracas teams:
Caracas FC
Deportivo Petare
Real Esppor
Atlético Venezuela

Locations of the 2011–12 Primera División teams

Team	City	Stadium
Aragua	Maracay	Olímpico Hermanos Ghersi Páez
Atlético Venezuela	Maiquetía	Polideportivo José María Vargas
Carabobo	Valencia	Misael Delgado
Caracas	Caracas	Olímpico de la UCV
Deportivo Anzoátegui	Puerto La Cruz	José Antonio Anzoátegui
Deportivo Lara	Barquisimeto	Metropolitano de Barquisimeto
Deportivo Petare	Caracas	Olímpico de la UCV
Deportivo Táchira	San Cristóbal	Polideportivo de Pueblo Nuevo
El Vigía	El Vigía	Ramón "Gato" Hernández
Estudiantes	Mérida	Metropolitano de Mérida
La Guaira	Caracas	Brígido Iriarte
Llaneros	Guanare	Rafael Calles Pinto
Mineros	Ciudad Guayana	Polideportivo Cachamay
Trujillanos	Valera	Luis Loreto Lira
Tucanes	Puerto Ayacucho	Antonio José de Sucre
Yaracuyanos	San Felipe	Florentino Oropeza
Zamora	Barinas	Agustín Tovar
Zulia	Maracaibo	José "Pachencho" Romero

List of Champions

The Primer División turned professional on 21 February 1957.

Season	Champion	Runner-up	Third Place	Topscorer(s)
1957	Universidad Central	La Salle	Banco Obrero	Tonho (Universidad Central, 12 goals)
1958	Portugués	Español	Estudiantes	René Irazque (Portugués, 6 goals)
1959	Español	Portugués	Danubio	Abel Benítez (Español, 15 goals)
1960	Portugués	Español	Deportivo Italia	José Luis Iglesias (Portugués, 9 goals)
1961	Deportivo Italia	Banco Agrícola y Pecuario	Banco Francés-Italiano	Antonio Ravelo (Banco Agrícola y Pecuario, 11 goals)
1962	Portugués	Universidad Central	Dos Caminos	Jaime da Silva (Universidad Central, 16)
1963	Deportivo Italia	Portugués	Tiquire Flores	Nino (Portugués, 15 goals)
1964	Galicia	Tiquire Flores	Canarias	Helio Rodrigues (Tiquire Flores, 12 goals)
1965	Lara	Deportivo Italia	Tiquire Flores	Mario Mateo (Lara, 16 goals)
1966	Deportivo Italia	Portugués	Galicia	Ratto (Portugués, 20 goals)
1967	Portugués	Galicia	Lara	Joao Ramos (Portugués, 28 goals)
1968	Canarias	Deportivo Italia	Portugués	Raimundinho (Portugués, 21 goals)
1969	Galicia	Valencia	Deportivo Italia	Eustaquio Batista (Deportivo Italia, 19 goals) Lelo (Valencia, 19 goals)
1970	Galicia	Deportivo Italia	Valencia	Roland Langon (Galicia, 13 goals)
1971	Valencia	Deportivo Italia	Tiquire Aragua	Agostinho Sabara (Tiquire Aragua, 20 goals)
1972	Deportivo Italia	Galicia	Anzoátegui	Francisco Rodriguez (Anzoátegui, 18 goals)
1973	Portuguesa	Valencia	Estudiantes	Jose Chiazzaro (Estudiantes, 14 goals)
1974	Galicia	Portuguesa	Estudiantes	Jose Chiazzaro (Estudiantes, 15 goals) Sergio Hugo Castillo (Anzoátegui Fútbol Club, 15 goals)
1975	Portuguesa	Estudiantes	Galicia	Pedro Pascual Peralta (Portuguesa, 20 goals)
1976	Portuguesa	Estudiantes	Portugués	Pedro Pascual Peralta (Portuguesa, 25 goals)
1977	Portuguesa	Estudiantes	Valencia	Jairzinho (Portuguesa, 20 goals) Juan Cesar Silva (Portuguesa, 20 goals)
1978	Portuguesa	Galicia	Estudiantes	Andrade (ULA Mérida, 23 goals)
1979	Deportivo Táchira	Galicia	Universidad de Los Andes	Omar Ferrari (Deportivo Táchira, 15 goals)
1980	Estudiantes	Portuguesa	Valencia	Wilfrido Campos (Portuguesa, 12 goals)
1981	Deportivo Táchira	Estudiantes	Valencia	Rafael Angulo (Deportivo Táchira, 14 goals)
1982	San Cristóbal	Deportivo Táchira	Universidad de Los Andes	German Montero (Estudiantes, 21 goals)
1983	Universidad de Los Andes	Portuguesa	Deportivo Italia	Johnny Castellanos (Atlético Zamora, 13 goals)
1984	Deportivo Táchira	Deportivo Italia	Zamora	Sergio Meckler (Zamora, 15 goals)
1985	Estudiantes	Deportivo Táchira	Nacional Carabobo	Sergio Meckler (Deportivo Táchira, 17 goals)
1986	Deportivo Táchira	Estudiantes	Marítimo	Wilton Arreaza (Caracas, 8 goals)
1986–87	Marítimo	Unión Atlético Táchira	Estudiantes	Johnny Castellanos (Portuguesa, 16 goals)
1987–88	Marítimo	Unión Atlético Táchira	Caracas	Miguel González (Unión Atlético Táchira, 22 goals)
1988–89	Mineros	Pepeganga Margarita	Marítimo	Johnny Castellanos (Mineros, 24 goals)
1989–90	Marítimo	Unión Atlético Táchira	Minervén	Herbert Márquez (Marítimo, 19 goals)
1990–91	Universidad de Los Andes	Marítimo	Zamora	Alexander Bottini (Monagas, 15 goals)
1991–92	Caracas	Minervén	Marítimo	Andreas Vogler (Caracas, 25 goals)
1992–93	Marítimo	Minervén	Caracas	Herbert Márquez (Marítimo, 21 goals)
1993–94	Caracas	Trujillanos	Minervén	Rodrigo Soto (Trujillanos, 20 goals)
1994–95	Caracas	Minervén	Trujillanos	Rogeiro da Silva (Mineros, 30 goals)
1995–96	Minervén	Mineros	Caracas	Jose Luis Dolgetta (Caracas, 24 goals)
1996–97	Caracas	Atlético Zulia	Unión Atlético Táchira	Rafael Castellín (Caracas, 19 goals)
1997–98	Atlético Zulia	Estudiantes	Deportivo Chacao	Jose Luis Dolgetta (Estudiantes/Carabobo, 22 goals)
1998–99	Deportivo Italchacao	Unión Atlético Táchira	Estudiantes	Gustavo Fonseca (Internacional Lara, 24 goals)
1999–00	Deportivo Táchira	Deportivo Italchacao	Estudiantes	Juan Enrique García (Caracas, 24 goals)
2000–01	Caracas	Trujillanos	Deportivo Italchacao	Martín Brignani (Estudiantes, 12 goals)
2001–02	Nacional Táchira	Estudiantes	Monagas	Juan Enrique García (Nacional Táchira, 34 goals)
2002–03	Caracas	Maracaibo	Deportivo Italchacao	Juan Enrique García (Monagas/Mineros, 19 goals)
2003–04	Caracas	Deportivo Táchira	Mineros	Juan Enrique García (Mineros, 18 goals)
2004–05	Maracaibo	Caracas	Deportivo Táchira	Daniel Delfino (Carabobo, 19 goals)
2005–06	Caracas	Maracaibo	Deportivo Táchira	Juan Enrique García (Deportivo Táchira, 21 goals)
2006–07	Caracas	Maracaibo	Mineros	Robinson Rentería (Trujillanos, 19 goals)
2007–08	Deportivo Táchira	Caracas	Deportivo Anzoátegui	Alexander Rondon (Deportivo Anzoátegui, 19 goals)
2008–09	Caracas	Deportivo Italia	Deportivo Táchira	Daniel Arismendi (Maracaibo/Deportivo Táchira, 17 goals) Heatklif Castillo (Aragua, 17 goals)
2009–10	Caracas	Deportivo Táchira	Deportivo Italia	Norman Cabrera (Atlético El Vigía, 20 goals)
2010–11	Deportivo Táchira	Zamora	Caracas	Daniel Arismendi (Deportivo Anzoátegui, 20 goals)
2011–12	Deportivo Lara	Caracas	Deportivo Anzoátegui	Rafael Castellín (Deportivo Lara, 21 goals)
2012–13	Zamora	Deportivo Anzoátegui	Caracas	Gabriel Torres (Zamora, 19 goals)
2013–14	Zamora	Mineros	Deportivo Táchira	Juan Falcón (Zamora, 19 goals)
2014–15	Deportivo Táchira	Trujillanos	Caracas	Edwin Aguilar (Deportivo Anzoategui, 23 goals)
2015	Zamora	La Guaira	Mineros	Manuel Arteaga (Zulia, 17 goals)

