The 2001 Categoría Primera A season, named Copa Mustang 2001 for sponsoring purposes, was the 54th season of Colombia's top-flight football league. América de Cali were the defending champions and won their eleventh title and second in a row by beating Independiente Medellín in the finals.
Format The season was split into four stages: the first two stages were the Apertura and Finalización tournaments, in which the 16 teams were first divided into two groups of eight teams, playing seven games, and then all teams in the league played each other once for a total of 22 matches. The winners of each tournament earned a berth into the 2002 Copa Libertadores. The third stage was the semifinal round, which was played by the best eight teams of the aggregate table of both tournaments, who were divided into two groups of four according to their position in the aggregate table: odd-ranked teams made up Group A, while even-ranked ones made up Group B. The winners of each group played the double-legged finals to decide the champions of the season, who also qualified for the Copa Libertadores.
Teams
Team Home city Stadium Capacity América de Cali Cali Pascual Guerrero 45,625 Atlético Bucaramanga Bucaramanga Alfonso López 28,000 Atlético Huila Neiva Guillermo Plazas Alcid 22,000 Atlético Nacional Medellín Atanasio Girardot 52,000 Cortuluá Tuluá Doce de Octubre 16,000 Deportes Tolima Ibagué Manuel Murillo Toro 28,100 Deportivo Cali Cali Pascual Guerrero 45,625 Deportivo Pasto Pasto Departamental Libertad 12,000 Deportivo Pereira Pereira Estadio Hernán Ramírez Villegas 30,313 Envigado Envigado Polideportivo Sur 11,000 Independiente Medellín Medellín Atanasio Girardot 52,000 Junior Barranquilla Metropolitano Roberto Meléndez 60,000 Millonarios Bogotá Nemesio Camacho El Campín 48,300 Once Caldas Manizales Palogrande 36,553 Real Cartagena Cartagena Pedro de Heredia 16,000 Santa Fe Bogotá Nemesio Camacho El Campín 48,300
Torneo Apertura The Torneo Apertura (also known as Copa Mustang I) began on 11 February and ended on 1 July.
Standings
Torneo Finalización The Torneo Finalización (also known as Copa Mustang II) began on 5 August and ended on 11 November.
Standings
Aggregate table An aggregate table known as Reclasificación including the games of both tournaments (Apertura and Finalización) was used to determine the eight teams that would advance to the next stage of the tournament. The top eight teams in this table at the end of the Torneo Finalización advanced to the semifinals.
Semifinals The third stage of the tournament consisted of two groups of four teams, with Group A including teams in odd-numbered positions and Group B including teams in even-numbered positions. The winners of each group qualified for the Finals.
Group A
Group B
Finals DateCityHomeScoreAwayDecember 16MedellínIndependiente Medellín0–1América de CaliDecember 19CaliAmérica de Cali2–0Independiente MedellínAmérica de Cali won 3–0 on aggregate score.
Top goalscorers Rank Name Club Goals 1 Carlos CastroMillonarios 29 Jorge Horacio SernaIndependiente Medellín 3 Julián VásquezAmérica de Cali 24 4 Sergio Galván ReyOnce Caldas 23 5 Iván VelásquezAtlético Nacional 20
Relegation Relegation table TeamRelegation 1 América de Cali 88 154 2 Once Caldas 88 141 3 Deportes Tolima 88 138 4 Santa Fe 88 137 5 Deportivo Cali 88 135 6 Millonarios 88 134 7 Junior 88 126 8 Atlético Nacional 88 123 9 Envigado 88 119 10 Independiente Medellín 88 116 11 Cortuluá 88 116 12 Deportivo Pasto 88 106 13 Deportivo Pereira 88 101 14 Real Cartagena 88 97 15 Atlético Huila 88 95 16 Atlético Bucaramanga 88 88 Relegated to the Categoría Primera B Rules for classification: 1st average; 2nd wins; 3rd goal difference; 4th number of goals scored; 5th away goals scored.
Promotion triangular
With the General Assembly of DIMAYOR having approved an expansion of the tournament from 16 to 18 teams starting from the 2002 season, a special promotion tournament was played at the end of the 2001 season. The two DIMAYOR affiliates that were taking part in Categoría Primera B at the time and failed to earn promotion (Cúcuta Deportivo and Unión Magdalena) were invited to compete, as well as Atlético Bucaramanga as the team that was relegated from Primera A at the end of the season. The top two teams of the triangular tournament were promoted. All matches were played at Estadio Pedro de Heredia in Cartagena.
References
External links Dimayor official website Colombia 2001 RSSSF