The 2022 División Profesional season (officially the Copa de Primera TIGO-Visión Banco 2022 for sponsorship reasons) was the 88th season of the Paraguayan Primera División, the top-flight professional football league in Paraguay. The season began on 4 February and ended on 13 November 2022. The fixtures for the season were announced on 14 December 2021.
In the Torneo Apertura Libertad won their twenty-second league championship, clinching the title with one match in hand after beating Cerro Porteño by a 1–0 score on 25 June, whilst the Torneo Clausura was won by Olimpia, who claimed their forty-sixth league title after drawing 1–1 with Nacional on the last matchday played on 12 November. Cerro Porteño were the defending champions, having won the 2021 Clausura tournament.
Teams Twelve teams competed in the season: the top eight teams in the relegation table of the 2021 season, the top three teams in the 2021 Paraguayan División Intermedia (General Caballero (JLM), Resistencia, and Tacuary), as well as Sportivo Ameliano, winners of the promotion/relegation play-off. The promoted teams replaced River Plate and Sportivo Luqueño, who were relegated to the second tier at the end of the previous season.
Stadia and locations
Team Manager City Stadium Capacity12 de Octubre Héctor Marecos Itauguá Luis Alberto Salinas 10,000Cerro Porteño Francisco Arce Asunción General Pablo Rojas 45,000General Caballero (JLM) Humberto Ovelar Juan León Mallorquín Ka'arendy 10,000Guaireña Troadio Duarte Villarrica Parque del Guairá 12,000Guaraní Fernando Jubero Asunción Rogelio Livieres 6,000Libertad Daniel Garnero Asunción Tigo La Huerta 10,000Nacional Pedro Sarabia Asunción Arsenio Erico 4,000Olimpia Julio César Cáceres Asunción Manuel Ferreira 25,000Resistencia Mario Jara Asunción Jardines del Kelito 6,500Sol de América Alfredo Vera (caretaker) Villa Elisa Luis Alfonso Giagni 11,000 Sportivo Ameliano Juan Pablo Pumpido Asunción Martín Torres 3,000Tacuary Robert Pereira Asunción Jardines del Kelito 6,500 Notes
Managerial changes TeamOutgoing managerManner of departureDate of vacancyPosition in tableIncoming managerDate of appointmentTorneo AperturaGeneral Caballero (JLM) Humberto OvelarResigned22 October 2021Pre-season Gustavo Bobadilla4 December 2021Resistencia Pablo CaballeroSacked25 November 2021 Roberto Torres27 November 2021Tacuary Daniel Lanata22 February 202210th Robert Pereira22 February 2022Nacional Hernán Rodrigo López12 March 20227th Carlos Bonet12 March 202212 de Octubre Pedro SarabiaResigned22 March 202210th Sergio Órteman22 March 2022Nacional Carlos BonetReturn to sporting director post24 March 202211th Pedro Sarabia24 March 2022Sol de América Juan Pablo PumpidoResigned3 April 20225th Celso Ayala4 April 2022General Caballero (JLM) Gustavo Bobadilla20 April 202210th Luciano Theiler21 April 2022Tacuary Robert Pereira1 May 20227th Humberto Ovelar2 May 202212 de Octubre Sergio ÓrtemanSacked3 June 202212th Robert Pereira3 June 2022Sol de América Celso AyalaResigned2 July 20227th Pablo Guiñazú2 July 2022Torneo ClausuraTacuary Humberto OvelarSacked5 July 2022Pre-tournament Iván Almeida5 July 2022General Caballero (JLM) Luciano Theiler8 August 20228th Gustavo Florentín8 August 202212 de Octubre Robert Pereira21 August 202212th Héctor Marecos21 August 2022Resistencia Roberto Torres11 September 20228th Mario Jara11 September 2022General Caballero (JLM) Gustavo FlorentínResigned16 September 202211th Humberto Ovelar17 September 2022Sportivo Ameliano Humberto GarcíaSacked18 September 20228th Juan Pablo Pumpido18 September 2022Tacuary Iván Almeida12 October 20228th Robert Pereira12 October 2022Sol de América Pablo Guiñazú9 November 202210th Alfredo Vera9 November 2022 Notes
Torneo Apertura The Campeonato de Apertura, named "Homenaje a Luis Alberto Pettengill Castillo", was the 125th official championship of the Primera División and the first championship of the 2022 season. It started on 4 February and ended on 3 July.
Standings
Results
Top scorers Rank Name Club Goals 1 Fernando FernándezGuaraní 13 2 Facundo BrueraNacional 12 3 Julio César EncisoLibertad 11 4 Junior MarabelGeneral Caballero (JLM) 8 Robert MoralesCerro Porteño Alfio OviedoCerro Porteño Guillermo PaivaOlimpia 8 Walter GonzálezOlimpia 7 Roque Santa CruzLibertad Alejandro SilvaOlimpia
Source: Soccerway
Torneo Clausura The Campeonato de Clausura, named "Homenaje to Alexandro Arce Añazco", was the 126th official championship of the Primera División and the second championship of the 2022 season. It began on 14 July and ended on 13 November.
Standings
Results
Top scorers Rank Name Club Goals 1 Derlis GonzálezOlimpia 12 Lorenzo MelgarejoLibertad 3 Óscar CardozoLibertad 11 4 Fernando FernándezGuaraní 8 Danilo SantacruzNacional Nildo VieraGuaireña 7 Ronaldo MartínezResistencia 7 8 Alex ArceSportivo Ameliano 6 Facundo BrueraNacional Brian MontenegroOlimpia
Source: Soccerway
Aggregate table
Relegation Relegation was 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 2020Pts 2021Pts 2022Pts TotalPts TotalPld Avg Relegation 1 Cerro Porteño 69 66 98 233 113 2 Libertad 62 65 91 218 113 3 Olimpia 62 51 92 205 113 4 Guaraní 59 61 55 175 113 5 Nacional 44 50 71 165 113 6 Tacuary — — 53 53 44 7 Guaireña 41 44 50 135 113 8 — — 51 51 44 9 Resistencia — — 49 49 44 10 Sportivo Ameliano — — 48 48 44 11 Sol de América (R) 35 42 46 123 113 12 12 de Octubre (R) 41 43 29 113 113 Source: APF
Season awards On 14 November 2022 a ceremony was held at the Sheraton Hotel in Asunción to announce the winners of the season awards (Premios de Primera), who were chosen based on voting by the managers of the 12 Primera División teams, local sports journalists, the APF's Referee Commission, the public as well as official statistics.
AwardWinnerClubBest Player Derlis GonzálezOlimpiaRevelation Player Diego GómezLibertadPeople's Player Derlis GonzálezOlimpiaBest Goal Richard Ortiz()OlimpiaBest Goalkeeper Jean Paulo FernandesCerro PorteñoBest Manager Julio César CáceresOlimpiaBest RefereeÉber AquinoBest VAR RefereeFernando LópezTop Scorer Fernando Fernández ()GuaraníFair Play TeamGuaraníMost Minutes played by U-19sLibertad ()
See also 2022 Copa Paraguay 2022 Paraguayan División Intermedia
References
External links APF's official website