Copa Simón Bolívar is the men's second professional association football division of the Bolivian football league system. Administered by the Bolivian Football Federation, its champions achieve automatic promotion to the Bolivian Primera División, while the runner-up feature in a play-off match with the 15th-placed team in the top tier.
Format With the Bolivian football pyramid consisting of nine regional leagues (one for each department – Chuquisaca, Cochabamba, La Paz, Oruro, Santa Cruz, Potosí, Tarija, Pando and Beni), the number of participants varies depending on the department, with usually seven or eight teams per department entering the regional stage. In the national stage, 24 clubs are divided into six groups of four teams each, with the top two and two best third-placed teams advancing to the knockout stages, where they advance in two-legged matches until the end of the competition.
History
The oldest regional championship is the one played in La Paz, which started in 1914 and it was considered for many years as the top Bolivian league, even more when it turned into a semi-pro tournament in 1950 and started including teams from Oruro and Cochabamba. Copa Simón Bolívar started in 1960 as a cup tournament, initially with the participation of regional champions from La Paz, Cochabamba, Oruro and Santa Cruz. Years after, teams from other associations started joining the cup, and the tournament eventually had association runners-up participating as well.
Until 1976, due to the lack of a nationwide league, the cup determined the national champion and representative teams for the Copa Libertadores. With the creation of the Liga de Fútbol Profesional Boliviano, the Bolivian Football Federation stopped organizing the tournament. Copa Simón Bolívar (or Torneo Simón Bolívar) then returned in 1989 as a second division league tournament, but the last-placed team of the fist division was directly replaced by the regional champion of its region. In 1993, the champions of the Copa Simón Bolívar started to achieve automatic promotion to the top tier, while the runner-up played a play-off match against the second-to-bottom placed team in the first division.
In 2011, with the restructuring of the Bolivian football which changed to an "European calendar", Copa Simón Bolívar was replaced by the Liga Nacional B. In July 2016, after the lack of funding from the Liga de Fútbol Profesional Boliviano, Nacional B ended and Copa Simón Bolívar returned to an active status, with the previous system.
List of champions
Ed.SeasonChampionRunner-up 1989 Enrique Happ Universidad Cruceña 1990 Universidad Cruceña Naval Mamoré 1991 Enrique Happ Guabirá 1992 Enrique Happ Universidad Católica 1993 Real Santa Cruz Estudiantes Frontanilla 1994 Stormers Always Ready 1995 Deportivo Municipal Chaco Petrolero 1996 Blooming Universidad Cruceña 1997 Real Potosí Universitario de Cochabamba 1998 Union Central Atlético Pompeya 1999 Atlético Pompeya Mariscal Braun 2000 Iberoamericana Aurora 2001 San José Primero de Mayo 2002 Aurora Fancesa 2003 La Paz Real Santa Cruz 2004 Destroyers Primero de Mayo 2005 Universitario de Sucre Guabirá 2006 Municipal Real Mamoré Ciclón 2007 Guabirá Nacional Potosí 2008 Nacional Potosí Primero de Mayo 2009 Guabirá Ciclón 2010 Nacional Potosí Real América 2011–2016 The Liga Nacional B was played. 2016–17 Aurora Destroyers 2017 Royal Pari Deportivo Kala 2018 Always Ready Avilés Industrial 2019 Municipal Vinto Real Santa Cruz 2020 Real Tomayapo Independiente Petrolero 2021 Universitario de Vinto Universitario de Sucre 2022 Vaca Díez Libertad Gran Mamoré 2023 GV San José San Antonio Bulo Bulo 2024 ABB Totora Real Oruro 2025 Real Potosí San Juan
NB: Enrique Happ (full name Escuela Enrique Happ) from Cochabamba never promoted to the top flight in spite of winning the competition three times, because its founder Enrique Happ Kroll declined promotion in favour of maintaining its status as a football academy (like the better known Academia Tahuichi in Santa Cruz).
Titles by club ClubTitlesSeasons won Enrique Happ 3 1989, 1991, 1992 Aurora 2 2002, 2016–17 Guabirá 2 2007, 2009 Nacional Potosí 2 2008, 2010 Real Potosí 2 1997, 2025 ABB 1 2024 Always Ready 1 2018 Atlético Pompeya 1 1999 Blooming 1 1996 Deportivo Municipal 1 1995 Destroyers 1 2004 GV San José 1 2023 Iberoamericana 1 2000 La Paz 1 2003 Municipal Real Mamoré 1 2006 Municipal Vinto 1 2019 Real Santa Cruz 1 1993 Royal Pari 1 2017 San José 1 2001 Stormers 1 1994 Unión Central 1 1998 Universidad Cruceña 1 1990 Universitario de Sucre 1 2005 Universitario de Vinto 1 2021 Vaca Díez 1 2022
References
External links Copa Simón Bolívar at the Bolivian Football Federation