Bolivian Primera División

División de Fútbol Profesional

Founded	1950 (1950)
Country	Bolivia
Confederation	CONMEBOL
Number of clubs	16
Level on pyramid	1
Relegation to	Copa Simón Bolívar
Domestic cup(s)	Copa Bolivia Copa de la División Profesional
International cup(s)	Copa Libertadores Copa Sudamericana
Current champions	Bolívar (31st title) (2024)
Most championships	Bolívar (31 titles)
Most appearances	Joselito Vaca (653 caps)
Top goalscorer	Victor Hugo Antelo (350 goals)
Broadcaster(s)	FútbolCanal
Website	fbf.com.bo
Current: 2025 season

The División de Fútbol Profesional is the top-flight professional football league in Bolivia. In 2017 it replaced the "Liga de Fútbol Profesional Boliviano" (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈliɣa ðe ˈfuðβol pɾofesjoˈnal βoliˈβjano]; English: Bolivian Professional Football League).

Since 1950, a total of 16 clubs have been crowned champions of the Bolivian football league system. The current champions are Bolívar, which won the title in the 2024 tournament. Bolívar is also the most successful club in the league, with 31 titles to date.

The organisation of football in Bolivia started in 1914 with the creation of regional associations and their respective competitions. The "La Paz Football Association (AFLP)" (Asociación de Fútbol de La Paz – AFLP) was the first organised body with 29 championships held between 1914 and 1949. The AFLP was considered for many years the top football tournament in the country. In 1950 the body modified its statutes allowing the professionalisation of the sport in Bolivia, so the "Torneo Profesional" was created.^[1]

Between 1950 and 1959, only clubs from La Paz, Oruro (since 1954) and Cochabamba (1955) took part of the championship because football was still amateur in the rest of the regions.

At the end of 1960, the Bolivian Football Federation established a national championship, with the purpose of crowning a champion representing Bolivia in recently created Copa Libertadores. The competition, named "Copa Simón Bolívar", was contested by champions and runner ups of regional associations.

The demise of Bolivian national team in the 1978 FIFA World Cup qualification (where it was thrashed by Brazil 8–0 and Peru 5–0) encouraged some clubs to create their own league, so 16 teams separated from their respective associations to establish the "Liga de Fútbol Profesional Boliviano" (Bolivian Professional Football League – LFPB) to organise championships autonomously, in 1977.^[2]

The creation of the LFPB ended the distinction. It also resulted in the creation of three separate entities: the FBF's role was restricted to the international representation of Bolivia in the sport, the newly created LFPB became the organizer of the sole first division tournament, and the LPFA, together with the rest of the regional associations, became the organizer of the second (and lower) division regionalized tournaments. It was the first and, until the formation of the basketball league (LIBOBASQUET) in 2014, the only professional sports league in the country.

In 2017, after a change of statutes in the FBF, the LFPB and the ANF were replaced by the "División Profesional" (professional division) and the "División Aficionados" (amateur division), both managed by the FBF from 2018 onwards.

The championship format has changed over the years. Beginning in 1977, the league ran with sixteen clubs divided into two series, but switched to fourteen clubs in two series playing two tournaments each year beginning in the mid 80s and economical problems with some teams led to another cut in the number of participants to twelve in 1991. Another change came in 2005 when teams decided to adapt to the International FIFA calendar, meaning the season would be played from August to June rather than from February to December, in order to avoid problems defining which teams would qualify for international tournaments. The league played a short tournament from February to June in 2005, and the official 2005–06 season started in August. This led to yet another problem — second division teams weren't keen on the idea of putting off relegation until June 2006. After negotiations, the league determined that relegation of the lowest standing club would take place after the completion of the Apertura tournament, making the Bolivian league an odd tournament where teams were relegated in the middle of the season. But this decision was overturned in November 2006 and the league switched back to a calendar-year season in 2007 starting with the Apertura tournament in March 2007. For the 2018 season, the number of teams was increased from twelve to fourteen.

