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20-585: Since 1950, a total of 16 clubs have been crowned champions of the Bolivian football league system . The current champions are The Strongest , which won the title in the 2023 tournament. Bolívar is the most successful club in the league, with 30 titles to date. The organisation of football in Bolivia started in 1914 with the creation of regional associations and their respective competitions. The " La Paz Football Asociation (AFLP) " (Asociación de Fútbol de La Paz – AFLP)

40-426: A home-away round-robin basis, with group 1 consisting of teams from La Paz, Oruro and Cochabamba; group 2 of teams from Potosí, Chuquisaca and Tarija, and group 3 of teams from Santa Cruz, Beni and Pando. The top two placed teams advanced to the next round, now playing play-offs on home-away basis, the three winners and the best loser advanced to the semifinals and then the final. It was announced by LFPB that, due to

60-603: A short tournament from February to June in 2005, and the official 2005-06 season started in August. This led to yet another problem — second division teams weren't keen on the idea of putting off relegation until June 2006. After negotiations, the league determined that relegation of the lowest standing club would take place after the completion of the Apertura tournament, making the Bolivian league an odd tournament where teams were relegated in

80-470: The 1978 FIFA World Cup qualification (where it was thrashed by Brazil 8–0 and Peru 5–0) encouraged some clubs to create their own league, so 16 teams separated from their respective associations to establish the "Liga de Fútbol Profesional Boliviano" (Bolivian Professional Football League – LFPB) to organise championships autonomously, in 1977. The creation of the LFPB ended the distinction. It also resulted in

100-480: The "big three" have struggled to win the league again and 3 teams from smaller cities have won it ( Real Potosí , San José and Universitario ). Three teams share the record of never been relegated to "La Simón Bolivar" (2nd division) : The Strongest, Oriente Petrolero and Bolívar (although they were relegated in 1969 before the LPFB era). For the 2008 season, and for the first time, three tournaments were played instead of

120-558: The 3rd level: the Departmental Championships or Regional Leagues , which comprises teams from the different Departments of Bolivia : Santa Cruz , La Paz , Cochabamba , Chuquisaca , Oruro , Tarija Department , Beni Department , Pando Department and Potosí . Bolivian Football Regional Leagues The third tier of the Bolivian football league system consists of nine regional leagues (one for each department );

140-649: The Copa Simón Bolívar. Bolivian football league system The Bolivian football league system is a series of interconnected leagues for association football clubs in Bolivia . At the top is the División de Fútbol Profesional Boliviano (first division) with 14 clubs. Below the 1st level is the Copa Simón Bolívar (second division). In order to qualify for the Copa Simón Bolívar there are 9 subdivisions at

160-494: The basketball league (LIBOBASQUET) in 2014, the only professional sports league in the country. In 2017, after a change of statutes in the FBF, the LFPB and the ANF were replaced by the "División Profesional" (professional division) and the "División Aficionados" (amateur division), both managed by the FBF from 2018 onwards. The championship format has changed over the years. Beginning in 1977,

180-502: The championship because football was still amateur in the rest of the regions. At the end of 1960, the Bolivian Football Federation established a national championship, with the purpose of crowning a champion representing Bolivia in recently created Copa Libertadores . The competition, named "Copa Simón Bolívar", was contested by champions and runner ups of regional associations. The demise of Bolivian national team in

200-497: The change of football in First Division, Copa Simon Bolivar would be replaced by Liga Nacional B which consists of thirteen clubs, the champions from each department except for Tarija which would have two clubs (Champions and runner-up), the last two relegated teams from First division and the winners of Torneo Nacional Provincial. La Paz Football Association and Oruro Football Association Championship were against this change, however

220-455: The creation of three separate entities: the FBF's role was restricted to the international representation of Bolivia in the sport, the newly created LFPB became the organizer of the sole first division tournament, and the LPFA, together with the rest of the regional associations, became the organizer of the second (and lower) division regionalized tournaments. It was the first and, until the formation of

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240-650: The cup, and the tournament eventually also had runners-up participating. Until 1976, with the lack of a nationwide league, the cup determined the national champion and representative teams for the Copa Libertadores . With the creation of the Liga de Fútbol Profesional Boliviano , the Bolivian FA stopped organizing the tournament. In 1989, the tournament was resurrected, with the same format of both champions and runners-up from each association, but this time each regional league

260-401: The finals. The newly instated play-off tournament consisted of home-away matches (and with away goals rule used for the first time). An average points from the previous two seasons determines relegation, with the last placed team being directly relegated and replaced by the winner of the Copa Simón Bolívar . The team placed second-from-bottom plays a relegation play-off against the runner-up of

280-630: The league ran with sixteen clubs divided into two series, but switched to fourteen clubs in two series playing two tournaments each year beginning in the mid 80s and economical problems with some teams led to another cut in the number of participants to twelve in 1991. Another change came in 2005 when teams decided to adapt to the International FIFA calendar, meaning the season would be played from August to June rather than from February to December, in order to avoid problems defining which teams would qualify for international tournaments. The league played

300-539: The middle of the season. But this decision was overturned in November 2006 and the league switched back to a calendar-year season in 2007 starting with the Apertura tournament in March 2007. For the 2018 season, the number of teams was increased from twelve to fourteen. Historically, teams from La Paz, Cochabamba and Santa Cruz have dominated the league. Until 2007 only San José won the league in 1995, but since then teams from

320-504: The number of participants varies depending on the department. It usually has between 8 and 12 teams. The winner and the runner-up of each league compete in the Copa Simón Bolívar, with the winner of such a tournament gaining promotion to the 1st Division , and the runner-up playing a play-off match with the last two placed teams in the First Division . Until 1976, all 8 regional championships ( Pando didn't have an organized tournament at

340-643: The time) were the top division of the national football pyramid, with the winner of the Copa Simón Bolívar being crowned as national champion. The oldest regional championship is the one played in La Paz. It started in 1914 and it was considered for many years as the top Bolivian league, especially when it turned into a semi-professional tournament in 1950 and started to include teams from Oruro and Cochabamba . The tournament started in 1960. Initially, only champions from La Paz, Cochabamba, Oruro and Santa Cruz participated. In later years, teams from other associations joined

360-451: The usual two. The Apertura tournament was played from March to July on a round-robin system; the Clausura tournament played from August to October where the teams were divided into two series of 6 teams each, Group A comprised all western teams (plus Universitario) and Group B comprised all eastern teams (plus Wilstermann and Aurora), the top two teams of each group advanced to the semifinals and

380-402: Was the first organised body with 29 championships held between 1914 and 1949. The AFLP was considered for many years the top football tournament in the country. In 1950 the body modified its statutes allowing the professionalisation of the sport in Bolivia, so the "Torneo Profesional" was created. Between 1950 and 1959, only clubs from La Paz, Oruro (since 1954) and Cochabamba (1955) took part of

400-519: Was the second tier on the football pyramid so the champion was supposed to be awarded a place in the professional league. Previously, the last placed team in the 1st division was replaced by the regional champion of its department. However, that practice was kept until 1993 when finally the champion was awarded a spot in the top league. The competition format changes frequently. In 2008, the teams were divided into three groups of six teams, to save costs. Geographically close teams were teamed up and played on

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