Liga 1 is the name of the top division of Peruvian football. It was launched in 1912, which means the current season in 2023 is the 107th edition of the country’s league championship.
Liga 1, which is sponsored by Betsson, has undergone many changes of format over the decades. It began with just eight teams competing in it and has grown to contain 19 clubs from right around the nation.
Its current system is different to the one which dominates in European football, and it is also not the same as Major League soccer in the United States.
One of the key differences is la Liga 1 tabla acumulada. In this article we will explain what it is, how it works and everything else you need to know in order to understand Peru’s top flight.
For an introduction to Liga 1 as a whole, click here. And for apuestas de fútbol, this is the place you need to go.
How Does the Liga 1 Accumulated Table Work?
The Liga 1 season is split into two halves. The first 18 rounds of fixtures make up the Torneo Apertura. The next 18 are part of the Torneo Clausura.
In some ways these are completely separate events. At the start of the Torneo Clausura, every team is back to zero points. The winners of the Torneo Apertura and the Torneo Clausura qualify for the play-offs, which determine the ultimate champion in that particular season.
But although points are reset at the beginning of the Torneo Clausura, there is some overlap between the two halves of the season. This is where the tabla acumulada Liga 1 Betsson comes in.
The tabla acumulada – which is simply the tabla de posiciones de la Liga 1 acumulado – ranks Peruvian teams by the points they have obtained across both the Torneo Apertura and the Torneo Clausura. This is significant in several ways – we will explain the first two below.
One of them is that the top two at the end of the campaign will advance to the play-offs unless they have already qualified by winning the Torneo Apertura or the Torneo Clausura.
For example, in 2022 Sporting Cristal finished third in the Apertura with 38 points and second in the Clausura with 41 points. They did not win either competition, but their combined tally of 79 points meant they finished top of the tabla acumulada actualizada Liga 1, thus qualifying for the play-offs.
Another way in which the cumulative table is important is when it comes to continental competition. South American football has two inter-country tournaments: the Copa Libertadores and the Copa Sudamericana. To determine qualification for these, Liga 1 focuses on the points won across both the Torneo Apertura and the Torneo Clausura.
The sides that finish in the top two of the cumulative table in 2023 will qualify for the Libertadores, the biggest and most prestigious club competition in South America which is the equivalent of the Champions League in Europe.
In determining which teams advance to the Copa Libertadores, the cumulative table is the only thing that counts – not the outcome of the play-offs, or whether or not a team won the Apertura or Clausura.
The teams that finish between third and sixth in the cumulative table will take part in the next edition of the Copa Sudamericana, which is equivalent to the Europa League in Europe.
Peruvian clubs have not enjoyed much success in these two continental tournaments in recent years. A Liga 1 team has not reached the final of the Copa Libertadores since Sporting Cristal were beaten by Cruzeiro in the last game of the 1997 edition. Meanwhile, 2003 champions Cienciano remain the only Peruvian outfit to win the Copa Sudamericana.
How Does the Descent Work?
We have already learned that the cumulative table decides whether any other teams deserve a place in the play-offs, and that it also determines Peru’s representatives in the Copa Libertadores and the Copa Sudamericana.
The third thing it does is work out which teams will be relegated to the second division of the Peruvian game, Liga 2. For this, the individual standings for the Torneo Apertura and the Torneo Clausura do not matter.
For example, Cantolao finished bottom of the Apertura in 2023. They are currently the favourites to be relegated to Liga 2. But if they were to finish fifth in the Clausura, they would not go down despite having been the worst team in the division in one half of the season.
Relegation is instead decided by the cumulative table. In 2023, the teams that finish third-bottom, second-bottom and bottom of it will be relegated to Liga 2. Meanwhile three sides from the second tier will take their places in the top flight for the 2024 campaign. That is how the tabla acumulada Liga 1 descenso works.
Remarkably, Alianza Lima were almost relegated to Liga 2 in 2020. They were ultimately saved by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which handed Carlos Stein a two-point deduction which ultimately saved the club from the capital.
The Liga 1 Positions Table
The liga peruana tabla acumulada has recently become a factor in 2023. The Torneo Apertura ended in the middle of June, with the Torneo Clausura getting under way two weeks later.
At the time of writing, we have only had one round of fixtures in the Clausura, so the cumulative table is likely to undergo plenty of changes between now and the end of the season. You can find the current cumulative table below.
| Place | Club | Games | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Cumulative Points |
| 1 | Alianza Lima | 19 | 15 | 0 | 4 | 39 | 16 | +23 | 45 |
| 2 | Sporting Cristal | 19 | 10 | 8 | 1 | 35 | 18 | +17 | 38 |
| 3 | Universitario | 19 | 11 | 2 | 6 | 30 | 15 | +15 | 35 |
| 4 | Cusco | 19 | 11 | 2 | 6 | 26 | 22 | +4 | 35 |
| 5 | Sport Huancayo | 19 | 9 | 3 | 7 | 32 | 25 | +7 | 30 |
| 6 | Deportivo Garcilaso | 19 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 33 | 27 | +6 | 28 |
| 7 | Melgar | 19 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 28 | 22 | +6 | 28 |
| 8 | UCV | 19 | 7 | 6 | 6 | 25 | 25 | 0 | 27 |
| 9 | Carlos A. Mannucci | 19 | 8 | 3 | 8 | 17 | 19 | -2 | 27 |
| 10 | Cienciano | 19 | 7 | 4 | 8 | 24 | 29 | -5 | 25 |
| 11 | Deportivo Municipal | 19 | 8 | 3 | 8 | 22 | 22 | 0 | 24 |
| 12 | Atletico Grau | 19 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 31 | 23 | +8 | 23 |
| 13 | Alianza Atletico | 19 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 32 | 35 | -3 | 23 |
| 14 | ADT | 19 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 23 | 27 | -4 | 21 |
| 15 | UTC | 19 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 17 | 24 | -7 | 21 |
| 16 | Sport Boys | 19 | 6 | 3 | 10 | 15 | 27 | -12 | 21 |
| 17 | Union Comercio | 19 | 5 | 4 | 10 | 25 | 43 | -18 | 19 |
| 18 | Binacional | 19 | 5 | 3 | 10 | 28 | 34 | -6 | 18 |
| 19 | Cantolao | 19 | 2 | 3 | 14 | 9 | 38 | -29 | 9 |
Teams Leading in the First Positions
Because we are still in the very early stages of the Clausura, the cumulative table looks very similar to the final standings in the Apertura.
The Torneo Apertura in 2023 was won by Alianza Lima, which means they are guaranteed a place in the play-offs regardless of how they perform in the Torneo Clausura.
Alianza Lima occupy first place as things stand. If they finish in the top two of the cumulative table, they will automatically advance to the play-off final. If they finish outside the top two of the cumulative table, they will enter the play-offs at the semi-final stage.
If the season finished today, Alianza Lima and Sporting Cristal would qualify for the Copa Libertadores, while Universitario, Cusco, Sport Huancayo and Deportivo Garcilaso would each earn a spot at the Copa Sudamericana.
At the other end of the cumulative table, Union Comercio, Binacional and Cantolao are on course to be relegated from Liga 1 to Liga 2 – but the three clubs still have plenty of time to save themselves.