Historically, teams from La Paz, Cochabamba and Santa Cruz have dominated the league. Until 2007 only San José won the league in 1995, but since then teams from the "big three" have struggled to win the league again and 3 teams from smaller cities have won it (Real Potosí, San José and Universitario).

Three teams share the record of never been relegated to "La Simón Bolivar" (2nd division): The Strongest, Oriente Petrolero and Bolívar (although they were relegated in 1969 before the LPFB era).

For the 2008 season, and for the first time, three tournaments were played instead of the usual two. The Apertura tournament was played from March to July on a round-robin system; the Clausura tournament played from August to October where the teams were divided into two series of 6 teams each, Group A comprised all western teams (plus Universitario) and Group B comprised all eastern teams (plus Wilstermann and Aurora), the top two teams of each group advanced to the semifinals and the finals. The newly instated play-off tournament consisted of home-away matches (and with away goals rule used for the first time).

An average points from the previous two seasons determines relegation, with the last placed team being directly relegated and replaced by the winner of the Copa Simón Bolívar. The team placed second-from-bottom plays a relegation play-off against the runner-up of the Copa Simón Bolívar.

ABB
Always Ready

Aurora
Wilstermann

Bolívar
The Strongest

Guabirá

GV San José
T. Real Oruro

Indep. Petrolero

Nacional Potosí

Real Tomayapo

San Antonio

Santa Cruz de la Sierra

Universitario (V)

Santa Cruz de la Sierra teams:
Blooming
Oriente Petrolero

Locations of the 2025 División Profesional teams.

• For the period 1914–1949, see La Paz Football Association (AFLP)

