The 2019 División Profesional season (officially the Copa de Primera TIGO-Visión Banco 2019 for sponsorship reasons) was the 85th season of top-flight professional football in Paraguay. The season began on 22 January and ended on 15 December. The fixtures for the season were announced on 13 December 2018. Olimpia were the defending champions after winning both tournaments of the 2018 season, and won a third championship in a row in the Torneo Apertura with three matches to spare after defeating Deportivo Santaní by a 6–0 score on 4 May. Olimpia also crowned themselves in the Torneo Clausura, winning a fourth title in a row with one matchday remaining, following a 2–2 draw at home against Guaraní on 8 December.
Teams Twelve teams competed in the season: the top ten teams in the relegation table of the previous season, and two teams promoted from the División Intermedia. The new teams were 2018 División Intermedia champions River Plate and runners-up San Lorenzo, who returned to the top flight after two and three years, respectively. Both replaced Independiente (CG) and 3 de Febrero, who were relegated to the second tier after two and one year, respectively.
Stadia and locations
Team Manager Home city Stadium CapacityCerro Porteño Víctor Bernay (caretaker) Asunción General Pablo Rojas 45,000Deportivo Capiatá Carlos Recalde Capiatá Erico Galeano 10,000Deportivo Santaní Robert Gauto (caretaker) San Estanislao Juan José Vázquez 8,000General Díaz Cristian Martínez Luque General Adrián Jara 3,500Guaraní Gustavo Costas Asunción Rogelio Livieres 6,000Libertad José Chamot Asunción Dr. Nicolás Leoz 10,000Nacional Francisco Arce Asunción Arsenio Erico 4,000Olimpia Daniel Garnero Asunción Manuel Ferreira 25,000River Plate Marcelo Philipp Asunción River Plate 6,500San Lorenzo Sergio Órteman San Lorenzo Gunther Vogel 5,000Sol de América Pablo Escobar Villa Elisa Luis Alfonso Giagni 10,000 Sportivo Luqueño Celso Ayala Luque La Arboledaa 8,000
Note: Teams occasionally play their home games at Estadio Defensores del Chaco in Asunción. Derbies between Cerro Porteño and Olimpia are also played at this stadium. a: Sportivo Luqueño will play their home games at Estadio La Arboleda in Asunción as their regular stadium Estadio Feliciano Cáceres is closed for repair works. They played their Torneo Apertura home game against San Lorenzo at Estadio Erico Galeano in Capiatá.
Managerial changes
TeamOutgoing managerManner of departureDate of vacancyPosition in tableIncoming managerDate of appointmentTorneo AperturaDeportivo Capiatá Julio CabreraEnd of caretaker spell8 December 2018Pre-season José Basualdo19 December 2018Nacional Fernando GamboaSacked31 January 201912th Hugo Caballero (caretaker)31 January 2019General Díaz Florencio VillalbaResigned10 February 201910th Luis Escobar (caretaker)11 February 2019Sportivo Luqueño Pedro Sarabia15 February 201910th Roberto Torres11 February 2019Deportivo Santaní Héctor MarecosSacked17 February 201912th Carlos Jara17 February 2019Sol de América Ever Hugo AlmeidaResigned22 February 20195th Alfredo Vera (caretaker)23 February 2019Deportivo Capiatá José BasualdoSacked28 February 20198th Celso Ayala1 March 2019Nacional Hugo CaballeroEnd of caretaker spell4 March 201911th Aldo Bobadilla4 March 2019Libertad Leonel ÁlvarezSacked6 March 20198th José Chamot7 March 2019Sol de América Alfredo VeraEnd of caretaker spell18 March 20199th Javier Sanguinetti19 March 2019Deportivo Santaní Carlos JaraSacked20 March 201912th Martín García21 March 2019General Díaz Luis EscobarEnd of caretaker spell18 April 201911th Cristian Martínez18 April 2019Deportivo Santaní Martín GarcíaResigned21 April 201912th Pablo Caballero22 April 2019Torneo