Copa Perú

In 1965, with football activity practically paralyzed among the Lima teams because the Peru national football team was playing in the 1966 FIFA World Cup qualification, four provincial teams agreed under the auspices of Orlando Balarezo, president of Atlético Grau, to organize the Cuadrangular de Campeones Provincianos, a football tournament in Lima among the provincial champions.

In 1966, the First Division was named Descentralizado; teams from outside the capital of Lima were allowed to participate in the professional first division. The following year, the Copa Perú began, in which all non-professional teams in Peru were allowed to compete, with the winner to gain promotion to the First Division. After playing many elimination rounds, once six teams were left in the competition, they played in a final round-robin tournament in Lima.^[1]

In 1974, the tournament ended at the Regional Stage and no Final took place. The departamental champions qualified for the 1974 Reclasificatorio Regional with the last teams from the 1973 Torneo Descentralizado that had to revalidate the category. At the end of the 1974 Reclasificatorio Regional, the teams Alfonso Ugarte, Barrio Frigorífico, Carlos A. Mannucci, Deportivo Junín, Piérola, Unión Huaral, Unión Pesquero and Walter Ormeño were promoted to the 1974 Torneo Descentralizado.

In 1984, the First Division grew from 16 to 44 teams: after the first stage of the season, a Regional Championship qualified the teams for the Decentralizado, with 16 to 18 teams. The Copa Perú qualified teams for the Regional competition. Following this the tournament declined; 1987 was the last year in which a final was contested. The competitions was suspended as a result of the lack of interest and general economic crisis going on during President Alan García's first term. In 1992 the First Division returned to its normal format (16 teams). In 1993 the Copa Perú was returned as a competition for the Second Division, but only for teams outside of Lima. Since 1993, there has also been a Second Division for teams competing that are based in Lima.

In 1998, a major change took place: eight teams from the regional stage qualified for the Finals stage. This was played as a traditional cup tournament with home and away legs being played. The winner gains promotion to the First Division. In 2004, the tournament widened to 16 teams, so that teams from Lima could also compete. The winner and runner-up of the Second Division played in the Round of 16 of the Copa Peru. However, in 2006 this format was abolished as now the winner of the Second Division is promoted to the First Division. In 2008, the National Stage was modified. The four teams that qualified for the semi-finals played in a final group stage; the top two were promoted to the First Division.

In 2009, the Peruvian Football Federation officialized the creation of the Ligas Superiores del Peru. The Ligas Superiores will group to a select group of clubs of each department, that will be faced only among itself and will throw a champion and a runner-up that will agree directly, for now, to play a home run against the clubs that remain first and second in the Departmental Stage. For 2009, nine Departmental Confederacies had adopted them: Arequipa, Ayacucho, Cajamarca, Huánuco, Lambayeque, Pasco, Piura, Puno and Tumbes.

On August 23, 2022, it was announced that from 2023, the Copa Perú would only give promotion to Liga 2 due to the reforms of Peruvian football by the FPF.^[2] In 2025, the Copa Perú was moved to the fourth tier, being replaced by the Liga 3.

The tournament has 5 stages. The first stage of the tournament is the District Stage (Spanish: Etapa Distrital), played from February to May. Districts hold a small league tournament to determine its winners which will qualify for the next stage. The second stage is the Provincial Stage (Spanish: Etapa Provincial), played in June and July. The District winners play in groups and the winners qualify for the next stage. The third stage is the Departmental Stage (Spanish: Etapa Departamental), consisting of another league tournament, between July and September.

Starting in 2015 under the leadership of the new Peruvian Football Federation president Edwin Oviedo, all the Regions of Peru are represented in the National Stage, which is played under Regional using the POT System, intellectual property of MatchVision company. The new National Stage starts in the first week of September.

This new phase features the 50 teams that qualified from the Departmental Stage. Each team plays 3 games at home and 3 games away, for a total of 6 games against 3 different geographical rivals. The departmental stage winners only play against departmental runners-up, and vice versa. All the teams are positioned in one general table. After 6 matches, the team in places 1 to 8 are qualified directly to the Round of 16, while the teams in places 9 to 24 will play the Repechage phase. The teams in places 25 to 50 are eliminated.

The teams play a bracket tournament up to the Semi-finals. All four teams qualified to the semi-finals play a final group stage known as La Finalísima in Lima. The winner of the final group stage and the runner-up of the final group stage will be promoted to the Liga 2.

Note: For the coaches who won the Copa Perú, see: RSSSF

More information Ed., Season ...

