Venezuelan Primera División

This article is about the association football league. For the baseball league, see Venezuelan Professional Baseball League. For the basketball league, see Liga Profesional de Baloncesto.

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 is organized by the Federación Venezolana de Fútbol.

Liga FUTVE

Founded	1921; 103 years ago (1921)
Country	Venezuela
Confederation	CONMEBOL
Number of teams	14
Level on pyramid	1
Relegation to	Segunda División
Domestic cup(s)	Copa Venezuela
International cup(s)	Copa Libertadores Copa Sudamericana
Current champions	Deportivo Táchira (10th title) (2023 season)
Most championships	Caracas (12 titles)
Top goalscorer	Juan García (271 goals)
TV partners	TVes, GolTV, Star+
Website	Liga FUTVE (in Spanish) Venezuelan Football Federation (in Spanish)
Current: 2024 season

Format

Starting in the 2020 season, 20 teams play in a home-and-away round-robin tournament, with the top eight teams advancing to the semi-final stage.

At the semi-final stage, the eight teams are divided into two groups of four teams each, facing the other teams in their group twice. The two group winners advance to the Serie Final to decide the league champions.

International qualification

• The champions and runners-up qualify to the group phase of the Copa Libertadores.
• The team with the most points in the entire season 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 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 are automatically relegated to the Segunda División.

2024 teams

Pto. Cabello

Angostura

Barinas

Carabobo

Caracas

Deportivo Táchira

Est. Mérida

Portuguesa

Monagas

Rayo Zuliano

Barinas teams:
Inter de Barinas
Zamora
Caracas teams:
Caracas
Deportivo La Guaira
Metropolitanos
Universidad Central

Locations of the 2024 Primera División teams

Team	City	Stadium	Capacity
Academia Puerto Cabello	Puerto Cabello	La Bombonerita	7,500
Angostura	Ciudad Bolívar	Ricardo Tulio Maya	2,500
Carabobo	Valencia	Misael Delgado	10,400
Caracas	Caracas	Olímpico de la UCV	23,940
Deportivo La Guaira	Caracas	Olímpico de la UCV	23,940
Deportivo Táchira	San Cristóbal	Polideportivo de Pueblo Nuevo	38,755
Estudiantes de Mérida	Mérida	Metropolitano de Mérida	42,200
Inter de Barinas	Barinas	Agustín Tovar	29,800
Metropolitanos	Caracas	Olímpico de la UCV	23,940
Monagas	Maturín	Monumental de Maturín	51,796
Portuguesa	Acarigua	General José Antonio Páez	18,000
Rayo Zuliano	Maracaibo	José "Pachencho" Romero	40,800
Universidad Central	Caracas	Olímpico de la UCV	23,940
Zamora	Barinas	Agustín Tovar	29,800

List of champions

List of champions since the first championship held in 1920. The Primera División turned professional on 21 February 1957.^{[citation needed]}

Amateur era (1921–1956)

Ed.	Season	Champion	Runner-up
1	1921	América	Centro Atlético
2	1922	Centro Atlético (1)	América
3	1923	América	Centro Atlético
4	1924	Centro Atlético (2)	Vargas
5	1925	Loyola	Venzóleo
6	1926	Centro Atlético (3)	Venzóleo
7	1927	Venzóleo	Centro Atlético
8	1928	Deportivo Venezuela	Centro Atlético
9	1929	Deportivo Venezuela	Unión
10	1930	Centro Atlético (4)	Unión
11	1931	Deportivo Venezuela	Centro Atlético
12	1932	Unión (1)	Dos Caminos
13	1933	Deportivo Venezuela	Dos Caminos
14	1934	Unión (2)	Dos Caminos
15	1935	Unión (3)	Dos Caminos
16	1936	Dos Caminos	Centro Atlético
17	1937	Dos Caminos	Litoral
18	1938	Dos Caminos	Litoral
19	1939	Unión (4)	Litoral
20	1940	Unión (5)	Dos Caminos
21	1941	Litoral	Dos Caminos
22	1942	Dos Caminos	Loyola
23	1943	Loyola	Litoral
24	1944	Loyola	Dos Caminos
25	1945	Dos Caminos	Loyola
26	1946	Deportivo Español	Centro Atlético
27	1947	Unión (6)	Universidad Central
28	1948	Loyola	Unión
29	1949	Dos Caminos	Universidad Central
30	1950	Unión (7)	La Salle
31	1951	Universidad Central	Loyola
32	1952	La Salle	Loyola
33	1953	Universidad Central	La Salle
34	1954	Deportivo Vasco	Loyola
35	1955	La Salle	Deportivo Español
36	1956	Banco Obrero	La Salle

