Ecuadorian Serie A

The Liga Pro Banco Pichincha, simply known as the Liga Pro, or the Serie A, is a professional football league in Ecuador. At the top of the Ecuadorian football league system, it is the country's premier football competition. Contested by sixteen clubs, it operates a system of promotion and relegation with the Serie B, the lower level of the Primera Categoría. The season runs from February to December and is usually contested in multiple stages. The main sponsor is Banco Pichincha, and It is known as Liga Pro Banco Pichincha.[1]

Liga Pro Ecuador Serie A
Founded1957 (1957)
CountryEcuador
ConfederationCONMEBOL
Number of teams16
Level on pyramid1
Relegation toSerie B
Domestic cup(s)Copa Ecuador
International cup(s)Copa Libertadores
Copa Sudamericana
Current championsBarcelona (16th title)
Most championshipsBarcelona (16 titles)
Top goalscorerErmen Benítez (191)
WebsiteOfficial webpage
Current: 2021 Serie A season

While initially not a league, the Serie A has its roots in the national championship between the top teams of Ecuador's two regional leagues. For the first nine editions, teams from Guayaquil and Quito qualified to the competition through their professional regional leagues. It abandoned the qualification format to form a proper league in 1967. Since the first edition in 1957, the tournament has been held annually (except 1958 and 1959); the 2005 season had two champions. It was ranked by IFFHS as the 13th strongest football league in the world for 2011, and the 5th strongest in South America.[2]

Nine different teams have been crowned Ecuadorian champions, but four teams have a combined total of 54 championships. The most successful club is Barcelona with sixteen titles. They are also the defending champions.

Format

The format for the Serie A national championship changes consistently. The most common format is a two-stage tournament, in which teams qualify to a mini-league (Spanish: Liguilla) to determine the champion. The current format was introduced for the 2010 season and consists of three stages. The First and Second Stages each follow the double round-robin format. The winners of each stage play against each other in the Third Stage for the championship. A third-place match also takes place in the Third Stage between the next two-best teams in the aggregate table. If the same team wins both the First and Second Stage, they are automatically the champion. In this case, the second and third best teams in the aggregate table play against each other for runner-up.

Relegation takes place after the Second Stage and is determined using an aggregate table of the first two stages. As well as playing to win the championship and avoid relegation teams also compete for places in the following season's Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana.

History

All football in Ecuador was played at amateur level until 1950 when the Guayas Football Association (Spanish: Asociación de Fútbol del Guayas [AFG]) turned professional and held its first professional tournament for affiliated clubs (for clubs in Guayaquil). The Professional Football Championship of Guayaquil (Spanish: Campeonato Professional de Fútbol de Guayaquil) was first held in 1951 and was won by Río Guayas. In 1954, the football association in Pichincha (current the Asociación de Fútbol No Amatur de Pichincha [AFNA]) decided to turn professional and hold a professional tournament of their own for their affiliated clubs (for clubs in Quito & Ambato). The first Inter-Andean Professional Championship (Spanish: Campeonato Professional Interandino) was held in 1954 and was won by LDU Quito.

The two tournaments were the top-level football leagues in Ecuador, but the champion of each could not claim to be the national champion. That changed in 1957 when a national football tournament was organized for the winners the two leagues. The first Ecuadorian Football Championship was contested between the champion and runner-up of the 1957 Campeonato Professional de Fútbol de Guayaquil of (Emelec & Barcelona, respectively) and the champion and runner-up of the 1957 Campeonato Professional Interandino (Deportivo Quito and Aucas, respectively). Emelec won the tournament and became the first national champions of football in Ecuador.

No championship was held in 1958 and 1959. The tournament returned in 1960 using the same format as in 1957. This time the field grew from four teams to eight teams. This format continued until 1967 when a number of changes occurred: 1) the regional tournaments were discontinued after the 1967 season; 2) teams contesting the national championship from 1968 onwards were now part of the Primera Categoría; and 3) a second level of Ecuadorian football (Segunda Categoría) was put into play and a system of relegation and promotion began in 1967.

In 1971, the Primera Categoría was divided into two Series: Serie A & Serie B. Serie A was to be the top level of club football, while Serie B was the second, and Segunda the third. Between, 1983–1988, Serie B was merged into the Segunda, but the Serie A continued. Serie B was brought back in 1989, and has stayed as the second level since.

