Uruguayan Primera División facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Torneo Uruguayo
Copa Coca-Cola

Founded	1900; 125 years ago (1900)
Country	Uruguay
Confederation	CONMEBOL
Number of teams	16
Level on pyramid	1
Relegation to	Segunda División
Domestic cup(s)	Copa Uruguay Supercopa Uruguaya
International cup(s)	Copa Libertadores Copa Sudamericana
Current champions	Liverpool (1st title) (2023)
Most championships	Peñarol / CURCC (46/5 titles) Nacional (49 titles)
Top goalscorer	Fernando Morena (230)
TV partners	Tenfield, Gol TV, Arena Sport

The Liga Profesional de Primera División (American Spanish [ˈliɣa pɾofesjoˈnal de pɾiˈmeɾa ðiβiˈsjon], English: First Division Professional League, local: [pɾiˈmeɾa ðiβiˈsjon], 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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

Ed.	Season	Champion	Runner-up	Third	Leading goalscorer(s)
1	1900	CURCC (1)	Albion	Uruguay Athletic
2	1901	CURCC (2)	Nacional	Uruguay Athletic
3	1902	Nacional (1)	CURCC	Deutscher
4	1903	Nacional (2)	CURCC	Deutscher
–	1904	(No championship held)
5	1905	CURCC (3)	Nacional	Montevideo Wanderers
6	1906	Montevideo Wanderers (1)	CURCC	Nacional
7	1907	CURCC (4)	Montevideo Wanderers	River Plate FC
8	1908	River Plate FC (1)	Montevideo Wanderers	Nacional
9	1909	Montevideo Wanderers (2)	CURCC	River Plate FC
10	1910	River Plate FC (2)	CURCC	Nacional
11	1911	CURCC (5)	Montevideo Wanderers	Nacional
12	1912	Nacional (3)	CURCC	Montevideo Wanderers
13	1913	River Plate FC (3)	Nacional	CURCC
14	1914	River Plate FC (4)	Peñarol	Nacional
15	1915	Nacional (4)	Peñarol	Universal
16	1916	Nacional (5)	Peñarol	Montevideo Wanderers
17	1917	Nacional (6)	Peñarol	Universal
18	1918	Peñarol (6)	Nacional	Universal
19	1919	Nacional (7)	Universal	Peñarol
20	1920	Nacional (8)	Peñarol	Central Español
21	1921	Peñarol (7)	Nacional	Universal
22	1922	Nacional (9)	Montevideo Wanderers	Rampla Juniors
23	1923	Nacional (10)	Rampla Juniors	Bella Vista
24	1924	Nacional (11)	Bella Vista	Rampla Juniors
–	1925	(Not finished)
–	1926	(No championship held)
25	1927	Rampla Juniors (1)	Peñarol	Nacional
26	1928	Peñarol (8)	Rampla Juniors	Nacional
27	1929	Peñarol (9)	Nacional	Defensor Sporting
–	1930	(No championship held)
28	1931	Montevideo Wanderers (3)	Nacional	Rampla Juniors
29	1932	Peñarol (10)	Rampla Juniors	Nacional	Juan Labraga (Rampla Juniors; 17 goals)
30	1933	Nacional (12)	Peñarol	Rampla Juniors	Pedro Young (Peñarol; 33 goals)
31	1934	Nacional (13)	Peñarol	Montevideo Wanderers	Aníbal Ciocca (Nacional; 13 goals)
32	1935	Peñarol (11)	Nacional	Montevideo Wanderers	Antonio Castaldo (Defensor; 12 goals)
33	1936	Peñarol (12)	Nacional	Rampla Juniors	Aníbal Ciocca (Nacional; 14 goals)
34	1937	Peñarol (13)	Nacional	Montevideo Wanderers	Horacio Tellechea (Peñarol; 16 goals)
