Primera División de Futsal

About Primera División de Futsal

History, Format, Organization, Media Coverage

The Primera División de Fútbol Sala, or Primera División de Futsal, is an annual futsal tournament held in Spain. The competition was launched in 1989 and was organized by the National Futsal League until the 2019-20 season when it was handed over to the Royal Spanish Football Federation and its specialized branch, the Futsal Professional Committee. The league was previously known as División de Honor de Fútbol Sala until 2011.

The Spanish Primera División de Fútbol Sala works under a promotion-relegation format, where sixteen teams play each of their rivals twice, which sorts out the playoff stage and the relegation battle. The two teams with the least successful record after the 30 rounds are relegated to the Segunda División de Fútbol Sala, while the top eight enter the championship playoffs. Once in that stage, the teams are paired up to play best-of-three ties in the quarter-finals and the semi-finals. The teams who make it to the final must win three out of five matches to win the title.

The Primera División de Fútbol Sala also grants access to two more competitions: a local and a continental tournament. The local competition is the Copa de España de Fútbol Sala, a mid-season tournament played by the top eight teams up to that point in the campaign. On the other hand, the champions and the runners-up qualify for the following year’s UEFA Futsal Champions League.

After over three decades, there have been several dominant teams in the league, one of them being Movistar Inter, who have won the title over ten times. FC Barcelona is another standout club in the Primera División de Futsal, which has become a force to be reckoned with in recent years.