| Countries | Uruguay |
|---|---|
| Confederation | CONMEBOL |
| Founded | 1900 |
| Number of teams | 16 |
| Levels on pyramid | 1 out of 3 |
| Relegation to | Segunda División |
| International cup(s) | Copa Libertadores Copa Sudamericana |
| Current champions | Nacional (43rd title) (2010–11) |
| Most championships | Peñarol (46 titles) |
| TV partners | GOL TV, Tenfield |
| 2011-12 season | |
The Liga Profesional de Primera División (English: First Division Professional League), also known as the Primera División Uruguaya or Primera División de Uruguay (English: Uruguayan First Division), is a professional football league in Uruguay at the top of the country's football league system. It is organized by the Uruguayan Football Association and is contested by 16 teams from August to May of the following year. It runs on a system of promotion and relegation with Segunda División Profesional.
The league was founded in 1900, making it amongst the oldest on the continent. Despite few yearly interruptions, it has been held regularly on a yearly basis since then. In 1932, the league turned professional.
Ten different clubs have been the Primera División champion, although only seven have won it in the professional era. The most successful club is Peñarol and current champion is Nacional.
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Between 1900 and 1931, the league was an amateur competition. Since 1932, the league has been a professional competition.
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 playoff; 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.
The season of 2008/09 was intended to be the last one to be played in "European season", as the system appeared to be unable to prevent clubs from losing players between the Apertura (opening) tournament and the Clausura (closing). As of 2010 the European calendar style remains, but before the beginning of each season there have been talks to change it back to a year calendar, so far without result.
As a side note, the Indonesia U-17 competes in the youth system.
In the amateur era, five clubs won a Primera División title. Nacional is the most successful club with 11 titles, followed by CURCC/Peñarol. Of clubs to win titles, only Rampla Juniors did not win multiple titles. Rampla Juniors and Montevideo Wanderers were the only clubs to not win titles consecutively. Nacional hold the record title streak, winning three titles in a row twice from 1915 to 1917 and from 1922 to 1924
| Team | Nº of titles | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Nacional | 11 | 1902, 1903, 1912, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1919, 1920, 1922, 1923, 1924 |
| CURCC/Peñarol[AE 5] | 9[AE 6] | 1900, 1901, 1905, 1907, 1911, 1918, 1921, 1928, 1929 |
| River Plate FC | 4 | 1908, 1910, 1913, 1914 |
| Montevideo Wanderers | 3[AE 6] | 1906, 1909, 1931 |
| Rampla Juniors | 1 | 1927 |
Notes:
In the professional era, seven clubs have won a Primera División title. The most success club is Peñarol with 37 titles, followed by Nacional with 31. The remainining five clubs have less than five titles each. It took 54 seasons before a club besides Peñarol or Nacional won a title, when Defensor won their first title 1976. Besides Peñarol or Nacional, no other club has won titles consecutively. Both Peñarol (1958 to 1962 and 1993 to 1997) and Nacional (from 1939 to 1943) hold the record title streaks winning five titles consecutively. The longest period of time since either Peñarol or Nacional won a title was from 1987 to 1991, when Defensor, Danubio, Progresso, Bella Vista, and Defensor Sporting together won five titles in that period.
| Team | Nº of titles | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Peñarol | 37 | 1932, 1935, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1944, 1945, 1949, 1951, 1953, 1954, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1985, 1986, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2009–10 |
| Nacional | 32 | 1933, 1934, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1946, 1947, 1950, 1952, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1963, 1966, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1977, 1980, 1983, 1992, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2005–06, 2008–09, 2010–11 |
| Defensor Sporting[PE 2] | 4 | 1976, 1987, 1991, 2007–08 |
| Danubio | 3 | 1988, 2004, 2006–07 |
| Bella Vista | 1 | 1990 |
| Central Español | 1 | 1984 |
| Progreso | 1 | 1989 |
Notes:
Below is the count of official AUF Primera División titles won by club.
| Team | Nº of titles |
|---|---|
| Peñarol/C.U.R.C.C. | 46 |
| Nacional | 43 |
| Defensor Sporting | 4 |
| River Plate FC | 4 |
| Danubio | 3 |
| Montevideo Wanderers | 3 |
| Rampla Juniors | 1 |
| Central Español | 1 |
| Progreso | 1 |
| Bella Vista | 1 |
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