Liga FPD

The Liga de Fútbol de Primera División, commonly known as Liga FPD,[1] and Liga Promérica for sponsorship reasons,[2] is the top professional association football division in Costa Rica. It is administered by the Unión de Clubes de Fútbol de la Primera División (UNAFUT).[3] The league consists of 12 teams, with the last-placed team relegated to the Liga de Ascenso.

Liga FPD
Founded13 June 1921 (1921-06-13)
CountryCosta Rica
ConfederationCONCACAF
Number of teams12
Level on pyramid1
Relegation toLiga de Ascenso
International cup(s)Champions League
CONCACAF League
Current championsClub Sport Herediano (28 Championships)
(2019 Apertura)
Most championshipsSaprissa (34 titles)
TV partnersESPN 2
Multimedios
Repretel
Teletica
WebsiteUNAFUT.com
2019–20 season

The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) ranks the Liga FPD as the 51st strongest league in the world, and the 2nd strongest within CONCACAF, behind Mexico's Liga MX.[4]

The league was founded in 1921,[3] with Herediano crowned as the first champions.[5] Saprissa is the most successful club having won the championship a record 34 times. Saprissa, Alajuelense (29 titles) and Herediano (28 titles) have dominated the league.

Competition format
Former logo

The Liga FPD features a format in which two separate tournaments are held over the course of one particular season. The Torneo de Apertura (Spanish for "Opening Tournament") lasts from July to December, while the Torneo de Clausura (Spanish for "Closing Tournament") lasts from January to May. (From 2007-2017, these were known respectively as Torneo de Invierno ("Winter Tournament") and Torneo de Verano ("Summer Tournament"), based on the Costa Rican seasons, with the Invierno tournament played during the rainy season and the Verano tournament played during the dry season.)

A separate tournament is played on stages. The first stage follows the usual double round-robin format. During the course of a tournament, each club plays every other club twice, once at home and once away, for a total of 22 matchdays. Teams receive three points for a win, one point for a draw, and no points for a loss. Teams are ranked by total points, with the top-four clubs at the end of the stage qualifying to the second stage. The second stage consists of a quadrangular in which the best four teams qualified will face each other twice again, adding 6 additional matchdays. If the top team of the first stage also wins the quadrangular, the club will be crowned as champions; otherwise, a double-legged final will be played between the winners of the first stage and the winners of the quadrangular to determine the champion.

Promotion and relegation

A system of promotion and relegation exists between the Primera División and the Segunda División. In spite of having two champions during a regular season, the Liga FPD only relegates one team per season based on the aggregate performance in both Apertura and Clausura tournaments. The last-placed team in the aggregate table is relegated to the Liga de Ascenso.

Qualifying for CONCACAF competitions

The top teams in the Liga FPD qualify to the CONCACAF Champions League. Starting in the 2017–18 season, the CONCACAF Champions League will be separated into two stages. The first stage is CONCACAF League, which consists of sixteen teams from Central America and the Caribbean, in which the winner qualifies to the second stage, the Champions League, joining other fifteen teams. Because of this format, the qualification criteria in the Liga FPD are:

  • If one team wins both the Apertura and Clausura tournaments
    • The double champion will qualify directly to the second stage of the Champions League
    • The two non-champion teams with the best aggregate record at the end of the season will qualify to the CONCACAF League
  • If two teams are crowned champions over the season
    • The champion with the best aggregate record will qualify directly to the second stage of the Champions League
    • The champion with the worst aggregate record will qualify to the CONCACAF League
    • The non-champion team with the best aggregate record will qualify to the CONCACAF League

History
Saprissa's Christian Bolaños disputes the ball against Alajuelense's Rónald Matarrita. Alajuelense and Saprissa have the biggest rivalry in the league, known as El Clásico

On 13 June 1921, the Costa Rican Football League was created. With its creation, the need of a tournament also emerged, along with the establishment of a national team, as a result of Costa Rica being invited to the 1921 Juegos del Centenario in Guatemala.[6]

The first season of the Costa Rican Primera División was played in 1921 with seven teams: Alajuelense, Cartaginés, Herediano, La Libertad, Sociedad Gimnástica Española, Sociedad Gimnástica Limonense and La Unión de Tres Ríos. La Libertad and Gimnástica Limonense played the first ever match of the Liga FPD, with La Libertad emerging victorious with a lone goal scored by Rafael Madrigal. Herediano were crowned as champions.[6]

In 1999, the Costa Rican Football Federation created the UNAFUT (acronym of Unión de Clubes de Fútbol de la Primera División), an entity designed for the organization and administration of the Primera División tournament and its youth leagues (known as Alto Rendimiento).[3]

On 9 January 2014, UNAFUT decided to rename the tournament to Liga FPD, in order to give more identity to the league.[7]

The main rivalry in the league is El Clásico, played by Alajuelense and Saprissa, as both teams are the most successful in the league and both share the vast majority of followers throughout the country. Since their first encounter at the old national stadium on 12 October 1949, the two teams have faced each other in over 300 matches, with the winning balance in favor of Saprissa.[8]

Clubs
Main article: List of football clubs in Costa Rica

The league currently consists of the following 12 clubs.