ClausuraCerro Porteño Fernando JuberoMutual consent20 May 2019Pre-tournament Miguel Ángel Russo7 June 2019Deportivo Capiatá Celso AyalaSacked22 May 2019 Mario Jara23 May 2019Guaraní Gustavo FlorentínMutual consent29 May 2019 Gustavo Costas6 June 2019Deportivo Santaní Pablo CaballeroResigned4 June 2019 Pedro Sarabia6 June 2019Deportivo Capiatá Mario JaraSacked25 August 20197th Héctor Marecos25 August 2019Sol de América Javier SanguinettiMutual consent25 August 20199th Pablo Escobar28 August 2019Deportivo Santaní Pedro SarabiaSacked26 August 201912th Robert Gauto (caretaker)27 August 2019Sportivo Luqueño Roberto TorresMutual consent30 August 201911th Hugo Centurión31 August 2019Deportivo Santaní Robert GautoEnd of caretaker spell31 August 201912th Mario Jara1 September 2019Nacional Aldo BobadillaSigned by Independiente Medellín4 September 20198th Francisco Arce9 September 2019Deportivo Capiatá Héctor MarecosSacked26 September 201912th Carlos Recalde26 September 2019River Plate Daniel FarrarResigned2 October 20198th Marcelo Philipp3 October 2019Cerro Porteño Miguel Ángel RussoMutual consent8 October 20194th Víctor Bernay (caretaker)8 October 2019Sportivo Luqueño Hugo CenturiónSacked8 October 201912th Celso Ayala8 October 2019Deportivo Santaní Mario JaraResigned27 October 201910th Robert Gauto (caretaker)27 October 2019
Torneo Apertura The Campeonato de Apertura, named "Víctor Genes", was the 119th official championship of the Primera División and the first championship of the 2019 season. It started on January 22 and concluded on May 20.
Standings
Results
Top goalscorers
Rank Name Club Goals 1 William MendietaOlimpia 11 Roque Santa CruzOlimpia 3 Sebastián FernándezSan Lorenzo 9 Jorge OrtegaOlimpia César VillagraSol de América 6 José OrtigozaGuaraní 8 Nildo VieraRiver Plate 8 Jorge BenítezCerro Porteño 7 Óscar CardozoLibertad Joaquín LarriveyCerro Porteño
Source: Soccerway
Attendances
Torneo Clausura The Campeonato de Clausura, named "Ranulfo Miranda y 100 años de la Cruz Roja Paraguaya", was the 120th official championship of the Primera División and the second championship of the 2019 season. It started on July 12 and concluded on December 15.
Standings
Results
Top goalscorers {| class="wikitable" border="1" |- ! Rank ! Name ! Club ! Goals |- | align=center | 1 | Roque Santa Cruz |Olimpia | align=center | 15 |- | align=center | 2 | Antonio Bareiro |Libertad | align=center | 10 |- | align=center | 3 | Santiago Salcedo |Deportivo Capiatá | align=center | 9 |- | rowspan=2 align=center | 4 | Fernando Fernández |Guaraní | rowspan=2 align=center | 8 |- | Brian Montenegro |Olimpia |- | rowspan=6 align=center | 6 | Diego Churín |Cerro Porteño | rowspan=6 align=center | 6 |- | Nelson Haedo Valdez |Cerro Porteño |- | José Ortigoza |Guaraní |- | Óscar Ruiz |Cerro Porteño |- | Alejandro Silva |Olimpia |- | Leonardo Villagra |Nacional
Source: Soccerway
Aggregate table
Relegation Relegation is determined at the end of the season by computing an average of the number of points earned per game over the past three seasons. The two teams with the lowest average were relegated to the División Intermedia for the following season.
Pos Team 2017Pts 2018Pts 2019Pts TotalPts TotalPld Avg Relegation 1 Olimpia 78 102 108 288 132 2 Cerro Porteño 80 82 80 242 132 3 Libertad 75 76 85 236 132 4 Guaraní 85 48 69 202 132 5 Sol de América 62 63 57 182 132 6 Nacional 50 65 52 167 132 7 River Plate — — 52 52 44 8 Sportivo Luqueño 50 46 52 148 132 9 San Lorenzo — — 49 49 44 10 General Díaz 60 46 41 147 132 11 50 45 47 142 132 12 Deportivo Santaní (R) — 50 32 82 88 Updated to games played on 15 December 2019. Source: APF
References
External links APF's official website