Venezuelan Primera División Explained

Liga FUTVE
Pixels:	150px
Country:	Venezuela
Confed:	CONMEBOL
Teams:	14
Relegation:	Segunda División
Levels:	1
Domest Cup:	Copa Venezuela
Confed Cup:	Copa Libertadores Copa Sudamericana
Champions:	Deportivo Táchira (10th title)
Season:	2023 season
Most Successful Club:	Caracas (12 titles)
Top Goalscorer:	Juan García (271 goals)
Tv:	TVes, GolTV, Star+
Website:
Current:	2024 season

The Primera División (pronounced as /es/; en|First Division), or Liga Venezolana (pronounced as /es/; en|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.

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

Team	City	Stadium	Capacity
			7,500
			2,500
			10,400
			23,940
			23,940
			38,755
			42,200
			29,800
			23,940
			51,796
			18,000
			40,800
			23,940
			29,800

List of champions

List of champions since the first championship held in 1920. The Primera División turned professional on 21 February 1957.

Amateur era (1921–1956)

width=		width=60px	Season	width=180px	Champion	width=180px	Runner-up
	1921	América
	1922		América
	1923	América	Centro Atlético
	1924		Vargas
	1925		Venzóleo
	1926		Venzóleo
	1927
	1928		Centro Atlético
	1929
	1930
	1931
	1932
	1933
	1934		Dos Caminos
	1935
	1936
	1937
	1938		Litoral
	1939
	1940		Dos Caminos
	1941
	1942		Loyola
	1943		Litoral
	1944		Dos Caminos
	1945
	1946		Centro Atlético
	1947		Universidad Central
	1948		Unión
	1949		Universidad Central
	1950		La Salle


			La Salle
			Loyola

Professional era (1957–present)

width=		width=60px	Season	width=180px	Champion	width=180px	Runner-up	width=430px	Top scorer
	1957			Tonho (Universidad Central, 12 goals)
	1958			René Irazque (Portugués, 6 goals)
	1959			Abel Benítez (Deportivo Español, 15 goals)
	1960			José Luis Iglesias (Deportivo Portugués, 9 goals)
	1961		Banco Agrícola y Pecuario	Antonio Ravelo (Banco Agrícola y Pecuario, 11 goals)
	1962			Jaime da Silva (Universidad Central, 16)
	1963			Nino (Deportivo Portugués, 15 goals)
	1964			Helio Rodrigues (Tiquire Flores, 12 goals)
	1965			Mario Mateo (Lara, 16 goals)
	1966			Ratto (Deportivo Portugués, 20 goals)
	1967			Joao Ramos (Deportivo Portugués, 28 goals)
	1968			Raimundinho (Deportivo Portugués, 21 goals)
	1969			Eustaquio Batista (Deportivo Italia, 19 goals) Lelo (Valencia, 19 goals)
	1970			Roland Langon (Deportivo Galicia, 13 goals)
	1971			Agostinho Sabara (Tiquire Aragua, 20 goals)
	1972			Francisco Rodriguez (Anzoátegui FC, 18 goals)
	1973			Jose Chiazzaro (Estudiantes de Mérida, 14 goals)
	1974			Jose Chiazzaro (Estudiantes de Mérida, 15 goals) Sergio Hugo Castillo (Anzoátegui FC, 15 goals)
	1975			Pedro Pascual Peralta (Portuguesa, 20 goals)
	1976			Pedro Pascual Peralta (Portuguesa, 25 goals)
	1977				Jairzinho (Portuguesa, 20 goals) Juan Cesar Silva (Portuguesa, 20 goals)
	1978			Andrade (ULA Mérida, 23 goals)
	1979		Deportivo Galicia	Omar Ferrari (Deportivo Táchira, 15 goals)
	1980			Wilfrido Campos (Portuguesa, 12 goals)
	1981			Rafael Angulo (Deportivo Táchira, 14 goals)
	1982			German Montero (Estudiantes, 21 goals)
	1983			Johnny Castellanos (Atlético Zamora, 13 goals)
	1984			Sergio Meckler (Zamora, 15 goals)
	1985			Sergio Meckler (Deportivo Táchira, 17 goals)
	1986			Wilton Arreaza (Caracas, 8 goals)
	1986–87		Unión Atlético Táchira	Johnny Castellanos (Portuguesa, 16 goals)
	1987–88			Miguel González (Unión Atlético Táchira, 22 goals)
	1988–89		Pepeganga Margarita	Johnny Castellanos (Mineros, 24 goals)
	1989–90		Unión Atlético Táchira	Herbert Márquez (Marítimo, 19 goals)
	1990–91		Marítimo	Alexander Bottini (Monagas, 15 goals)
	1991–92		Minervén	Andreas Vogler (Caracas, 25 goals)
	1992–93		Minervén	Herbert Márquez (Marítimo, 21 goals)
	1993–94		Trujillanos	Rodrigo Soto (Trujillanos, 20 goals)
	1994–95		Minervén	Rogeiro da Silva (Mineros, 30 goals)
	1995–96		Mineros de Guayana	Jose Luis Dolgetta (Caracas, 24 goals)
	1996–97		Atlético Zulia	Rafael Castellín (Caracas, 19 goals)
	1997–98		Estudiantes de Mérida	Jose Luis Dolgetta (Estudiantes de Mérida/Carabobo, 22 goals)
	1998–99		Unión Atlético Táchira	Gustavo Fonseca (Internacional Lara, 24 goals)
	1999–00		Deportivo Italchacao	Juan Enrique García (Caracas, 24 goals)
	2000–01			Martín Brignani (Estudiantes de Mérida, 12 goals)
	2001–02			Juan Enrique García (Nacional Táchira, 34 goals)
	2002–03		Unión Atlético Maracaibo	Juan Enrique García (Monagas/Mineros, 19 goals)
	2003–04		Deportivo Táchira	Juan Enrique García (Mineros, 18 goals)
				Daniel Delfino (Carabobo, 19 goals)
	2005–06		Unión Atlético Maracaibo	Juan Enrique García (Deportivo Táchira, 21 goals)
	2006–07			Robinson Rentería (Trujillanos, 19 goals)
	2007–08			Alexander Rondon (Deportivo Anzoátegui, 19 goals)
				Daniel Arismendi (Maracaibo/Deportivo Táchira, 17 goals) Heatklif Castillo (Aragua, 17 goals)
	2009–10		Deportivo Táchira	Norman Cabrera (Atlético El Vigía, 20 goals)
	2010–11			Daniel Arismendi (Deportivo Anzoátegui, 20 goals)
	2011–12			Rafael Castellín (Deportivo Lara, 21 goals)
	2012–13			Gabriel Torres (Zamora, 19 goals)
	2013–14			Juan Falcón (Zamora, 19 goals)
	2014–15			Edwin Aguilar (Deportivo Anzoategui, 23 goals)
	2015			Manuel Arteaga (Zulia, 17 goals)
	2016		Zulia	Gabriel Torres (Zamora, 22 goals)
	2017			Anthony Blondell (Monagas, 24 goals)
	2018			Anthony Uribe (Zamora, 16 goals)
	2019			Edder Farías (Atlético Venezuela, 18 goals)
	2020			Richard Blanco (Mineros, 8 goals) Edder Farías (Atlético Venezuela, 8 goals)
	2021			Samson Akinyoola (Caracas, 18 goals)
	2022			Kevin Viveros (Carabobo, 21 goals)
	2023			Luifer Hernández (Academia Puerto Cabello, 18 goals)
	2024

