The 2026 Liga de Primera, known as Liga de Primera Mercado Libre 2026 for sponsorship purposes, is the 96th season of the Liga de Primera, Chile's top-flight football league. The season began on 30 January and is scheduled to end on 6 December 2026.
Coquimbo Unido are the defending champions.
Format changes Although the competition kept its usual double round-robin format with teams playing each other twice for a total of 30 matchdays, changes were made to the distribution of international berths due to the introduction of a new competition named Copa de la Liga starting from this season.
The Liga de Primera champions and runners-up will still qualify for the group stage of the 2027 Copa Libertadores, whilst the team placing third in the league will face the 2026 Copa Chile champions in a play-off match for a berth into the Copa Libertadores second stage. The teams placing from fourth to sixth will qualify for the 2027 Copa Sudamericana, with the loser of the play-off match between the third-placed team and the Copa Chile champions being entitled to claim the last Copa Sudamericana berth.
Teams
Sixteen teams take part in the league in this season: the top 14 teams from the 2025 Liga de Primera, plus the 2025 Primera B champions Universidad de Concepción and the winners of the Primera B promotion play-offs Deportes Concepción. Universidad de Concepción returned to the top tier after five years, clinching promotion as well as winning the Primera B tournament with a 3–0 victory over Deportes Copiapó on 1 November 2025, whilst Deportes Concepción confirmed their first promotion to the top flight in 17 years after defeating Cobreloa in the promotion play-off finals on 7 December 2025.
The promoted teams replaced Deportes Iquique, who were relegated after two seasons, and Unión Española, relegated to the second tier after 28 years.
Stadia and locations Team City Stadium CapacityAudax Italiano Santiago (La Florida) Bicentenario de La Florida 11,637Cobresal El Salvador El Cobre 11,240Colo-Colo Santiago (Macul) Monumental David Arellano 43,667Coquimbo Unido Coquimbo Francisco Sánchez Rumoroso 15,809Deportes Concepción Concepción Ester Roa Rebolledo 30,448Deportes La Serena La Serena La Portada 17,134Deportes Limache Quillota Lucio Fariña Fernández 7,680Everton Viña del Mar Sausalito 21,754Huachipato Talcahuano Huachipato-CAP Acero 10,032Ñublense Chillán Nelson Oyarzún Arenas 11,319O'Higgins Rancagua El Teniente 12,476Palestino Santiago (La Cisterna) Municipal de La Cisterna 8,000Unión La Calera La Calera Nicolás Chahuán Nazar 8,353Universidad Católica Santiago (Las Condes) Claro Arena 20,249Universidad de Chile Santiago (Ñuñoa) Nacional Julio Martínez Prádanos 46,190Universidad de Concepción Concepción Ester Roa Rebolledo 30,448 Notes
Personnel and kits Team Manager Kit manufacturer Main shirt sponsors Audax Italiano Patricio Graff Macron Apuestas Royal, Traverso Cobresal Gustavo Huerta KS7 Apuestas Royal, Pullman Bus Colo-Colo Fernando Ortiz Adidas JugaBet Coquimbo Unido Hernán Caputto Capelli Sport Pin-Up Casino Deportes Concepción Fernando Díaz Kelme Apuestas Royal Deportes La Serena Felipe Gutiérrez Fiume Apuestas Royal Deportes Limache Víctor Rivero Claus-7 Apuestas Royal Everton Walter Ribonetto Skechers Terrawind Huachipato Jaime García Marathon Apuestas Royal Ñublense Juan José Ribera Macron Apuestas Royal O'Higgins Lucas Bovaglio Joma BC.GAME Palestino Guillermo Farré Capelli Sport Bank of Palestine Unión La Calera John Armijo Givova Apuestas Royal Universidad Católica Daniel Garnero Puma BICE Universidad de Chile Fernando Gago Adidas JugaBet Universidad de Concepción Cristián Muñoz Gladiatore (January – April)Macron (May – December) Apuestas Royal
