Official name: Primera Division – Liga de Fútbol Profesional, LFP
Number of participants: 20
The Spanish championship was formed in the 20s last century, based on the basic rules of the English championship. The tournament is according to the “fall-spring” system. The 1st round matches are played early in August, the 2nd round games – in May and June. Like the majority of other European leading football leagues, the Spanish championship takes a winter break lasting two weeks (approximately from December 20–25 to January 4–9). In the years of European and World championships, Primera begins late in August and ends in the mid-June. Regular breaks in the tournament are taken for matches of national teams and domestic cup competitions.
In case two or more teams claim a certain place in the standings, the team that should be above is determined by the following indicators:
Goal difference in matches between these teams
Number of goals scored in matches between these teams
Total goal difference in all matches
Number of goals scored in all matches
“Fair play” rate
If a knockout, the fight for a champion title or a dispute over a ticket to the European Cup are at stake, an additional play-off match may be organized.
20 teams participated in the 2016/17 Primera championship. Compare: 10 teams competed when the tournament was held for the first time. Several times the number of participants increased: up to 16 in 1962, up to 20 in 1992. Three last Primera teams drop out directly to Segunda. They are replaced by two first teams of the 2nd division and the winner of the promotion play-off, arranged between teams taken places 3–6 in the Segunda division. A few times teams, that got to the relegation zone, kept staying in the top division due to other Primera participants disqualification or the number of participants increase.
At the end of the season several individual awards are handed over in the Primera division, the main among which are the “Pichichi Trophy” (the best league scorer) and the “Zamora Trophy” (the best goalkeeper, on average having missed the least number of goals per game). In 2008 the “Alfredo Di Stéfano Trophy” appeared, being given to the best Primera footballer.
La Liga leads in the international rankings and gets a quota for four tickets to the Champions League. The first three teams of the championship enter the group stage, and the fourth participant starts from the 3rd qualifying round of the tournament. In case of losing at this stage, the team automatically gets to the Europa League group stage.
The fifth team of the championship gets a ticket to the Europa League group stage. The 6th team will have to begin from qualification. Another place in the Europa League qualification is given to the Copa del Rey winner or to this tournament finalist. If both of these teams go to the Champions League, a pass to the Europa League is given to the club, ranked 7th in the La Liga standings. The team winning one of 3 places in the FIFA “Fair Play” ranking may also enter the Europa League.
The teams, taken winning places and those having got a pass to European cup competitions, obtain various bonuses from the Royal Spanish Football Federation. Most of the revenue comes from the sale of broadcasting rights. In the meantime, grandees of the Spanish football get 6.5 times more than outsiders.
