Puerto Rico Soccer League

Puerto Rico Soccer League

Country	Puerto Rico
Confederation	CONCACAF
Founded	2008 (2008)
Number of teams	11
Level on pyramid	1
Relegation to	None
Domestic cup(s)	PRSL Regular Season Cup PRSL PlayOff Cup Luis Villarejo Cup
International cup(s)	CFU Club Championship CONCACAF Champions League
Current champions	SPDP Spartans (1st title)
Most championships	Sevilla FC Puerto Rico Bayamón FC FC Leones de Ponce SPDP Spartans (1 titles each)
TV partners	DirecTV
Website	prsoccerleague.com
2016 PRSL season

The Puerto Rico Soccer League or PRSL is an association football league in Puerto Rico founded in 2008. It was the first unified football league in the island's history, and had a total of six teams for the 2011 season. 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.

History

The league was founded in 2008 starting with 8 teams. The first president of the league was Mike Roca. Over the past few years football has grown throughout the island and is among the top sports in Puerto Rico, behind Baseball, Basketball, Boxing, and Volleyball. In 2009, FIFA donated $150,000 to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico through the "Win with CONCACAF" program. The donations would most likely go to building more capable stadiums, and other such necessities.^[1] The winner of the League got a bid to play in the CFU Club Championship, which serves as the qualifying tournament for the CONCACAF Champions League.

The league notified FIFA and the Puerto Rican Football Federation of a temporary recess for reorganization and was replaced by the Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Puerto Rico, as the highest active league in the country for 2013. In June 4, 2013, the PRSL notified the completion of its reorganization with teams representing the major cities of Puerto Rico and with the involvement of major personalities of the island's sports. It has announced a "Super Copa" event for the end of 2013, and the commencement of a league tournament on April 2014.

Creation and preparation

The league was created on May 14, 2008, and held its first tournament in 2008, from June until October. There were a total of 56 games played. The league will develop a Second Division, which will feature 18 teams, and will start relegation and promotion for the 2011-2012 season. The federation's president also said they will create a Third Division for amateurs and a Fourth Division for U-17 teams.

The League was supposed to start in 2009 an "Apertura" and "Clausura" system like the one used in Argentina and Mexico. The Apertura would play from September to December, while the Clausura from January to April.^[2] However, the league has yet to implement such system, instead pushing it back for a future season.

Some of the member clubs are affiliated to larger clubs in more established football leagues around the globe. Some teams in the league received promotions from several international clubs, including Club Atlético River Plate, Club de Fútbol Pachuca, Fluminense Football Club, and Sevilla Fútbol Club.^[3] The only team which name did not reflect the promotion was the CF Tornados de Humacao, affiliated to Club de Fútbol Pachuca.

Competition

The inaugural 2008 season featured eight teams, and both the regular season and the playoffs were won by the Sevilla Fútbol Club Puerto Rico. During the regular season, Sevilla FC Puerto Rico accumulated a total 32 points, while the second placed Club Atlético River Plate Puerto Rico accumulated only 28 points. The Playoff Championship game was also won by Sevilla FC Puerto Rico, beating CA River Plate Puerto Rico with a score of 2-1. By winning the championship, Sevilla FC Puerto Rico also qualified to the 2009 CFU Club Championship, joining the seeded Puerto Rico Islanders Football Club.

For the 2009 season, the expansion team was Bayamón Football Club. The Sevilla FC Bayamón moved from Bayamón to Juncos, thus replacing Juncos to their name, which is now Sevilla FC Juncos or Sevilla FC Puerto Rico. The Gigantes de Carolina FC became affiliated to the Club Atlético Boca Juniors and started to be called Boca Juniors Carolina FC. The first game of the season was played on May 21, 2009 in Juncos, Puerto Rico, between Bayamón FC and defending champions Sevilla FC Puerto Rico. Sevilla FC Puerto Rico took the first match in the new rivalry by winning 1-0. CA River Plate Puerto Rico won the regular season and secured the top seed for the playoffs. This season saw the introduction of a home leg and an away leg in the playoffs, with the winner of the aggregate advancing to the final, which also consisted of a two legs format. The champions of the playoffs was Bayamón FC, winning the aggregate with a score of 3-2 over Atlético de San Juan Football Club. Both, the regular season champion, CA River Plate Puerto Rico, and the playoffs champion, Bayamón FC, qualified for the 2010 CFU Club Championship, joining the seeded Puerto Rico Islanders FC.

