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Football is one of the leading sports of Puerto Rico , ranking only behind baseball, basketball and boxing [1] in national popularity and is the number one participation sport on the island[ citation needed ]. There has been a significant growth in the sport in recent years, as traditionally football has played a very small role in Puerto Rico. [2] The sport on the island is governed by the Puerto Rican Football Federation, an affiliate of FIFA.
It is said that the sport was played during Spanish colonial times, mostly by soldiers in the field in front of El Morro. By 1904, games were being played there between sailors of foreign ships which docked in San Juan Harbor, but it was not until 1911 that the first organized club was formed, Comercio Sporting Club, which organized games between members of the club. The club then formed two teams, Minerva and Mercurio. These teams took part in the first organized tournament in Puerto Rico, Copa Porananmiz. In 1913, two more clubs where formed, San Juan FC and Ponce Sporting Club. Until then, football was mostly played by the Hispanic population of the island while the Americans would play sports like baseball and basketball, but in 1914 a group of Americans formed Celtics FC and the first rivalry of Puerto Rican football was born. Celtics were Americans and San Juan FC were Puerto Ricans and Spaniards, which brought up the tensions between the Hispanics and Americans in the island during this period. In 1914, Celtics traveled to Ponce to face Ponce Sporting Club, in the first ever reported game between teams from different towns in Puerto Rico. [3]
Since its foundation, the Puerto Rico national football team has been one of the least successful teams in the world. It did not even enter the qualification stage for the 2006 World Cup. Its highest FIFA ranking was 97 in March 1994, and its lowest was 202 in November 2004. [4] Until 2008, Puerto Rico had not fielded a national team since 2004 when they lost 5–2 to Grenada. The last time they had won a match was in 1993 when they won 4–0 against the Cayman Islands. [5]
After a four-year absence, the Puerto Rican national team re-emerged on 16 January 2008, with a 2–0 victory in a friendly match against Bermuda. [6] This was played in preparation for a World Cup qualifier against the Dominican Republic, scheduled for 26 March 2008, which Puerto Rico won 1–0. [7]
Club football had been a very limited affair involving a handful of amateur teams in several separate leagues. As the domestic game has grown in popularity, this started to change. The Puerto Rico Islanders began to play in the USL First Division, the second tier of football in the United States at the time, and, in 2008, the first ever unified competition, the Puerto Rico Soccer League, was established. [8] Many clubs on the island are now affiliated with larger teams in some of the world's major football leagues.
In 2011, club football teams on the island made another monumental leap. The Puerto Rico Islanders joined the North American Soccer League, which is the new second tier of football in the United States. In addition, Puerto Rico United, Club Atlético River Plate Puerto Rico and Sevilla FC Puerto Rico moved to USL Pro, the new third tier of football in the United States. The Puerto Rico Soccer League held a 2011 season. However, the PRSL folded after the 2011 season, making the Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Puerto Rico the top-tier league, even though it is an amateur league. The LNFPR split into a First Division and Second Division in order to fill the void left by PRSL. Seeking to restructure professional football in Puerto Rico, the PRFF was planning for the Liga Profesional de Fútbol de Puerto Rico, which was supposed to start in 2013. [9]
The Puerto Rican Football Federation is the governing body of association football in Puerto Rico. It was founded in 1940 and became affiliated to FIFA in 1960, one of the last to do so in the Western Hemisphere. It governs over all football on the island, including the Puerto Rico national football team, the amateur Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Puerto Rico, the scheduled Liga Profesional de Fútbol de Puerto Rico, as well as the Puerto Rico FC who played in the North American Soccer League.
Huracán Fútbol Club is a Puerto Rican football club from Caguas, who formerly played in the Puerto Rico Soccer League.
Club Atlético River Plate Puerto Rico is a Puerto Rican professional football team based in Fajardo, Puerto Rico. Founded in 2007 as a franchise of the Argentine club River Plate, the team plays in the Puerto Rico Soccer League, and is the reigning Supercopa DirecTV champion.
The Puerto Rico Soccer League or PRSL is an association football league in Puerto Rico founded in 2008 and the first unified football league in the island's history. Association football had been growing in popularity in recent years, and this was an attempt to further develop the game on the island. The previous highest league in the country was the Campeonato Nacional de Fútbol de Puerto Rico. It shares Division I status with Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Puerto Rico.