Professional era (1957–present)

Ed.	Season	Champion	Runner-up	Top scorer
37	1957	Universidad Central	La Salle	Tonho (Universidad Central, 12 goals)
38	1958	Deportivo Portugués	Deportivo Español	René Irazque (Portugués, 6 goals)
39	1959	Deportivo Español	Deportivo Portugués	Abel Benítez (Deportivo Español, 15 goals)
40	1960	Deportivo Portugués	Deportivo Español	José Luis Iglesias (Deportivo Portugués, 9 goals)
41	1961	Deportivo Italia	Banco Agrícola y Pecuario	Antonio Ravelo (Banco Agrícola y Pecuario, 11 goals)
42	1962	Deportivo Portugués	Universidad Central	Jaime da Silva (Universidad Central, 16)
43	1963	Deportivo Italia	Deportivo Portugués	Nino (Deportivo Portugués, 15 goals)
44	1964	Deportivo Galicia	Tiquire Flores	Helio Rodrigues (Tiquire Flores, 12 goals)
45	1965	Lara	Deportivo Italia	Mario Mateo (Lara, 16 goals)
46	1966	Deportivo Italia	Deportivo Portugués	Ratto (Deportivo Portugués, 20 goals)
47	1967	Deportivo Portugués	Deportivo Galicia	Joao Ramos (Deportivo Portugués, 28 goals)
48	1968	Unión Deportiva Canarias	Deportivo Italia	Raimundinho (Deportivo Portugués, 21 goals)
49	1969	Deportivo Galicia	Valencia	Eustaquio Batista (Deportivo Italia, 19 goals) Lelo (Valencia, 19 goals)
50	1970	Deportivo Galicia	Deportivo Italia	Roland Langon (Deportivo Galicia, 13 goals)
51	1971	Valencia	Deportivo Italia	Agostinho Sabara (Tiquire Aragua, 20 goals)
52	1972	Deportivo Italia	Deportivo Galicia	Francisco Rodriguez (Anzoátegui FC, 18 goals)
53	1973	Portuguesa	Valencia	Jose Chiazzaro (Estudiantes de Mérida, 14 goals)
54	1974	Deportivo Galicia	Portuguesa	Jose Chiazzaro (Estudiantes de Mérida, 15 goals) Sergio Hugo Castillo (Anzoátegui FC, 15 goals)
55	1975	Portuguesa	Estudiantes de Mérida	Pedro Pascual Peralta (Portuguesa, 20 goals)
56	1976	Portuguesa	Estudiantes de Mérida	Pedro Pascual Peralta (Portuguesa, 25 goals)
57	1977	Portuguesa	Estudiantes de Mérida	Jairzinho (Portuguesa, 20 goals) Juan Cesar Silva (Portuguesa, 20 goals)
58	1978	Portuguesa	Deportivo Galicia	Andrade (ULA Mérida, 23 goals)
59	1979	Deportivo Táchira (1)	Deportivo Galicia	Omar Ferrari (Deportivo Táchira, 15 goals)
60	1980	Estudiantes de Mérida	Portuguesa	Wilfrido Campos (Portuguesa, 12 goals)
61	1981	Deportivo Táchira (2)	Estudiantes de Mérida	Rafael Angulo (Deportivo Táchira, 14 goals)
62	1982	San Cristóbal	Deportivo Táchira	German Montero (Estudiantes, 21 goals)
63	1983	Universidad de Los Andes	Portuguesa	Johnny Castellanos (Atlético Zamora, 13 goals)
64	1984	Deportivo Táchira (3)	Deportivo Italia	Sergio Meckler (Zamora, 15 goals)
65	1985	Estudiantes de Mérida	Deportivo Táchira	Sergio Meckler (Deportivo Táchira, 17 goals)
66	1986	Unión Atlético Táchira (4)	Estudiantes de Mérida	Wilton Arreaza (Caracas, 8 goals)
67	1986–87	Marítimo	Unión Atlético Táchira	Johnny Castellanos (Portuguesa, 16 goals)
68	1987–88	Marítimo	Unión Atlético Táchira	Miguel González (Unión Atlético Táchira, 22 goals)
69	1988–89	Mineros de Guayana	Pepeganga Margarita	Johnny Castellanos (Mineros, 24 goals)
