The 2015 Categoría Primera A season (officially known as the 2015 Liga Águila season for sponsorship reasons) was the 68th season of Colombia's top-flight football league. The season started on 30 January and concluded on 20 December.
20 teams competed against one another. Santa Fe came in as the defending champions having won the title in the 2014 season's Finalización tournament. Jaguares de Córdoba entered as champion of the 2014 Primera B, while Cortuluá and Cúcuta Deportivo were promoted as the top teams of their respective groups in the Promotion tournament.
Deportivo Cali won its ninth title in the Torneo Apertura after beating Independiente Medellín in the finals, while in the Torneo Finalización Atlético Nacional won its fifteenth title after beating Junior in the finals, thus surpassing Millonarios as the club with the most championships.
Format Starting from this season, the league was expanded to 20 teams: 17 from last season plus Jaguares, the 2014 Primera B winners, and Cortuluá and Cúcuta Deportivo, the top two teams of a playoff tournament played in January 2015 between 8 Primera B sides to fill up the field of 20 teams. The Apertura and Finalización tournaments had a similar format and were divided into three stages: a First Stage which was contested on a single round-robin basis, with each team playing the other teams once and playing a regional rival once more for a total of 20 matches. The top eight teams after the twenty rounds advanced to a knockout round, where they were 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 were played on a home-and-away basis as well. The winner of the final was declared the tournament champion and will participate in the 2016 Copa Libertadores.
Teams
Stadia and locations
Team City Stadium 2014 season Águilas Doradasa Rionegro Alberto Grisales 4th Alianza Petrolera Barrancabermeja Daniel Villa Zapatab 10th Atlético Huila Neiva Guillermo Plazas Alcidc 8th Atlético Nacional Medellín Atanasio Girardot 2nd Boyacá Chicó Tunja La Independencia 13th Cortuluá Tuluá Doce de Octubre 13th (Primera B)d Cúcuta Deportivo Cúcuta General Santander 6th (Primera B)d Deportes Tolima Ibagué Manuel Murillo Toroe 11th Deportivo Cali Cali Deportivo Cali 9th Deportivo Pasto Pasto Departamental Libertad 16th Envigado Envigado Polideportivo Sur 12th Independiente Medellín Medellín Atanasio Girardot 6th Jaguares Montería Municipal de Montería 1st (Primera B) Junior Barranquilla Metropolitano 5th La Equidad Bogotá Metropolitano de Techo 15th Millonarios Bogotá Nemesio Camacho 7th Once Caldas Manizales Palogrande 3rd Patriotas Tunja La Independencia 14th Santa Fe Bogotá Nemesio Camacho 1st Uniautónoma Barranquilla Metropolitano 18th a: Previously based in Pereira, played their first four home games at Estadio Hernán Ramírez Villegas. b: Previously played at Estadio Álvaro Gómez Hurtado in Floridablanca. c: Temporarily played its home games at Estadio Centenario in Armenia and Estadio Luis Antonio Duque in Girardot due to remodeling works at Estadio Guillermo Plazas Alcid. d: Promoted through the Promotion tournament. e: Temporarily played its home games at Estadio Metropolitano de Techo in Bogotá due to remodeling works at Estadio Manuel Murillo Toro.
Torneo Apertura
First stage The First Stage began on 30 January and consisted of twenty rounds including a series of regional rivalries in the tenth round. It ended on 17 May with the top eight teams at the end of this stage advancing to the knockout stage.
Standings
Results
Knockout phase bracket
Quarterfinals
Notes
Semifinals
Finals
Top goalscorers Rank Name Club Goals 1 Fernando UribeMillonarios 15 2 Harold PreciadoDeportivo Cali 13 3 Marco PérezDeportes Tolima 10 4 Carlos IbargüenCortuluá 9 Jonathan CopeteAtlético Nacional 9
Source: DIMAYOR
Torneo Finalización
First stage The First Stage began on 10 July and featured the same format used in the Torneo Apertura, with reversed fixtures. It ended on 22 November with the top eight teams at the end of this stage advancing to the knockout stage.
Standings
Results
Knockout phase bracket
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
Finals
Top goalscorers Rank Name Club Goals 1 Jefferson DuqueAtlético Nacional 15 2 Harold PreciadoDeportivo Cali 12 3 Juan CaicedoIndependiente Medellín 9 Roberto OvelarJunior 9 5 Vladimir HernándezJunior 8 Jonathan GómezDeportivo Pasto 8
Source: DIMAYOR
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 69 63 79 211 112 2Santa Fe 61 61 62 184 112 3Junior 52 55 69 176 112 4Millonarios 59 53 62 174 112 5Deportivo Cali 58 47 67 172 112 6Once Caldas 56 57 57 170 112 7Águilas Doradas 58 57 54 169 112 8Independiente Medellín 47 51 70 168 112 9Deportes Tolima 50 45 68 163 112 10Envigado 39 48 61 148 112 11Alianza Petrolera 38 54 53 145 112 12Atlético Huila 40 46 57 143 112 13La Equidad 45 41 54 140 112 14Patriotas 34 45 58 137 112 15Deportivo Pasto 53 38 39 130 112 16Boyacá Chicó 34 47 34 115 112 17Cortuluá 34 35 45 114 112 18Jaguares 34 45 31 110 112 19Uniautónoma (R) 34 35 37 106 112 Relegation to Categoría Primera B 20Cúcuta Deportivo (R) 34 35 27 96 112 Source: DIMAYORRules for classification: 1st average; 2nd goal difference; 3rd number of goals scored; 4th away goals scored.
Aggregate table
References
External links DIMAYOR's official website