In 2005, the Campeonato Ecuatoriano was divided into two tournaments to crown two champions in one year. The two tournaments were called Apertura and Clausura. The tournament returned to its year-long format in 2006.

Clubs

A total of 55 clubs have competed in the Serie A since the first season in 1957. Although Barcelona is the only club to have never been relegated, no club has ever played in every season. This anomaly is due to the fact that for the 1964 competition, teams from Guayaquil (including Barcelona and Emelec) declined to participate in the national championship.

The following sixteen clubs will compete in the Serie A during the 2021 season.

Club City Stadium Capacity
9 de Octubre Guayaquil Modelo Alberto Spencer Herrera 42,000
Aucas Quito Gonzalo Pozo Ripalda 18,799
Barcelona Guayaquil Monumental Banco Pichincha 57,267
Delfín Manta Jocay 22,000
Deportivo Cuenca Cuenca Alejandro Serrano Aguilar-Banco del Austro 16,540
Emelec Guayaquil Arena Banco del Pacífico 40,020
Guayaquil City Guayaquil Christian Benítez Betancourt 10,152
Independiente del Valle Sangolquí Rumiñahui 7,233
LDU Quito Quito Rodrigo Paz Delgado 41,575
Macará Ambato Bellavista 16,467
Manta Manta Jocay 22,000
Mushuc Runa Ambato Mushuc Runa 8,000
Olmedo Riobamba Olímpico (Riobamba) 14,400
Orense Machala 9 de Mayo 16,500
Técnico Universitario Ambato Bellavista 16,467
Universidad Católica Quito Olímpico Atahualpa 35,742

Champions by year

Barcelona has won 16 championships, followed by Emelec with 14 titles, El Nacional with 13, LDU Quito with 11 titles, Deportivo Quito with 5 titles, and Deportivo Cuenca, Olmedo, Delfin and Everest with one title each. All the clubs that have won multiple titles have won back-to-back titles at least once. El Nacional and Emelec are the only two clubs to have won three titles in a row, El Nacional has done twice from 19761978 and 19821984, and C.S. Emelec from 2013-2015.

