Liga Panameña de Fútbol

Liga Panameña de Fútbol

Country	Panama
Confederation	CONCACAF
Founded	1988
Number of teams	10
Level on pyramid	1
Relegation to	Liga Nacional de Ascenso
International cup(s)	CONCACAF Champions League
Current champions	San Francisco
Most championships	Tauro (12 titles)
TV partners	RPC TV, TV-Max
Website	lpf.com.pa
2015 Clausura

The Liga Panameña de Fútbol (English: Panamanian Football League) is the top football league in Panama. Until 2009, the league was named Asociación Nacional Pro Fútbol (ANAPROF).

Format

The league's season is divided into two tournaments called Apertura and Clausura. Both tournaments have an identical format. Each tournament has two stages: the first stage is a double round-robin round where each teams plays every other team twice, once at home and once away. The top-four teams advance to a final stage, a single-elimination culminating with a final match.

Relegation and international qualification

The first stage of both tournaments are combined into an aggregate table to determine relegation. The team with the fewest points is relegated to the Primera A for the following season.

The champions of both tournaments qualify to the CONCACAF Champions League (see also ANAPROF participation in CONCACAF).

History

ANAPROF logo

In 1987, a group of men, composed of Giancarlo Gronchi, Jan Domburg, Edgar Plazas, Jorge Zelasny, Ángel Valero and Juan Carlos Delgado, founded the Asociación Nacional Pro-Fútbol (ANAPROF for short) on February 26, 1988.

Their objective was to establish the bases to organize a professional footballers in Panama, in order to help the Panamanian football team in the long term.

Founding teams

Timeline

The league was founded in as ANAPROF in 1988 after years of turmoil in Panamanian football. The season began on February 26, 1988 featuring with 6 teams participating. The league wasn't split into Apertura/Clausura seasons until 2001, previously the teams played a full season with all teams playing all other teams in a home and away set as is the standard in most European leagues today.
From 1994-96 there was a schism in Panamanian football as both the ANAPROF and LINFUNA existed as separate leagues. LINFUNA was recognized by FIFA, but the two leagues joined together to form a 12 team, single-table league in the 1996-97 season.
In 1997-98, the league was split into two groups for the regular season with an 8 team Play-off after the season was completed. The Quarter-Finals and Semi-Finals were two-leg Play-offs, but the Final was a single match.
In 1998-99, the league was moved down to 10 teams with the best 6 teams after a home-and-away season of 18 games moved on to the secondary tournament. Each team matched up against the other qualifying teams once and the top 4 of the 6 in terms of points moved on to the home-and-away Semi-Finals. The winners advanced to a single match Final.
In 1999-00, the league switched to a single table format for the opening round. The top 6 teams from the opening round moved on to the second round where they each played other qualifying teams once. The top 4 again moved to the home-and-away Semi-Finals. The winners of those series played in the single match Final.
The format from 1999-00 was again used in 2000-01.
In 2001, the previous format was again used, but in both Apertura and Clausura seasons for the first time with the first round seeing each team play just 9 games and not 18. The league began using the modern Grand Championship Play-off between the Apertura and Clausura winners in order to have an overall Champion.
In the 2002 Apertura, 8 teams in two separate groups of 4 teams. Each team played the teams in the other group one time and the teams from its own group twice, once at home and once away. The top two teams from each group qualified for the home-and-away Semi-Finals. The winners of those series played in the single match Final.
In the 2002 Clausura, 8 teams took part in single-table home-and-away season, that saw all 8 teams play 14 games. The top 4 teams qualified for a Semi-Final group where each team would again play home-and-away vs all other qualified teams. The top two teams then met in a two-leg home-and-away Championship, where the winner was determined by aggregate goals.
The 2003 Apertura used the same format as the 2002 Clausura.
In the 2003 Clausura, The 4 team Semi-Final group was dropped for a pair of home-and-away series featuring the top point getter from the 8 team, 14 game season face the fourth highest point earner and the second highest would face the third highest.
In 2004 ANAPROF increased from 8 to 10 teams.
In 2007 the Grand Championship format was abandoned, therefore there will be two champions from now on: Apertura and Clausura.
In the 2008 Apertura the league was split into two groups for the regular season (13 games only) with a 4 team Play-off after the season was completed. The Semi-Finals are two-leg Play-offs, and the Final is a single match.
In the 2008 Clausura the league played all 18 games and also the groups were joined. The last team in the aggregate table will play a relegation Play-off with the champion of Primera A.
In 2009 ANAPROF changes its name to Liga Panameña de Fútbol.

