In 1951, the Primera División turned professional and in 1966, the Torneo Descentralizado was founded in which the first non-capital teams were invited to play the first national championship.
The professional era saw Sporting Cristal rise to challenge the dominance of Universitario and Alianza Lima.
Melgar, Juan Aurich and Binacional are the only teams outside the Lima Region to have won national titles.
In the course of this era, Alianza Lima, Atlético Chalaco, Municipal, Sport Boys, and Universitario de Deportes shared the most titles.
In 1926, the Peruvian Football Federation organized its first championship and included teams from the Callao league.
In addition, Melgar and Unión Huaral are the only clubs outside the metropolitan area of Lima to have won a national championship.
They are followed by archrivals Alianza Lima who competed in the first edition of the Primera División but were relegated in 1938 and returning a year later for an uninterrupted spell since 1940.
[10] The oldest clubs currently participating in the Primera División are Alianza Lima and Cienciano which were founded at the beginning of the turn of the century in 1901.
The newest clubs active in the Primera División include Ayacucho, Sport Huancayo, Cusco and Universidad de San Martín.
Eventually, finals were organized to be played at the end of the season after set conditions were fulfilled or tournament winners.
Starting in 1989, the Descentralizado was temporarily replaced by two regional tournaments, each crowning a champion and contesting a national season final.
Throughout the history of Peruvian football, tournaments have been divided into a few stages or have employed filler tournaments played alongside the Descentralizado due to the Peru national football team's compromises, be it FIFA World Cup qualification, FIFA World Cup participation, or Copa América.