for club competitions resulted in the creation of the Copa Colombia in 1950. That knockout competition was played sporadically over the next 58 years and only became an annual tournament in 2008. Although the stars returned to their nations when Colombia rejoined the international fold in 1954, the era was never forgotten. In 1968 the league followed the pattern emerging in South America by replacing its year-long tournament with two shorter ones. From this point forward, Colombian clubs would compete in two tournaments a year; the Apertura from February to June and the Finalización from July to December, which became independent championships in 2002. Another league restructuring came in 1991, with the addition of second and third divisions. The third division had its 2002 edition cancelled for economic reasons, and stopped awarding promotion to the professional tiers in 2003 until it was finally dropped in 2010. Format The current format of Colombian football was adopted for the 2019 season. The top flight features 20 teams, all of which play through the Apertura and Finalización tournaments each year. Both tournaments are conducted according to an identical three-stage format. The first stage is conducted on a single round-robin basis, with each team playing the other teams once for a total of 19 matches. The top eight teams then advance to a knockout round consisting of two groups, each team playing six times in a round-robin format. The two leaders of each group advance to the final, which is played in a home and away leg fashion. Relegation to Categoría Primera B is determined by averaging the point totals achieved by teams over the previous three seasons. Each year, the bottom two teams drop out and are replaced by the top two from Primera B. Current teams Seasons by club This is the complete list of the clubs that have taken part in at least one Categoría Primera A season, founded in 1948, until the 2022 season. Teams that currently play are indicated in bold. 75 seasons: Atlético Nacional (Atlético Municipal) 75 seasons: Millonarios 75 seasons: Santa Fe 72 seasons: Deportivo Cali 71 seasons: Independiente Medellín 69 seasons: América de Cali 69 seasons: Once Caldas (Deportes Caldas, Deportivo Manizales, Atlético Manizales) 67 seasons: Deportes Tolima 63 seasons: Atlético Bucaramanga 62 seasons: Deportes Quindío (Atlético Quindío) 62 seasons: Junior 61 seasons: Deportivo Pereira 57 seasons: Cúcuta Deportivo 51 seasons: Unión Magdalena (Samarios) 30 seasons: