Liga Panameña de Fútbol

The Liga Panameña de Fútbol is the top football league in Panama. Until 2009, the league was named Asociación Nacional Pro Fútbol (ANAPROF).
==Format==
The league's season is divided into two tournaments called Apertura and Clausura. Both tournaments have an identical format. Each tournament has two stages: the first stage is a double round-robin round where each teams plays every other team twice, once at home and once away. The top-four teams advance to a final stage, a single-elimination culminating with a final match. 
===Relegation and international qualification===
The first stage of both tournaments are combined into an aggregate table to determine relegation. The team with the fewest points is relegated to the Primera A for the following season.
The champions of both tournaments qualify to the CONCACAF Champions League (see also ANAPROF participation in CONCACAF).
== History == 
In 1987, a group of men, composed of Giancarlo Gronchi, Jan Domburg, Edgar Plazas, Jorge Zelasny, Ángel Valero and Juan Carlos Delgado, founded the Asociación Nacional Pro-Fútbol (ANAPROF for short) on February 26, 1988.
Their objective was to establish the bases to organize a professional footballers in Panama, in order to help the Panamanian football team in the long term.
===Founding teams===
*Chirilanco (Bocas del Toro)
*Deportivo la Previsora (La Chorrera)
*Deportivo Perú (Panama City)
*Euro Kickers (Panama City)
*Plaza Amador (Panama City)
*Tauro (Panama City)
===Timeline===
*The league was founded in as ANAPROF in 1988 after years of turmoil in Panamanian football. The season began on February 26, 1988 featuring with 6 teams participating. The league wasn't split into Apertura/Clausura seasons until 2001, previously the teams played a full season with all teams playing all other teams in a home and away set as is the standard in most European leagues today.
*From 1994-96 there was a schism in Panamanian football as both the ANAPROF and LINFUNA existed as separate leagues. LINFUNA was recognized by FIFA, but the two leagues joined together to form a 12 team, single-table league in the 1996-97 season.
*In 1997-98, the league was split into two groups for the regular season with an 8 team Play-off after the season was completed. The Quarter-Finals and Semi-Finals were two-leg Play-offs, but the Final was a single match.
*In 1998-99, the league was moved down to 10 teams with the best 6 teams after a home-and-away season of 18 games moved on to the secondary tournament. Each team matched up against the other qualifying teams once and the top 4 of the 6 in terms of points moved on to the home-and-away Semi-Finals. The winners advanced to a single match Final.
*In 1999-00, the league switched to a single table format for the opening round. The top 6 teams from the opening round moved on to the second round where they each played other qualifying teams once. The top 4 again moved to the home-and-away Semi-Finals. The winners of those series played in the single match Final.
*The format from 1999-00 was again used in 2000-01.
*In 2001, the previous format was again used, but in both Apertura and Clausura seasons for the first time with the first round seeing each team play just 9 games and not 18. The league began using the modern Grand Championship Play-off between the Apertura and Clausura winners in order to have an overall Champion.
*In the 2002 Apertura, 8 teams in two separate groups of 4 teams. Each team played the teams in the other group one time and the teams from its own group twice, once at home and once away. The top two teams from each group qualified for the home-and-away Semi-Finals. The winners of those series played in the single match Final.
*In the 2002 Clausura, 8 teams took part in single-table home-and-away season, that saw all 8 teams play 14 games. The top 4 teams qualified for a Semi-Final group where each team would again play home-and-away vs all other qualified teams. The top two teams then met in a two-leg home-and-away Championship, where the winner was determined by aggregate goals.
*The 2003 Apertura used the same format as the 2002 Clausura.
*In the 2003 Clausura, The 4 team Semi-Final group was dropped for a pair of home-and-away series featuring the top point getter from the 8 team, 14 game season face the fourth highest point earner and the second highest would face the third highest.
*In 2004 ANAPROF increased from 8 to 10 teams.
*In 2007 the Grand Championship format was abandoned, therefore there will be two champions from now on: Apertura and Clausura.
*In the 2008 Apertura the league was split into two groups for the regular season (13 games only) with a 4 team Play-off after the season was completed. The Semi-Finals are two-leg Play-offs, and the Final is a single match.
*In the 2008 Clausura the league played all 18 games and also the groups were joined. The last team in the aggregate table will play a relegation Play-off with the champion of Primera A.
*In 2009 ANAPROF changes its name to Liga Panameña de Fútbol.
==Past results==
Season/tournament	Champion 	Manager 	Runner-up
1988 	Plaza Amador 	Carlos Collazos 	Deportivo La Previsora
1989 	Tauro 	Miguel Mansilla 	Deportivo La Previsora
1990 	Plaza Amador 	Milton Palacios 	Tauro
1991 	Tauro 	Miguel Mansilla 	Euro Kickers
1992 	Plaza Amador 	Carlos Collazos 	Sporting Colón
1993 	Euro Kickers 	Orlando Muñoz 	Club Projusa
1994−95 	San Francisco	Leopoldo Lee 	Tauro
1995−96 	San Francisco	Leopoldo Lee 	Plaza Amador
1996−97 	Tauro 	Miguel Mansilla 	Euro Kickers
1997−98 	Tauro 	Miguel Mansilla 	Árabe Unido
1998−99 	Árabe Unido 	Eliazar Herrera 	Tauro
1999−00 	Tauro 	Alfredo Poyatos 	Plaza Amador
2000−01 	Panamá Viejo 	Gary Stempel 	Tauro
2001 	Árabe Unido 	Richard Parra 	
2002 	Plaza Amador 	Sergio Giovagnolli	Árabe Unido
2003 	Tauro 	Gonzalo Soto 	
2004 	Árabe Unido 	Julio Gómez 	
2005 	Plaza Amador 	Fernando Bolívar 	San Francisco
2006 	San Francisco	Gary Stempel 	Tauro
2007 (A) 	Tauro 	Miguel Mansilla 	San Francisco
2007 (C) 	San Francisco	Gary Stempel 	Árabe Unido
2008 (A) 	San Francisco	Gary Stempel 	Tauro
2008 (C) 	Árabe Unido 	Richard Parra 	Tauro
2009 (A) I 	San Francisco	Ruben Guevara 	Chorrillo
2009 (A) II 	Árabe Unido 	Richard Parra 	Tauro
2010 (C) 	Árabe Unido 	Richard Parra 	San Francisco
== Championships by team ==
Club 	Winners	Runners-up	Winning Years and Runner-Up Years
Tauro 	7 	8 	1989, 1990, 1991, 1994-95, 1996-97, 1997-98, 1998-99, 1999-00, 2000-01, 2003, 2006, 2007 (A), 2008 (A), 2008 (C), 2009 (A) II
San Francisco 	6 	5 	1988, 1989, 1994-95, 1995-96, 2005, 2006, 2007 (A), 2007 (C), 2008 (A), 2009 (A) I, 2010 (C)
Árabe Unido 	6 	3 	1997-98, 1998-99, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2007 (C), 2008 (C), 2009 (A) II, 2010 (C)
Plaza Amador 	5 	2 	1988, 1990, 1992, 1995-96, 1999-00, 2002, 2005
Euro Kickers 	1 	2 	1991, 1993, 1996-97
Panamá Viejo 	1 	0 	2000-01
Chorrillo 	0 	1 	2009 (A) I
Club Projusa 	0 	1 	1993
Sporting Colón	0 	1 	1992
==Top-scorers by season==
Season 	Player 	Team 	Total
1988 	Miguel Tello 	Plaza Amador 	13
1989 	Alonso Pacheco 	Deportivo la Previsora	18
1990 	José Ardines 	Euro Kickers 	26
1991 	José Ardines 	Euro Kickers 	13
1992 	José Ardines 	Euro Kickers 	20
1993 	José Ardines 	Euro Kickers 	12
1994-95 	José Ardines 	Euro Kickers 	20
1995-96 	José Ardines 	Euro Kickers 	25
1996-97 	Patricio Guevara 	Tauro 	22
1997-98 	Luis Calamaris 	San Francisco 	21
1998-99 	Luis Calamaris 	San Francisco 	18
1999-00 	René Mendieta 	Tauro 	15
2000-01 	Luis Parra 	Tauro 	17
2001 (A) 	Ricardo Phillips 	Panamá Viejo 	13
2001 (C) 	Roberto Brown 	San Francisco 	13
2002 (A) 	Gabriel de los Rios 	Alianza 	7
2002 (C) 	Anel Canales 	Tauro 	10
2003 (A) 	Anel Canales 	Chorrillo 	11
2003 (C) 	Hector Nazarith Wilson Zuñiga 	TauroAlianza 	9
2004 (A) 	Jorge Dely Valdes 	Árabe Unido 	12
2005 (A) 	José Luis Garcés 	San Francisco 	11
2005 (C) 	José Luis Garcés 	San Francisco 	13
2006 (A) 	Luis Tejada 	Plaza Amador 	11
2006 (C) 	César Medina 	Alianza 	12
2007 (A) 	Edwin Aguilar 	Tauro 	14
2007 (C) 	Gabriel Torres Orlando Rodríguez	ChepoÁrabe Unido 	9
2008 (A) 	César Medina 	Alianza 	12
2008 (C) 	Orlando Rodríguez 	Árabe Unido 	18
2009 (A) I 	Edwin Aguilar 	Tauro 	18
2009 (A) II	Armando Polo 	Sporting San Miguelito	12
2010 (C) 	Johan De Ávila 	San Francisco 	10
==See also==
*LPF Website (unofficial)
*Panama-List of Champions
* ANAPROF club particcipation in UNCAF tournament
Category:Leagues