Primera División (women)

Primera División

Country	Spain
Confederation	UEFA
Founded	1988
Number of teams	16
Level on pyramid	1
Relegation to	Segunda División
Domestic cup(s)	Copa de la Reina
International cup(s)	UEFA Champions League
Current champions	Barcelona (4th title) (2014–15)
Most championships	Levante UD (4 titles) Athletic Club (4 titles) Barcelona (4 titles)
TV partners	GolT Esport3 ETB 1
Website	Website
2015–16 season

The Primera División de la Liga de Fútbol Femenino, formerly Superliga Femenina, is the highest level of league competition for Spanish women's football. It is the female equivalent of the men's Primera División and is run by the Real Federación Española de Fútbol.

History

The league was founded in 1988 as Liga Nacional , formed by Olímpico Fortuna, Puente Castro, Parque Alcobendas, Santa María Atlético, Vallés Occcidental, RCD Español, FC Barcelona, CE Sabadell y Peña Barcelonista. From the season 1996-97 the league was divided in 4 groups. In that time, all group winners played a semi-final and a final to decide the champion.

For the 2001-02 season the league was renamed to Superliga and the competition system was changed to from the groups format to a double rounnd-robin, thus each team playing the other teams twice, one time away, one time at home. The league consisted of 14 teams in those years. The 2008–09 season kept the double round-robin format but the league was increased from 14 to 16 teams.

In the 2009–10 season the Superliga was increased from 16 to 24 teams, which caused criticism by teams and players, fearing a decline in competivity. The Superliga again is divided in 3 groups of 7 to 8 teams each.^[1] Those groups are divided based on local aspects. In the first stage of the season, in all groups each team plays each other twice. After that, the second stage starts. The best two of each group as well as the two best third place finishers go into group A, the other teams are divided into group B and C based oin a predefined key. Again a double round-robin is played in the groups. All Group A teams and the three best finishers of Group B and C qualify for the Copa de la Reina, and the two best teams in Group A play each other in a two legged final for the season's championship. Rayo Vallecano won the 2009-10 and 2010-11 finals, both times against RCD Espanyol. In the 2009–10 season, two teams had to withdraw from the league for financial reasons.

For the 2011–12 season the group based system was abolished and 18 teams played double round-robin to decide the champion. In the 2012–13 season it was again shortened to 16 teams.

Teams for season 2015-16

The 16 teams for this season are:

• Athletic Club
• Atlético de Madrid
• FC Barcelona
• UD Collerense
• RCD Espanyol
• Fundación Albacete
• UD Granadilla Tenerife Sur
• Levante UD
• Oiartzun KE
• Oviedo Moderno CF
• Rayo Vallecano
• Real Sociedad
• Santa Teresa CD
• Sporting de Huelva
• CD Transportes Alcaine
• Valencia CF

List of champions

The following is a list of all champions of Spain.^[2] Before creation of the league, from 1983 to 1988 the Copa de la Reina de Fútbol winners were the Spanish Champions.

Performance by club

Teams	Winners	Runners-Up	Winning years
Levante UD	4	4	19971, 2001, 2002, 2008
Athletic Bilbao	4	3	2003, 2004, 2005, 2007
FC Barcelona	4	1	2012, 2013, 2014, 2015
Añorga KKE	3	2	1992, 1995, 1996
CD Oroquieta Villaverde	3	2	1993, 1994, 1999
Rayo Vallecano	3	1	2009, 2010, 2011
RCD Espanyol	1	3	2006
CF Irex Puebla	1	2	2000
Peña Barcilona	1	1	1989
Atlético Madrid	1	2	1990
Oiartzun KE	1	0	1991
Atlético Málaga	1	0	1998
CE Sabadell	0	2
FFP Alcobendas	0	1
AD Torrejón CF	0	1
SD Eibar	0	1
Sevilla FC	0	1

¹Title won as San Vicent Valencia CFF.

References

External links

• (Spanish) Superliga Official Website
• (Spanish) Superliga Femenina on Futbolme.com
• (Spanish) Superliga Unofficial Website
• League at UEFA
• Superliga at women.soccerway.com