Titles by club

Club	Winners	Runners-Up	Winning years	Runners-Up years
Caracas	11	3	1991–92, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1996–97, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2008–09, 2009–10	2004–05, 2007–08, 2011–12
Deportivo Táchira	8	8	1979, 1981, 1984, 1986, 1999–00, 2007–08, 2010–11, 2014–15	1982, 1985, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1989–90, 1998–99, 2003–04, 2009–10
Deportivo Italia	5	7	1961, 1963, 1966, 1972, 1998–99	1965, 1968, 1970, 1971, 1984, 1999–00, 2008–09
Portuguesa	5	3	1973, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978	1974, 1980, 1983
Galicia	4	5	1964, 1969, 1970, 1974	1967, 1972, 1978, 1979
Portugués	4	2	1958, 1960, 1962, 1967	1959, 1963
Marítimo	4	1	1986–87, 1987–88, 1989–90, 1992–93	1990–91
Zamora	3	1	2012–13, 2013–14, 2015	2010–11
Estudiantes	2	6	1980, 1985	1975, 1976, 1977, 1981, 1986, 1997–98, 2001–02
U. de Los Andes	2	0	1983, 1990–91	—
Maracaibo	1	3	2004–05	2002–03, 2005–06, 2006–07
Minervén	1	3	1995–96	1991–92, 1992–93, 1994–95
Español	1	2	1959	1958, 1960
Mineros	1	2	1988–89	1995–96, 2013–14
Valencia	1	2	1971	1969, 1973
Atlético Zulia	1	1	1997–98	1996–97
Universidad Central	1	1	1957	1962
Canarias	1	0	1968	—
Deportivo Lara	1	0	2011–12	—
Lara	1	0	1965	—
Nacional Táchira	1	0	2001–02	—
San Cristóbal	1	0	1982	—

See also

• Venezuelan football league system

External links

• Venezuelan Football Federation (Spanish)
• News in spanish about the First Division of the Venezuelan Football/Soccer
• News and pictures in spanish
• RSSSF
• FuriaVinotinto - Unnofficial Forum (Spanish)