Titles by club

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

Rank	scope=col class="unsortable" width=200	Club	scope=col width=80	Winners	scope=col width=90	Runners-Up	scope=col class="unsortable" width=600	Winning years	scope=col class="unsortable" width=600	Runners-Up years
1	Caracas	12	5		2004–05, 2007–08, 2011–12, 2021, 2023
2	Deportivo Táchira	10	9		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		1965, 1968, 1970, 1971, 1984, 1999–00, 2008–09
5	Portuguesa	5	3		1974, 1980, 1983
7	Centro Atlético	4	7	1922, 1924, 1926, 1930	1921, 1923, 1927, 1928, 1931, 1936, 1946
	Deportivo Galicia	4	5		1967, 1972, 1978, 1979
	Deportivo Portugués	4	3		1959, 1963, 1966
	Marítimo	4	1		1990–91
	Zamora	4	1		2010–11
	Deportivo Venezuela	4	—	1928, 1929, 1931, 1933	—
13	Loyola	3	5	1925, 1943, 1944	1942, 1945, 1951, 1952, 1954
13	Universidad Central	3	3		1947, 1949, 1962
15	Estudiantes de Mérida	2	8		1975, 1976, 1977, 1981, 1986, 1997–98, 2001–02, 2019
	Deportivo Español	2	3		1955, 1958, 1960
	La Salle	2	3		1950, 1953, 1956
	América	2	1	1921, 1923	1922
		2	—		—
20	Litoral	1	4	1941	1937, 1938, 1939, 1943
	Unión Atlético Maracaibo	1	3		2002–03, 2005–06, 2006–07
	Minervén	1	3		1991–92, 1992–93, 1994–95
	Deportivo Lara	1	2
	Mineros de Guayana	1	2		1995–96, 2013–14
	Carabobo	1	2
	Venzóleo	1	2	1927	1925, 1926
	Atlético Zulia	1	1		1996–97
	Monagas	1	1		2022
	Banco Obrero	1	—		—
	Deportivo La Guaira	1	—		—
	Deportivo Vasco	1	—		—
	Lara	1	—		—
	Metropolitanos	1	—		—
	Nacional Táchira	1	—		—
	San Cristóbal	1	—		—
	Unión Deportiva Canarias	1	—		—
—		align=center rowspan="6"	—	3	align=center rowspan="6"	—	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