70	1989–90	Marítimo	Unión Atlético Táchira	Herbert Márquez (Marítimo, 19 goals)
71	1990–91	Universidad de Los Andes	Marítimo	Alexander Bottini (Monagas, 15 goals)
72	1991–92	Caracas (1)	Minervén	Andreas Vogler (Caracas, 25 goals)
73	1992–93	Marítimo	Minervén	Herbert Márquez (Marítimo, 21 goals)
74	1993–94	Caracas (2)	Trujillanos	Rodrigo Soto (Trujillanos, 20 goals)
75	1994–95	Caracas (3)	Minervén	Rogeiro da Silva (Mineros, 30 goals)
76	1995–96	Minervén	Mineros de Guayana	Jose Luis Dolgetta (Caracas, 24 goals)
77	1996–97	Caracas (4)	Atlético Zulia	Rafael Castellín (Caracas, 19 goals)
78	1997–98	Atlético Zulia	Estudiantes de Mérida	Jose Luis Dolgetta (Estudiantes de Mérida/Carabobo, 22 goals)
79	1998–99	Deportivo Italchacao	Unión Atlético Táchira	Gustavo Fonseca (Internacional Lara, 24 goals)
80	1999–00	Deportivo Táchira (5)	Deportivo Italchacao	Juan Enrique García (Caracas, 24 goals)
81	2000–01	Caracas (5)	Trujillanos	Martín Brignani (Estudiantes de Mérida, 12 goals)
82	2001–02	Nacional Táchira	Estudiantes de Mérida	Juan Enrique García (Nacional Táchira, 34 goals)
83	2002–03	Caracas (6)	Unión Atlético Maracaibo	Juan Enrique García (Monagas/Mineros, 19 goals)
84	2003–04	Caracas (7)	Deportivo Táchira	Juan Enrique García (Mineros, 18 goals)
85	2004–05	Unión Atlético Maracaibo	Caracas	Daniel Delfino (Carabobo, 19 goals)
86	2005–06	Caracas (8)	Unión Atlético Maracaibo	Juan Enrique García (Deportivo Táchira, 21 goals)
87	2006–07	Caracas (9)	Unión Atlético Maracaibo	Robinson Rentería (Trujillanos, 19 goals)
88	2007–08	Deportivo Táchira (6)	Caracas	Alexander Rondon (Deportivo Anzoátegui, 19 goals)
89	2008–09	Caracas (10)	Deportivo Italia	Daniel Arismendi (Maracaibo/Deportivo Táchira, 17 goals) Heatklif Castillo (Aragua, 17 goals)
90	2009–10	Caracas (11)	Deportivo Táchira	Norman Cabrera (Atlético El Vigía, 20 goals)
91	2010–11	Deportivo Táchira (7)	Zamora	Daniel Arismendi (Deportivo Anzoátegui, 20 goals)
92	2011–12	Deportivo Lara	Caracas	Rafael Castellín (Deportivo Lara, 21 goals)
93	2012–13	Zamora	Deportivo Anzoátegui	Gabriel Torres (Zamora, 19 goals)
94	2013–14	Zamora	Mineros de Guayana	Juan Falcón (Zamora, 19 goals)
95	2014–15	Deportivo Táchira (8)	Trujillanos	Edwin Aguilar (Deportivo Anzoategui, 23 goals)
96	2015	Zamora	Deportivo La Guaira	Manuel Arteaga (Zulia, 17 goals)
97	2016	Zamora	Zulia	Gabriel Torres (Zamora, 22 goals)
98	2017	Monagas	Deportivo Lara	Anthony Blondell (Monagas, 24 goals)
99	2018	Zamora	Deportivo Lara	Anthony Uribe (Zamora, 16 goals)
100	2019	Caracas (12)	Estudiantes de Mérida	Edder Farías (Atlético Venezuela, 18 goals)
101	2020	Deportivo La Guaira	Deportivo Táchira	Richard Blanco (Mineros, 8 goals) Edder Farías (Atlético Venezuela, 8 goals)
102	2021	Deportivo Táchira (9)	Caracas	Samson Akinyoola (Caracas, 18 goals)
103	2022	Metropolitanos (1)	Monagas	Kevin Viveros (Carabobo, 21 goals)
104	2023	Deportivo Táchira (10)	Caracas	Luifer Hernández (Academia Puerto Cabello, 18 goals)
105	2024

Titles by club

Clubs in bold compete in Primera División as of the current season. Clubs in italic no longer exist.

