The Liga 1 de Fútbol Profesional (English: "League 1 of Professional Football"), known as Liga 1, and Liga 1 Te Apuesto for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Peru and the top tier of the Peruvian football league system. It was referred to as the Primera División prior to 2020, and Torneo Descentralizado since 1966 until 2019, when the first teams residing outside the Lima and Callao provinces were invited to compete in the inaugural league national competition.
As of the 2026 season, the league is contested by 18 teams, operating on a system of promotion and relegation determined at the end of the season with the Liga 2. Seasons run from January to December and the league is split into two short tournaments, the Apertura and Clausura. Teams that win each short tournaments face each other in a series of play-offs to determine the league champion at the end of the season. If a team wins both the Apertura and Clausura, they are automatically champion. A total of 34 games, not including the play-offs, are played per team, 17 in both the Apertura and Clausura.
The Peruvian Football League was founded on an amateur basis and organized in 1912 into the two tiers of Primera División and the Segunda División. Editions from 1912 to 1921 were played by clubs based in Lima and Callao. In 1922 the Peruvian Football Federation (FPF) was created and in 1926 it organized its first amateur championship. The Primera División became professional in 1951. In 1966, the first true national league was founded and continues. The league is organized by the Liga de Fútbol Profesional (English: Professional Football League) (LFP) and was formerly organized by the Asociación Deportiva de Fútbol Profesional () (ADFP).
As of the win by current champion Universitario de Deportes in the 2025 season, the league championship has gone to 21 different clubs, though a majority (74 of 109 championships) have been won by just three clubs: Universitario de Deportes (29), Alianza Lima (25), and Sporting Cristal (20).
History
First clubs
Football was introduced in Peru in the 19th century by British residents in Lima. The early players were British residents, British sailors that stopped at the port in Callao, or upper class Peruvians who were introduced to the sport on their travels. The first recorded football match in Lima was played on 7 August 1892 between British residents and Peruvians at the club ground Santa Sofía belonging to the Lima Cricket and Lawn Tennis club. Interest in the sport slowly grew among the upper class Peruvians who established clubs, such as Lima Cricket & Lawn Tennis and Regatas Lima club dedicated their sporting activities to cricket and tennis, and aquatic sports. Additional clubs would follow: Lawn Tennis club, Unión Cricket, and Unión Ciclista Lima. Football would gain a following: Unión Cricket would be the inaugural club to include football in their activities. Other clubs would follow.
Just before the turn of the 20th century, football was encouraged among students that began to hold small inter-scholastic championships. The first football club in Peru was Association FBC, founded on 20 May 1897 by students from different schools. Several other schools and students started their own football clubs. One club founded on 9 June 1902 by cricket enthusiasts from the Instituto Chalaco was Atlético Chalaco. They started to play football and become a representative team of Callao. Conversely, some educational institutions, like Universidad San Marcos, would adopt a system of competition among clubs formed of faculty of each its colleges. Their competitions started as early as 1899. In time one faculty team would separate from the university to form their own independent football club, known today as Universitario. Clubs unaffiliated with educational institutions started to form. One of these clubs was Sport Alianza—today Alianza Lima—which was founded by Italians and Chinese of the working class of Lima in 1901 although their available records date from around 1912.
Creation of the Liga Peruana de Football After a period of time of random play competition among clubs, the idea of a league and championship status developed. In 1912, club Sporting Miraflores invited several other clubs in Lima and Callao to participate in the formation of a football league. Those clubs that accepted established the la Liga Peruana de Fútbol (Peruvian Football League) on 12 May 1912; teams from Callao declined the invitation. The inaugural season in 1912 established two divisions; Primera División and Segunda División, both of 8 clubs. The Primera División composed of Lima Cricket, Association FBC, Miraflores Sporting, Jorge Chávez N°1, Sport Alianza, Escuela Militar de Chorrillos, Sport Inca and Sport Vitarte while the Segunda División composed Atlético Grau N°1, Atlético Peruano, Carlos Tenaud N°1, Carlos Tenaud N°2, Sport Libertad Barranco, Sport Magdalena, Sport Lima y Unión Miraflores. Lima Cricket inaugurated the tournament championship title; Association finished second.
The first edition was a relative success despite some minor setbacks. Escuela Militar de Chorrillos withdrew from the tournament in the middle of the season after only having earned 1 point. The second edition of the Liga Peruana had Jorge Chávez N°1 reach the top. The following year Lima Cricket would tally a second title. Sport José Gálvez—who refused to participate in 1912—won consecutive championships in 1915 and 1916. In 1917 Sport Juan Bielovucic championed the Liga. Sport Alianza would earn its first titles in 1918 and 1919. Sport Inca and Sport Progreso won the 1920 and 1921 seasons respectively. The league ran uninterrupted for 10 seasons until La Liga Peruana de fútbol temporarily disbanded due to disagreements. Between 1922 and 1925 no championships were played.
