The 2007 Categoría Primera B season, officially known as the 2007 Copa Premier for sponsorship reasons, was the 18th season of Colombia's second tier football league Categoría Primera B since its founding. The competition began on 10 February and ended on 10 November 2007. Envigado were the champions, winning both of the season's short tournaments to claim their second Primera B title as well as promotion to Categoría Primera A.
Format The season was split into two tournaments: Torneo I and Torneo II, with three stages each. For both tournaments, the 18 participating teams were divided into two groups of nine teams each, with teams playing all teams in their group as well as one team from the other group twice. In Torneo I, the groups were formed by geographical criteria, grouping nearby teams, while in the second tournament, geographical rivals were assigned to different groups. The top four teams of each group advanced to a semifinal group stage with two groups of four teams, which was also played in a double round-robin fashion, with the two group winners contesting the tournament finals. The winners of both of the season's tournaments would face each other in the season's grand final, with the champion being promoted at the end of the season and the runner-up playing the promotion/relegation playoff against the second-from-bottom team in the relegation table of the 2007 Primera A.
Teams 18 teams took part in the competition in this season. The 2006 Primera B champions La Equidad, who were promoted to Categoría Primera A, were replaced by Envigado, relegated from the top flight in the previous season. Pumas de Casanare ceased to exist at the end of the previous season, selling its license to Real Santander who were based in Floridablanca, whilst Expreso Rojo relocated from Cartagena to Fusagasugá, Cundinamarca.
ClubCityStadiumCapacity Academia Bogotá Compensar 4,500 Alianza Petrolera Barrancabermeja Daniel Villa Zapata 8,000 Atlético Bello Bello Tulio Ospina 12,000 Bajo Cauca Caucasia Orlando Aníbal Monroy 4,000 Barranquilla Barranquilla Romelio Martínez 10,000 Bogotá Bogotá Alfonso López Pumarejo 12,000 Centauros Villavicencio Manuel Calle Lombana 15,000 Córdoba Cereté Alberto Saibis Saker 12,000 Cortuluá Tuluá Doce de Octubre 16,000 Dépor Jamundí Cacique Jamundí 3,500 Deportivo Rionegro Rionegro Alberto Grisales 14,000 Envigado Envigado Polideportivo Sur 11,000 Expreso Rojo Fusagasugá Fernando Mazuera 4,500 Girardot Girardot Luis Antonio Duque Peña 15,000 Patriotas Tunja La Independencia 8,500 Real Santander Floridablanca Álvaro Gómez Hurtado 5,000 Unión Magdalena Santa Marta Eduardo Santos 22,000 Valledupar Valledupar Armando Maestre Pavajeau 10,000
Torneo I First stage Group A
Group B
Semi-finals Group A
Group B
Finals
Tied 2–2 on aggregate, Envigado won on penalties.
Torneo II First stage Group A
Group B
Semi-finals Group A
Group B
Finals
Envigado won 4–2 on aggregate.
Grand final The grand final was cancelled after Envigado won the season's two short tournaments, promoting directly to Categoría Primera A as Primera B champions. As runners-up of both the Torneo I and Torneo II, Academia advanced to the promotion/relegation playoff as season runners-up.
Promotion/relegation playoff The 2007 Categoría Primera B runners-up, Academia, had to play a two-legged tie against Deportivo Pereira, the second worst team in the 2007 Primera A relegation table, for the final spot in the 2008 Categoría Primera A season. As the Primera A team, Deportivo Pereira played the second leg at home.
Deportivo Pereira won 4–2 on aggregate and remained in Categoría Primera A.
References
External links Copa Mustang Official Page Dimayor Official Page