The 2020 Campeonato Ecuatoriano de Fútbol Serie A (until 18 September 2020 officially known as the LigaPro Banco Pichincha 2020 for sponsorship reasons) was the 62nd season of the Serie A, Ecuador's top tier football league, and the second under the management of the Liga Profesional de Fútbol del Ecuador (or LigaPro). Delfín were the defending champions. Barcelona won their 16th domestic league title after defeating LDU Quito 3–1 on penalties following a 1–1 draw on aggregate score in the finals.
The competition was suspended from 14 March to 14 August due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Format The format for the 2020 season was decided by LigaPro's Council of Presidents on 22 October 2019. For this season, the league returned to the three-stage system used before the 2019 season, scrapping the play-off stage played in the previous season. The first and second stages were played as single round-robin tournaments with all teams playing each other once for a total of 15 matches per stage. The first stage fixture was reversed for the second stage, and the top teams at the end of each stage qualified for the finals as well as the Copa Libertadores group stage. The finals were a double-legged series between the winners of both stages with a penalty shoot-out deciding the champion in case of a tie in points and goals scored. In case a team won both stages of the season, the finals would not have been played and that team would win the championship.
An aggregate table including the matches of both the first and second stages was used to decide international qualification and relegation, with the best two teams (other than the stage winners) qualifying for the Copa Libertadores, and the next best three teams qualifying for the Copa Sudamericana. The remaining Copa Sudamericana berth would have been allocated through the 2020 Copa Ecuador, which was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and had its berth reallocated to the next best team in the aggregate table. Meanwhile, the teams that ended in the 15th and 16th place of the aggregate table would have competed in relegation play-offs against the third- and fourth-placed teams of the 2020 Serie B for the right to remain in the top tier for the following season, however, in a Council of Presidents session held on 23 May 2020 it was decided not to expand the Serie A to 18 teams for the 2021 season, meaning that the bottom two teams of the aggregate table at the end of the season were relegated to Serie B.
Teams Stadia and locations
Team City Stadium Capacity Aucas Quito Gonzalo Pozo Ripalda 21,689 Barcelona Guayaquil Monumental Banco Pichincha 57,267 Delfín Manta Jocay 17,834 Deportivo Cuenca Cuenca Banco del Austro Alejandro Serrano Aguilar 18,549 El Nacional Quito Olímpico Atahualpa 35,258 Cayambe Guillermo Albornoz 12,000 Emelec Guayaquil Banco del Pacífico Capwell 40,020 Guayaquil City Guayaquil Christian Benítez Betancourt 10,152 Independiente del Valle Sangolquí Rumiñahui 7,233 Quito Olímpico Atahualpa 35,258 Rodrigo Paz Delgado 41,575 LDU Portoviejo Portoviejo Reales Tamarindos 20,500 LDU Quito Quito Rodrigo Paz Delgado 41,575 Macará Ambato Bellavista 16,467 Mushuc Runa Ambato COAC Mushuc Runa 6,000 Bellavista 16,467 Olmedo Riobamba Olímpico 7,233 Orense Machala 9 de Mayo 16,456 Técnico Universitario Ambato Bellavista 16,467 Universidad Católica Quito Olímpico Atahualpa 35,258
Personnel and kits
Team Manager Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor Aucas Darío Tempesta Umbro Banco del Pacífico Barcelona Fabián Bustos Marathon Pilsener Delfín Horacio Montemurro (caretaker) Baldo's Banco del Pacífico Deportivo Cuenca Guillermo Duró (caretaker) Joma Chubb Seguros El Nacional José Villafuerte (caretaker) Lotto Aceros ANDECBanco General Rumiñahui Emelec Ismael Rescalvo Adidas Tubos Pacífico Guayaquil City Pool Gavilánez Astro Cooperativa San Francisco Ltda. Independiente del Valle Miguel Ángel Ramírez Marathon CheryDirecTV LDU Portoviejo Pablo Trobbiani Boman Cooperativa 15 de Abril LDU Quito Pablo Repetto Puma Banco Pichincha Macará Paúl Vélez Boman Cooperativa San Francisco Ltda. Mushuc Runa Ricardo Dillon Elohim Cooperativa Mushuc Runa Olmedo Geovanny Cumbicus Boman Cooperativa DaquilemaGolTV Orense Patricio Lara JMP Sport Banco del Austro Técnico Universitario José Eugenio Hernández Boman Cooperativa San Francisco Ltda. Universidad Católica Santiago Escobar Umbro Discover Card
