Nicaragua - Primera División

About Primera División

Primera División History, Format, Organization, Media Coverage

The Liga Primera de Nicaragua is the top-tier football category in that country. The competition was created in 1933 and is run by the Nicaraguan Football Federation.

The competition’s format sees two tournaments being played during a regular season. The first one is held between August and November and is called Torneo de Apertura, while the second competition is known as Torneo de Clausura, taking place between January and May. Each regular season is followed up by a final stage, where the top four teams make the semifinals. Both ties are played on a home-and-away basis, leaving those with the best record hosting the return leg. The winner of the competition is determined via a two-legged final, with extra time and penalties used to sort out the winner in the event of a draw in the aggregate score.

The league hosts ten teams and works under a promotion-relegation system. The relegation process sees the team with the least points in a full season (Apertura and Clausura) being relegated automatically to the Segunda División. An additional relegation spot will be sorted out between the ninth team in this league and the runners-up from the Segunda División.

Coverage for this league has featured local network Canal 6 with a limited number of games being aired live each week until 2025. Additionally, games are also available to be streamed live and on-demand on the league’s YouTube channel.