Ed.	Season		Champion	Runner-up	Winning manager	Leading goalscorer(s)
Torneo Departamental (AFLP)
1	1950		Bolívar (1)	Litoral
2	1951		Always Ready (1)	Bolívar	Julio Borelli
3	1952		The Strongest (1)	Always Ready	Rufino Plata
4	1953		Bolívar (2)	Always Ready
Torneo Integrado Interdepartamental (AFLP)
5	1954		Litoral (1)	The Strongest		Juan Pinnola (Always Ready; 22 goals)
6	1955		San José (1)	Chaco Petrolero	Rodolfo Mayda Camacho	Pedro Callá (Deportivo Municipal; 21 goals)
7	1956		Bolívar (3)	Deportivo Municipal	Rodolfo Plaza	Juan Pinnola (Litoral; 22 goals)
8	1957		Always Ready (2)	Deportivo Municipal	Julio Borelli	Juan Pinnola (Always Ready; 20 goals)
Torneo Nacional Mixto (AFO – AFC)
8	1957		Jorge Wilstermann (1)	Aurora	Alberto De Acha	Máximo Alcocer (Jorge Wilstermann; 14 goals)
Torneo Integrado Interdepartamental (AFLP)
9	1958		Jorge Wilstermann (2)	Deportivo Municipal	José Villazón	Freddy Valda (Chaco Petrolero; 26 goals)
10	1959		Jorge Wilstermann (3)	Always Ready	Saúl Ongaro	Renán López (Jorge Wilstermann; 25 goals)
Torneo Mayor de la República (FBF)
11	1960		Jorge Wilstermann (4)	Aurora	José Villazón
12	1961		Deportivo Municipal (1)	The Strongest	Félix Deheza
—	1962		La Paz league was won by Chaco Petrolero but this is not considered a national title.
13	1963		Aurora (1)	Jorge Wilstermann	Pacífico Becerra
Copa Simón Bolívar (FBF)
14	1964		The Strongest (2)	Deportivo Municipal	Juan Valenzuela
15	1965		Deportivo Municipal (2)	Jorge Wilstermann	José Luis Rodríguez
16	1966		Bolívar (4)	31 de Octubre	Dan Georgiadis
17	1967		Jorge Wilstermann (5)	Always Ready	José Carlos Trigo
18	1968		Bolívar (5)	Litoral (Cochabamba)	Antonio Imbelloni
19	1969		Universitario de La Paz (1)	Bolívar	Próspero Benítez	Juan Américo Díaz (Mariscal Santa Cruz; 23 goals)
20	1970		Chaco Petrolero (1)	The Strongest	Arturo López	Adolfo Flores Espinoza (Chaco Petrolero; 17 goals)
21	1971		Oriente Petrolero (1)	Chaco Petrolero	Eliseo Báez	Juan Américo Díaz (The Strongest; 12 goals)
22	1972		Jorge Wilstermann (6)	Oriente Petrolero	José Carlos Trigo	Milton Teodoro Joana (Jorge Wilstermann; 21 goals)
23	1973		Jorge Wilstermann (7)	Deportivo Municipal	José Carlos Trigo
24	1974		The Strongest (3)	Jorge Wilstermann	Rolando Vargas
25	1975		Guabirá (1)	Bolívar	Waltersilio R. Coutinho
26	1976		Bolívar (6)	Oriente Petrolero	Edward Virba	Jesús Reynaldo (Bolívar; 12 goals)
Liga de Fútbol Profesional Boliviano (LFPB)
27	1977		The Strongest (4)	Oriente Petrolero	Freddy Valda	Jesús Reynaldo (Bolívar; 28 goals)
28	1978		Bolívar (7)	Jorge Wilstermann	Ramiro Blacut	Jesús Reynaldo (Bolívar; 26 goals)
29	1979		Oriente Petrolero (2)	The Strongest	Antonio Valdez	Horacio Baldessari (Blooming; 31 goals)
30	1980		Jorge Wilstermann (8)	The Strongest	Raúl Pino	Juan Carlos Sánchez (Guabirá; 21 goals)
31	1981		Jorge Wilstermann (9)	Blooming	José Carlos Trigo	Juan Carlos Sánchez (Blooming; 27 goals)
32	1982		Bolívar (8)	Jorge Wilstermann	Wilfredo Camacho	Horacio Baldessari (Oriente Petrolero; 25 goals)
33	1983		Bolívar (9)	Oriente Petrolero	Abdúl Aramayo	Juan Carlos Sánchez (Blooming; 31 goals)
34	1984		Blooming (1)	Bolívar	Raúl Pino	Víctor Hugo Antelo (Oriente Petrolero; 38 goals)
35	1985		Bolívar (10)	Jorge Wilstermann	Moisés Barack	Víctor Hugo Antelo (Oriente Petrolero; 37 goals)