Managerial changes TeamOutgoing managerManner of departureDate of vacancyPosition in tableIncoming managerDate of appointmentFirst stageOlmedo Ricardo DillonResigned3 November 2019Pre-season Darío Franco9 December 2019Mushuc Runa Martín CardettiSacked5 November 2019 Ricardo Dillon12 November 2019El Nacional Marcelo ZuletaEnd of contract7 November 2019 Eduardo Lara12 November 2019Barcelona Tabaré Silva27 November 2019 Fabián Bustos16 December 2019Aucas Gabriel Schürrer9 December 2019 Máximo Villafañe11 December 2019Delfín Fabián BustosSigned by Barcelona15 December 2019 Ángel López Pérez27 December 2019 Ángel López PérezSacked29 February 202011th Carlos Ischia1 March 2020Aucas Máximo VillafañeResigned14 June 202016th Darío Tempesta14 June 2020Olmedo Darío Franco15 June 202013th Geovanny Cumbicus18 June 2020El Nacional Eduardo LaraSacked20 June 20209th Jorge Montesino20 June 2020Orense Humberto PizarroMutual consent1 September 202015th Patricio Lara2 September 2020Delfín Carlos IschiaSacked4 September 202011th Miguel Ángel Zahzú4 September 2020Deportivo Cuenca Tabaré Silva30 September 202016th Guillermo Duró (caretaker)30 September 2020Second stageLDU Portoviejo Rubén Darío InsúaSacked5 November 202015th Marcelo Zuleta5 November 2020El Nacional Jorge Montesino7 November 202015th Javier Rodríguez7 November 2020 Javier RodríguezResigned20 November 202016th Édison Méndez20 November 2020LDU Portoviejo Marcelo Zuleta20 November 202015th Pablo Trobbiani20 November 2020Delfín Miguel Ángel ZahzúSacked3 December 202010th Horacio Montemurro (caretaker)3 December 2020El Nacional Édison MéndezResigned8 December 202016th José Villafuerte (caretaker)8 December 2020
Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic On 14 March 2020 after two Matchday 5 games had been played, the competition was suspended indefinitely by LigaPro due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On 20 May LigaPro's Council of Presidents decided to tentatively resume the league on 17 July pending final approval by the Ecuadorian government, with matches to be played behind closed doors. That same day the Council approved to restart training activities on 8 June, which was later moved to 10 June per decision by the National Emergency Operations Committee (COE). However, the date for the resumption of the competition was pushed back as the protocol approved by the Ecuadorian government through the National COE had set 29 July as the earliest tentative date for resumption.
On 27 July, the National COE approved LigaPro's biosecurity protocol and established 15 August as the tentative date to resume the competition. Eventually, on 11 August the National COE approved LigaPro's request to resume the competition on 14 August, with the completion of the fifth matchday.
First stage Standings
Results
Second stage Standings
Results
Finals LDU Quito and Barcelona qualified for the Finals (Third stage) by being the First stage and Second stage winners, respectively. The winners were the Serie A champions and earned the Ecuador 1 berth in the 2021 Copa Libertadores, and the losers were the Serie A runners-up and earned the Ecuador 2 berth in the 2021 Copa Libertadores. By having the greater number of points in the aggregate table, LDU Quito played the second leg at home.
Tied 1–1 on aggregate, Barcelona won on penalties.
Aggregate table
Top goalscorers {| class="wikitable" border="1" |- ! Rank ! Name ! Club ! Goals |- | align=center | 1 | Cristian Martínez Borja |LDU Quito | align=center | 24 |- | align=center | 2 | Gabriel Torres |Independiente del Valle | align=center | 16 |- | align=center | 3 | Víctor Figueroa |Aucas | align=center | 14 |- | rowspan=2 align=center | 4 | José Cevallos |Emelec | rowspan=2 align=center | 13 |- | Francisco Fydriszewski |LDU Portoviejo |- | rowspan=3 align=center | 6 | Juan Sebastián Herrera |Macará | rowspan=3 align=center | 11 |- | Gonzalo Mastriani |Guayaquil City |- | Muriel Orlando |Mushuc Runa |- | rowspan=4 align=center | 9 | Facundo Barceló |Emelec | rowspan=4 align=center | 10 |- | Damián Díaz |Barcelona |- | Michael Hoyos |Guayaquil City |- | Sergio López |Aucas
Source: Soccerway
See also Ecuadorian Serie A 2020 in Ecuadorian football 2020 Ecuadorian Serie B 2020 Segunda Categoría 2020 Superliga Femenina 2020 Ecuadorian Women's Serie B
References
External links LigaPro's official website Ecuadorian Football Federation