Managerial changes TeamOutgoing managerManner of departureDate of vacancyPosition in tableIncoming managerDate of appointmentUniversidad de Concepción Cristián MuñozResigned1 December 2025Pre-season Juan Cruz Real16 December 2025Coquimbo Unido Esteban González6 December 2025 Hernán Caputto13 December 2025Palestino Lucas BovaglioEnd of contract7 December 2025 Cristián Muñoz19 December 2025Ñublense Ronald Fuentes8 December 2025 Juan José Ribera18 December 2025Deportes La Serena Mario SciacquaSacked11 December 2025 Felipe Gutiérrez26 December 2025O'Higgins Francisco MeneghiniEnd of contract22 December 2025 Lucas Bovaglio27 December 2025Universidad de Chile Gustavo ÁlvarezMutual agreement23 December 2025 Francisco Meneghini29 December 2025Everton Javier TorrenteSacked25 February 202616th Davis González25 February 2026 Davis GonzálezEnd of caretaker spell8 March 202615th Walter Ribonetto10 March 2026Universidad de Chile Francisco MeneghiniSacked10 March 202612th Jhon Valladares11 March 2026Universidad de Concepción Juan Cruz RealResigned10 March 202611th Facundo Gareca11 March 2026Deportes Concepción Patricio Almendra13 March 202616th Walter Lemma17 March 2026Universidad de Chile Jhon ValladaresEnd of caretaker spell20 March 20268th Fernando Gago20 March 2026Universidad de Concepción Facundo Gareca30 March 20265th Leonardo Ramos27 March 2026Palestino Cristián MuñozSacked24 April 20269th Guillermo Farré26 April 2026Universidad de Concepción Leonardo RamosResigned12 May 202612th Ricardo Viveros12 May 2026Deportes Concepción Walter LemmaMutual agreement18 May 202616th Fernando Díaz21 May 2026Audax Italiano Gustavo LemaResigned20 June 202613th Patricio Graff1 July 2026Universidad de Concepción Ricardo ViverosReturn to the youth setup4 August 202614th Cristián Muñoz4 August 2026Unión La Calera Martín CicotelloMutual agreement8 September 202616th Carlos Galdames8 September 2026 Carlos GaldamesEnd of caretaker spell15 September 2026 John Armijo15 September 2026 Notes
Standings
Results
Copa Libertadores play-off The team placing third in the Liga de Primera at the end of the season will play the 2026 Copa Chile champions in a single match, with the winner qualifying for the 2027 Copa Libertadores second stage as Chile 4. The losing side will enter the 2027 Copa Sudamericana first stage as Chile 4.
Season statistics Top scorers
{| class="wikitable" border="1" |- ! Rank ! Player ! Club ! Goals |- | align=center | 1 | Fernando Zampedri |Universidad Católica | align=center | 25 |- | align=center | 2 | Daniel Castro |Deportes Limache | align=center | 13 |- | align=center | 3 | Javier Correa |Colo-Colo | align=center | 12 |- | align=center | 4 | Alan Medina |Everton | align=center | 11 |- | align=center | 5 | Lionel Altamirano |Huachipato | align=center | 10 |- | rowspan=3 align=center | 6 | Nelson Da Silva |Palestino | rowspan=3 align=center | 9 |- | Sebastián Sáez |Unión La Calera |- | Eduardo Vargas |Universidad de Chile |- | rowspan=3 align=center | 9 | Maximiliano Romero |Colo-Colo | rowspan=3 align=center | 8 |- | Arnaldo Castillo |O'Higgins |- | Justo Giani |Universidad Católica
Source: BeSoccer
Hat-tricks Player For Against Result Date Fernando ZampedriUniversidad CatólicaUniversidad de Concepción5–1 (H)14 June 2026
Attendance Average home attendances
RankTeam1 Colo-Colo 10 38,938 21,386 2 Universidad de Chile 10 46,000 13,921 3 Universidad Católica 10 18,516 13,872 4 Deportes Concepción 11 14,709 4,232 5 Coquimbo Unido 9 9,690 5,304 6 O'Higgins 10 7,438 4,263 7 Ñublense 10 8,881 3,237 8 Everton 9 9,640 2,493 9 Deportes La Serena 10 8,995 2,185 10 Universidad de Concepción 9 16,217 525 11 Audax Italiano 11 4,632 1,045 12 Unión La Calera 10 5,600 1,440 13 Huachipato 9 4,628 769 14 Deportes Limache 8 4,456 1,897 15 Palestino 10 2,563 833 16 Cobresal 9 2,774 221 Total 155 1,265,899 46,000 221
Source: Worldfootball
See also 2026 Copa de la Liga 2026 Liga de Ascenso 2026 Copa Chile 2026 Supercopa de Chile
References
External links Liga de Primera on Campeonato Chileno's website