35	1938	Peñarol (14)	Nacional	Central Español	Atilio García (Nacional; 20 goals)
36	1939	Nacional (14)	Peñarol	Montevideo Wanderers	Atilio García (Nacional; 22 goals)
37	1940	Nacional (15)	Rampla Juniors	Montevideo Wanderers	Atilio García (Nacional; 18 goals)
38	1941	Nacional (16)	Peñarol	Rampla Juniors	Atilio García (Nacional; 23 goals)
39	1942	Nacional (17)	Peñarol	Montevideo Wanderers	Atilio García (Nacional; 19 goals)
40	1943	Nacional (18)	Peñarol	Miramar Misiones	Atilio García (Nacional; 18 goals)
41	1944	Peñarol (15)	Nacional	Defensor Sporting	Atilio García (Nacional; 21 goals)
42	1945	Peñarol (16)	Nacional	Defensor Sporting	Nicolás Falero (Central Español; 21 goals) Raúl Schiaffino (Peñarol; 21 goals)
43	1946	Nacional (19)	Peñarol	CA River Plate	Atilio García (Nacional; 21 goals)
44	1947	Nacional (20)	Peñarol	Rampla Juniors	Nicolás Falero (Peñarol; 17 goals)
–	1948	(Not finished)
45	1949	Peñarol (17)	Nacional	Rampla Juniors	Óscar Míguez (Peñarol; 20 goals)
46	1950	Nacional (21)	Peñarol	Rampla Juniors	Juan Ramón Orlandi (Nacional; 14 goals)
47	1951	Peñarol (18)	Nacional	Rampla Juniors	Juan Hohberg (Peñarol; 17 goals)
48	1952	Nacional (22)	Peñarol	Rampla Juniors	Jorge Enrico (Nacional; 15 goals)
49	1953	Peñarol (19)	Nacional	Rampla Juniors	Juan Hohberg (Peñarol; 17 goals)
50	1954	Peñarol (20)	Nacional	Danubio	Juan Romay (Peñarol; 12 goals)
51	1955	Nacional (23)	Peñarol	Cerro	Javier Ambrois (Nacional; 17 goals)
52	1956	Nacional (24)	Peñarol	Cerro	Carlos Carranza (Cerro; 18 goals)
53	1957	Nacional (25)	Peñarol	Defensor Sporting	Walter Hernández (Defensor; 16 goals)
54	1958	Peñarol (21)	Nacional	Rampla Juniors	Manuel Pedersen (Rampla Juniors; 12 goals)
55	1959	Peñarol (22)	Nacional	Racing	Víctor Guaglianone (Wanderers; 13 goals)
56	1960	Peñarol (23)	Cerro	Nacional	Ángel Cabrera (Peñarol; 14 goals)
57	1961	Peñarol (24)	Nacional	Defensor Sporting	Alberto Spencer (Peñarol; 18 goals)
58	1962	Peñarol (25)	Nacional	Fénix	Alberto Spencer (Peñarol; 16 goals)
59	1963	Nacional (26)	Peñarol	Montevideo Wanderers	Pedro Rocha (Peñarol; 18 goals)
60	1964	Peñarol (26)	Rampla Juniors	Nacional	Héctor Salva (Rampla Juniors; 12 goals)
61	1965	Peñarol (27)	Nacional	Cerro	Pedro Rocha (Peñarol; 15 goals)
62	1966	Nacional (27)	Peñarol	Cerro	Araquem de Melo (Danubio; 12 goals)
63	1967	Peñarol (28)	Nacional	Cerro	Alberto Spencer (Peñarol; 11 goals)
64	1968	Peñarol (29)	Nacional	Cerro	Alberto Spencer (Peñarol; 8 goals) Pedro Rocha (Peñarol; 8 goals) Ruben Garcia (Cerro; 8 goals) Rúben Bareño (Cerro; 8 goals)
65	1969	Nacional (28)	Peñarol	Bella Vista	Luis Artime (Nacional; 24 goals)
66	1970	Nacional (29)	Peñarol	Huracán Buceo	Luis Artime (Nacional; 21 goals)
67	1971	Nacional (30)	Peñarol	Liverpool	Luis Artime (Nacional; 16 goals)
