The 2020 División Profesional season (officially the Copa de Primera TIGO-Visión Banco 2020 for sponsorship reasons) was the 86th season of the Paraguayan Primera División, the top-flight professional football league in Paraguay. The season began on 17 January and ended on 30 December. The fixtures for the season were announced on 16 December 2019. Olimpia were the defending champions after winning both tournaments of the 2019 season.
On 26 September, Cerro Porteño won the Torneo Apertura and clinched their thirty-third domestic championship with one match to spare following a 3–1 victory over River Plate, while the Torneo Clausura was won by Olimpia who clinched their forty-fifth domestic championship after defeating Guaraní on penalties in the final played on 30 December.
The tournament was suspended from 13 March to 21 July due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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 2019 División Intermedia champions Guaireña and runners-up 12 de Octubre, with the former competing in the top tier for the first time ever and the latter returning after a five-year absence. Both teams replaced Deportivo Capiatá and Deportivo Santaní, who were relegated to the second tier after seven and two years, respectively.
Stadia and locations
Team Manager City Stadium Capacity12 de Octubre Pedro Sarabia Itauguá Luis Alberto Salinas 10,000Cerro Porteño Francisco Arce Asunción General Pablo Rojas 45,000General Díaz Héctor Marecos Luque General Adrián Jara 3,500 Asunción River Plate 6,500 San Lorenzo Gunther Vogel 5,000Guaireña Troadio Duarte Villarrica Parque del Guairá 12,000 Itauguá Luis Alberto Salinas 10,000Guaraní Gustavo Costas Asunción Rogelio Livieres 6,000Libertad Juan Samudio (caretaker) Asunción Dr. Nicolás Leoz 10,000Nacional Hernán Rodrigo López Asunción Arsenio Erico 4,000Olimpia Néstor Gorosito Asunción Manuel Ferreira 25,000River Plate Ariel Galeano (caretaker) Asunción River Plate 6,500San Lorenzo Roberto Torres San Lorenzo Gunther Vogel 5,000Sol de América Celso Ayala Villa Elisa Luis Alfonso Giagni 10,000 Sportivo Luqueño Luis Escobar Luque Feliciano Cáceres 25,000 San Lorenzo Gunther Vogel 5,000 Itauguá Luis Alberto Salinas 10,000 Asunción River Plate 6,500
Managerial changes
TeamOutgoing managerManner of departureDate of vacancyPosition in tableIncoming managerDate of appointmentTorneo AperturaGuaireña Troadio DuarteSelf-demoted to assistant7 December 2019Pre-season Mario Jacquet7 December 2019Cerro Porteño Víctor BernayEnd of caretaker spell15 December 2019 Francisco Arce20 December 2019Libertad José ChamotEnd of contract15 December 2019 Ramón Díaz17 December 2019Nacional Francisco ArceSigned by Cerro Porteño19 December 2019 Roberto Torres20 December 2019Guaireña Mario JacquetResigned12 January 2020 Troadio Duarte13 January 2020Sol de América Pablo EscobarMutual consent2 February 20209th Luis Islas2 February 202012 de Octubre Daniel FarrarSacked21 February 202012th Mario Jara21 February 2020Sportivo Luqueño Celso Ayala1 March 202010th Hernán Rodrigo López2 March 2020River Plate Marcelo Philipp2 March 20209th Celso Ayala2 March 2020General Díaz Cristian MartínezResigned26 June 202012th Robert Pereira26 June 2020Sol de América Luis IslasSacked28 July 20208th Sergio Órteman28 July 2020San Lorenzo Sergio ÓrtemanMutual consent28 July 202011th Cristian Martínez28 July 2020Sportivo Luqueño Hernán Rodrigo LópezResigned11 September 20208th Carlos Humberto Paredes12 September 2020Nacional Roberto TorresSacked16 September 20206th Hernán Rodrigo López16 September 2020San Lorenzo Cristian Martínez16 September 202012th Roberto Torres16 September 2020Libertad Ramón DíazResigned24 September 20203rd Gustavo Morínigo24 September 2020Torneo ClausuraGeneral Díaz Robert PereiraSacked6 October 2020Pre-tournament Julio Javier Doldán (caretaker)6 October 2020Olimpia Daniel Garnero26 October 20209th Enrique Landaida (caretaker)26 October 2020River Plate Celso Ayala26 October 202012th Carlos Aitor García26 October 2020Sportivo Luqueño Carlos Humberto Paredes8 November 20208th Luis Escobar9 November 2020Olimpia Enrique LandaidaEnd of caretaker spell11 November 20201st Néstor Gorosito4 November 2020General Díaz Julio Javier Doldán11 November 202012th Héctor Marecos11 November 202012 de Octubre Mario JaraSacked12 November 20208th Pedro Sarabia13 November 2020River Plate Carlos Aitor García7 December 202011th Ariel Galeano (caretaker)8 December 2020Sol de América Sergio Órteman9 December 20207th Celso Ayala9 December 2020Libertad Gustavo Morínigo16 December 20205th Juan Samudio (caretaker)16 December 2020
Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic On 10 March, and following a 15-day suspension of all public or private mass gathering events ordered by the Paraguayan government as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Paraguayan Football Association announced that every match of its official competitions, including the Primera División, would be played behind closed doors during that period of time. However, on 13 March the APF announced the suspension of the tournament, following advise from its Medical Directorate.