Ed.	Season	Champion	Runner-up	Winning manager
1	1967	Alfonso Ugarte de Chiclín (1)	Octavio Espinosa	Ángel Fernández Roca
2	1968	Carlos A. Mannucci (1)	Sport Chorrillos	Juan Honores
3	1969	Carlos A. Mannucci (2)	Melgar	Miguel Ortega
4	1970	Atlético Torino (1)	Melgar	César Cubilla
5	1971	Melgar (1)	Unión Tumán	Walter Milera
6	1972	Atlético Grau (1)	León de Huánuco	Guillermo Quineche
7	1973	Sportivo Huracán (1)	Cienciano	Carlos Puertas
–	1974	No champion crowned. It was only played until the Departamental Stage.[A] (See: 1974 Reclasificatorio Regional)
8	1975	Atlético Torino (2)	Sportivo Huracán	Carlos Bustinza
9	1976	Coronel Bolognesi (1)	Pesca Perú	Luis Roth
10	1977	Atlético Torino (3)	Juventud La Palma	Carlos Bustinza
11	1978	Juventud La Palma (1)	Pesca Perú	Mario Gonzales Benites
12	1979	ADT (1)	Comercial Aguas Verdes	José Chacaltana
13	1980	León de Huánuco (1)	Unión González Prada	Julio Gómez
14	1981	UTC (1)	Juventud La Palma	José Salas Jáuregui
15	1982	Atlético Torino (4)	Atlético Grau	Moisés Barack
16	1983	Sport Pilsen (1)	Deportivo Cañaña	Felipe Díaz Cumpen
17	1984	Los Espartanos (1)	Alianza Atlético	Vito Andrés Bártoli
18	1985	Hungaritos Agustinos (1)	Tejidos La Unión	Henry Perales
19	1986	Deportivo Cañaña (1)	Félix Donayre	Eduardo Rodríguez
20	1987	Libertad (1)	Capitán Clavero	Mario Catalá
–	1988–1992	No champions crowned. It was only played until the Regional Stage.[B] (See: 1992 Torneo Zonal)
21	1993	Aurich–Cañaña (1)	Aurora	Horacio Baldessari
22	1994	Atlético Torino (5)	Aurora	Diego Agurto
23	1995	La Loretana (1)	Sportivo Huracán	Henry Perales
24	1996	José Gálvez (1)	UTC	Moisés Barack
25	1997	Juan Aurich (1)	Deportivo UPAO	Luis Sanjinez Castillo
26	1998	I.M.I. (1)	Coronel Bolognesi	Diego Agurto
27	1999	Deportivo UPAO (1)	Alfonso Ugarte	José Ramírez Cubas
28	2000	Estudiantes de Medicina (1)	Coronel Bolognesi	José Ramírez Cubas
29	2001	Sport Bolito (2)	Universidad Cesar Vallejo	Ítalo Herrera Calderón
30	2002	Atlético Universidad (1)	Atlético Grau	Elmer Lozada
31	2003	Universidad Cesar Vallejo (1)	Deportivo Educación	Andrés Esquerre
32	2004	Sport Áncash (1)	Deportivo Municipal	Tito Chumpitaz
33	2005	José Gálvez (2)	Senati	José Ramírez Cubas
34	2006	Total Clean (1)	Hijos de Acosvinchos	Roberto Arrelucea
35	2007	Juan Aurich (2)	Sport Águila	Horacio Baldessari
36	2008	Sport Huancayo (1)	CNI	José Ramírez Cubas
37	2009	León de Huánuco (2)	Tecnólogico	Oswaldo Araujo Miguel Seminario
38	2010	Unión Comercio (1)	Alianza Unicachi	Leonardo Morales
39	2011	Real Garcilaso (1)	Pacífico	Freddy García
40	2012	UTC (2)	Alfonso Ugarte	Rafael Castillo
41	2013	San Simón (1)	Unión Huaral	Luis Flores
42	2014	Sport Loreto (1)	Unión Fuerza Minera	José Ramírez Cubas
43	2015	Defensor La Bocana (1)	Academia Cantolao	Javier Atoche
44	2016	Sport Rosario (1)	Deportivo Hualgayoc	Lizandro Barbarán
45	2017	Binacional (1)	Atlético Grau	Luis Flores
46	2018	Pirata (1)	Alianza Universidad	Juan Carlos Bazalar
47	2019	Carlos Stein (1)	Deportivo Llacuabamba	Juan Carlos Bazalar
–	2020	No completed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
48	2021	ADT (2)	Alfonso Ugarte	Juan Carlos Bazalar
49	2022	Deportivo Garcilaso (1)	Comerciantes	Roberto Tristán
50	2023	ADA (1)	San Marcos	Roberto Arrelucea
51	2024	Bentín Tacna Heroica (1)	Cajamarca	Jesús Álvarez
52	2025	Unión Minas (1)	ANBA Perú	Jesús Álvarez

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• Football in Peru
• Peruvian Football Federation
• Peruvian football league system
  • Liga 1
  • Liga 2
  • Liga 3
  • Etapa Regional (1967–2014)
  • Ligas Departamentales del Perú
  • Ligas Provinciales del Peru
  • Ligas Distritales del Peru