68	1972	Nacional (31)	Peñarol	Defensor Sporting	Juan Carlos Mamelli (Nacional; 20 goals)
69	1973	Peñarol (30)	Nacional	Danubio	Fernando Morena (Peñarol; 23 goals)
70	1974	Peñarol (31)	Nacional	Liverpool	Fernando Morena (Peñarol; 27 goals)
71	1975	Peñarol (32)	Nacional	Liverpool	Fernando Morena (Peñarol; 34 goals)
72	1976	Defensor Sporting (1)	Peñarol	Nacional	Fernando Morena (Peñarol; 18 goals)
73	1977	Nacional (32)	Peñarol	Defensor Sporting	Fernando Morena (Peñarol; 19 goals)
74	1978	Peñarol (33)	Nacional	Fénix	Fernando Morena (Peñarol; 36 goals)
75	1979	Peñarol (34)	Nacional	Fénix	Waldemar Victorino (Nacional; 19 goals)
76	1980	Nacional (33)	Montevideo Wanderers	Peñarol	Jorge Luis Siviero (Rentistas; 19 goals)
77	1981	Peñarol (35)	Nacional	Montevideo Wanderers	Rubén Paz (Peñarol; 17 goals)
78	1982	Peñarol (36)	Nacional	Defensor Sporting	Fernando Morena (Peñarol; 17 goals)
79	1983	Nacional (34)	Danubio	Defensor Sporting	Arsenio Luzardo (Nacional; 13 goals)
80	1984	Central Español	Peñarol	Nacional	José Villareal (Central Español; 18 goals)
81	1985	Peñarol (37)	Montevideo Wanderers	Cerro	Antonio Alzamendi (Peñarol; 13 goals)
82	1986	Peñarol (38)	Nacional	Central Español	Juan Ramón Carrasco (Nacional; 11 goals) Gerardo Miranda (Defensor; 11 goals)
83	1987	Defensor Sporting (2)	Nacional	Bella Vista	Gerardo Miranda (Defensor; 13 goals)
84	1988	Danubio (1)	Peñarol	Defensor Sporting	Rubén da Silva (Danubio; 23 goals)
85	1989	Progreso	Nacional	Peñarol	Diego Aguirre (Peñarol; 7 goals) Johnny Miqueiro (Progreso; 7 goals) Óscar Quagliata (Huracán Buceo; 7 goals)
86	1990	Bella Vista	Nacional	Peñarol	Adolfo Barán (Peñarol; 13 goals)
87	1991	Defensor Sporting (3)	Nacional	Montevideo Wanderers	Julio Dely Valdés (Nacional; 16 goals)
88	1992	Nacional (35)	CA River Plate	Danubio	Julio Dely Valdés (Nacional; 13 goals)
89	1993	Peñarol (39)	Defensor Sporting	Danubio	Wilmar Cabrera (Huracán Buceo; 12 goals)
90	1994	Peñarol (40)	Defensor Sporting	Nacional	Darío Silva (Peñarol; 19 goals)
91	1995	Peñarol (41)	Nacional	Liverpool	Juan González (Nacional; 16 goals)
92	1996	Peñarol (42)	Nacional	Defensor Sporting	Juan González (Nacional; 13 goals)
93	1997	Peñarol (43)	Defensor Sporting	CA River Plate	Pablo Bengoechea (Peñarol; 10 goals)
94	1998	Nacional (36)	Peñarol	Bella Vista	Martín Rodríguez (CA River Plate; 13 goals) Rubén Sosa (Nacional; 13 goals)
95	1999	Peñarol (44)	Nacional	Defensor Sporting	Gabriel Álvez (Nacional; 24 goals)
96	2000	Nacional (37)	Peñarol	Defensor Sporting	Javier Chevantón (Danubio; 33 goals)
97	2001	Nacional (38)	Danubio	Peñarol	Eliomar Marcón (Defensor Sporting; 21 goals)
98	2002	Nacional (39)	Danubio	Peñarol	Germán Hornos (Fénix; 25 goals)
99	2003	Peñarol (45)	Nacional	Danubio	Alexander Medina (Liverpool; 22 goals)