Season Champion (Title count) Runner-up Third place Leading goalscorer(s)[3]
1957 Emelec (1) Barcelona Deportivo Quito Simón Cañarte (Barcelona; 4 goals)
1958-1959
No championship held
1960 Barcelona (1) Emelec Patria Enrique Cantos (Barcelona; 8 goals)
1961 Emelec (2) Patria Everest Galo Pinto (Everest; 12 goals)
1962 Everest (1) Barcelona Emelec Iris López (Barcelona; 9 goals)
1963 Barcelona (2) Emelec Deportivo Quito Carlos Alberto Raffo (Emelec; 4 goals)
1964 Deportivo Quito (1) El Nacional LDU Quito Jorge Valencia (América (M); 8 goals)
1965 Emelec (3) 9 de Octubre Barcelona Helio Cruz (Barcelona; 8 goals)
1966 Barcelona (3) Emelec Politécnico Pio Coutinho (LDU Quito; 13 goals)
1967 El Nacional (1) Emelec Barcelona Tom Rodríguez (El Nacional; 16 goals)
1968 Deportivo Quito (2) Barcelona Emelec Víctor Battaini (Deportivo Quito; 19 goals)
1969 LDU Quito (1) América de Quito Aucas Francisco Bertocchi (LDU Quito; 26 goals)
1970 Barcelona (4) Emelec América de Quito Rómulo Dudar Mina (Macará; 19 goals)
1971 Barcelona (5) América de Quito Emelec Alfonso Obregón (LDU Portoviejo; 18 goals)
1972 Emelec (4) El Nacional Barcelona Nelsinho (Barcelona; 24 goals)
1973 El Nacional (2) Universidad Católica Barcelona Ángel Marín (América (Q); 18 goals)
1974 LDU Quito (2) El Nacional Deportivo Cuenca Ángel Liciardi (Deportivo Cuenca; 19 goals)
1975 LDU Quito (3) Deportivo Cuenca Aucas Ángel Liciardi (Deportivo Cuenca; 36 goals)
1976 El Nacional (3) Deportivo Cuenca Emelec Ángel Liciardi (Deportivo Cuenca; 19 goals)
1977 El Nacional (4) LDU Quito Universidad Católica Fabián Paz y Miño (El Nacional; 27 goals)
1978 El Nacional (5) Técnico Universitario Emelec Juan José Pérez (LDU Portoviejo; 24 goals)
1979 Emelec (5) Universidad Católica Manta Sport Carlos Miori (Emelec; 26 goals)
1980 Barcelona (6) Técnico Universitario Universidad Católica Miguel Gutíerrez (América (Q); 26 goals)
1981 Barcelona (7) LDU Quito El Nacional Paulo César (LDU Quito; 25 goals)
1982 El Nacional (6) Barcelona LDU Portoviejo José Villafuerte (El Nacional; 25 goals)
1983 El Nacional (7) 9 de Octubre Barcelona Paulo César (Barcelona; 28 goals)
1984 El Nacional (8) 9 de Octubre LDU Quito Sergio Saucedo (Deportivo Quito; 25 goals)
1985 Barcelona (8) Deportivo Quito Filanbanco Juan Carlos de Lima (Universidad Católica; 24 goals)
Guga (Esmeraldas Petrolero; 24 goals)
1986 El Nacional (9) Barcelona Técnico Universitario Juan Carlos de Lima (Deportivo Quito; 23 goals)
1987 Barcelona (9) Filanbanco Audaz Octubrino Ermen Benitez (El Nacional; 24 goals)
Hamilton Cuvi (Filanbanco; 24 goals)
Waldemar Victorino (LDU Portoviejo; 24 goals)
1988 Emelec (6) Deportivo Quito No third-place awarded Janio Pinto (LDU Quito; 18 goals)
1989 Barcelona (10) Emelec Deportivo Quito Ermen Benítez (El Nacional; 18 goals)
1990 LDU Quito (4) Barcelona Emelec Ermen Benítez (El Nacional; 33 goals)
1991 Barcelona (11) Valdez El Nacional Pedro Varela (Delfín; 24 goals)
1992 El Nacional (10) Barcelona Emelec Carlos Muñoz (Barcelona; 19 goals)
1993 Emelec (7) Barcelona El Nacional Diego Herrera (LDU Quito; 21 goals)
1994 Emelec (8) El Nacional Barcelona Manuel Uquillas (ESPOLI; 25 goals)
1995 Barcelona (12) ESPOLI El Nacional Manuel Uquillas (Barcelona; 24 goals)
1996 El Nacional (11) Emelec Barcelona Ariel Graziani (Emelec; 28 goals)
1997 Barcelona (13) Deportivo Quito Emelec Ariel Graziani (Emelec; 24 goals)
1998 LDU Quito (5) Emelec No third-place awarded Iván Kaviedes (Emelec; 43 goals)
1999 LDU Quito (6) El Nacional Emelec Christian Botero (Macará; 25 goals)
2000 Olmedo (1) El Nacional Emelec Alejandro Kenig (Emelec; 25 goals)
2001 Emelec (9) El Nacional Olmedo Carlos Juárez (Emelec; 17 goals)
2002 Emelec (10) Barcelona El Nacional Christian Carnero (Deportivo Quito; 26 goals)
2003 LDU Quito (7) Barcelona El Nacional Ariel Graziani (Barcelona; 23 goals)
2004 Deportivo Cuenca (1) Olmedo LDU Quito Ebelio Ordóñez (El Nacional; 24 goals)
2005 A LDU Quito (8) Barcelona No third-place awarded Wilson Segura (LDU Loja; 21 goals)
C El Nacional (12) Deportivo Cuenca LDU Quito Omar Guerra (Aucas; 21 goals)
2006 El Nacional (13) Emelec LDU Quito Luis Miguel Escalada (Emelec; 29 goals)
2007 LDU Quito (9) Deportivo Cuenca Olmedo Juan Carlos Ferreyra (Deportivo Cuenca; 17 goals)
2008 Deportivo Quito (3) LDU Quito Deportivo Cuenca Pablo Palacios (Barcelona; 20 goals)
2009 Deportivo Quito (4) Deportivo Cuenca Emelec Claudio Bieler (LDU Quito; 22 goals)
2010 LDU Quito (10) Emelec Deportivo Quito Jaime Ayoví (Emelec; 23 goals)
2011 Deportivo Quito (5) Emelec El Nacional Narciso Mina (Independiente José Terán; 28 goals)
2012 Barcelona (14) Emelec LDU Quito Narciso Mina (Barcelona; 30 goals)
2013 Emelec (11) Independiente del Valle Deportivo Quito Federico Nieto (Deportivo Quito; 29 goals)
2014 Emelec (12) Barcelona Independiente del Valle Armando Wila (Universidad Católica; 20 goals)
2015 Emelec (13) LDU Quito Independiente del Valle Miller Bolaños (Emelec; 25 goals)
2016 Barcelona (15) Emelec El Nacional Maximiliano Barreiro (Delfín; 23 goals)
2017 Emelec (14) Delfín Independiente del Valle Hernán Barcos (LDU Quito; 21 goals)
2018 LDU Quito (11) Emelec Barcelona Jhon Cifuente (Universidad Católica; 37 goals)
2019 Delfín (1) LDU Quito Macará Luis Amarilla (Universidad Católica; 19 goals)
2020 Barcelona (16) LDU Quito Independiente del Valle Cristian Martínez Borja (LDU Quito; 24 goals)

