2019_Categoría_Primera_A_season

2019 Categoría Primera A season

2019 Categoría Primera A season

72nd season of Colombia's top-flight football league


The 2019 Categoría Primera A season (officially known as the 2019 Liga Águila season for sponsorship reasons) was the 72nd season of Colombia's top-flight football league. The season began on 25 January and concluded on 7 December. Junior entered the season as defending champions having won the 2018 Finalización tournament and successfully defended the title in the Torneo Apertura, beating Deportivo Pasto 5–4 on penalties after a 1–1 draw on aggregate to claim their ninth domestic league title on 12 June.[1] Junior's winning streak was stopped in the Torneo Finalización by América de Cali, who won their fourteenth Primera A title and first since 2008 on 7 December by defeating the defending champions 2–0 on aggregate in the finals.[2]

Quick Facts Season, Dates ...

Format

For this season, the league was played as follows:

  • Two tournaments per year, with three stages each. The first stage was contested on a single round-robin basis, with each team playing the other teams once plus an additional match against a regional rival for a total of 20 games. The regional derby matchday in the first stage of both tournaments, which was not played in the previous season, returned for this season.
  • The knockout round was replaced by a semifinal stage to be played by the top eight teams after the end of the first stage, which were split into two groups of four with each team playing the others in their group twice. The top two teams from the first stage were seeded in each group, whilst the remaining six teams were drawn into each group.
  • The finals were contested by the winners of each semifinal group, playing a double-legged series for the championship.
  • The distribution of international qualification berths as well as the relegation system were the same as last season.[3]

Teams

20 teams competed, eighteen of them returning from last season plus Cúcuta Deportivo and Unión Magdalena, who were promoted from the 2018 Primera B. Both promoted teams replaced Boyacá Chicó and Leones who were relegated at the end of the previous season.

Stadia and locations

a: Deportes Tolima played their Torneo Apertura home match against Rionegro Águilas at Estadio Metropolitano de Techo in Bogotá due to maintenance works at their regular stadium Estadio Manuel Murillo Toro.
b: Deportivo Pasto will temporarily play their home matches at Estadio Municipal de Ipiales in Ipiales due to remodeling works at Estadio Departamental Libertad.

Managerial changes

More information Team, Outgoing manager ...
  1. Originally as caretaker manager, appointed on a permanent basis on 23 February 2019.[16]
  2. In charge since June 2019.

Torneo Apertura

First stage

The First stage began on 25 January and consisted of twenty rounds with teams playing each other once plus an extra match against their regional rival. It ended on 5 May with the top eight teams at the end of this stage advancing to the semifinals.

Standings

More information Pos, Team ...
Source: Dimayor, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points, 2) Goal difference, 3) Goals for, 4) Away goals for, 5) Away goals against, 6) Drawing of lots.

Results

More information Home \ Away, APE ...
Source: Dimayor, Soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Semifinals

The eight teams that advanced to the semifinals were drawn into two groups of four teams. The winners of each group advanced to the finals.

Group A

More information Pos, Team ...
Source: Dimayor
Rules for classification: 1) Points, 2) Goal difference, 3) Goals for, 4) Away goals for, 5) Away goals against, 6) Drawing of lots.

Group B

More information Pos, Team ...
Source: Dimayor
Rules for classification: 1) Points, 2) Goal difference, 3) Goals for, 4) Away goals for, 5) Away goals against, 6) Drawing of lots.

Finals

More information Junior, 1–0 ...
Attendance: 40,000
Referee: Alexander Ospina

More information Deportivo Pasto, 1–0 ...
Attendance: 25,722
Referee: Carlos Betancur

Tied 1–1 on aggregate, Junior won on penalties.

More information Liga Águila ...

Top goalscorers

Source: Soccerway

Torneo Finalización

First stage

The First stage began on 13 July and will feature the same format used in the Torneo Apertura, with reversed fixtures. It ended on 29 October with the top eight teams at the end of this stage advancing to the semifinals.

Standings

More information Pos, Team ...
Source: Dimayor, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points, 2) Goal difference, 3) Goals for, 4) Away goals for, 5) Away goals against, 6) Drawing of lots.

Results

More information Home \ Away, APE ...
Source: Dimayor, Soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
  1. The match, which originally ended 0–2, was awarded 3–0 to Rionegro Águilas due to Deportes Tolima presenting Rafael Carrascal as one of their bench players despite playing for América de Cali.

Semifinals

The eight teams that advanced to the semifinals were drawn into two groups of four teams. The winners of each group advanced to the finals.

