The 2014 Categoría Primera A season (officially known as the 2014 Liga Postobón season for sponsorship reasons) is the 67th season of Colombia's top-flight football league. Atlético Nacional come in as the defending champions having won both titles in the 2013 season.
Format The format for the Apertura tournament will have a variation due to the 2014 FIFA World Cup and will be similar to the format used in 2011. It will be divided into three stages. The First Stage will be contested on a home-and-away basis, with each team playing the other teams once and playing a regional rival once more. The top eight teams after eighteen rounds will advance to a knockout round, where they will be pitted into four ties to be played on a home-and-away basis, with the four winners advancing to the semifinals and the winner of each semifinal advancing to the final of the tournament, which will be played on a home-and-away basis as well. The winner of the final will be declared the tournament champion and will participate in the 2015 Copa Libertadores. The Finalización tournament will keep the format used in the 2013 season.
Teams
Team City Stadium 2013 season Alianza Petrolera Floridablanca Álvaro Gómez Hurtado 16th Atlético Huila Neiva Guillermo Plazas Alcid 15th Atlético Nacional Medellín Atanasio Girardot 1st Boyacá Chicó Tunja La Independencia 12th Deportes Tolima Ibagué Manuel Murillo Toro 4th Deportivo Cali Cali Pascual Guerrero 7th Deportivo Pasto Pasto Departamental Libertad 10th Envigado Envigado Polideportivo Sur 11th Fortaleza Zipaquirá Metropolitano de Techo Primera B runners-up Independiente Medellín Medellín Atanasio Girardot 13th Itagüí/Águilas Pereira Apertura: ItagüíFinalización: Pereira Apertura: Ciudad de ItagüíFinalización: Hernán Ramírez Villegas 2nd Junior Barranquilla Metropolitano 6th La Equidad Bogotá Metropolitano de Techo 9th Millonarios Bogotá Nemesio Camacho 3rd Once Caldas Manizales Palogrande 8th Patriotas Tunja La Independencia 14th Santa Fe Bogotá Nemesio Camacho 5th Uniautónoma Barranquilla Metropolitano Primera B champions
Torneo Apertura
First stage The First Stage began on January 24 and consisted of eighteen rounds and a series of regional rivalries on the ninth round. The top eight teams out of this stage will advance to the knockout stage. The first stage ended on April 20.
Standings
Results
Knockout round bracket
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
Finals
Top goalscorers Rank Name Club Goals 1 Dayro MorenoMillonarios 13 2 Germán CanoIndependiente Medellín 11 3 Carlos RenteríaPatriotas 10 Óscar RodasEnvigado 10 5 Ayron del ValleAlianza Petrolera 9
Source: Soccerway.com
Torneo Finalización
First stage The First Stage began on July 18 and consisted of eighteen rounds and a series of regional rivalries on the ninth round. The top eight teams out of this stage advanced to the knockout stage. The first stage ended on November 9. Starting from this tournament, Itagüí will compete under the name Águilas Doradas since the club was expelled from Itagüí in May 2014, and will move to Pereira, playing their home games at Estadio Hernán Ramírez Villegas. The club eventually changed its name to Águilas Pereira in order to reflect this move.
Standings
Results
Semifinals The Semifinal stage began on November 13 and ended on December 7. The eight teams that advanced were sorted into two groups of four teams. The winner of each group advanced to the finals.
Group A
Group B
Finals
Top goalscorers Rank Name Club Goals 1 Germán CanoIndependiente Medellín 16 2 Juan CaicedoAtlético Huila 14 3 Wilson MoreloSanta Fe 10 Fernando UribeMillonarios 10 5 Edinson PalominoÁguilas Pereira 8
Source: Liga Postobón
Relegation A separate table is kept to determine the teams that get relegated to the Categoría Primera B for the next season. The table includes an average of all first stage games played for the current season and the previous two seasons. Team Relegation 1Atlético Nacional 52 69 63 184 108 2Águilas Pereira 61 58 57 176 108 3Santa Fe 52 61 61 174 108 4Millonarios 57 59 53 169 108 5Junior 57 52 55 164 108 6Deportes Tolima 65 50 45 160 108 7Deportivo Cali 49 58 47 154 108 8La Equidad 61 45 41 147 108 9Once Caldas 33 56 57 146 108 10Deportivo Pasto 52 53 38 143 108 11Independiente Medellín 43 47 51 141 108 12Alianza Petrolera 41 38 54 133 108 13Envigado 44 39 48 131 108 14Boyacá Chicó 49 34 47 130 108 15Atlético Huila 41 40 46 127 108 16Patriotas 44 34 45 123 108 17Uniautónoma (O) 44 34 35 113 108 Relegation/promotion playoff 18Fortaleza (R) 35 39 38 112 108 Categoría Primera B Rules for classification: 1st average; 2nd goal difference; 3rd number of goals scored; 4th away goals scored.
Promotion/relegation playoff The second worst team in the relegation table, Uniautónoma played Quindío, the 2014 Categoría Primera B runner-up, for a berth in the 2015 Categoría Primera A season. As the Primera A team, Uniautónoma played the second leg at home. The winner was determined by points, followed by goal difference, then a penalty shootout. Uniautónoma defeated Quindío 2-0 on aggregate score and will remain in the top tier for the 2015 season.
Aggregate table An aggregate table including all games that a team plays during the year is used to determine First Stage berths to both the Copa Libertadores and the Copa Sudamericana. The best-placed non-champion will go to the first stage of the 2015 Copa Libertadores and the 2nd and 3rd best-placed non-champions will go to the first stage of the 2015 Copa Sudamericana.
References
External links DIMAYOR's official website