36	1986		The Strongest (5)	Oriente Petrolero	Juan Farías	Jesús Reynaldo (The Strongest; 36 goals)
37	1987		Bolívar (11)	Oriente Petrolero	Jorge Habegger	Fernando Salinas (Bolívar; 28 goals)
38	1988		Bolívar (12)	The Strongest	Jorge Habegger	Fernando Salinas (Bolívar; 21 goals)
39	1989		The Strongest (6)	Oriente Petrolero	Moisés Barack	Víctor Hugo Antelo (Real Santa Cruz; 22 goals)
40	1990		Oriente Petrolero (3)	Bolívar	Antonio De La Cerda	Juan Carlos Sánchez (San José; 20 goals)
41	1991		Bolívar (13)	San José	Moisés Barack	Jorge Hirano (Bolívar; 19 goals) Jason Rodríguez (Independiente Petrolero; 19 goals) Sebastião da Silva (Oriente Petrolero; 19 goals)
42	1992		Bolívar (14)	San José	Vitaliy Shevchenko	Álvaro Peña (San José; 29 goals)
43	1993		The Strongest (7)	Bolívar	Carlos Aragonés	Víctor Hugo Antelo (San José; 20 goals)
44	1994		Bolívar (15)	Jorge Wilstermann	Antonio López	Óscar González (Independiente Petrolero; 23 goals)
45	1995		San José (2)	Guabirá	Walter Roque	Juan Berthy Suárez (Guabirá; 29 goals)
46	1996		Bolívar (16)	Oriente Petrolero	Jorge Habegger	Dimas Flores (Deportivo Municipal; 16 goals)
47	1997		Bolívar (17)	Oriente Petrolero	Luis Orozco	Víctor Hugo Antelo (Blooming; 24 goals)
48	1998		Blooming (2)	Jorge Wilstermann	Carlos Aragonés	Víctor Hugo Antelo (Blooming; 31 goals)
49	1999		Blooming (3)	The Strongest	Carlos Aragonés	Víctor Hugo Antelo (Blooming; 30 goals) Antonio Vidal González (The Strongest; 30 goals)
50	2000		Jorge Wilstermann (10)	Oriente Petrolero	Tito Montaño	Daniel Delfino (The Strongest; 28 goals)
51	2001		Oriente Petrolero (4)	Bolívar	Víctor Hugo Antelo	José Alfredo Castillo (Oriente Petrolero; 42 goals)
52	2002		Bolívar (18)	Oriente Petrolero	Vladimir Soria	Joaquín Botero (Bolívar; 49 goals)
53	2003	Apertura	The Strongest (8)	Bolívar	Néstor Clausen	Thiago Leitão (Jorge Wilstermann; 19 goals)
54		Clausura	The Strongest (9)	Jorge Wilstermann	Néstor Clausen	Miguel Mercado (Bolívar; 18 goals)
55	2004	Apertura	Bolívar (19)	Aurora	Vladimir Soria	Martín Menacho (Real Potosí; 15 goals)
56		Clausura	The Strongest (10)	Oriente Petrolero	Luis Galarza	Pablo Daniel Escobar (San José; 17 goals)
57	2005	Adecuación	Bolívar (20)	The Strongest	Abdúl Aramayo	Rubén Aguilera (San José; 22 goals)
58	2005–06	Apertura	Blooming (4)	Bolívar	Gustavo Quinteros	Juan Matías Fischer (Bolívar; 16 goals)
59		Clausura	Bolívar (21)	Real Potosí	Carlos Aragonés	Alfredo Jara (Real Potosí; 16 goals)
60	2006	Segundo Torneo	Jorge Wilstermann (11)	Real Potosí	Mauricio Soria	Alfredo Jara (Real Potosí; 19 goals)
61	2007	Apertura	Real Potosí (1)	Bolívar	Mauricio Soria	Diego Cabrera (Aurora; 14 goals)
62		Clausura	San José (3)	La Paz	Marcos Ferrufino	Juan Maraude (Real Mamoré; 16 goals)
63	2008	Apertura	Universitario de Sucre (1)	La Paz	Eduardo Villegas	Anderson Gonzaga (Blooming; 17 goals)
64		Clausura	Aurora (2)	Blooming	Julio César Baldivieso	Luis Sillero (Real Potosí; 17 goals)
65	2009	Apertura	Bolívar (22)	Real Potosí	Gustavo Quinteros	William Ferreira (Bolívar; 16 goals)
66		Clausura	Blooming (5)	Bolívar	Víctor Hugo Andrada	William Ferreira (Bolívar; 9 goals) Cristian Díaz (San José; 9 goals) Pablo Vázquez (The Strongest; 9 goals)
67	2010	Apertura	Jorge Wilstermann (12)	Oriente Petrolero	Eduardo Villegas	Cristian Díaz (San José; 16 goals)