There were plans to celebrate the 2010-2011 season with the Apertura and Clausura schedule system. However, due to economic problems and other factors, the league recessed on 2010, only scheduling a small tournament called "Supercopa DirecTV 2010" which served as the qualifier for the CFU Club Championship. Eight teams participated in the tournament, including three expansion teams (Mayagüez Football Club, Fajardo Football Club and Puerto Rico United Sporting Club) and incorporating the Puerto Rico Islanders FC to the PRSL for the first time. The two finalists of the tournament, CA River Plate Puerto Rico and Puerto Rico Islanders FC, qualified for the 2011 CFU Club Championship.

The 2011 season ran from April to July with only six teams, three of which (Sevilla FC Puerto Rico, CA River Plate Puerto Rico and Puerto Rico United SC) participated briefly in the USL Pro Division. This season saw the move of the CA River Plate Puerto Rico, from Ponce to Fajardo, thus losing the unofficial CA River Plate Ponce designation for the equivalent CA River Plate Fajardo . However, waiting for its stadium to be built in Fajardo, the team played in Carolina. The regular season was won by the Sevilla FC Puerto Rico, which became the first team to win two regular season cups. Yet, it was defeated in the Playoff Championship game by the season's expansion team Football Club Leones de Ponce. Both teams qualified to the 2012 CFU Club Championship.

Current Teams

2016 PRSL Season

Criollos de Caguas FC

Academia Quintana FC

Gigantes de Carolina FC

CF Tornados de Humacao

Guaynabo Fluminense FC

Mayagüez FC

Locations of the 2011 Puerto Rico Soccer League teams

Former teams

_{¹ Its first three seasons (2008–2010), the Club Atlético River Plate Puerto Rico played at the Francisco "Paquito" Montaner Stadium in Ponce. In 2011, the team moved to Fajardo, but played in Carolina while its stadium in Fajardo was being built.
² During its first season (2008), the Sevilla Fútbol Club Puerto Rico played at the Estadio Juan Ramón Loubriel in Bayamón. In 2009, the team moved to Juncos and played at the Alfredo "Papo" Alejandro Stadium. The team played at the Josué Elevadito González Stadium, while the Sevilla FC Stadium was being built.}

Champions by year

_{¹The league recessed on 2012. This shows the winner and runner-up of the tournament called "Supercopa DirecTV 2010" which served as the qualifier for the 2011 CFU Club Championship.}

Players

All-time top scorers in the Puerto Rico Soccer League
(PRSL goals only)

Rank	Player	Goals
1	Julio César Maya Cruz	22
2	Lester More	11
As of August 25, 2009 (Bold denotes players still playing in the League).[4]

Players came from different countries, the main one being of course Puerto Rico and the USA. One of the star players is Andrés Cabrero from Puerto Rico, who played with the CA River Plate Puerto Rico.^[5]

Other countries that saw a lot of players in the league were Argentina, Mexico, and Brazil, this being because these countries have teams in their respective leagues that sponsored the PRSL Teams. The next country would be Cuba. There were also Middle-Eastern and South American countries with players in the league.

The league's all-time top goalscorer is Julio César Maya Cruz.

Second Division

Relegation and promotion between the First and Second Divisions was expected to start in 2011. The Second Division was called Liga Nacional de Futbol de Puerto Rico. In 2009 the Second Division changed from the 2008 season and officially became a league with 16 teams. The league was split into 2 groups of 8 teams. In 2010, the league expanded to 21 teams.

Media coverage

Through the inaugural year there was no coverage whatsoever, however after a successful first year the league found themselves being covered on local TV stations WAPA-TV and also on OneLink. The league was also covered by local newspapers such as El Nuevo Dia.

Presidents

• Mike Roca (2008-2010)
• Joe Serralta (2011-2013)
• Esteban Rodriguez Estrella (2013-2014)
• Jose Serralta (2015-)

References

External links

• Official Site
• Federación Puertorriqueña de Fútbol
• Futbol de Puerto Rico
• Puerto Rico - List of Champions, RSSSF.com

Football in Puerto Rico
Overview	Puerto Rican Football Federation Venues Clubs Champions
National teams	Men National team U-20 Women National team
League system	Men Liga Nacional NASL (Puerto Rico FC) Puerto Rico Soccer League (defunct) Liga Mayor (defunct) Campeonato Nacional (defunct) Women WPSL
Domestic cups	Men Cup of Puerto Rico
Men's clubs Men's players Expatriate players