2014-15 teams

Atletico Chiriqui

C.A.I

Chepo

Árabe Unido

San Francisco

Alianza

Plaza Amador

Chorrillo

Sporting San Miguelito

Tauro

Club	City	Stadium
Alianza	Panama City	Cancha de Entrenamiento Luis Tapia
Árabe Unido	Colón	Estadio Armando Dely Valdés
Atlético Chiriquí	David	Estadio San Cristobal
C.A.I.	La Chorrera	Estadio Agustín Sánchez
Chepo	Chepo	Cancha de Entrenamiento Luis Tapia
Chorrillo	Panama City	Estadio Maracaná
Plaza Amador	Panama City	Estadio Maracaná
San Francisco	La Chorrera	Estadio Agustín Sánchez
Sporting San Miguelito	San Miguelito	Cancha de Entrenamiento Luis Tapia
Tauro	Panama City	Cancha de Entrenamiento Luis Tapia

Past results

Season/tournament	Champion	Manager	Runner-up
1988	Plaza Amador	Carlos Collazos	Deportivo La Previsora
1989	Tauro	Miguel Mansilla	Deportivo La Previsora
1990	Plaza Amador	Milton Palacios	Tauro
1991	Tauro	Miguel Mansilla	Euro Kickers
1992	Plaza Amador	Carlos Collazos	Sporting Colón
1993	Euro Kickers	Orlando Muñoz	Club Projusa
1994–95	San Francisco	Leopoldo Lee	Tauro
1995–96	San Francisco	Leopoldo Lee	Plaza Amador
1996–97	Tauro	Miguel Mansilla	Euro Kickers
1997–98	Tauro	Miguel Mansilla	Árabe Unido
1998–99	Árabe Unido	Eliazar Herrera	Tauro
1999–2000	Tauro	Alfredo Poyatos	Plaza Amador
2000–01	Panamá Viejo	Gary Stempel	Tauro
2001 (A)	Árabe Unido	Richard Parra	San Francisco
2001 (C)	Árabe Unido	Richard Parra	Plaza Amador
2002 (A)	Árabe Unido	Richard Parra	San Francisco
2002 (C)	Plaza Amador	Sergio Giovagnoli	Tauro
2003 (A)	Tauro	Gonzalo Soto	Árabe Unido
2003 (C)	Tauro	Gonzalo Soto	Alianza
2004 (A)	Árabe Unido	Julio César Núñez	Plaza Amador
2004 (C)	Árabe Unido	Julio César Núñez	San Francisco
2005 (A)	Plaza Amador	Fernando Arnulfo Bolívar	Árabe Unido
2005 (C)	San Francisco	Gary Stempel	Atlético Veragüense
2006 (A)	San Francisco	Gary Stempel	Plaza Amador
2006 (C)	Tauro	Rubén Guevara	Árabe Unido
2007 (A)	Tauro	Miguel Mansilla	San Francisco
2007 (C)	San Francisco	Gary Stempel	Árabe Unido
2008 (A)	San Francisco	Gary Stempel	Tauro
2008 (C)	Árabe Unido	Richard Parra	Tauro
2009 (A) I	San Francisco	Rubén Guevara	Chorrillo
2009 (A) II	Árabe Unido	Richard Parra	Tauro
2010 (C)	Árabe Unido	Richard Parra	San Francisco
2010(A)	Tauro	Juan Carlos Cubilla	San Francisco
2011(C)	San Francisco	Gary Stempel	Chorrillo
2011(A)	Chorrillo	Miguel Angel Mansilla	Plaza Amador
2012(C)	Tauro	Sergio Angulo	Chepo
2012(A)	Árabe Unido	Jair Palacios	Chepo
2013(C)	Sporting San Miguelito	Mario Anthony Torres	San Francisco
2013(A)	Tauro	Rolando Palma	San Francisco
2014(C)	Chorrillo F.C.	Julio Medina III	Río Abajo
2014(A)	San Francisco	Gary Stempel	Sporting San Miguelito

Championships by team

Team	Championships	Runner Up's
Tauro	12	8
Árabe Unido	10	5
San Francisco FC	9	8
CD Plaza Amador	5	6
Chorrillo FC	2	2
Sporting San Miguelito	1	1
Chepo FC	0	2
Alianza FC	0	1
Río Abajo F.C.	0	1

