The Liga Puerto Rico (LPR) is an amateur

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

competition organized by the

Puerto Rican Football Federation The Puerto Rican Football Federation () is the governing body of association football in Puerto Rico. It was founded in 1940 and became affiliated to FIFA in 1960, one of the last to do so in the Western Hemisphere. It governs over all football o ...

. It is the top division football league on the island. The champion qualifies to participate in the

Caribbean Club Shield The CFU Club Shield, also known as the CFU Caribbean Club Shield and formerly as the CONCACAF Caribbean Club Shield, is an annual Caribbean football competition for clubs that are members of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU). It is a second-tier ...

each season.

History

Following the absence of a football league in Puerto Rico for the 2017-18 season, the new Liga Puerto Rico was announced via

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by the Puerto Rico Football Federation in August 2018. Prior to the announcement, the federation organized a Preparatory Tournament that ran from March until June 2018. Ten teams participated in the tournament which was eventually won by Bayamón FC. The league's official launch event attended by

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

and

CONCACAF The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; typeset for branding purposes since 2018 as Concacaf), is one of FIFA's six continental governing bodies for association football. Its 4 ...

delegates was held on August 23, 2018 with the league set to begin play the following month. The inaugural season saw

Metropolitan FA Metropolitan FA is a Puerto Rican association football club from the capital of San Juan that currently plays in the Liga Puerto Rico. The club plays its home matches at the Parque Reparto Metropolitano. History Metropolitan FA was founded in ...

beat

Bayamón Fútbol Club Bayamón Fútbol Club is a Puerto Rican professional football club. The team is based in Bayamón and founded in 1999. They play their home games at Juan Ramon Loubriel Stadium. The club is a member of David Villa's DV7 Soccer Academy. History ...

in the championship match. The match went to

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

s which Metropolitan won 4–1 after a 0–0 draw in regulation time. The second season of the league began but was abandoned because of the

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. The league did not name a champion. Prior to the 2021–22 season the league unveiled a new championship trophy designed by local artist Milton G. Rodriguez. A replica of the trophy, which is almost three feet tall and over one and a half feet wide, will be given to the champions each season while the original will remain with the Puerto Rican Football Federation.

Competition

Like much of Latin America, Liga Puerto Rico is split into an

Apertura and Clausura The ' () and ' () tournaments is a split Season (sports), season format for Spanish-speaking sports leagues. It is a relatively recent innovation for many Latin American soccer, football sports league, leagues in which the traditional association ...

. Due to the instability of the league, often teams will participate in one half of the season but not the other. Each phase of the season teams play each other twice. After a playoff phase the winner qualifies for the

CFU Club Championship The Caribbean Club Championship, also known as the CFU Club Championship or CFU Club Champions' Cup, was an annual international football competition held amongst association football clubs that are members of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU). ...

Clubs

Current clubs

A total of eight clubs currently compete in Liga Puerto Rico.

Former clubs

Champions

Below is a list of Liga Puerto Rico Champions.

Top goalscorers

International competition

''The following is a list of results for Liga Puerto Rico clubs in international competitions. LPR club scores are listed first.''

Footnotes

References

{{CONCACAF leagues

Puerto Rico ; abbreviated PR), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a Government of Puerto Rico, self-governing Caribbean Geography of Puerto Rico, archipelago and island organized as an Territories of the United States, unincorporated territo ...

2018 establishments in Puerto Rico