Uruguayan Primera División Explained

Torneo Uruguayo Copa Coca-Cola
Pixels:	150
Confed:	CONMEBOL
Teams:	16
Relegation:	Segunda División
Levels:	1
Most Champs:	Peñarol / CURCC (46/5 titles) Nacional (49 titles)
Domest Cup:	Copa Uruguay Supercopa Uruguaya
Confed Cup:	Copa Libertadores Copa Sudamericana
Champions:	Liverpool (1st title)
Season:	2023
Top Goalscorer:	Fernando Morena (230)
Tv:	Tenfield, Gol TV, Arena Sport
Current:	2024 season

The Liga Profesional de Primera División (American Spanish pronounced as /es/, English: First Division Professional League, local: pronounced as /es/, First Division), named "Torneo Uruguayo Copa Coca-Cola" for sponsorship reasons, is the highest professional football league in Uruguay organized by the Uruguayan Football Association (AUF).

The first championship was held in 1900, being an amateur competition until 1932 when the league became professional. From 1900 to the 2014–15 season there have been 111 first division seasons.

In 2011, the Uruguayan Primera División was regarded as the 23rd most difficult football league in the 21st century by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS).^[1]

If considered the same club, Peñarol/CURCC is the most successful Uruguayan club with 51 titles. Otherwise, it is Nacional with 49 titles. Of clubs to win titles, only Rampla Juniors did not win multiple titles. Rampla Juniors and Wanderers were the only clubs to not win titles consecutively.

History

The Uruguayan Primera División was held by the first time in 1900. Between 1923 and 1925, under the Uruguayan football schism, a dissident league, the Federación Uruguaya de Football, was established. The body operated in parallel with the official Association (AUF). After an intervention by the Uruguayan government to impose the dissolution of the FUF, in 1926 a Provisional Council ("Concejo Provisorio") organised a championship to unify the two organizations. Peñarol was the winner of the Serie A of the tournament. Nevertheless, neither the AUF nor the FIFA recognised the titles of the championships organized by FUF or CP.^[2]

Results of the 'Big Two' since 2010.

Season
	2	1
	1	3
	1	3
	3	1
	3	5
	1	2
	2	1
	1	14
	3	1
	2	1
	1	2
	1	4
	2	1
	1	6
	3	2
TOTAL	7	6
	15	11
out of 10
Champions Second place Third place

From 1930 to 1975, either Nacional or Peñarol won every title. This streak was finally broken when Defensor won its first title in 1976. Besides Nacional or Peñarol, 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 without neither Peñarol nor Nacional winning the title was from 1987 to 1991, when Defensor, Danubio, Progreso, Bella Vista, and again Defensor won the five tournaments played during that period.^[3]

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.

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 short season was held to decide the qualification to international competition. In the 2005–06 season, the winners of the Apertura and Clausura tournaments played a two (or three) legged play-off; 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. 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). However, the transition did not take place for several years. After a regular 2015–16 season was played, a short 2016 was played in the latter half of the year, with the full calendar year system in place once again beginning with the 2017 season.

Participating teams

A total of 60 teams have participated in the Primera Division since its inception in 1900. Nacional has played the most seasons followed by Peñarol/CURCC. Peñarol and Nacional are also the only two teams to have never been relegated out of the Primera Division. Of the so-called 'minor' teams the record for most seasons lies with Montevideo Wanderers.

2024 season

All statistics pertain only to the Uruguayan Championships organized by the Uruguayan Football Association (AUF), not including FUF tournaments of 1923, 1924 and the 1926 Consejo Provisorio tournament in seasons counted. The founding dates of clubs are those declared by the clubs themselves involved. The column "stadium" reflects the stadium where the team play their home matches, but does not indicate that the team in question owns the stadium.

Club	City	Stadium	Capacity	Establ.
Boston River	Montevideo	Campeones Olímpicos	5,124	1939
Cerro	Montevideo	Luis Tróccoli	25,000	1922
Cerro Largo	Melo	Antonio Ubilla	9,000	2002
Danubio	Montevideo	Jardines del Hipódromo	18,000	1932
Defensor Sporting	Montevideo	Luis Franzini	16,000	1913
Deportivo Maldonado	Maldonado	Domingo Burgueño Miguel	22,000	1928
Fénix	Montevideo	Parque Capurro	10,000	1916
Liverpool	Montevideo	Belvedere	10,000	1915
Miramar Misiones	Montevideo	Parque Luis Méndez Piana	6,500	1980
Montevideo Wanderers	Montevideo	Parque Alfredo Víctor Viera	11,000	1902
Nacional	Montevideo	Gran Parque Central	34,000	1899
Peñarol	Montevideo	Campeón del Siglo	40,000	1891 / 1913
Progreso	Montevideo	Abraham Paladino	8,000	1917
Racing	Montevideo	Osvaldo Roberto	8,500	1919
Rampla Juniors	Montevideo	Olímpico	9,500	1914
River Plate	Montevideo	Parque Federico Omar Saroldi	5,624	1932

