Big Three (Peru)

Big Three
	Alianza Lima Sporting Cristal Universitario
Location	Lima
Teams	Alianza Lima; Sporting Cristal; Universitario
Stadiums	Alejandro Villanueva (Alianza Lima); Monumental (Universitario)

Alianza Lima, Alejandro Villanueva

Sporting Cristal, Alberto Gallardo

Universitario, Estadio Monumental

The Big Three (Spanish: Los Tres Grandes) is the nickname of the three most successful sports clubs in Peru. The football teams of Alianza Lima, Sporting Cristal, and Universitario have a great rivalry and are usually the main contenders for the title. Combined they share a total of 71 out of 107 Peruvian Football Championships ever played and generally end up sharing the top three positions.

Location of the three clubs in Lima. Universitario is located further east.

Several other clubs outside the big three have won the Peruvian league, with Sport Boys having the fourth most national titles behind the Big Three in Peru with 6 in total. Today, the chief competitors of the three are Melgar, Cienciano and Deportivo Municipal.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Titles by club[edit]

Club	Total	Liga de Lima (1912–21)	Amateur era Lima & Callao (1926–50)	Professional era (1951–)
Club	Total	Liga de Lima (1912–21)	Amateur era Lima & Callao (1926–50)	Lima & Callao (1951–65)	Descentralizado (1966–2018)	Liga 1 (2019–)
Universitario^[C]	27	—	7	3	16	1
Alianza Lima^[D]	25	2	6	6	9	2
Sporting Cristal^[E]	20	—	—	2	17	1

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Winning years	Runners-up years
Universitario	27	15	1929, 1934, 1939, 1941, 1945, 1946, 1949, 1959, 1960, 1964, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1974, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2009, 2013, 2023	1928, 1932, 1933, 1940, 1955, 1965, 1970, 1972, 1978, 1984, 1988, 1995, 2002, 2008, 2020
Alianza Lima	25	23	1918, 1919, 1927, 1928, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1948, 1952, 1954, 1955, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1997, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2017, 2021, 2022	1926, 1930, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1943, 1953, 1956, 1961, 1964, 1971, 1982, 1986, 1987, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1999, 2009, 2011, 2018, 2019, 2023
Sporting Cristal	20	14	1956, 1961, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1988, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2002, 2005, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020	1962, 1963, 1967, 1973, 1977, 1989, 1992, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2004, 2015, 2021

Title definitions[edit]

List of finals[edit]

Year	Winner	Score	Runner-up	Venue
1987	Universitario	1–0	Alianza Lima	Estadio Nacional
1988	Sporting Cristal	2–1	Universitario	Estadio Nacional
Year	Winner	Agg.	Runner-up	1st leg	2nd leg	3rd leg
1998	Universitario	3–3 (penalty shootout 4–2)	Sporting Cristal	1–2	2–1	–
1999	Universitario	3–1	Alianza Lima	3–0	0–1	–
2003	Alianza Lima	2–1^†	Sporting Cristal	Single match
2004	Alianza Lima	0–0 (penalty shootout 5–4)	Sporting Cristal	Single match
2009	Universitario	2–0	Alianza Lima	1–0	1–0	–
2018	Sporting Cristal	7–1	Alianza Lima	4–1	3–0	–
2020	Sporting Cristal	3–2	Universitario	2–1	1–1	–
2021	Alianza Lima	1–0	Sporting Cristal	1–0	0–0	–
2023	Universitario	3–1	Alianza Lima	1–1	2–0	–

Other definitions[edit]

These matches were played when teams were tied for first in the general league or in a specific tournament.

Year	Winner	Score	Runner-up	Venue	In contention
1928	Alianza Lima	1–1	Federación Universitaria	Stadium Nacional	1928 Campeonato de Selección y Competencia
Replay	Alianza Lima	2–0	Federación Universitaria	Stadium Nacional	1928 Campeonato de Selección y Competencia
1935	Universitario	2–1	Alianza Lima	Stadium Nacional	1934 Torneo de Primeros Equipos
1955	Alianza Lima	2–1	Universitario	Estadio Nacional	1955 Campeonato Profesional de Lima
1961	Sporting Cristal	2–0	Alianza Lima	Estadio Nacional	1961 Campeonato Profesional de Lima
1990	Universitario	1–0	Alianza Lima	Estadio Nacional	1990 Torneo Regional II
1991	Sporting Cristal	1–1 (penalty shootout 7–6)	Universitario	Estadio Nacional	1991 Torneo Regional II
1998	Sporting Cristal	1–0	Alianza Lima	Estadio Nacional	1998 Torneo Clausura
2001	Alianza Lima	2–1	Sporting Cristal	Estadio Nacional	2001 Torneo Apertura
2002	Universitario	1–0 0–0	Alianza Lima	Estadio Monumental Estadio Mansiche	2002 Torneo Apertura
2014	Sporting Cristal	1–0	Alianza Lima	Estadio UNSA	2014 Torneo Clausura

