The 2021 División Profesional season (officially the Copa de Primera TIGO-Visión Banco 2021 for sponsorship reasons) was the 87th season of the Paraguayan Primera División, the top-flight professional football league in Paraguay. The season began on 5 February and ended on 5 December 2021. The fixtures for the season were announced on 15 January 2021. Olimpia were the defending champions after winning the 2020 Clausura tournament.
In the Torneo Apertura, Libertad secured their twenty-first league title with one match to spare following Nacional's loss to River Plate on 23 May, whilst in the Torneo Clausura Cerro Porteño won their thirty-fourth league title after drawing with eventual runners-up Guaraní 2–2 on the last matchday played on 4 December.
Teams Ten teams competed in the season: the top ten teams in the relegation table of the previous season, with no teams promoted from the División Intermedia since the 2020 seasons of the lower-tier club tournaments of Paraguayan football were cancelled by the Paraguayan Football Association due to the COVID-19 pandemic. General Díaz and San Lorenzo were both relegated to the second tier at the end of the previous season after eight and two years in the top flight, 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 45,000Guaireña Troadio Duarte Villarrica Parque del Guairá 12,000Guaraní Fernando Jubero Asunción Rogelio Livieres 6,000Libertad Daniel Garnero Asunción Dr. Nicolás Leoz 10,000Nacional Hernán Rodrigo López Asunción Arsenio Erico 4,000Olimpia Julio César Cáceres Asunción Manuel Ferreira 25,000River Plate Iván Almeida Asunción River Plate 6,500Sol de América Juan Pablo Pumpido Villa Elisa Luis Alfonso Giagni 11,000 Sportivo Luqueño Miguel Ángel Zahzú Luque Feliciano Cáceres 25,000
Managerial changes TeamOutgoing managerManner of departureDate of vacancyPosition in tableIncoming managerDate of appointmentTorneo AperturaRiver Plate Ariel GaleanoEnd of caretaker spell18 December 2020Pre-season Mario Jara21 December 2020Libertad Juan Samudio23 December 2020 Daniel Garnero30 December 2020Sol de América Celso AyalaSacked17 February 202110th Gustavo Florentín17 February 2021River Plate Mario JaraResigned9 March 20218th Enrique Landaida10 March 2021Olimpia Néstor GorositoSacked15 March 20214th Sergio Órteman15 March 2021Sol de América Gustavo FlorentínResigned23 March 20218th Ever Hugo Almeida23 March 2021River Plate Enrique LandaidaSacked17 April 202110th Celso Ayala18 April 2021Sportivo Luqueño Luis Escobar1 May 20218th Gilberto Fleitas (caretaker)1 May 2021Sol de América Ever Hugo Almeida3 May 20219th Iván Almeida (caretaker)3 May 2021Sportivo Luqueño Gilberto FleitasEnd of caretaker spell9 May 20218th Alfredo Berti9 May 2021Guaraní Gustavo CostasMutual consent28 May 20216th Fernando Jubero12 June 2021Torneo ClausuraSol de América Iván AlmeidaEnd of caretaker spell10 June 2021Pre-tournament Juan Pablo Pumpido10 June 2021Olimpia Sergio ÓrtemanResigned14 August 20219th Enrique Landaida15 August 2021 Enrique LandaidaChange of role12 September 202110th Álvaro Gutiérrez9 September 2021Sportivo Luqueño Alfredo BertiSacked12 September 20215th Badayco Maciel13 September 2021Olimpia Álvaro GutiérrezResigned14 October 202110th Julio César Cáceres15 October 2021River Plate Celso AyalaSacked18 October 20216th Iván Almeida19 October 2021Sportivo Luqueño Badayco MacielReplaced7 December 2021Relegation play-off Miguel Ángel Zahzú8 December 2021 Notes
Torneo Apertura The Campeonato de Apertura, named "Centenario del Sportivo Luqueño", was the 123rd official championship of the Primera División and the first championship of the 2021 season. It started on 5 February and ended on 30 May.
Standings
Results
Top scorers Rank Name Club Goals 1 Leonardo VillagraNacional 10 2 Óscar CardozoLibertad 9 3 Mauro BoselliCerro Porteño 7 Robert MoralesCerro Porteño Jorge RecaldeOlimpia 6 Carlos ArruaNacional 6 Fernando FernándezGuaraní Alejandro SilvaOlimpia 9 José Ariel Núñez12 de Octubre 5 Fernando RomeroGuaireña Pablo Velázquez12 de Octubre Pablo ZeballosRiver Plate
Source: Soccerway
Torneo Clausura The Campeonato de Clausura, named "Homenaje a César Zabala", was the 124th official championship of the Primera División and the second championship of the 2021 season. It began on 16 July and ended on 5 December.
Standings
Results
Top scorers Rank Name Club Goals 1 Sebastián FerreiraLibertad 9 Lorenzo MelgarejoLibertad 3 ChicoSol de América 8 4 Claudio AquinoCerro Porteño 7 José FlorentínGuaraní José VerdúnGuaireña 7 Enrique BorjaSportivo Luqueño 6 Robert MoralesCerro Porteño Alfio OviedoGuaraní 10 Hernesto CaballeroRiver Plate 5 Fernando FernándezGuaraní Marcelo GonzálezGuaraní
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 team with the lowest average was relegated to the División Intermedia for the following season, while the team with the second lowest average played a double-legged relegation play-off against the 2021 Intermedia fourth placed team.
Relegation table Pos Team 2019Pts 2020Pts 2021Pts TotalPts TotalPld Avg Relegation 1 Olimpia 108 62 51 221 113 2 Cerro Porteño 80 69 66 215 113 3 Libertad 85 62 65 212 113 4 Guaraní 69 59 61 189 113 5 Nacional 52 44 50 146 113 6 Guaireña — 41 44 85 69 7 12 de Octubre — 41 43 84 69 8 Sol de América 57 35 42 134 113 9 52 36 39 127 113 10 River Plate (R) 52 38 29 119 113 Relegation to División Intermedia Source: APF
Promotion/relegation play-off
Sportivo Ameliano won 4–3 on aggregate and were promoted to Primera División. Sportivo Luqueño were relegated to the División Intermedia.
Season awards On 14 December 2021 a ceremony was held at the Paraguayan Football Association's headquarters to announce the winners of the season awards (Premios de Primera), who were chosen based on voting by the managers of the 10 Primera División teams, local sports journalists, the APF's Referee Commission, the public as well as official statistics.
AwardWinnerClubBest Player Claudio AquinoCerro PorteñoRevelation Player Julio César EncisoLibertadPeople's Player Jean Paulo FernandesCerro PorteñoTop Scorer Leonardo Villagra ()NacionalBest Goal Claudio Aquino()Cerro PorteñoBest Goalkeeper Jean Paulo FernandesCerro PorteñoBest Manager Francisco ArceCerro PorteñoFair Play TeamGuaireñaBest RefereeGiancarlo JuliadozaBest VAR RefereeMario Díaz de Vivar
References
External links APF's official website