Champions

List of champions (1900–present)

All tournaments organized by the Uruguayan Football Association (AUF) except where indicated. No records for topscorers during the period 1900–1931.

width=		width=60px	Season	width=180px	Champion	width=180px	Runner-up	width=180px	Third	width=350px	Leading goalscorer(s)^[4]
	1904	(No championship held)
				Nacional
				Universal
	1926
	1930	(No championship held)
				Nacional	Juan Labraga (Rampla Juniors; 17 goals)
	1933		Peñarol	Rampla Juniors	Pedro Young (Peñarol; 33 goals)
	1934		Peñarol	Montevideo Wanderers	Aníbal Ciocca (Nacional; 13 goals)
	1935		Nacional	Montevideo Wanderers	Antonio Castaldo (Defensor; 12 goals)
	1936		Nacional	Rampla Juniors	Aníbal Ciocca (Nacional; 14 goals)
	1937		Nacional	Montevideo Wanderers	Horacio Tellechea (Peñarol; 16 goals)
	1938		Nacional	Central Español	Atilio García (Nacional; 20 goals)
	1939		Peñarol	Montevideo Wanderers	Atilio García (Nacional; 22 goals)
	1940		Rampla Juniors	Montevideo Wanderers	Atilio García (Nacional; 18 goals)
	1941		Peñarol	Rampla Juniors	Atilio García (Nacional; 23 goals)
	1942		Peñarol	Montevideo Wanderers	Atilio García (Nacional; 19 goals)
	1943		Peñarol	Miramar Misiones	Atilio García (Nacional; 18 goals)
	1944		Nacional	Defensor Sporting	Atilio García (Nacional; 21 goals)
	1945		Nacional	Defensor Sporting	Nicolás Falero (Central Español; 21 goals) Raúl Schiaffino (Peñarol; 21 goals)
	1946		Peñarol	CA River Plate	Atilio García (Nacional; 21 goals)
	1947		Peñarol	Rampla Juniors	Nicolás Falero (Peñarol; 17 goals)
		(Not finished)
	1949		Nacional	Rampla Juniors	Óscar Míguez (Peñarol; 20 goals)
	1950		Peñarol	Rampla Juniors	Juan Ramón Orlandi (Nacional; 14 goals)
	1951		Nacional	Rampla Juniors	Juan Hohberg (Peñarol; 17 goals)
	1952		Peñarol	Rampla Juniors	Jorge Enrico (Nacional; 15 goals)
	1953		Nacional	Rampla Juniors	Juan Hohberg (Peñarol; 17 goals)
	1954		Nacional	Danubio	Juan Romay (Peñarol; 12 goals)
	1955		Peñarol	Cerro	Javier Ambrois (Nacional; 17 goals)
	1956		Peñarol	Cerro	Carlos Carranza (Cerro; 18 goals)
	1957		Peñarol	Defensor Sporting	Walter Hernández (Defensor; 16 goals)
	1958		Nacional	Rampla Juniors	Manuel Pedersen (Rampla Juniors; 12 goals)
	1959		Nacional	Racing	Víctor Guaglianone (Wanderers; 13 goals)
	1960		Cerro	Nacional	Ángel Cabrera (Peñarol; 14 goals)
	1961		Nacional	Defensor Sporting	Alberto Spencer (Peñarol; 18 goals)
	1962		Nacional	Fénix	Alberto Spencer (Peñarol; 16 goals)
	1963		Peñarol	Montevideo Wanderers	Pedro Rocha (Peñarol; 18 goals)
	1964		Rampla Juniors	Nacional	Héctor Salva (Rampla Juniors; 12 goals)
	1965		Nacional	Cerro	Pedro Rocha (Peñarol; 15 goals)
	1966		Peñarol	Cerro	Araquem de Melo (Danubio; 12 goals)
	1967		Nacional	Cerro	Alberto Spencer (Peñarol; 11 goals)
	1968		Nacional	Cerro	Alberto Spencer (Peñarol; 8 goals) Pedro Rocha (Peñarol; 8 goals) Ruben Garcia (Cerro; 8 goals) Rúben Bareño (Cerro; 8 goals)
	1969		Peñarol	Bella Vista	Luis Artime (Nacional; 24 goals)
	1970		Peñarol	Huracán Buceo	Luis Artime (Nacional; 21 goals)
	1971		Peñarol	Liverpool	Luis Artime (Nacional; 16 goals)
	1972		Peñarol	Defensor Sporting	Juan Carlos Mamelli (Nacional; 20 goals)
	1973		Nacional	Danubio	Fernando Morena (Peñarol; 23 goals)
	1974		Nacional	Liverpool	Fernando Morena (Peñarol; 27 goals)
	1975		Nacional	Liverpool	Fernando Morena (Peñarol; 34 goals)
	1976		Peñarol	Nacional	Fernando Morena (Peñarol; 18 goals)
	1977		Peñarol	Defensor Sporting	Fernando Morena (Peñarol; 19 goals)
	1978		Nacional	Fénix	Fernando Morena (Peñarol; 36 goals)