68		Clausura	Oriente Petrolero (5)	Bolívar	Gustavo Quinteros	William Ferreira (Bolívar; 14 goals)
69	2011	Adecuación	Bolívar (23)	Real Potosí	Guillermo Hoyos	Juan Maraude (Real Mamoré; 19 goals)
70	2011–12	Apertura	The Strongest (11)	Universitario de Sucre	Mauricio Soria	William Ferreira (Bolívar; 16 goals)
71		Clausura	The Strongest (12)	San José	Eduardo Villegas	Carlos Saucedo (San José; 17 goals)
72	2012–13	Apertura	The Strongest (13)	San José	Eduardo Villegas	Carlos Saucedo (San José; 23 goals)
73		Clausura	Bolívar (24)	Oriente Petrolero	Miguel Ángel Portugal	William Ferreira (Bolívar; 17 goals) Eduardo Fierro (Universitario de Sucre; 17 goals)
74	2013–14	Apertura	The Strongest (14)	Bolívar	Eduardo Villegas	Carlos Saucedo (San José; 16 goals) Marcelo Gomes (San José; 16 goals)
75		Clausura	Universitario de Sucre (2)	San José	Javier Vega Estívarez	Carlos Neumann (San José; 18 goals)
76	2014–15	Apertura	Bolívar (25)	Oriente Petrolero	Xabier Azkargorta	Juanmi Callejón (Bolívar; 15 goals)
77		Clausura	Bolívar (26)	The Strongest	Xabier Azkargorta	Martín Palavicini (Universitario de Sucre; 13 goals)
78	2015–16	Apertura	Sport Boys (1)	Bolívar	Carlos Leeb	Martín Palavicini (Universitario de Sucre; 19 goals)
79		Clausura	Jorge Wilstermann (13)	The Strongest	Julio Alberto Zamora	Juan Vogliotti (Ciclón; 12 goals)
80	2016–17	2016 Apertura	The Strongest (15)	Bolívar	César Farías	Juanmi Callejón (Bolívar; 16 goals)
81		2017 Apertura	Bolívar (27)	The Strongest	Beñat San José	Carlos Saucedo (Guabirá; 17 goals)
82		Clausura	Bolívar (28)	The Strongest	Beñat San José	Gilbert Álvarez (Jorge Wilstermann; 16 goals)
División de Fútbol Profesional (FBF)
83	2018	Apertura	Jorge Wilstermann (14)	The Strongest	Guillermo Álvaro Peña	Carlos Saucedo (San José; 18 goals)
84		Clausura	San José (4)	The Strongest	Eduardo Villegas	Marcos Riquelme (Bolívar; 20 goals) Jair Reinoso (San José; 20 goals) Rolando Blackburn (The Strongest; 20 goals)
85	2019	Apertura	Bolívar (29)	The Strongest	César Vigevani	Carlos Saucedo (San José; 23 goals)
86		Clausura	Jorge Wilstermann (15)	The Strongest	Christian Díaz	Carlos Saucedo (San José; 19 goals) Jair Reinoso (The Strongest; 19 goals) Juanmi Callejón (Bolívar; 19 goals)
87	2020	Apertura	Always Ready (3)	The Strongest	Omar Asad	Marcos Riquelme (Bolívar; 20 goals)
—		Clausura	(Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic)
88	2021		Independiente Petrolero (1)	Always Ready	Marcelo Robledo	Martín Prost (Independiente Petrolero; 18 goals)
89	2022	Apertura	Bolívar (30)	The Strongest	Antônio Carlos Zago	Francisco da Costa (Bolívar; 10 goals)
90		Clausura	(Abandoned due to civil unrest in the Santa Cruz Department)[3]			Marcos Riquelme (Always Ready; 19 goals)
91	2023		The Strongest (16)	Bolívar	Pablo Cabanillas	Dorny Romero (Always Ready; 25 goals)
92	2024		Bolívar (31)	San Antonio Bulo Bulo	Flavio Robatto	Daniel Passira (San Antonio Bulo Bulo; 22 goals)

Notes

• AFLP: Asociación de Fútbol de La Paz
• AFC: Asociación de Fútbol Cochabamba
• AFO: Asociación de Fútbol Oruro

• Teams in bold compete in the Primera División as of the 2024 season.
• Italics indicates clubs that no longer exist or disaffiliated from the FBF.

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