Primera División

Primera División (women)

Countries	Spain
Confederation	UEFA
Founded	1988
Number of teams	18
Levels on pyramid	1
Relegation to	Segunda División
Domestic cup(s)	Copa de la Reina
International cup(s)	UEFA Champions League
Current champions	Rayo Vallecano (3rd title) (2010–11)
Most championships	Levante UD Athletic Club (4 each)
Website	Website
2011–12 season

The Primera División, formely Superliga is the highest level of league competition for Spanish women's football. It is the female equivalent of the men's Primera División and is run by the Real Federación Española de Fútbol.

History

The league was founded in 1988 as Liga Nacional , formed by Olímpico Fortuna, Puente Castro, Parque Alcobendas, Santa María Atlético, Vallés Occcidental, RCD Español, FC Barcelona, CE Sabadell y Peña Barcelonista. From the season 1996-97 the league was divided in 4 groups. In that time, all group winners played a semi-final and a final to decide the champion.

For the 2001-02 season the league was renamed to Superliga and the competition system was changed to from the groups format to a double rounnd-robin, thus each team playing the other teams twice, one time away, one time at home. The league consisted of 14 teams in those years.

The 2008–09 season kept the double round-robin format but the league was increased from 14 to 16 teams.

In the 2009–10 season the Superliga was increased from 16 to 24 teams, which caused criticism by teams and players, fearing a decline in competivity. The Superliga again is divided in 3 groups of 7 to 8 teams each.^[1] Those groups are divided based on local aspects. In the first stage of the season, in all groups each team plays each other twice. After that, the second stage starts. The best two of each group as well as the two best third place finishers go into group A, the other teams are divided into group B and C based oin a predefined key. Again a double round-robin is played in the groups. The three best finishers of Group B and C qualify for the Copa de la Reina, as do all teams of group A.

In the 2009–10 seasons, two teams had to withdraw from the league for financial reasons.

In 2009–10 a final for the championship was created. Contrary to the previous season the winner of the second phase's Group A is not declared the national champion, but the top two finishers play each other in a two legged final for the season's championship. The first two of those finakls were won by Rayo Vallecano against RCD Espanyol.

With the 2011–12 season the group based system was abolished and now 18 teams will play double round-robin to decide the champion.

Teams for season 2011–12

The 18 teams for the 2011–12 season are:

• Real Sociedad
• Athletic Bilbao
• Lagunak
• Reocín Racing
• RCD Espanyol
• FC Barcelona
• Valencia
• L'Estartit
• Levante UD
• Collerense
• Rayo Vallecano
• Atlético Madrid
• Sporting de Huelva
• Atlético Málaga
• Prainsa Zaragoza
• FVPR El Olivo
• Llanos Olivenza
• CD San Gabriel

List of champions

The following is a list of all champions of Spain.^[2]

Performance by club

¹Title won as San Vicent Valencia CFF.

References

External links

• (Spanish) Superliga Official Website
• (Spanish) Superliga Femenina on Futbolme.com
• (Spanish) Superliga Un-Official Website
• League at UEFA
• Superliga at women.soccerway.com