	1979		Nacional	Fénix	Waldemar Victorino (Nacional; 19 goals)
	1980		Montevideo Wanderers	Peñarol	Jorge Luis Siviero (Rentistas; 19 goals)
	1981		Nacional	Montevideo Wanderers	Rubén Paz (Peñarol; 17 goals)
	1982		Nacional	Defensor Sporting	Fernando Morena (Peñarol; 17 goals)
	1983		Danubio	Defensor Sporting	Arsenio Luzardo (Nacional; 13 goals)
	1984	Central Español	Peñarol	Nacional	José Villareal (Central Español; 18 goals)
	1985		Montevideo Wanderers	Cerro	Antonio Alzamendi (Peñarol; 13 goals)
	1986		Nacional	Central Español	Juan Ramón Carrasco (Nacional; 11 goals) Gerardo Miranda (Defensor; 11 goals)
	1987		Nacional	Bella Vista	Gerardo Miranda (Defensor; 13 goals)
	1988		Peñarol	Defensor Sporting	Rubén da Silva (Danubio; 23 goals)
	1989	Progreso	Nacional	Peñarol	Diego Aguirre (Peñarol; 7 goals) Johnny Miqueiro (Progreso; 7 goals) Óscar Quagliata (Huracán Buceo; 7 goals)
	1990		Nacional	Peñarol	Adolfo Barán (Peñarol; 13 goals)
	1991		Nacional	Montevideo Wanderers	Julio Dely Valdés (Nacional; 16 goals)
	1992		CA River Plate	Danubio	Julio Dely Valdés (Nacional; 13 goals)
	1993		Defensor Sporting	Danubio	Wilmar Cabrera (Huracán Buceo; 12 goals)
	1994		Defensor Sporting	Nacional	Darío Silva (Peñarol; 19 goals)
	1995		Nacional	Liverpool	Juan González (Nacional; 16 goals)
	1996		Nacional	Defensor Sporting	Juan González (Nacional; 13 goals)
	1997		Defensor Sporting	CA River Plate	Pablo Bengoechea (Peñarol; 10 goals)
	1998		Peñarol	Bella Vista	Martín Rodríguez (CA River Plate; 13 goals) Rubén Sosa (Nacional; 13 goals)
	1999		Nacional	Defensor Sporting	Gabriel Álvez (Nacional; 24 goals)
	2000		Peñarol	Defensor Sporting	Javier Chevantón (Danubio; 33 goals)
	2001		Danubio	Peñarol	Eliomar Marcón (Defensor Sporting; 21 goals)
	2002		Danubio	Peñarol	Germán Hornos (Fénix; 25 goals)
	2003		Nacional	Danubio	Alexander Medina (Liverpool; 22 goals)
	2004		Nacional	Defensor Sporting	Carlos Bueno (Peñarol; 26 goals) Alexander Medina (Nacional; 26 goals)
	2005		Defensor Sporting	Peñarol	Pablo Granoche (Miramar Misiones; 16 goals)
	2005–06		Rocha	Defensor Sporting	Pedro Cardoso (Rocha; 17 goals)
	2006–07		Peñarol	Defensor Sporting	Aldo Díaz (Tacuarembó; 15 goals)
	2007–08		Peñarol	CA River Plate	Richard Porta (CA River Plate; 19 goals) Cristhian Stuani (Danubio; 19 goals)
	2008–09		Defensor Sporting	Cerro	Antonio Pacheco (Peñarol; 12 goals) Liber Quiñones (Racing; 12 goals)
	2009–10		Nacional	Liverpool	Antonio Pacheco (Peñarol; 23 goals)
	2010–11		Defensor Sporting	Peñarol	Santiago García (Nacional; 23 goals)
	2011–12		Defensor Sporting	Peñarol	Richard Porta (Nacional; 17 goals)
	2012–13		Defensor Sporting	Nacional	Juan Manuel Olivera (Peñarol; 18 goals)
	2013–14		Montevideo Wanderers	Nacional	Héctor Acuña (Cerro; 20 goals)
	2014–15		Peñarol	River Plate	Iván Alonso (Nacional; 22 goals)
	2015–16		Nacional	Cerro	Gastón Rodríguez (M. Wanderers; 19 goals) Junior Arias (Liverpool; 19 goals)
	2016		Montevideo Wanderers	Danubio	Pablo Silva (Villa Española; 8 goals) Gabriel Fernández (Racing; 8 goals)
	2017		Defensor Sporting	Nacional	Cristian Palacios (M. Wanderers / Peñarol; 29 goals)
	2018		Nacional	Danubio	Gonzalo Bergessio (Nacional; 17 goals)
	2019		Peñarol	Cerro Largo	Juan Ignacio Ramírez (Liverpool; 24 goals)
	2020		Rentistas	Liverpool	Gonzalo Bergessio (Nacional; 25 goals)
	2021		Nacional	Plaza Colonia	Maximiliano Silvera (Cerrito; 22 goals)
	2022		Liverpool	Deportivo Maldonado	Thiago Borbas (River Plate; 18 goals)
	2023		Peñarol	Nacional	Ignacio Ramírez (Nacional; 19 goals)
	2024

