Paraguayan Primera División

División Profesional

Founded	1906
Country	Paraguay
Confederation	CONMEBOL
Number of teams	12
Level on pyramid	1
Relegation to	División Intermedia
International cup(s)	Copa Libertadores Copa Sudamericana
Current champions	Libertad (2017 Apertura)
Most championships	Olimpia (40 titles)
TV partners	Unicanal (Three games per matchday)
Website	APF
2017 Clausura

The División Profesional de la Asociación Paraguaya de Fútbol (locally [diβiˈsjon pɾofesjoˈnal de la asosjaˈsjon paɾaˈɣwaʝa ðe ˈfutβol]; Professional Division of the Paraguayan Football Association), also known as the Primera División [pɾiˈmeɾa ðiβiˈsjon] (first division), or due to sponsorship reasons Copa TIGO [ˈkopa ˈtiɣo], is the top-flight professional football league in Paraguay. Currently, there are 12 teams in the first division.

The most successful club is Olimpia, with 40 championships. The Apertura 2017 champion was Libertad. IFFHS ranked the league as the ninth strongest in the world in 2012,^[1] and the eleventh strongest in the world in 2013.^[2]

History

Liga Paraguaya's first game was played in 1906, after the director of the El Diario newspaper, Don Adolfo Riquelme, brought to his office on 18 June 1906, the representatives of the five existing football teams in Paraguay at that time (Olimpia, Guaraní, Libertad, General Díaz, and Nacional) to create the governing body of football in Paraguay: the Liga Paraguaya de Fútbol (known today as Asociación Paraguaya de Fútbol). The representatives were William Paats and Junio Godoy (Olimpia) Ramón Caballero, Manuel Bella and Salvador Melián (Guaraní), Juan Escalada (Libertad), César Urdapilleta (General Díaz), and Vicente Gadea (Nacional).^[3] The Liga Paraguaya saw Club Guaraní as the first champion in 1906, after defeating Olimpia in the final.

The Primera División was founded in 1906 with 5 teams, and turned professional in 1935 when 10 clubs broke away from the amateur leagues to form a professional league. Since 1996 the format of tournament was changed to Torneo Apertura and Clausura, but since 2008 each tournament is independent.

Traditionally, the dominance of Olimpia and Cerro Porteño went mostly unchallenged for decades. All of this changed at the turn of the 21st century. Since then, Libertad has been the most dominant club, while Nacional and Guarani have also experienced success at the local level.

Format

The system of the tournaments is round-robin. 12 teams play two rounds of 11 dates either away or home games, in total 22 dates in each tournament. Each year tournaments are divided in two independents tournaments: the Torneo Apertura (Opening Tournament) from February to July, and the Torneo Clausura (Closing Tournament) from July to December.

Relegation is based on an averaging system. At the end of each season, the two teams with the worst three-year averages are relegated, and the two best teams in the "División Intermedia" (second division) are promoted to Primera División.

International cup participation

Since 2012, Paraguay have seven slots in international cups (three in the Copa Libertadores de America and four in the Copa Sudamericana). These seven slots will be filled by five teams.

In the Copa Libertadores, the winner of the Apertura and Clausura tournaments qualify automatically. The third representative (going into the first round play-off) is the best placed non-champion from the cumulative table of both the Apertura and Clausura.

In the Copa Sudamericana, the champion of the Apertura and Clausura tournaments qualify, with the 4th and 5th best placed teams from the Apertura and Clausura cumulatives.

First Division teams

The following are the teams in the first division in 2017:

Stadia and location

Deportivo Capiatá

Sol de América

General Díaz
Sportivo Luqueño

Asunción

Asunción teams:
Cerro Porteño
Guaraní
Independiente
Libertad
Nacional
Olimpia
Rubio Ñu
Sportivo Trinidense

Locations of the 2017 Primera División teams

Team	Manager	Home city	Stadium	Capacity
Cerro Porteño	Gustavo Florentín	Asunción	General Pablo Rojas	32,000
Deportivo Capiatá	Diego Gavilán	Capiatá	Lic. Erico Galeano Segovia	10,000
General Díaz	Aldo Bobadilla	Luque	General Adrián Jara	3,500
Guaraní	Daniel Garnero	Asunción	Rogelio Livieres	6,000
Independiente	Celso Ayala	Asunción	Ricardo Gregor	1,500
Libertad	Fernando Jubero	Asunción	Dr. Nicolás Leoz	10,000
Nacional	Ever Hugo Almeida	Asunción	Arsenio Erico	4,000
Olimpia	Pablo Repetto	Asunción	Manuel Ferreira	15,000
Rubio Ñu	Carlos Humberto Paredes	Asunción	La Arboleda	5,000
Sol de América	Fernando Ortiz	Villa Elisa	Luis Alfonso Giagni	5,000
Sportivo Luqueño	Héctor Marecos	Luque	Feliciano Cáceres	25,000
Sportivo Trinidense	Juan Daniel Cáceres	Asunción	Martín Torres	3,000

List of champions

Amateur era

Professional Era

Titles by club

Topscorers

See also

• Football in Paraguay
• Paraguayan football league system
• División Intermedia
• Paraguayan Tercera División
• Paraguayan Primera División B
• Primera División B Nacional
• Paraguayan Cuarta División
• Campeonato Nacional de Interligas
• Unión del Fútbol del Interior
• Paraguayan women's football championship
• Football Federation of the 1st Department Concepción
• Football Federation of the 2nd Department San Pedro
• Football Federation of the 3rd Department Cordillera
• Football Federation of the 4th Department Guairá
• Football Federation of the 5th Department Caaguazú
• Football Federation of the 6th Department Caazapá
• Football Federation of the 7th Department Itapúa
• Football Federation of the 8th Department Misiones
• Football Federation of the 9th Department Paraguarí
• Football Federation of the 10th Department Alto Paraná
• Football Federation of the 11th Department Central
• Football Federation of the 12th Department Ñeembucú
• Football Federation of the 13th Department Amambay
• Football Federation of the 14th Department Canindeyú
• Football Federation of the 15th Department Presidente Hayes
• Football Federation of the 16th Department Alto Paraguay
• Football Federation of the 17th Department Boquerón

References

External links

• RSSSF
• Paraguayan Football Association Official website