Top-scorers by season

Season	Player	Team	Total
1988	Miguel Tello	Plaza Amador	13
1989	Alonso Pacheco	Deportivo la Previsora	18
1990	José Ardines	Euro Kickers	26
1991	José Ardines	Euro Kickers	13
1992	José Ardines	Euro Kickers	20
1993	José Ardines	Euro Kickers	12
1994-95	José Ardines	Euro Kickers	20
1995-96	José Ardines	Euro Kickers	25
1996-97	Patricio Guevara	Tauro	22
1997-98	Luis Calamaris	San Francisco	21
1998-99	Luis Calamaris	San Francisco	18
1999-00	René Mendieta	Tauro	15
2000-01	Luis Parra	Tauro	17
2001 (A)	Ricardo Phillips	Panamá Viejo	13
2001 (C)	Roberto Brown	San Francisco	13
2002 (A)	Gabriel de los Rios	Alianza	7
2002 (C)	Anel Canales	Tauro	10
2003 (A)	Anel Canales	Chorrillo	11
2003 (C)	Hector Nazarith Wilson Zuñiga	Tauro Alianza	9
2004 (A)	Jorge Dely Valdés	Árabe Unido	12
2005 (A)	José Luis Garcés	San Francisco	11
2005 (C)	José Luis Garcés	San Francisco	13
2006 (A)	Luis Tejada	Plaza Amador	11
2006 (C)	César Medina	Alianza	12
2007 (A)	Edwin Aguilar	Tauro	14
2007 (C)	Gabriel Torres Orlando Rodríguez	Chepo Árabe Unido	9
2008 (A)	César Medina	Alianza	12
2008 (C)	Orlando Rodríguez	Árabe Unido	18
2009 (A)	Edwin Aguilar	Tauro	18
2009 (A)	Armando Polo	Sporting San Miguelito	12
2010 (C)	Johan De Ávila	San Francisco	10
2010(A)	Gabriel Ríos	Atlético Chiriquí	8
2011(C)	Boris Alfaro Brunette Hay	San Francisco Sporting San Miguelito	9
2011(A)	Cesar Medina Delano Welch	Alianza FC Chepo	8
2012(C)	Luis Rentería	Tauro	11
2012(A)	Jorman Aguilar	Río Abajo	10
2013(C)	Ricardo Mauricio Clarke	Sporting San Miguelito	10
2013(A)	Ernesto Sinclair	CA Independiente	8
2014(C)	Carlos Small	Sporting San Miguelito	10
2014(A)	Jose Gonzalez Yairo Yau	Deportivo Arabe Unido Sporting San Miguelito	8

References

External links

Football in Panama

Panamanian Football Federation

National teams

Men	National team Olympic (U-23) U-20 U-17

Women	National team Olympic (U-23) U-20 U-17

League system

Men	Liga Panameña de Fútbol Liga Nacional de Ascenso Copa Rommel Fernández

Domestic cups

Awards

Footballer of the Year
Top scorers

Lists

All-time Table
Champions
Clubs
International footballers
Foreign players
Venues

Men's clubs
Women's clubs
Men's players
Women's players
Expatriate players
Managers
Referees
Venues
Seasons
Records

Liga Panameña de Fútbol

Seasons	1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007(A) 2007(C) 2008(A) 2008(C) 2009(A) I 2009(A) II 2010(C) 2010(A) 2011(C) 2011(A) 2012(C) 2012(A) 2013(C) 2013(A) 2014(C) 2014(A) 2015(C)

Current	Alianza Árabe Unido Atlético Chiriquí Chepo Chorrillo Independiente F.C. Plaza Amador San Francisco Sporting San Miguelito Tauro

Former	Colón C-3 Chirilanco F.C. Rio Abajo Deportivo la Previsora Deportivo Peru Euro Kickers Sporting Colón Club Projusa Panamá Viejo Atlético Veragüense

Competition	Champions Players (foreign) Coaches Stadiums Records

Statistics and awards	Awards Golden Boot Hat-tricks Top scorers by season

Top level association football leagues of North America, Central America, and the Caribbean (CONCACAF)

North America	Mexico United States & Canada¹

Central America	Belize Costa Rica El Salvador Guatemala Honduras Nicaragua Panama

Caribbean	Anguilla Antigua and Barbuda Aruba Bahamas Barbados Bermuda² Bonaire British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Cuba Curaçao Dominica Dominican Republic French Guiana^{3 4} Grenada Guadeloupe⁴ Guyana³ Haiti Jamaica Martinique⁴ Montserrat Puerto Rico Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Martin⁴ Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Sint Maarten⁴ Suriname³ Trinidad and Tobago Turks and Caicos Islands United States Virgin Islands

1: Canada and the United States share one major league. 2: North American member but affiliated to CFU. 3: South American member but affiliated to CONCACAF and to CFU. 4:Full CONCACAF member, but not affiliated to FIFA.