Half-year / Short tournaments[edit]

Apertura / Fase 1 seasons[edit]

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Winning years	Runners-up years
Universitario	7	2	1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2008, 2016, 2020	1969, 2005
Alianza Lima	6	4	1997, 2001, 2004, 2006, 2017, 2023	1999, 2002, 2003, 2018
Sporting Cristal	4	7	2003, 2015, 2018, 2021	1997, 2001, 2006, 2008, 2016, 2019, 2023

Clausura / Fase 2 seasons[edit]

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Winning years	Runners-up years
Alianza Lima	7	4	1997, 1999, 2003, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022	1998, 2002, 2014, 2018
Sporting Cristal	6	4	1998, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2014, 2016	2000, 2008, 2020, 2021
Universitario	2	6	2000, 2023	1997, 1999, 2006, 2007, 2016, 2019

Regional seasons (1984–1991)[edit]

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Winning years	Runners-up years
Universitario	4	3	1985, 1987, 1988, 1990–II	1989–II, 1990–I, 1991–I
Sporting Cristal	3	0	1989–I, 1991–I, 1991–II	—
Alianza Lima	0	2	—	1986, 1990–II

Descentralizado seasons (1984–1988)[edit]

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Winning years	Runners-up years
Alianza Lima	2	0	1986, 1987	—
Universitario	1	1	1985	1988
Sporting Cristal	1	0	1988	—

Parallel tournaments[edit]

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Winning years	Runners-up years
Sporting Cristal	4	1	1992 Liguilla Pre-Libertadores, 1994 Apertura, 1997 Liguilla Pre-Libertadores, 2018 Torneo de Verano	1993 Liguilla Pre-Libertadores
Alianza Lima	3	0	1993 Liguilla Pre-Libertadores, 1994 Liguilla Pre-Libertadores, 1996 Liguilla Pre-Libertadores	—
Universitario	0	4	—	1969 Apertura, 1981 Regional, 1996 Liguilla Pre-Libertadores, 1997 Liguilla Pre-Libertadores

Total Half-year / Short tournaments by club[edit]

Club	Total	Half-year tournaments
Club	Total	Torneo Apertura (1997–)	Torneo Clausura (1997–)	Fase 1 (2020–2021)	Fase 2 (2020–2021)	Torneo Regional (1984–1991)	Torneo Descentralziado (1984–1988)	Torneo de Verano (2017–2018)
Sporting Cristal	15	3	6	1	0	3	1	1
Alianza Lima	15	6	6	0	1	0	2	0
Universitario	14	6	2	1	0	4	1	0

National Cups and Supercups[edit]

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Winning years	Runners-up years
Alianza Lima	2	1	1919 Copa de Campeones del Perú, 2014 Torneo del Inca	2015 Torneo del Inca
Universitario	1	1	1970 Copa Presidente de la República	1989 Torneo Plácido Galindo
Sporting Cristal	1	0	2021 Copa Bicentenario	—

Total International Participations by club[edit]

As of 6 October 2023

Club	Total	International Participations
Club	Total	Copa Libertadores (1961–)	Copa Sudamericana (2003–)	Recopa Sudamericana (1970–)	Copa CONMEBOL (1992–1999)	Copa Merconorte (1998–2001)	Copa de Campeones (1948)	Copa Ganadores de Copa (1970–1971)
Sporting Cristal	48	39	4	0	1	4	—	—
Universitario	48	34	8	0	2	4	—	—
Alianza Lima	39	30	4	0	1	4	—	—

Performances by club[edit]

Performance in international cups by club
Team	Winners	Runners-up	Years won	Years lost
Universitario	0	1	—	1972
Sporting Cristal	0	1	—	1997

References[edit]

^ "Universitario, Alianza Lima y Cristal: ¿qué equipo llevó más público en su presentación?". Depor.com. 27 July 2014. Archived from the original on 24 June 2016. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
^ "Alianza, Universitario o Cristal: ¿Qué equipo llevó más hinchas a su presentación?". La10.pe. 4 February 2016. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
^ "Alianza Lima, Universitario y Cristal: los mejores grafitis de los clubes capitalinos (FOTOS)". RPP.pe. 26 January 2016. Retrieved 20 May 2016.

[1] "Universitario, Alianza Lima y Cristal: ¿qué equipo llevó más público en su presentación?". Depor.com. 27 July 2014. Archived from the original on 24 June 2016. Retrieved 3 February 2016.

[2] "Alianza, Universitario o Cristal: ¿Qué equipo llevó más hinchas a su presentación?". La10.pe. 4 February 2016. Retrieved 20 May 2016.

[3] "Alianza Lima, Universitario y Cristal: los mejores grafitis de los clubes capitalinos (FOTOS)". RPP.pe. 26 January 2016. Retrieved 20 May 2016.

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