Colombian Women's Football League

Liga Águila Femenina
Founded 2017
Country Colombia
Confederation CONMEBOL
Number of teams 23
Level on pyramid 1
International cup(s) Copa Libertadores Femenina
Current champions Atlético Huila (1st title)
(2018)
Most championships Santa Fe
Atlético Huila
(1 title each)
TV partners Win Sports
Website Official Site
2018 season

The Liga Femenina Profesional de Fútbol Colombiano (Colombian Professional Women's Football League) or Liga Águila Femenina (sponsored name) is the top level women's football league in Colombia. The first season was held in 2017, with 18 teams taking part. The champion qualifies to the Copa Libertadores Femenina.[1]

History

Colombia women's football had only regional leagues until 2016. The entrant to the Copa Libertadores Femenina was decided in a tournament called Copa Pre-Libertadores, in which non-professional clubs took part. The winning team in all editions was Formas Íntimas. In 2016 a tournament called Campeonato Nacional Interclubes was held, organized by the División Aficionada del Fútbol Colombiano (Difútbol). About 40 teams played in four stages for the championship. Generaciones Palmiranas won the final 6–5 on aggregate over Molino Viejo and qualified to the 2016 Copa Libertadores Femenina.[2]

With the approval of Dimayor, the first professional women's football league was organized and played starting from 2017, with 18 out of Dimayor's 36 affiliate clubs, which were split into 3 groups of 6. It was planned to create a second level league to which new clubs would have entered starting from 2018, but this did not happen. A national women's league is a requirement to host the FIFA Women's World Cup, in which Colombia has shown interest for the 2023 edition.[3]

In spite of being a league in consolidation, the tournament is of a short type that takes place over a period of four or five months, however it has the largest number of teams in competition if you consider the existing professional leagues such as; Liga MX Femenil (18 teams), Primera División (women) (16 teams), D1F (12 teams), Frauen-Bundesliga (12 teams), Damallsvenskan (12 teams), FA WSL (11 teams), Nadeshiko League (12 teams), NSWL (9 teams), CWSL (8 teams), Nationalliga A (women's football) (8 teams). In addition, in the league of 2018, 487 players participated in the 23 teams, of which 81 were foreigners from 12 nationalities, where the largest group was the Venezuelan with 52 players.

Format

In 2017 the 18 teams were divided into three groups of six. After playing each other twice, the top two in each group and the best two thirds teams move on to the quarter-finals, then the play-off started. The duration of the tournament was five months between February to June.

In 2018 the 23 teams were divided into three groups of six and one group of five. After playing each other twice, the top two in each group move on to the quarter-finals, then the play-off started. The duration of the tournament was four months between February to May.

In 2019 the announcement of two new members will rise up the competence into the league to have 25 teams, But the authorities have not made any announcement or given any news about the format or duration of the championship.

2018 teams

Notably absent from the list of clubs is Formas Íntimas, who joined an alliance with Envigado since participation in the league is restricted to professional clubs (Dimayor affiliates) only.[4] Starting from the 2018 season, 5 new clubs joined the league, for a total of 23 clubs.[5]

Future Teams Millonarios F.C.(2019) Once Caldas(2019)

List of finals

Season Winner Score Runner up
2017[6] Santa Fe 2–1, 1–0 Atlético Huila
2018[7] Atlético Huila 0–1, 2–1 (3–0 pen) Atlético Nacional

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://hsbnoticias.com/noticias/deportes/f%C3%BAtbol/asi-se-jugara-la-liga-femenina-aguila-2017-246003
  2. ↑ "Generaciones Palmiranas se quedó con el título del Campeonato Nacional de Fútbol Femenino" (in Spanish). elpais.com.co. 23 November 2016. Retrieved 24 November 2016.
  3. ↑ http://www.eltiempo.com/deportes/futbol-colombiano/presentacion-de-la-liga-femenina-profesional-de-futbol/16731242
  4. ↑ http://www.eltiempo.com/deportes/futbol-colombiano/la-liga-femenina-de-futbol-sera-presentada-en-cartagena/16729487
  5. ↑ http://dimayor.com.co/definido-el-sistema-de-juego-de-la-liga-femenina-aguila-2018/
  6. ↑ "¡Santa Fe, primer campeón de la Liga femenina!" (in Spanish). El Tiempo. 24 June 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
  7. ↑ "Atlético Huila, el nuevo campeón de la Liga Femenina" (in Spanish). El Tiempo. 31 May 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.