Group A

More information Pos, Team ...
Source: Dimayor, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points, 2) Goal difference, 3) Goals for, 4) Away goals for, 5) Goals against, 6) Drawing of lots.

Group B

More information Pos, Team ...
Source: Dimayor, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points, 2) Goal difference, 3) Goals for, 4) Away goals for, 5) Goals against, 6) Drawing of lots.

Finals

This final series featured the use of VAR for the first time in Colombian domestic football.[59]

More information Junior, 0–0 ...

More information América de Cali, 2–0 ...

América de Cali won 2–0 on aggregate.

More information Liga Águila ...

Top goalscorers

Source: Soccerway

Aggregate table

More information Pos, Team ...
Source: Dimayor
Rules for classification: 1) Points, 2) Goal difference, 3) Goals for, 4) Away goals for, 5) Away goals against, 6) Drawing of lots.
(C) Champions
Notes:

Relegation

A separate table is kept to determine the teams that get relegated to the Categoría Primera B for the next season. This table is elaborated from a sum of all first stage games played for the current season and the previous two seasons. For purposes of elaborating the table, promoted teams are given the same point and goal tallies as the team in the 18th position at the start of the season.

More information Pos, Team ...

Source: Dimayor
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd goals scored; 4th away goals scored.

See also


References

  1. "¡Junior, nuevamente campeón!: agonía, suspenso y penales en El Campín" (in Spanish). Futbolred. 12 June 2019.
  2. "Síntesis de la Asamblea Extraordinaria de la Dimayor" (in Spanish). Dimayor.com. 19 December 2018. Archived from the original on 22 December 2018. Retrieved 22 December 2018.
  3. "Millonarios anuncia la salida de Miguel Ángel Russo" (in Spanish). La FM. 5 November 2018. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  4. "Oficial: Jorge Luis Pinto ya es el nuevo entrenador de Millonarios" (in Spanish). El Tiempo. 13 November 2018. Retrieved 2 December 2018.
  5. "Gerardo Pelusso dejó de ser el técnico del Deportivo Cali" (in Spanish). El País. 11 November 2018. Retrieved 1 December 2018.
  6. "Alexis García es el técnico del Deportivo Pasto para el 2019" (in Spanish). El Tiempo. 28 November 2018. Retrieved 1 December 2018.
  7. "John Jairo Bodmer tomó las riendas de Jaguares de Córdoba" (in Spanish). La Razón. 6 November 2018. Retrieved 1 December 2018.
  8. "FLABIO TORRES CONTINUARÁ COMO TÉCNICO EN PROPIEDAD DE ATLÉTICO BUCARAMANGA" (in Spanish). Antena 2. 21 November 2018. Retrieved 1 December 2018.
  9. "Oficial: Julio Comesaña deja de ser el técnico de Junior" (in Spanish). AS Colombia. 19 December 2018.
  10. "Humberto Sierra fue anunciado como nuevo técnico de La Equidad" (in Spanish). Caracol Radio. 26 December 2018.
  11. "Carlos Giraldo no es más el DT de Atlético Bucaramanga" (in Spanish). Deportes RCN. 23 April 2019. Archived from the original on 26 April 2019. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
  12. "Pablo Garabello, nuevo técnico de Cúcuta Deportivo" (in Spanish). AS Colombia. 10 May 2019.
  13. "Comienza una nueva era, con Patricio Camps, en Independiente Santa Fe" (in Spanish). El Tiempo. 12 April 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
  14. "Juan Carlos Osorio regresa a Atlético Nacional" (in Spanish). El Colombiano. 10 June 2019.
  15. "Harold Rivera le dice adiós al Unión Magdalena" (in Spanish). El Informador. 2 June 2019.
  16. "Pablo Garabello no es más el DT de Cúcuta" (in Spanish). El Espectador. 13 August 2019.
  17. "CÚCUTA DEPORTIVO CONFIRMÓ SU NUEVO ENTRENADOR" (in Spanish). Antena 2. 14 August 2019.
  18. "Alexis Mendoza dejó de ser el entrenador del Medellín" (in Spanish). El Tiempo. 2 September 2019.
  19. "Aldo Bobadilla, nuevo técnico del DIM" (in Spanish). El Colombiano. 4 September 2019.
  20. "Carlos Silva asume la dirección técnica del 'Ciclón'" (in Spanish). El Informador. 16 September 2019.
  21. "Cero y van diez: Eduardo Lara se fue de Envigado" (in Spanish). El Tiempo. 23 September 2019.
  22. "Octavio Zambrano, nuevo técnico del Pasto" (in Spanish). El Tiempo. 2 October 2019.

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