Given certain circumstances, most teams of the Liga FPD play some home matches at the Estadio Nacional
Team Location Stadium Capacity
Liga Deportiva Alajuelense Alajuela, Alajuela Alejandro Morera Soto 18,000
Club Sport Cartaginés Cartago, Cartago José Rafael "Fello" Meza 13,500
Municipal Grecia Grecia, Alajuela Allen Riggioni 4,000
Guadalupe F.C. Guadalupe, San José "Colleya" Fonseca 4,500
Club Sport Herediano Heredia, Heredia Eladio Rosabal Cordero 8,500
Limón F.C. Limón, Limón Estadio Juan Gobán 3,000
A.D. Municipal Pérez Zeledón San Isidro de El General, San José Estadio Municipal 6,000
Santos de Guápiles F.C. Guápiles, Limón Ebal Rodríguez 3,000
Deportivo Saprissa San Juan de Tibás, San José Ricardo Saprissa 23,112
La U Universitarios Desamparados, San José "Cuty" Monge 5,500
A.D. San Carlos Ciudad Quesada, Alajuela Carlos Ugalde Álvarez 5,600
A.D.R. Jicaral Jicaral, Puntarenas Luis "Chochi" Briceño 1,500

Champions

Performance by club
Teams Winners Runners-up Winning seasons
Saprissa
34
15
 1952, 1953, 1957, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1982, 1988, 1989, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1997–98, 1998–99, 2003–04, 2005–06, 2006–07, Invierno 2007, Verano 2008, Invierno 2008, 2010 Verano, 2014 Verano, 2014 Invierno, 2015 Invierno, 2016 Invierno, 2018 Clausura
Alajuelense
29
25
 1928, 1939, 1941, 1945, 1949, 1950, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1966, 1970, 1971, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1990–91, 1991–92, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1999–00, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2004–05, 2010 Invierno, 2011 Verano, 2011 Invierno, 2012 Invierno, 2013 Invierno
Herediano
28
21
 1921, 1922, 1924, 1927, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1935, 1937, 1947, 1948, 1951, 1955, 1961 (ASOFUTBOL), 1978, 1979, 1981, 1985, 1987, 1992–93, 2012 Verano, 2013 Verano, 2015 Verano, 2016 Verano, 2017 Verano, 2018 Apertura, 2019 Apertura
La Libertad
6
7
 1925, 1926, 1929, 1934, 1942, 1946
Cartaginés
3
10
 1923, 1936, 1940
Orión
2
6
 1938, 1944
Puntarenas
1
3
 1986
Pérez Zeledón
1
1
 2017 Apertura
Uruguay
1
1
 1963
Brujas
1
0
 2009 Invierno
Carmelita
1
0
 1961 (FEDEFUTBOL)
Liberia Mía
1
0
 2009 Clausura
UCR
1
0
 1943
A.D. San Carlos
1
0
 2019 Clausura

[9]

Player records

Top scorers
Rank Nat Name Goals
1 Víctor Núñez 244
2 Errol Daniels 196
3 Roy Sáenz 168
4 Leonel Hernández 164
5 Guillermo Guardia 149
6 Evaristo Coronado 148
7 Alejandro Alpízar 147
8 Erick Scott 144
9 Juan Ulloa 140
10 Vicente Wanchope 133

[10]

Most appearances
Danny Fonseca is the fourth most capped player in the Liga FPD
Rank Nat Name Years Apps
1 Marvin Obando 1979–2000685
2 Julio Fuller 1975–1994684
3 Enrique Díaz 1977–1996676
4 Danny Fonseca 1999–2018652
5 Luis Diego Arnáez 1987–2005579
6 Mauricio Montero 1980–1990556
7 Wílmer López 1992–2009550
8 Óscar Ramírez 1983–1999546
9 Evaristo Coronado 1981–1995536
10 Luis Quirós 1986–2000531

[11]

References
  1. Molina Salas, José Pablo. "Legacy Irazú es el balón oficial presentado por Voit para la Liga FPD". www.unafut.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  2. "Liga Promerica será el nuevo concepto del fútbol de la primera división". unafut.com. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  3. "¿Quiénes Somos?". www.unafut.com (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 6 June 2017. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  4. Ley, Robert (5 April 2017). "THE STRONGEST NATIONAL LEAGUE IN THE WORLD 2016 : SPAIN SINCE 2010 ! | IFFHS". IFFHS.com. International Federation of Football History & Statistics. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  5. "Primera División". www.unafut.com (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 9 August 2017. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  6. Coto, Gerardo. "1921". UNAFUT.com. UNAFUT. Archived from the original on 8 August 2017. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  7. Vargas, Gabriel (10 January 2014). "Fission es el balón que se usará en el torneo de Verano 2014". La Nación (in Spanish). Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  8. "Una rivalidad que divide a los ticos". FIFA.com (in Spanish). FIFA. 21 February 2014. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
  9. "Primera División". www.unafut.com (in Spanish). UNAFUT. Archived from the original on 9 August 2017. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  10. "Club de los 100". www.unafut.com (in Spanish). UNAFUT. Archived from the original on 1 July 2017. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
  11. "Jugadores con más partidos de campeonato nacional". www.unafut.com (in Spanish). UNAFUT. Archived from the original on 28 July 2014. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
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