Titles by club

• Clubs participating in the 2023 Uruguayan Primera División season are denoted in bold type.
• Clubs no longer active are denoted in italics.

Rank	width=180px	Club	Winners	Runners-up	Winning seasons
1	CURCC / Peñarol			1900, 1901, 1905, 1907, 1911, 1918, 1921, 1928, 1929, 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, 2012–13, 2015–16, 2017, 2018, 2021
2	Nacional	49	45	1902, 1903, 1912, 1915, 1916, 1917, 1919, 1920, 1922, 1923, 1924, 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, 2011–12, 2014–15, 2016, 2019, 2020, 2022
3	Defensor Sporting	4	9	1976, 1987, 1991, 2007–08
	Danubio	4	3	1988, 2004, 2006–07, 2013–14
	River Plate FC	4	—	1908, 1910, 1913, 1914
6	Montevideo Wanderers	3	8	1906, 1909, 1931
7		1	5	1927
		1	1	1990
	Liverpool	1	1	2023
		1	—	1984
		1	—	1989

Half-year / Short tournaments

Apertura and Clausura seasons

+Apertura/Clausura seasons
Season		Champion	Runner-up	Third Place
	width=100	Apertura
Clausura	Peñarol		Montevideo Wanderers
	width=100	Apertura
Clausura			Rampla Juniors
	width=100	Apertura
Clausura			Huracán Buceo
	width=100	Apertura			Peñarol
Clausura
	width=100	Apertura			Peñarol
Clausura			River Plate
	width=100	Apertura
Clausura	Peñarol	Nacional
	width=100	Apertura
Clausura	Peñarol
	width=100	Apertura
Clausura
	width=100	Apertura	Nacional
Clausura
	width=100	Apertura	Nacional
Clausura			Fénix
	width=100	Apertura	Nacional
Clausura			Nacional
	width=100	Apertura
Clausura			Danubio
	width=100	Apertura
Clausura
	width=100	Apertura		Danubio
Clausura		River Plate
	width=100	Apertura		Danubio
Clausura		River Plate
	width=100	Apertura
Clausura			Fénix
	width=100	Apertura			Bella Vista
Clausura	Nacional		Peñarol
	width=100	Apertura		Danubio	Peñarol
Clausura	Defensor Sporting		Liverpool
	width=100	Apertura		Defensor Sporting
Clausura	Defensor Sporting		River Plate
	width=100	Apertura	Danubio
Clausura			Nacional
	width=100	Apertura			Peñarol
Clausura			Defensor Sporting
	width=100	Apertura
Clausura	Plaza Colonia		Sud América
	width=100	Apertura			Peñarol
Clausura			Nacional
	width=100	Apertura
Clausura			Montevideo Wanderers
	width=100	Apertura			Nacional
Clausura			Progreso
	width=100	Apertura			Montevideo City Torque
Clausura			Montevideo City Torque
	width=100	Apertura			Peñarol
Clausura			Montevideo Wanderers
	width=100	Apertura			Deportivo Maldonado
Clausura			Deportivo Maldonado
	width=100	Apertura			Defensor Sporting
Clausura			Racing
	width=100	Apertura			Defensor Sporting
Clausura

