CONMEBOL countries on this map of the world's six football confederations
The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) is the administrative and controlling body for association football in most of South America. It consists of 10 member associations, each of which is responsible for governing football in their respective countries.[1] It includes all countries and territories within South America, with the exceptions of Guyana, French Guiana, Suriname, which are part of CONCACAF, and the disputed British and Argentine territory of the Falkland Islands, which is not a member of any confederation.[1] Each CONMEBOL member has its own football league system.[2] Clubs playing in each top-level league compete for the title as the country's club champion. Clubs also compete in the league and national cup competitions (if applicable) for places in the following season's CONMEBOL club competitions, the Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana. Due to promotion and relegation, the clubs playing in the top-level league are different every season.
Club name
Club finished the previous season as the league champion.
The Primera División is the top level of Argentine football league, and is organized by the Argentine Football Association. Founded in 1893, it currently consists of 30 teams, but is planned to reduce in size to 24 teams by the 2019–20 season. The professional era started in 1931 when professionalism was instituted. Teams from Argentina have won the most international titles with a tally of 73, which includes 25 Copa Libertadores.[3] Currently, the league is regarded as one of the strongest leagues in the world.[4]
Bolivia's first division started in 1977 as the Liga de Fútbol Profesional Boliviano (English: Bolivian Professional Football League), though football had been played in Bolivia since the early 1900s, specially in La Paz and Oruro.[6]
Campeonato Brasileiro was created in 1959 as a knockout tournament between state champions. From 1967 to 1987 the best clubs of each state championships were separated in several groups with final play-offs or a final group stage. Every year some aspects of format, number of entrants and rules were changed.[8] Promotion and relegation rules were adopted in 1988, and since 2003 a double round robin format is played every year from May to December.
The Primera División del Fútbol Profesional Chileno was founded on January 24, 1926, and is currently ranked 14th in the IFFHS Best Leagues of the World ranking.[9] In 2016, the league is also known as Campeonato Scotiabank.
The Categoría Primera A has been in existence since 1948. As of 2015, brewery company Bavaria sponsors the league, which is currently called Liga Águila after one of the company's brands. The league is rated 21st in the world according to IFFHS.[11]
The Serie A has its roots in the national championship between the top teams of Ecuador's two regional leagues. Since the first tournament in 1957, a national champion has been crowned 51 times on a yearly basis (except 1958 & 1959), and twice in 2005.[12] Starting from the 2010 season a new format consisting of three stages was used.[13][14] This format lasted until 2018, when it was decided that the league would expand from 12 to 16 teams.[15]
Liga Paraguaya's first game was played in 1906.[17] It joined CONMEBOL in 1921, and FIFA in 1925. The professional era of the competition in the Liga started in 1941. During the 1990s, the FA changed its denomination from Liga Paraguaya del Futbol to Asociacion Paraguaya de Futbol. Currently, the league is regarded as one of the top 10 national competitions in the world.[18][19]
The Liga Peruana de Football (Peruvian Football League) was first founded in 1912 and organized the Primera División, as well as the Segunda División, until 1921. Due to disagreements in the organization of the Liga Peruana de Football, the Peruvian Football Federation was founded in 1922 and organized its first league in 1926. In 1941 the Asociación No Amateur took the stand as the league's organizer and renamed the league Campeonato de Selección y Competencia.[21][22]
Liga Profesional de Primera División, the top-flight professional football league in Uruguay, was founded in 1900 and is currently contested by 16 teams. In 2016, the league underwent a transition from the European calendar to a year calendar, which is used from the 2017 season onwards.
The Primera División was created in 1921 and turned professional in 1957. The 2016 season consisted of 20 clubs, a number that was reduced to 18 for the following season. Currently, the league is rated 41st in the world by IFFHS.[25]
^"La Asociación". ADFP. Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 27 August 2009. Los campeonatos organizados por la Federación Peruana de Fútbol, en plena era amateur, tuvieron vigencia hasta 1940, en que se crea la ANA (Asociación No Amateur) y cuya existencia alcanzó 10 años.
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