Uruguayan Primera División

The Uruguayan Primera División was held by the first time in 1900. Between 1923 and 1925, under the Uruguayan football schism, a dissident league, the Federación Uruguaya de Football, was established. The body operated in parallel with the official Association (AUF). After an intervention by the Uruguayan government to impose the dissolution of the FUF, in 1926 a Provisional Council ("Concejo Provisorio") organised a championship to unify the two organizations. Peñarol was the winner of the Serie A of the tournament. Nevertheless, neither the AUF nor the FIFA recognised the titles of the championships organized by FUF or CP.[2]

From 1930 to 1975, either Nacional or Peñarol won every title. This streak was finally broken when Defensor won its first title in 1976. Besides Nacional or Peñarol, no other club has won titles consecutively. Both Peñarol (1958 to 1962 and 1993 to 1997) and Nacional (from 1939 to 1943) hold the record title streaks winning five titles consecutively. The longest period of time without neither Peñarol nor Nacional winning the title was from 1987 to 1991, when Defensor, Danubio, Progreso, Bella Vista, and again Defensor won the five tournaments played during that period.[3]

After 1994, the competition was divided in two stages, called the Opening Championship (Torneo Apertura) and Closing Championship (Torneo Clausura), with an end-of-season two-legged final match between the winners of these two tournaments.

Originally, like other South American football leagues, the league was contested according to the calendar year, from austral summer to summer in the Southern Hemisphere. In 2005, the league started to play the "European season", from boreal summer to summer in Northern Hemisphere starting in August, with the aim of preventing clubs from losing many players in the middle of the season. In the first semester of 2005, a special tournament was held to decide the qualification to international competition. In the 2005–06 season, the winners of the Apertura and Clausura tournaments played a two (or three) legged play-off; the winner of that playoff played against the best team in the aggregate table to decide the 2005–06 season champion.

In the 2006–07 season, the competition was reduced to 16 clubs. The season of 2008–09 was intended to be the last one to be played in "European season", as the system appeared to be unable to prevent clubs from losing players between the Apertura (opening) tournament and the Clausura (closing). However, the transition did not take place for several years. After a regular 2015–16 season was played, a short 2016 was played in the latter half of the year, with the full calendar year system in place once again beginning with the 2017 season.

A total of 58 teams have participated in the Primera Division since its inception in 1900. Nacional has played the most seasons followed by Peñarol/CURCC. Peñarol and Nacional are also the only two teams to have never been relegated out of the Primera Division. Of the so-called 'minor' teams the record for most seasons lies with Montevideo Wanderers.

2022 season

All statistics pertain only to the Uruguayan Championships organized by the Uruguayan Football Association (AUF), not including FUF tournaments of 1923, 1924 and the 1926 Consejo Provisorio tournament in seasons counted. The founding dates of clubs are those declared by the clubs themselves involved.[note 1] The column "stadium" reflects the stadium where the team play their home matches, but does not indicate that the team in question owns the stadium.[note 3]

Montevideo

Boston River

Cerro Largo

Dep. Maldonado

Plaza Colonia

Rentistas

Locations of the 2022 season teams outside Montevideo.

Albion

Cerrito

Danubio

Defensor Sporting

Fénix

Liverpool

Montevideo City Torque

Wanderers

Nacional

Peñarol

River Plate

Locations of the 2022 Primera División teams within Montevideo.

Club	City	Stadium	Capacity	Establ.
Albion	Montevideo	Charrúa	14,000	1891
Boston River	Montevideo	Parque Artigas	12,000	1939
Cerrito	Montevideo	Parque Maracaná	8,000	1929
Cerro Largo	Melo	Antonio Ubilla	9,000	2002
Danubio	Montevideo	Jardines del Hipódromo	18,000	1932
Defensor Sporting	Montevideo	Luis Franzini	16,000	1913
Deportivo Maldonado	Maldonado	Domingo Burgueño Miguel	22,000	1928
Fénix	Montevideo	Parque Capurro	10,000	1916
Liverpool	Montevideo	Belvedere	10,000	1915
Montevideo City Torque	Montevideo	Centenario	60,235	2007
Montevideo Wanderers	Montevideo	Parque Alfredo Víctor Viera	11,000	1902
Nacional	Montevideo	Gran Parque Central	34,000	1899
Peñarol	Montevideo	Campeón del Siglo	40,000	1891 / 1913 [note 1]
Plaza Colonia	Colonia	Parque Prandi	4,500	1917
Rentistas	Montevideo	Complejo Rentistas	10,600	1933
River Plate	Montevideo	Parque Federico Omar Saroldi	5,624	1932

The chart includes championships since 1900 to present days.[8]

Pos.	Player	Period	Goals	Appear.
1	Fernando Morena	1969–84	230	244
2	Atilio García	1938–50	208	210
3	Héctor Scarone	1916–34	163	191
4	Pablo Terevinto	1920–31	124	157
5	Alberto Spencer	1960–70	113	166
6	René Borjas	1920–31	109	199
7	Héctor Castro	1921–36	107	181
8	Óscar Míguez	1948–60	107	137
9	Pedro Petrone	1923–33	103	97
10	Peregrino Anselmo	1922–35	102	180

• Uruguayan football league system
• Uruguayan championship (FUF)
• Torneo del Consejo Provisorio
• Uruguayan Football Stadiums
• Uruguayan Segunda División

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• Official website