Chilean Primera División

Chilean Primera División
Country	Chile
Confederation	CONMEBOL
Founded	31 May 1933
Number of teams	16
Relegation to	Primera B
Level on pyramid	1
Domestic cup(s)	Copa Chile
CONMEBOL cup(s)	Copa Libertadores Copa Sudamericana
Current champions	Huachipato (3rd title) (2023)
Most successful club	Colo-Colo (33 titles)
TV	TNT Sports, La Red, Chilevisión
Website	Official website
2024

The Primera División of Chile (First Division) is the top tier league of the Chilean football league system. It is organized by the ANFP. The league is known as the Campeonato Scotiabank for sponsorship reasons.

Format

As of the 2015–16 season, 16 teams compete in the league, which is split into Apertura and Clausura tournaments.

Relegation and promotion

Currently, the two teams with the worst scores in the complete season (including Apertura and Clausura, but excluding the play-off stage), are relegated to Primera B, and replaced by the Champions and Runners-up of this Division. There is also a Relegation Playoff Tournament, played in a home-and-away basis by the teams that finish 15º and 16° in the First Division against the teams that finish 3° and 4° in the Primera B.

Qualification for international competitions

The champions of the Apertura and Clausura of each season are immediately qualified to Copa Libertadores for the next year. The third Chilean spot in that tournament is used by the team with the highest score in the Clausura regular phase (that is, excluding the play-offs).

History

Professionalism

In 1933, eight big clubs at that time, namely, Unión Española, Badminton, Colo-Colo, Audax Italiano, Green Cross, Morning Star, Magallanes and Santiago National, founded the Liga Profesional de Football de Santiago (LPF) on May 31, 1933. The newly formed body was recognized by the Federación de Fútbol de Chile on June 2, 1933.

The first edition of professional competition was contested by the eight founding teams and was won by Magallanes after defeating Colo-Colo in a decisive match. In the following year, according to the disposition of Federación de Fútbol de Chile, Liga Profesional returned to integrate with the AFS. As part of the negotiations for reunification, four teams from AFS, namely, Ferroviarios, Carlos Walker, Deportivo Alemán, and Santiago F.C., would join the 1934 professional competition. Moreover, it was also decided that the last six teams in the 1934 competition would be eliminated to form the new second division in 1935. The title of the expanded 1934 edition was again clinched by Magallanes, which won 10 out of the 11 matches that year.

Current teams

There are 16 teams playing in the Primera División, as of the 2024 season.

Club	City	Stadium	Capacity
Audax Italiano	Santiago	Bicentenario de La Florida	12,000
Cobreloa	Calama	Zorros del Desierto	12,346
Cobresal	El Salvador	El Cobre	12,000
Colo-Colo	Santiago	Monumental David Arellano	47,347
Coquimbo Unido	Coquimbo	Francisco Sánchez Rumoroso	18,750
Deportes Copiapó	Copiapó	Luis Valenzuela Hermosilla	8,000
Deportes Iquique	Iquique	Tierra de Campeones	13,171
Everton	Viña del Mar	Sausalito	22,360
Huachipato	Talcahuano	CAP	10,500
Ñublense	Chillán	Municipal Nelson Oyarzún Arenas	12,000
O'Higgins	Rancagua	El Teniente	13,849
Palestino	Santiago	Municipal de La Cisterna	8,000
Unión Española	Santiago	Santa Laura-Universidad SEK	19,000
Unión La Calera	La Calera	Municipal Nicolás Chahuán Nazar	9,200
Universidad Católica	Santiago	San Carlos de Apoquindo	20,000
Universidad de Chile	Santiago	Nacional Julio Martínez Prádanos	48,665

External links

• ANFP.cl
• Web de Noticias y de Hinchas

Chilean Primera División seasons

2018 · 2019 · 2020 · 2021 · 2022 · 2023 · 2024 ·

Football in Chile

League competitions FFCH Cup competitions Primera División Chile Copa Chile Primera B (U-20, U-17) Supercopa de Chile Segunda División Profesional List of clubs Campeonato de Apertura (defunct) Tercera División List of stadiums Tercera B List of leagues