On 28 May 2020, the APF and the presidents of the 12 Primera División clubs reached an agreement to resume the competition on 17 July, with the ninth round of the Torneo Apertura. The plan to resume competition included socialization of health protocols to the Paraguayan government and application of COVID-19 tests before the start of individual training sessions on 10 June, with collective training to resume between 16 and 22 June. On the early morning of 17 July, within hours of the planned resumption of the competition, the APF announced the postponement of the matches involving 12 de Octubre, Guaraní and San Lorenzo, due to the confirmation of COVID-19 cases in those clubs, and after consultation with its Medical Directorate as well as the presidents of the league's 12 clubs, the governing body officially announced the postponement of the return of the competition to at least 22 July.
Following new tests in those three clubs which reported negative results, the competition was eventually confirmed to resume on 21 July, with the River Plate vs. Nacional and Cerro Porteño vs. Libertad matches.
Due to the four-month suspension of the season caused by the pandemic, the format for the Torneo Clausura had to be altered. Instead of the originally scheduled double round-robin, there was a first stage in which teams played each other once for a total of 11 games, five of which at home and another away, with the remaining match (on the sixth matchday) being played on neutral ground. The top eight teams after that single round-robin stage qualified for a play-off stage, with the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final to be played as single matches, and a penalty shootout deciding the winner in case of a draw.
Torneo Apertura The Campeonato de Apertura, named "Dr. Emilio Insfrán Villalba", was the 121st official championship of the Primera División and the first championship of the 2020 season. It started on 17 January and concluded on 4 October. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was scheduled to conclude on 31 May.
Standings
Results
Top goalscorers Rank Name Club Goals 1 Sebastián FerreiraLibertad 13 2 Roque Santa CruzOlimpia 10 3 Néstor CamachoOlimpia 9 4 Óscar CardozoLibertad 8 Fernando FernándezGuaraní Pablo Zeballos12 de Octubre 7 Raúl BobadillaGuaraní 7 Diego ChurínCerro Porteño Derlis GonzálezOlimpia Isidro PittaSportivo Luqueño / Olimpia Jorge RecaldeOlimpia
Source: Soccerway
Torneo Clausura The Campeonato de Clausura, named "Profesor Cristóbal Maldonado", was the 122nd official championship of the Primera División and the second championship of the 2020 season. It started on 16 October and concluded on 30 December with the final.
First stage Standings
Results
Play-offs
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
Top goalscorers {| class="wikitable" border="1" |- ! Rank ! Name ! Club ! Goals |- | align=center | 1 | Jorge Recalde |Olimpia | align=center | 9 |- | align=center | 2 | Roque Santa Cruz |Olimpia | align=center | 7 |- | align=center | 3 | Pablo Velázquez |General Díaz | align=center | 6 |- | rowspan=2 align=center | 4 | Óscar Cardozo |Libertad | rowspan=2 align=center | 5 |- | Pablo Zeballos |12 de Octubre |- | rowspan=4 align=center | 6 | Cecilio Domínguez |Guaraní | rowspan=4 align=center | 4 |- | Sebastián Ferreira |Libertad |- | Jorge Ortega |Sportivo Luqueño |- | Nildo Viera |Sol de América
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 will be relegated to the División Intermedia for the following season.
Pos Team 2018Pts 2019Pts 2020Pts TotalPts TotalPld Avg Relegation 1 Olimpia 102 108 62 272 121 2 Cerro Porteño 82 80 69 231 121 3 Libertad 76 85 62 223 121 4 Guaraní 48 69 59 176 121 5 Nacional 65 52 44 161 121 6 Sol de América 63 57 35 155 121 7 Guaireña — — 41 41 33 8 12 de Octubre — — 41 41 33 9 River Plate — 52 38 90 77 10 46 52 36 134 121 11 San Lorenzo (R) — 49 28 77 77 12 General Díaz (R) 46 41 16 103 121 Updated to matches played on 19 December 2020. Source: APF
References
External links APF's official website