Liga FUTVE (Venezuela)

What is Liga FUTVE?

Liga FUTVE is the Primera División of Venezuelan men’s football and the institution that groups its professional first-division clubs, under the Federación Venezolana de Fútbol. It is the country’s only professional first division and its gateway to CONMEBOL competition: the two short-tournament champions each year qualify directly for the Copa Libertadores. Every match is streamed on the league’s own YouTube channel and app, alongside Fanatiz, VTV and IVC.^[1] [3]

How does it work?

Fourteen clubs play two tournaments, the Apertura and the Clausura. Each has a round-robin regular phase, then cuadrangulares — two groups of four — and a single-match final. The Apertura and Clausura champions then meet in a two-leg Gran Final Absoluta for the national title; in 2025 UCV FC beat Carabobo 3–1 on aggregate, winning the second leg 2–0 on 6 December, for the club’s first national championship. One club goes down to Liga FUTVE 2 each season and one comes up: Yaracuyanos went down and Trujillanos came up for 2026.^{[2] [3] [6]}

Since when does it exist?

Venezuela has had a championship since 1921 and a professional league since 1957. Caracas FC lead the all-time list with twelve titles and Deportivo Táchira, national champions in 2021, 2023 and 2024, have eleven. Carabobo FC, whose Apertura 2024 title was the club’s first after a 27-year wait, went on to win the Clausura 2025 and the Apertura 2026 — a 2–1 final over Academia Puerto Cabello in Valencia in June 2026 — while UCV FC took the Apertura 2025 and the 2025 national title.^{[2] [3] [4] [5] [8]}

Tournament and national champions of recent seasons.

Why does it matter?

No Venezuelan club has won the Copa Libertadores, and Deportivo Táchira, 50th, is the country’s best-placed club on CONMEBOL’s 2026 ranking — but the league sends two clubs a year into the Libertadores and more into the Sudamericana, and it is the top professional division for every Venezuelan footballer who does not play abroad. That standing is the point for a petition: a first-division Venezuelan club is the country’s highest level of the sport.^[1] [7]