The 2017–18 Liga FPD season, also known as Campeonato Banco Popular for sponsorship reasons, is the 97th since its establishment. The tournament is the first since the 2006–07 season to use the Apertura and Clausura names to their short tournaments, marking a departure from the Invierno and Verano tournaments. The Voit Lummo is the official match ball of the tournament. Herediano entered as the defending champions, but lost the title in the Apertura finals to Pérez Zeledón.
Teams
A total of 12 teams will contestthe league, including 10 sides from the 2016–17 season, one team promoted from the Liga de Ascenso and a newly formed team. Grecia were promoted for the first time to the Liga FPD after defeating Jicaral in the Liga de Ascenso final, thus replacing San Carlos in the Liga FPD. Guadalupe is a newly established team that takes over the previous franchise of Belén. UNAFUT authorized the name change just two days before the beginning of the season. On 2 June 2017 Henning Jensen, rector of the University of Costa Rica, announced the cease of the agreement between the university and its homonymous club, citing that the transfer of the administrative management of the team to the Colombian company Con Talla Mundial was neither requested nor advised to the university. Jensen also stated that the club did not comply with the correction in the financial part of the club. On 19 June 2017, Con Talla Mundial announced that the club will now be under the name "Universitarios FC". The administration of the team had revealed the team badge and their intentions to use the Estadio Nacional as their home stadium. However, the Asociación Filial Club de Fútbol UCR, which holds the rights of the team within the league, sued the University because of their cease of the agreement. The club then retains its original name and is due to return to the Estadio Ecológico.
Stadia and locations
Torneo Apertura
The Apertura tournament will be played on the second half of 2017, starting on 29 July and, given the possibility of a final, ending on 23 December. The tournament is dedicated to former referee Luis Paulino Siles who, in 1982, became the first Costa Rican to officiate a match at a FIFA World Cup. The tournament began with two scoreless draws in the UCR vs Cartaginés and Herediano vs Guadalupe matches. Saprissa's Luis Stewart Pérez scored the first goal of the tournament, during his team's match against Carmelita.
Regular season
Defending champions Herediano topped the season undefeated with 54 points. By achieving this, Herediano broke two records in the league. They became the first team with the longest undefeated streak. The team also broke the record for more points achieved in a regular season, surpassing Alajuelense in the 2014 Invierno season. On 3 September 2017, the match between Saprissa and Grecia was suspended at the 81st minute due to a false bomb threat. The remaining nine minutes were played the next morning.
Standings
Quadrangular – Apertura
Standings
Apertura finals
Since regular season leaders Herediano were unable to top the quadrangular stage, a double-legged final will be played against the quadrangular winner Pérez Zeledón in order to determine the champions of the Apertura tournament. By getting more points in the aggregate table, Herediano will host the second leg. ----
Since regular season leaders Herediano were unable to top the quadrangular stage, a double-legged final will be played against the quadrangular winner Saprissa in order to determine the champions of the Clausura tournament. ----