Titles by club

Club Winners Runners-up Winning years Runners-up years
Barcelona 16 12 1960, 1963, 1966, 1970, 1971, 1980, 1981, 1985, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1995, 1997, 2012, 2016, 2020 1957, 1962, 1968, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1992, 1993, 2002, 2003, 2005 Apertura, 2014
Emelec 14 14 1957, 1961, 1965, 1972, 1979, 1988, 1993, 1994, 2001, 2002, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017 1960, 1963, 1966, 1967, 1970, 1989, 1996, 1998, 2006, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2016, 2018
El Nacional 13 7 1967, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1992, 1996, 2005 Clausura, 2006 1964, 1972, 1974, 1994, 1999, 2000, 2001
LDU Quito 11 6 1969, 1974, 1975, 1990, 1998, 1999, 2003, 2005 Apertura, 2007, 2010, 2018 1977, 1981, 2008, 2015, 2019, 2020
Deportivo Quito 5 3 1964, 1968, 2008, 2009, 2011 1985, 1988, 1997
Deportivo Cuenca 1 5 2004 1975, 1976, 2005 Clausura, 2007, 2009
Olmedo 1 1 2000 2004
Delfín 1 1 2019 2017
Everest 1 1962

Titles by Province

City Nº of titles Clubs
Guayas31Barcelona (16), Emelec (14), Everest (1)
Pichincha29El Nacional (13), LDU Quito (11), Deportivo Quito (5)
Azuay1Deportivo Cuenca (1)
Manabi1Delfín (1)
Chimborazo1Olmedo (1)

All-time top goalscorers

Ecuadorian Ermen Benítez is the league's all-time top-scorer, having scored 191 goals over 15 season. He is also holds the record for scoring the most goals for one team. The top active goalscorer is Ebelio Ordóñez.[4]

RankPlayerClub(s)YearsGoalsTotal goals
1 Ermen BenítezEl Nacional198090154191
Barcelona19919219
LDU Quito19931
Green Cross199412
LDU Portoviejo19955
2 Jorge RonEl Nacional19727994181
Universidad Católica19808473
Macará19866
Aucas19878
3 Ebelio OrdóñezTécnico Universitario199613159
El Nacional19972004; 200607137
Emelec20050
Deportivo Quito2008; 20109
4 Ángel LiciardiEmelec1970718154
Deportivo Cuenca1972; 197477132
Barcelona197814
5 Fabián Paz y MiñoEl Nacional197288153153

See also

References

  1. "Auspicio principal, un 'problema' a año seguido en LigaPro". El Universo (in Spanish). 28 May 2020. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  2. "The strongest National League in the World 2012". IFFHS. Retrieved 11 January 2011.
  3. Andrés, Juan Pablo; Espinoza Añazco, Fernando (January 29, 2010). "Ecuador - List of Topscorers". website. RSSSF. Retrieved November 27, 2010.
  4. Espinoza Añazco, Fernando (January 29, 2010). "Ecuador - List of All-Time Topscorers 1957-2009". RSSSF. Retrieved November 6, 2010.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.