100	2004	Danubio (2)	Nacional	Defensor Sporting	Carlos Bueno (Peñarol; 26 goals) Alexander Medina (Nacional; 26 goals)
101	2005	Nacional (40)	Defensor Sporting	Peñarol	Pablo Granoche (Miramar Misiones; 16 goals)
102	2005–06	Nacional (41)	Rocha	Defensor Sporting	Pedro Cardoso (Rocha; 17 goals)
103	2006–07	Danubio (3)	Peñarol	Defensor Sporting	Aldo Díaz (Tacuarembó; 15 goals)
104	2007–08	Defensor Sporting (4)	Peñarol	CA River Plate	Richard Porta (CA River Plate; 19 goals) Cristhian Stuani (Danubio; 19 goals)
105	2008–09	Nacional (42)	Defensor Sporting	Cerro	Antonio Pacheco (Peñarol; 12 goals) Liber Quiñones (Racing; 12 goals)
106	2009–10	Peñarol (46)	Nacional	Liverpool	Antonio Pacheco (Peñarol; 23 goals)
107	2010–11	Nacional (43)	Defensor Sporting	Peñarol	Santiago García (Nacional; 23 goals)
108	2011–12	Nacional (44)	Defensor Sporting	Peñarol	Richard Porta (Nacional; 17 goals)
109	2012–13	Peñarol (47)	Defensor Sporting	Nacional	Juan Manuel Olivera (Peñarol; 18 goals)
110	2013–14	Danubio (4)	Montevideo Wanderers	Nacional	Héctor Acuña (Cerro; 20 goals)
111	2014–15	Nacional (45)	Peñarol	River Plate	Iván Alonso (Nacional; 22 goals)
112	2015–16	Peñarol (48)	Nacional	Cerro	Gastón Rodríguez (M. Wanderers; 19 goals) Junior Arias (Liverpool; 19 goals)
113	2016	Nacional (46)	Montevideo Wanderers	Danubio	Pablo Silva (Villa Española; 8 goals) Gabriel Fernández (Racing; 8 goals)
114	2017	Peñarol (49)	Defensor Sporting	Nacional	Cristian Palacios (M. Wanderers / Peñarol; 29 goals)
115	2018	Peñarol (50)	Nacional	Danubio	Gonzalo Bergessio (Nacional; 17 goals)
116	2019	Nacional (47)	Peñarol	Cerro Largo	Juan Ignacio Ramírez (Liverpool; 24 goals)
117	2020	Nacional (48)	Rentistas	Liverpool	Gonzalo Bergessio (Nacional; 25 goals)
118	2021	Peñarol (51)	Nacional	Plaza Colonia	Maximiliano Silvera (Cerrito; 22 goals)
119	2022	Nacional (49)	Liverpool	Deportivo Maldonado	Thiago Borbas (River Plate; 18 goals)
120	2023	Liverpool (1)	Peñarol	Nacional	Ignacio Ramírez (Nacional; 19 goals)
121	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.

Half-year / Short tournaments

Apertura and Clausura seasons

Torneo Intermedio

Torneo Clasificatorio

Liguilla Pre-Libertadores de América

Total Half-year / Short tournaments by club

All-time top scorers

The chart includes championships since 1900 to present days.

Pos.	Player	Period	Goals	Appear.
1	Fernando Morena	1969–84	230	244
2	Atilio García	1938–50	208	210
3	Héctor Scarone	1916–34	163	191
4	Pablo Terevinto	1920–31	124	157
5	Alberto Spencer	1960–70	113	166
6	René Borjas	1920–31	109	199
7	Héctor Castro	1921–36	107	181
8	Óscar Míguez	1948–60	107	137
9	Pedro Petrone	1923–33	103	97
10	Peregrino Anselmo	1922–35	102	180

See also

In Spanish: Primera División de Uruguay para niños

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