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 (11th title)
Season:	2024 season
Most Successful Club:	Caracas (12 titles)
Top Goalscorer:	Juan García (271 goals)
Tv:	TVes, GolTV, Star+
Website:
Current:	2025 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.

width=		width=100px	Season	width=180px	Champion	width=180px	Runner-up	width=200px	Winning manager	width=450px	Top scorer
Amateur era
	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				Tonho (Universidad Central, 12 goals)
	1958				René Irazque (Portugués, 6 goals)
	1959				Abel Benítez (Deportivo Español, 15 goals)
	1960			Javier Ferreira	José Luis Iglesias (Deportivo Portugués, 9 goals)
	1961		Banco Agrícola y Pecuario		Antonio Ravelo (Banco Agrícola y Pecuario, 11 goals)
	1962			Emilio Huguet	Jaime da Silva (Universidad Central, 16)
	1963				Nino (Deportivo Portugués, 15 goals)
	1964				Helio Rodrigues (Tiquire Flores, 12 goals)
	1965			Gaetano Pintón	Mario Mateo (Lara, 16 goals)
	1966				Ratto (Deportivo Portugués, 20 goals)
	1967			José Julián Hernández	Joao Ramos (Deportivo Portugués, 28 goals)
	1968			Manuel Arias	Raimundinho (Deportivo Portugués, 21 goals)
	1969				Eustaquio Batista (Deportivo Italia, 19 goals) Lelo (Valencia, 19 goals)
	1970			Silvio Leite	Roland Langon (Deportivo Galicia, 13 goals)
	1971				Agostinho Sabara (Tiquire Aragua, 20 goals)
	1972			Elmo Correa	Francisco Rodriguez (Anzoátegui FC, 18 goals)
	1973		Valencia		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			Benjamín Fernández	Pedro Pascual Peralta (Portuguesa, 25 goals)
	1977					Jairzinho (Portuguesa, 20 goals) Juan Cesar Silva (Portuguesa, 20 goals)
	1978			Celino Mora	Andrade (ULA Mérida, 23 goals)
	1979		Deportivo Galicia	Esteban Beracochea	Omar Ferrari (Deportivo Táchira, 15 goals)
	1980			Ramón Rodríguez	Wilfrido Campos (Portuguesa, 12 goals)
	1981			Esteban Beracochea	Rafael Angulo (Deportivo Táchira, 14 goals)
	1982				German Montero (Estudiantes, 21 goals)
	1983			Iván García	Johnny Castellanos (Atlético Zamora, 13 goals)
	1984			Carlos Horacio Moreno	Sergio Meckler (Zamora, 15 goals)
	1985			Iván García	Sergio Meckler (Deportivo Táchira, 17 goals)
	1986			Carlos Horacio Moreno	Wilton Arreaza (Caracas, 8 goals)
	1986–87				Johnny Castellanos (Portuguesa, 16 goals)
	1987–88			Alfredo López	Miguel González (Unión Atlético Táchira, 22 goals)
	1988–89		Pepeganga Margarita	Alfredo López	Johnny Castellanos (Mineros, 24 goals)
	1989–90				Herbert Márquez (Marítimo, 19 goals)
	1990–91		Marítimo	Carlos Diéz	Alexander Bottini (Monagas, 15 goals)
	1991–92			Manuel Plasencia	Andreas Vogler (Caracas, 25 goals)
	1992–93			Miguel Sabina	Herbert Márquez (Marítimo, 21 goals)
	1993–94			Manuel Plasencia	Rodrigo Soto (Trujillanos, 20 goals)
	1994–95				Rogeiro da Silva (Mineros, 30 goals)
	1995–96			Raúl Cavalleri	Jose Luis Dolgetta (Caracas, 24 goals)
	1996–97			Manuel Plasencia	Rafael Castellín (Caracas, 19 goals)
	1997–98				Jose Luis Dolgetta (Estudiantes de Mérida/Carabobo, 22 goals)
	1998–99		Unión Atlético Táchira	Raúl Cavalleri	Gustavo Fonseca (Internacional Lara, 24 goals)
	1999–00				Juan Enrique García (Caracas, 24 goals)
	2000–01			Carlos Horacio Moreno	Martín Brignani (Estudiantes de Mérida, 12 goals)
	2001–02				Juan Enrique García (Nacional Táchira, 34 goals)
	2002–03				Juan Enrique García (Monagas/Mineros, 19 goals)
	2003–04		Deportivo Táchira		Juan Enrique García (Mineros, 18 goals)
					Daniel Delfino (Carabobo, 19 goals)
	2005–06				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)
	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				Juan Camilo Zapata (Inter de Barinas/Universidad Central, 16 goals)

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	11	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
	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
	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
	Carabobo	1	3		1969, 1973, 2024
	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
	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	—		—

Half-year / Short tournaments

Apertura and Clausura seasons

Season		Champion	Runner-up
	width=100	Apertura		Minervén
Clausura		Unión Atlético Táchira
	width=100	Apertura		Deportivo Italia
Clausura		Trujillanos
	width=100	Apertura		Estudiantes de Mérida
Clausura		Estudiantes de Mérida
	width=100	Apertura		Estudiantes de Mérida
Clausura		Deportivo Italchacao
	width=100	Apertura		Monagas
Clausura		Monagas
	width=100	Apertura		Deportivo Italchacao
Clausura		Deportivo Italchacao
	width=100	Apertura
Clausura
	width=100	Apertura
Clausura
	width=100	Apertura
Clausura
	width=100	Apertura
Clausura		Caracas
	width=100	Apertura		Deportivo Anzoátegui
Clausura		Caracas
	width=100	Apertura		Monagas
Clausura		Deportivo Táchira
	width=100	Apertura		Deportivo Italia
Clausura
	width=100	Apertura		Real Esppor
Clausura		Caracas
	width=100	Apertura		Caracas
Clausura		Mineros de Guayana
	width=100	Apertura		Caracas
Clausura		Deportivo Anzoátegui
	width=100	Apertura		Caracas
Clausura		Mineros de Guayana
	width=100	Apertura
Clausura		Caracas
width=70		width=100	Adecuación	Zamora
	width=100	Apertura		Deportivo Anzoátegui
Clausura		Deportivo Táchira
	width=100	Apertura		Caracas
Clausura		Mineros de Guayana
	width=100	Apertura		Mineros de Guayana
Clausura		Deportivo La Guaira
	width=100	Apertura		Mineros de Guayana
Clausura		Deportivo Táchira
	width=100	Apertura		Metropolitanos
Clausura		Carabobo

See also

• Venezuelan football league system

External links

• • News in Spanish about the First Division of the Venezuelan Football/Soccer
• News and pictures
• League statistics at RSSSF
• FuriaVinotinto – Unofficial Forum