Rank	Club	Winners	Runners-Up	Winning years	Runners-Up years
1	Caracas	12	5	1991–92, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1996–97, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2019	2004–05, 2007–08, 2011–12, 2021, 2023
2	Deportivo Táchira	10	9	1979, 1981, 1984, 1986, 1999–00, 2007–08, 2010–11, 2014–15, 2021, 2023	1982, 1985, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1989–90, 1998–99, 2003–04, 2009–10, 2020
3	Unión	7	3	1932, 1934, 1935, 1939, 1940, 1947, 1950	1929, 1930, 1948
4	Dos Caminos	6	7	1936, 1937, 1938, 1942, 1945, 1949	1932, 1933, 1934, 1935, 1940, 1941, 1944
5	Deportivo Petare	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
7	Centro Atlético	4	7	1922, 1924, 1926, 1930	1921, 1923, 1927, 1928, 1931, 1936, 1946
	Deportivo Galicia	4	5	1964, 1969, 1970, 1974	1967, 1972, 1978, 1979
	Deportivo Portugués	4	3	1958, 1960, 1962, 1967	1959, 1963, 1966
	Marítimo	4	1	1986–87, 1987–88, 1989–90, 1992–93	1990–91
	Zamora	4[note 1]	1	2012–13, 2013–14, 2016, 2018	2010–11
	Deportivo Venezuela	4	—	1928, 1929, 1931, 1933	—
13	Loyola	3	5	1925, 1943, 1944	1942, 1945, 1951, 1952, 1954
	Universidad Central	3	3	1951, 1953, 1957	1947, 1949, 1962
15	Estudiantes de Mérida	2	8	1980, 1985	1975, 1976, 1977, 1981, 1986, 1997–98, 2001–02, 2019
	Deportivo Español	2	3	1946, 1959	1955, 1958, 1960
	La Salle	2	3	1952, 1955	1950, 1953, 1956
	América	2	1	1921, 1923	1922
	Universidad de Los Andes	2	—	1983, 1990–91	—
20	Litoral	1	4	1941	1937, 1938, 1939, 1943
	Unión Atlético Maracaibo	1	3	2004–05	2002–03, 2005–06, 2006–07
	Minervén	1	3	1995–96	1991–92, 1992–93, 1994–95
	Deportivo Lara	1	2	2011–12	2017, 2018
	Mineros de Guayana	1	2	1988–89	1995–96, 2013–14
	Carabobo	1	2	1971	1969, 1973
	Venzóleo	1	2	1927	1925, 1926
	Atlético Zulia	1	1	1997–98	1996–97
	Monagas	1	1	2017	2022
	Banco Obrero	1	—	1956	—
	Deportivo La Guaira	1	—	2020	—
	Deportivo Vasco	1	—	1954	—
	Lara	1	—	1965	—
	Metropolitanos	1	—	2022	—
	Nacional Táchira	1	—	2001–02	—
	San Cristóbal	1	—	1982	—
	Unión Deportiva Canarias	1	—	1968	—
—	Trujillanos	—	3	—	1993–94, 2000–01, 2014–15
	Deportivo Anzoátegui		1		2012–13
	Banco Agrícola y Pecuario		1		1961
	Tiquire Flores		1		1964
	Pepeganga Margarita		1		1988–89
	Zulia		1		2016

1. Zamora won the Torneo de Adecuación in 2015, but this title is not counted as it was not a full season.

See also

• Venezuelan football league system

References

External links

• Official website (in Spanish)
• News in Spanish about the First Division of the Venezuelan Football/Soccer
• News and pictures (in Spanish)
• League statistics at RSSSF
• FuriaVinotinto – Unofficial Forum Archived 2008-02-14 at the Wayback Machine (in Spanish)