Cuba

The football season in Cuba seems to run from August/September to late December or January. In recent years the championship has been split into two stages with a regional group phase followed by a national league. In the first stage the teams are typically placed in three groups of five and play the other teams in their group twice each on a home and away basis. The top three from each group plus the best fourth placed team qualify for the final league of ten where the teams again play each both home and away. The team finishing top is crowned champions.

The teams that contested the 2006 championship are listed below in their regional groupings:

Ciudad de La Habana
La Habana
Matanzas
Isla de La Juventud
Pinar del Río

Camagüey
Ciego de Ávila
Cienfuegos
Sancti Spíritus
Villa Clara

Granma
Guantánamo
Holguín
Las Tunas
Santiago de Cuba

The Cuban FA (Asociación de Fútbol de Cuba) was formed in 1924 and joined FIFA in 1932. The Cuban national team competed in the World Cup for the first and only time in France in 1938 where they beat Romania after a replay to reach the quarter finals but were then outclassed by Sweden.

Links

Granma Internacional – Official newspaper of the Cuban Communist Party. Includes a sport section.
Cubavision – Television station
Cuba News – Cuban News Site with sports section