Ecuadorian Serie A
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| Country | Ecuador |
|---|---|
| Confederation | CONMEBOL |
| Founded | 1957 |
| Number of teams | 12 |
| Level on pyramid | 1 |
| Relegation to | Serie B |
| International cup(s) |
Copa Libertadores Copa Sudamericana |
| Current champions | Barcelona (15th title) |
| Most championships | Barcelona (15 titles) |
| Most capped player | Carlos Javier Caicedo (670) |
| Top goalscorer | Ermen Benítez (191) |
| Website | Official webpage |
 2017 Serie A season
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The Primera Categoría Serie A, simply known as the Serie A or the Primera A, is a professional football league in Ecuador. At the top of the Ecuadorian football league system, it is the country's premier football competition. Contested by twelve clubs, it operates a system of promotion and relegation with the Serie B, the lower level of the Primera Categoría. The season runs from February to December and is usually contested in multiple stages. It is sponsored by beer company Pilsener and is officially known as the Copa Pilsener Serie A.
While initially not a league, the Serie A has its roots in the national championship between the top teams of Ecuador's two regional leagues. For the first nine editions, teams from Guayaquil and Quito qualified to the competition through their professional regional leagues. It abandoned the qualification format to form a proper league in 1967. Since the first edition in 1957, the tournament has been held annually (except 1958 and 1959); the 2005 season had two champions. It is ranked by IFFHS as 13th strongest football leagues in the world for 2011, and the 5th strongest in South America.
Eight different teams have been crowned Ecuadorian champions, but four teams have a combined total of 46 championships. The most successful club is Barcelona with fifteen titles. The defending champion is Barcelona.
The format for the Serie A national championship changes consistently. The most common format is a two-stage tournament, in which teams qualify to a mini-league (Spanish: Liguilla) to determine the champion. The current format was introduced for the 2010 season and consists of three stages. The First and Second Stages each follow the double round-robin format. The winners of each stage play against each other in the Third Stage for the championship. A third-place match also takes place in the Third Stage between the next two-best teams in the aggregate table. If the same team wins both the First and Second Stage, they are automatically the champion. In this case, the second and third best teams in the aggregate table play against each other for runner-up.
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