Hispanopedia WikiThe Liga Pro Ecuador Serie A, simply known as the Liga Pro or the Serie A (or the Ecuadorian Serie A to distinguish it from Italy's Serie A and Brazil's Série A), or as Liga ProEcuabet for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Ecuador and the highest level of the Ecuadorian football league system. Contested by 16 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.
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 11th strongest football league in the world for 2022, and the 4th strongest league in South America.[1]
Eleven clubs have been crowned Ecuadorian champions, but four teams have a combined total of 55 championships. The most successful club is Barcelona with sixteen titles. LDU Quito are the defending champions.
Format
El formato del campeonato nacional de la Serie A cambia constantemente. El formato más común es un torneo de dos fases, en el que los equipos se clasifican para una miniliga ( Liguilla ) para determinar al campeón. El formato actual se introdujo en la temporada 2010 y consta de tres fases. La primera y la segunda fase siguen el formato de liguilla doble. Los ganadores de cada fase se enfrentan en la tercera fase por el campeonato. También se disputa un partido por el tercer puesto en la tercera fase entre los dos siguientes mejores equipos de la tabla global. Si un mismo equipo gana tanto la primera como la segunda fase, se proclama automáticamente campeón. En este caso, el segundo y el tercer mejor equipo de la tabla global se enfrentan por el subcampeonato.
El descenso se produce tras la segunda fase y se determina mediante la clasificación global de las dos primeras fases. Además de luchar por ganar el campeonato y evitar el descenso, los equipos también compiten por plazas en la Copa Libertadores y la Copa Sudamericana de la siguiente temporada .
Historia
Todo el fútbol en Ecuador se jugó a nivel amateur hasta 1950 cuando la Asociación de Fútbol del Guayas ( en español : Asociación de Fútbol del Guayas [AFG] ) se volvió profesional y realizó su primer torneo profesional para clubes afiliados (para clubes de Guayaquil ). El Campeonato de Fútbol Profesional de Guayaquil ( en español : Campeonato Profesional de Fútbol de Guayaquil ) se celebró por primera vez en 1951 y fue ganado por Río Guayas. En 1954, la asociación de fútbol de Pichincha (actual Asociación de Fútbol No Amatur de Pichincha [AFNA] ) decidió profesionalizarse y realizar un torneo profesional propio para sus clubes afiliados (para clubes de Quito y Ambato ). El primer Campeonato Interandino Profesional ( en español : Campeonato Profesional Interandino ) se celebró en 1954 y fue ganado por 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 and 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 2026 season.
Champions by year
Barcelona has won 16 championships, followed by Emelec with 14 titles, El Nacional and LDU Quito with 13 titles, Deportivo Quito with 5 titles, Independiente del Valle with 2 titles, and Deportivo Cuenca, Olmedo, Delfin, Everest, and Aucas with one title each. All the clubs that have won over 2 championships 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 1976–1978 and 1982–1984, and C.S. Emelec from 2013–2015.
- (In bracket, title count):
Titles by club
- Teams in bold compete in the Serie A as of the 2026 season.
- Italics indicates clubs that no longer exist or disaffiliated from the FEF.
Titles by Province
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.[3]
See also
- Ecuadorian Football Federation
- Ecuadorian football league system
- Football in Ecuador
- List of football clubs in Ecuador
References
- ^"IFFHS MEN'S STRONGEST NATIONAL LEAGUE IN THE WORLD 2022". IFFHS. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
- ^Andrés, Juan Pablo; Espinoza Añazco, Fernando (January 29, 2010). "Ecuador - List of Topscorers". website. RSSSF. Retrieved November 27, 2010.
- ^Espinoza Añazco, Fernando (January 29, 2010). "Ecuador - List of All-Time Topscorers 1957-2009". RSSSF. Retrieved November 6, 2010.
External links
- Official webpage(in Spanish)
- Serie A on RSSSF
- Ecuadorian Serie A
- Football leagues in Ecuador
- Top-level domestic association football leagues in South America
- LigaPro competitions