Torneo Intermedio

width=50px	Year	width=100px	Champion	width=70px	Score	width=150px	Runner-up
2017	Nacional	1–0	Defensor Sporting
2018	Nacional	3–2	Torque
2019	Liverpool	2–2	River Plate
2020	Nacional	0–0	Montevideo Wanderers
2021	(Not held)
2022	Nacional	1–0	Liverpool
2023	Liverpool	1–0	Defensor Sporting
2024	Nacional	1–1	Peñarol

Torneo Clasificatorio

Season	Champion	Runner-up
		Danubio
		Cerrito

Liguilla Pre-Libertadores de América

Season	Champion	Runner-up	Award
			Qualified for 1975 Copa Libertadores
			Qualified for 1976 Copa Libertadores
			Qualified for 1977 Copa Libertadores
			Qualified for 1978 Copa Libertadores
			Qualified for 1979 Copa Libertadores
			Qualified for 1980 Copa Libertadores
			Qualified for 1981 Copa Libertadores
			Qualified for 1982 Copa Libertadores
			Qualified for 1983 Copa Libertadores
			Qualified for 1984 Copa Libertadores
			Qualified for 1985 Copa Libertadores
			Qualified for 1986 Copa Libertadores
			Qualified for 1987 Copa Libertadores
			Qualified for 1988 Copa Libertadores
			Qualified for 1989 Copa Libertadores
			Qualified for 1990 Copa Libertadores
			Qualified for 1991 Copa Libertadores
			Qualified for 1992 Copa Libertadores
			Qualified for 1993 Copa Libertadores
			Qualified for 1994 Copa Libertadores
			Qualified for 1995 Copa Libertadores
			Qualified for 1996 Copa Libertadores
			Qualified for 1997 Copa Libertadores
			Qualified for 1998 Copa Libertadores
			Qualified for 1999 Copa Libertadores
			Qualified for 2000 Copa Libertadores
			Qualified for 2001 Copa Libertadores
			Qualified for 2002 Copa Libertadores
			Qualified for 2003 Copa Libertadores
			Qualified for 2004 Copa Libertadores
			Qualified for 2005 Copa Libertadores
2005	(Not held)
			Qualified for 2007 Copa Libertadores
			Qualified for 2008 Copa Libertadores
			Qualified for 2009 Copa Libertadores
			Qualified for 2010 Copa Libertadores

Total Half-year / Short tournaments by club

Club	Total	Half-year / Short tournaments
		Torneo Apertura (1994–)	Torneo Clausura (1994–)	Torneo Intermedio (2017–)	Liguilla Pre-Libertadores (1974–2009)	Torneo Clasificatorio (2001–2004)
	33	12	8	5	8	0
	31	7	10	0	12	2
	16	4	4	0	8	0
	8	3	3	0	1	1
	5	1	2	2	0	0
	3	0	1	0	2	0
	2	1	1	0	0	0
	1	1	0	0	0	0
	1	1	0	0	0	0
	1	0	0	0	1	0
	1	0	0	0	1	0
	1	0	0	0	1	0

All-time top scorers

The chart includes championships since 1900 to present days.^[5]

width=40px	Pos.	width=180px	Player	width=100px	Period	width=60px	Goals	width=60px	Appear.
1		1969–84	230	244
2		1938–50	208	210
3		1916–34	163	191
4	Pablo Terevinto	1920–31	124	157
5		1960–70	113	166
6		1920–31	109	199
7		1921–36	107	181
8		1948–60	107	137
9		1923–33	103	97
10		1922–35	102	180

See also

• Uruguayan football league system
• Uruguayan championship (FUF)
• Torneo del Consejo Provisorio
• Uruguayan Football Stadiums
• Uruguayan Segunda División

Notes and References

1. https://web.archive.org/web/20130114160559/http://www.iffhs.de/?b883e8c00bddad5384f02785fdcdc3bfcdc0aec70aeed200 The strongest Leagues of the World of the 21st Century (2001-2011)
2. http://www.ovaciondigital.com.uy/futbol/campeonato-uruguayo-penarol-nacional-titulos-futbol.html "Hasta ahora se jugaron 109 Uruguayos" on Ovación Digital
3. https://www.rsssf.org/tablesu/uruchamp.html Uruguay – List of Champions
4. Web site: Uruguay – League Top Scorers . October 28, 2010 . December 22, 2010 . Martín . Tabeira . .
5. https://www.rsssf.org/tablesu/urutops-allt.html "Uruguay All-Time Topscorers"