Academia Quintana F.C. are an Association Football club from San Juan, Puerto Rico. They were founded in 1969, making them one of the oldest clubs still in existence in Puerto Rico. They are one of the founding members of the Puerto Rico Soccer League, the island's first nationwide league. The reserve team plays in the Liga Nacional. The club plays their home games at the Hiram Bithorn Stadium, sharing the facility with Atléticos de San Juan. The team currently plays in the Liga Puerto Rico.
Sevilla FC Puerto Rico was a Puerto Rican professional association football team based in Juncos, Puerto Rico. Founded in 2006, the team used to play in the Puerto Rico Soccer League. The club was founded in 2006 as a farm team for the Puerto Rico Islanders of the North American Soccer League in Bayamón, but in 2008 partnered with the Spanish La Liga club Sevilla FC and moved a year later to Juncos. Sevilla won both the regular season and play-offs in the inaugural season of the Puerto Rico Soccer League in 2008, and also won the regular season in 2011 before losing the play-off final on penalties to Leones.
Bayamón Fútbol Club is a Puerto Rican professional football club. The team is based in Bayamón and founded in 1999. They play their home games at Juan Ramon Loubriel Stadium. The club is a member of David Villa's DV7 Soccer Academy.
The Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Puerto Rico (LNF) was the first division association football league of Puerto Rico sharing D-1 status with Puerto Rico Soccer League. The LNF was founded on July 25, 2009 and the 2015 season featured six teams.
Criollos de Caguas FC is a soccer team that plays in the Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Puerto Rico. The team was founded in 1981. Since then has won multiple titles and participated in international tournaments including a 1986 visit to Portsmouth, England. The team finished third in the LNF 2011 season, sixth in 2012 season and third on 2013 and has been the champions in the PRSL Super Cup 2014, League 2014 and the Super Cup 2015. The Team will make the official debut on the Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Puerto Rico in the 2015 season on Sunday, September 20, 2015. The team plays their home matches in the Asociación Central de Balompie de Puerto Rico in Caguas, Puerto Rico.
The PRSL PlayOffs Cup is the annual championship tournament of the Puerto Rico Soccer League. The winner gets an automatic bid to CFU Club Championship.
The Puerto Rico Soccer League Regular Season Cup, first played in 2008, is an annual league competition for Puerto Rico Soccer League. The top four teams advance to the PlayOff cup.
Puerto Rico United is a Puerto Rican association football team based in Aguada, Puerto Rico founded in 2007. The team has played professionally in the Puerto Rico Soccer League (PRSL) and briefly in the American USL Professional Division. The team last competed in a professional league in 2011.
Yabuco FC, is a soccer team based in Yabucoa, Puerto Rico. The club plays in the Puerto Rico Soccer League, the premier football division of Puerto Rico.
Metropolitan FA is a Puerto Rican association football club from the capital of San Juan that currently plays in the Liga Puerto Rico. The club plays its home matches at the Parque Reparto Metropolitano.
The Copa Luis Villarejo is an association football in Puerto Rico. Created in 2016, it is open to all clubs that are affiliated with the Puerto Rican Football Federation.
The 2016 Copa Luis Villarejo was the first edition of the Copa Luis Villarejo, a cup tournament for clubs in Puerto Rico organized by the Puerto Rican Football Federation. The champions and runners-up of this tournament are eligible to enter the 2017 Caribbean Club Championship, which serves as a qualifying tournament for the 2017 CONCACAF League and 2018 CONCACAF Champions League.
The Puerto Rico soccer league system is a series of soccer leagues based in Puerto Rico. Sometimes erroneously called the Puerto Rican soccer pyramid, teams and leagues in the United States are not linked by the system of promotion and relegation typical in soccer elsewhere. Instead, the Puerto Rican Football Federation (FPF) officially defines leagues in levels, called divisions. Only the top division is officially sanctioned by the FPF with second division leagues sactioned by local regional organizations.
The 2017 Puerto Rico Soccer League season would be the 9th season as Puerto Rico's top-division football league.
Ryan Xavier López Viera is a Puerto Rican footballer who plays as a midfielder for Puerto Rican club Bayamón and the Puerto Rico national team.
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