Creation of the Federación Peruana de Fútbol
The Peruvian Football Federation was founded in 1922 and restarted the Peruvian football league in 1926 with the addition of teams from Callao. Unfortunately, the two championships in 1926 and 1927 suffered drawback as teams withdrew from the league mid-season. Of the 11 competing teams, Sport Progreso was crowned champion. Because many clubs withdrew from the tournament, Sport Progeso only played 6 games. The following season, Alianza Lima conquered its third title; they had already won two back-to-back titles in 1918 and 1919. This season featured 8 teams. As in 1926, the league did not finish properly and Alianza Lima won after winning its 3 matches. In 1928, the federation increased the number of teams to 19 and separated them into 2 groups. 5 teams advanced to second stage where the winner was league champion. The first Clásico took place in this season. In the second stage Alianza Lima faced the newly invited Federación Universitaria. The match was a 1–0 win for Federación Universitaria and began the biggest rivalry in the history of Peruvian football. At the end of the second stage, Federación Universitaria and Alianza Lima were tied for first place which led to two extra matches between them to declare the 1928 champion. The first match was a 1–1 draw and the second was a 2–0 win for Alianza Lima.
Following a second-place finish in their first division debut, Federación Universitaria would go on to win their first title in 1929. In 1930, the federation experimented with a new format. They separated the teams in 3 groups of 4 teams. The winner of each group advanced to the championship group to define the season champion. The three finalists were Atlético Chalaco, Alianza Lima, and Federación Universitaria. Atlético Chalaco would go on to win Callao's first title. Alianza Lima won the next three seasons as Universitario de Deportes (name changed from Federación Universitaria) won the 1934 title. In 1935, the title would go back to Callao after Sport Boys–founded in 1927 and debuted in 1933–defeated the 4 teams it was competing against. In 1936, no championship was contested due to the participation of Peru in the Summer Olympics in Berlin. The championship returned in 1937 to be won by Sport Boys. The Peru national team that competed in Berlin was made up of mostly footballers who played in Sport Boys. One of the few exceptions was Teodoro Fernández who played for Universitario and scored 6 goals in 2 games. Deportivo Municipal, another club that would become a traditional team in Peruvian football, won its first championship in 1938 and a second in 1940 whilst Universitario a tallied four titles by winning in 1939 and 1941. Prior to 1939, teams played all other teams once in the course of the season. For the 1939, 1940, and 1941 seasons, teams played all others twice instead—a double round-robin tournament.
+ Results of the 'Big Three' in the 21st century Season 2000 7 2 1 2001 1 6 2 2002 3 1 2 2003 1 2 9 2004 1 2 5 2005 7 1 3 2006 1 3 5 2007 5 10 4 2008 11 3 2 2009 2 10 1 2010 3 7 4 2011 2 10 14 2012 14 1 11 2013 4 3 1 2014 4 1 6 2015 9 2 7 2016 5 1 3 2017 1 8 4 2018 2 1 9 2019 2 3 4 2020 17 1 2 2021 1 2 3 2022 1 3 5 2023 2 3 1 2024 4 2 1 2025 4 3 1 TOTAL 7 7 6 14 20 13out of 10 Champions Second place Third place
In 1941 the Asociación No Amateur (Non-Amateur Association) took the stand as the league's organizer and renamed the league Campeonato de Selección y Competencia. In 1942, Sport Boys won a third championship, finishing one point ahead of Deportivo Municipal. In this season, a single round-robin tournament was performed but the double round-robin returned next season. Deportivo Municipal lifted their third league trophy in 1943, and began to consolidate their place in Peruvian football. In 1944, a new champion was crowned by the name of Sucre. Universitario returned to the top after winning consecutive title between 1945 and 1946. In 1947 Atlético Chalaco won its last top flight division title. 1948 saw Alianza Lima taste glory again after trophyless seasons since their conquests between 1931 and 1933. 1949 and 1950—won by Universitario and Deportivo Municipal respectively—were the last two championships played before football would become a professional sport in Peru. Between 1946 and 1949, a triple round-robin tournament was employed until in 1950 the double round-robin system made its return. Midway through the 20th century, most of the clubs which had founded La Liga Peruana de fútbol had disappeared from the top flight and five teams had become the dominant forces in Peru; Alianza Lima, Universitario de Deportes, Deportivo Municipal, Sport Boys and Atletico Chalaco.
Professional league and Descentralizado