This is a list of Puerto Ricanfootball champions over the years. Football, as a sport played by the masses, started late in Puerto Rico's history. There were several amateur tournaments and leagues throughout the second half of the 20th century, but it wasn't until 2008 when the first professional football league was started.
The Torneo Nacional Superior (TNS) (Superior National Tournament) was the first attempt at organizing the football clubs in the island. It lasted from 1911 until 1994, when a breakaway league formed, and that breakaway league would last until 2002.[1]
Season
Champions
1911
Minerva FC (1)
1912
Not held
1913
Not held
1914
Celtics FC (1)
1915
San Juan FC (1)
1916
Not held
1917
Not held
1918
Not held
1919
Not held
1920
San Juan FC (2)
1921
España FC (1)
1922
Real San Juan FC (1)
1923
Not held
1924
Not held
1925
Not held
1926
Real San Juan FC (2)
1927
España FC (2)
1928
España FC (3)
1929
España FC (4)
1930
España FC (5)
1931
Not held
1932
Not held
1933
Not held
1934
Arecibo FC (1)
1935
Arecibo FC (2)
1936
Real San Juan FC (3)
1937
Not held
1938
Not held
1939
Not held
1940
Not held
1941
Not held
1942
Not held
1943
Not held
1944
Not held
1945
Not held
1946
America FC (1)
1947
America FC (2)
1948
America FC (3)
1949
Arqueros Verdes (1)
1950
Not held
1951
Arqueros Verdes (2)
1952
Not held
1953
Santurce FC (1)
1954
Not held
1955
Not held
1956
Caribes FC (1)
1957
Caribes FC (2)
1958
Arqueros Verdes (3)
1959
Millionarios FC (1)
1960
Suizos FC (1)
1961
Atlético de Añasco (1)
1962
Atlético de Añasco (2)
1963
Don Bosco FC (1)
Deportivo Español (1)
1964
Interguayamés FC (1)
1965
Atlético de Añasco (3)
1966
Not held
1967
Roosevelt FC (1)
1968
Roosevelt FC (2)
1969
Don Bosco FC (2)
1970
Don Bosco FC (3)
1971
Guayama FC (1)
1972
Roosevelt FC (3)
1973
Roosevelt FC (4)
1974
Guayama FC (2)
1975
Academia Quintana FC (1)
1976
Atlético Guayamés (1)
1977
Atlético Guayamés (2)
1978
Academia Quintana FC (2)
1979
Remanso FC (1)
1980
YaMa Sun Oil (1)
1981
Academia Quintana FC (3)
1982
Not held
1983
Brujos de Guayama (1)
1984
Academia Quintana FC (4)
1985
Brujos de Guayama (2)
1986
Academia Quintana FC (5)
1987
Brujos de Guayama (3)
1988
Academia Quintana FC (6)
1989
Academia Quintana FC (7)
1990
Cruz Azul (Guayama) (1)
1991
Guayama FC (3)
1992
Bucaneros de Arroyo (1)
1993
Bucaneros de Arroyo (2)
1994
Don Bosco FC (4)
Rafael Santiago (1)
Championships by team
Club
Titles
Academia Quintana FC
7
España FC
5
Don Bosco FC
4
Roosevelt FC
4
America FC
3
Arqueros Verdes
3
Atlético de Añasco
3
Brujos de Guayama
3
Guayama FC
3
Real San Juan FC
3
Arecibo FC
2
Atlético Guayamés
2
Bucaneros de Arroyo
2
Caribes FC
2
San Juan FC
2
Celtics FC
1
Cruz Azul (Guayama)
1
Deportivo Español
1
Interguayamés FC
1
Millionarios FC
1
Minerva FC
1
Rafael Santiago
1
Remanso FC
1
Santurce FC
1
Suizos FC
1
YaMa Sun Oil
1
For unknown reasons, several teams broke away and created a second league. Both of them existed from 1995 until 2005, when a united island-wide championship began to be organized.
Season
Champions
1995–96
Academia Quintana FC (1)
1996–97
Academia Quintana FC (2)
1997–98
Academia Quintana FC (3)
1998–99
CF Nacional (Carolina) (1)
1999–2000
Academia Quintana FC (4)
2000–01
Academia Quintana FC (5)
2001–02
Academia Quintana FC (6)
2002–03
Not held
2003–04
Not held
2004–05
Not held
Championships by team
Club
Titles
Academia Quintana FC
6
CF Nacional (Carolina)
1
Asociación de Fútbol de Puerto Rico
The Asociación de Fútbol de Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico Football Association) existed for a single season (1996) with teams from San Juan, Yabucoa, Caguas, Maunabo, Guayama, Ponce, Cabo Rojo, Mayagüez, Aguadilla, and Arecibo.[1]
Liga Mayor de Fútbol Nacional
Created by teams that broke away from the TNS, the Liga Mayor de Fútbol Nacional (LMFN) (Major League of National Football) lasted for nine seasons and ran parallel to the TNS.[1]
In 2008, the first professional league was created, the Puerto Rico Soccer League (PRSL), which was composed of eight teams playing the regular season, and the top four seeded moving on to the playoffs. A ninth team joined in 2009, three teams joined in 2010, and one team joined for the 2011 season, after which the league folded. A new professional league, the Liga Profesional de Fútbol de Puerto Rico, was scheduled to start in 2013.
3The 2011 championship match had only one leg. After 120 minutes, the game was decided in favor of FC Leones de Ponce, who were able to successful convert its first three penalty attempts and, also, were able to stop all three attempts from Sevilla FC Juncos.
In 2008, along with the first division, a PRSL 2nd division tournament was organized, anticipating a promotion/relegation system, which was scheduled to start in 2011, but that was postponed till 2013. In 2009, the Puerto Rico Football Federation renamed the 2nd division league as the Liga Nacional de Fútbol (National Football League) and made it a separate league. The 2008 season had eighteen teams divided in three groups; the 2009 season had sixteen teams divided in two groups; while the 2010 season had twenty-one teams divided in four groups. For the 2011 season, the LNFPR split into a first division with eight teams and a second division with 14 teams, retaking the promotion/relegation ideas, which is to start in 2013.
In August 2018, a new league called Liga Puerto Rico was announced by the Puerto Rican Football Federation.[2] Prior to the announcement, the federation organized a preparatory tournament that ran from March until June 2018.[3] Ten teams participated in the tournament which was eventually won by Bayamón FC.[4] The league's official launch event attended by FIFA and CONCACAF delegates was held on August 23, 2018 with the league set to begin play the following month.[5] The league began play on September 29, 2018.[6]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.