The 2022 Categoría Primera A season (officially known as the 2022 Liga BetPlay Dimayor season for sponsorship reasons) was the 75th season of the Categoría Primera A, Colombia's top-flight football league. The season began on 20 January and ended on 7 December 2022. Deportivo Cali were the defending champions, having won the 2021 Finalización tournament.
Two tournaments (Apertura and Finalización) were played in the season, each one of them being an independent championship. In the Torneo Apertura Atlético Nacional won their seventeenth league title, beating Deportes Tolima in the finals by a 4–3 aggregate score after winning the first leg in Medellín by a 3–1 score and losing the return leg in Ibagué by two goals to one, and in the Torneo Finalización Deportivo Pereira were the champions, winning their first league title after beating Independiente Medellín on penalties following a 1–1 draw on aggregate in the finals.
Format The competition format for this season was approved by the General Assembly of DIMAYOR on 17 December 2021:
Two tournaments (Apertura and Finalización) with three stages each were played in the season. The first stage of both tournaments was contested on a single round-robin basis, with each team playing the other teams once plus an additional match against a regional rival for a total of 20 games. The top eight teams advanced to the next stage. In the second stage, the eight qualified teams were drawn into two groups of four teams each where they played each other team in their group twice for a total of 6 games. Both group winners advanced to the finals. The finals in both tournaments were contested by the winners of each semi-final group, playing a double-legged series for the championship. Two teams were relegated to Categoría Primera B at the end of the season. The relegation table continued considering the performance of teams over three seasons but starting from this season, the teams promoted from Primera B were not given any records from other teams, meaning that relegation would be based on averages.
Teams 20 teams took part in the season, the top 18 teams from the relegation table of the previous tournament (2021 Finalización) as well as Cortuluá and Unión Magdalena, who were promoted from the second tournament of the 2021 Primera B season. The promoted teams replaced Deportes Quindío and Atlético Huila, the bottom two teams in the relegation table of the 2021 Finalización tournament.
Stadia and locations Team Manager City Stadium Capacity Águilas Doradas Leonel Álvarez Rionegro Alberto Grisales 14,000 Alianza Petrolera Hubert Bodhert Barrancabermeja Daniel Villa Zapata 10,400 América de Cali Alexandre Guimarães Cali Pascual Guerrero 33,130 Atlético Bucaramanga Jorge Ramoa (caretaker) Bucaramanga Alfonso López 28,000 Atlético Nacional Paulo Autuori Medellín Atanasio Girardot 40,043 Cortuluá Fernando Velasco Tuluá Doce de Octubre 16,000 Deportes Tolima Hernán Torres Ibagué Manuel Murillo Toro 28,100 Deportivo Cali Jorge Luis Pinto Palmira Deportivo Cali 44,000 Deportivo Pasto Flabio Torres Pasto Departamental Libertad 20,665 Deportivo Pereira Alejandro Restrepo Pereira Hernán Ramírez Villegas 30,297 Envigado Alberto Suárez Envigado Polideportivo Sur 11,000 Independiente Medellín David González Medellín Atanasio Girardot 40,043 Jaguares Alexis Márquez Montería Jaraguay 12,000 Junior Arturo Reyes Barranquilla Metropolitano Roberto Meléndez 49,692 La Equidad Alexis García Bogotá Metropolitano de Techo 8,000 Millonarios Alberto Gamero Bogotá Nemesio Camacho El Campín 36,343 Once Caldas Diego Corredor Manizales Palogrande 28,678 Patriotas Fabián Torres (caretaker) Tunja La Independencia 20,630 Santa Fe Alfredo Arias Bogotá Nemesio Camacho El Campín 36,343 Unión Magdalena Claudio Rodríguez Santa Marta Sierra Nevada 16,000
Managerial changes TeamOutgoing managerManner of departureDate of vacancyPosition in tableIncoming managerDate of appointmentTorneo AperturaÁguilas Doradas Johan FanoEnd of caretaker spell21 November 2021Pre-season Leonel Álvarez31 December 2021Santa Fe Grigori MéndezReturn to U-20 squad23 November 2021 Martín Cardetti25 November 2021Cortuluá Jaime de la PavaResigned16 December 2021 Manuel Suárez Jiménez3 January 2022Junior Arturo ReyesSacked17 December 2021 Juan Cruz Real20 December 2021Patriotas Juan David Niño7 February 202218th Arturo Boyacá10 February 2022Atlético Bucaramanga Néstor CraviottoResigned21 February 202217th Armando Osma24 February 2022Atlético Nacional Alejandro RestrepoMutual agreement28 February 20223rd Hernán Darío Herrera1 March 2022América de Cali Juan Carlos Osorio31 March 202215th Pompilio Páez31 March 2022 Pompilio PáezEnd of caretaker spell3 April 202212th Alexandre Guimarães6 April 2022Unión Magdalena Carlos SilvaDemoted12 April 202220th Claudio Rodríguez12 April 2022Santa Fe Martín CardettiMutual agreement25 April 202211th Grigori Méndez25 April 2022Cortuluá Manuel Suárez JiménezSacked2 May 202219th Fernando Velasco2 May 2022Jaguares César TorresMutual agreement14 May 202211th Grigori Méndez27 May 2022Deportivo Pereira Alexis MárquezResigned14 May 202214th Alejandro Restrepo20 May 2022Cortuluá Fernando VelascoEnd of caretaker spell14 May 202218th César Torres24 May 2022Patriotas Arturo BoyacáEnd of contract18 May 202217th José Eugenio Hernández6 June 2022Santa Fe Grigori MéndezEnd of caretaker spell19 May 202210th Alfredo Arias19 May 2022Independiente Medellín Julio ComesañaMutual agreement17 June 20222nd, Group B David González28 June 2022Torneo FinalizaciónDeportivo Cali Rafael DudamelMutual agreement1 July 2022Pre-tournament Mayer Candelo9 July 2022Atlético Nacional Hernán Darío HerreraReturn to youth categories6 September 20229th Pedro Sarmiento6 September 2022Junior Juan Cruz RealSacked11 September 202210th Julio Comesaña11 September 2022Jaguares Grigori MéndezResigned13 September 202216th Alexis Márquez13 September 2022Cortuluá César Torres18 September 202220th Fernando Velasco19 September 2022Deportivo Cali Mayer CandeloMutual agreement22 September 202220th Sergio Angulo22 September 2022Patriotas José Eugenio HernándezResigned30 September 202218th Fabián Torres1 October 2022Deportivo Cali Sergio AnguloEnd of caretaker spell2 October 202220th Jorge Luis Pinto1 October 2022Atlético Bucaramanga Armando OsmaSacked10 October 202213th Jorge Ramoa10 October 2022Atlético Nacional Pedro SarmientoEnd of caretaker spell13 October 20224th Paulo Autuori3 October 2022Junior Julio ComesañaSacked17 November 20224th, Group A Arturo Reyes18 November 2022 Notes
Torneo Apertura First stage Standings
Results
Semi-finals The eight teams that advanced to the semi-finals were drawn into two groups of four teams, with the top two teams from the first stage being seeded in each group. The two group winners advanced to the finals.
Group A
Group B
Finals
Atlético Nacional won 4–3 on aggregate.
Top scorers Rank Name Club Goals 1 Dayro MorenoAtlético Bucaramanga 13 2 Luis Carlos RuizCortuluá 11 3 Miguel BorjaJunior 10 Wilson MoreloSanta Fe Luciano PonsIndependiente Medellín 6 Leonardo CastroDeportivo Pereira 9 7 Jefferson DuqueAtlético Nacional 8 Duvier RiascosDeportivo Pasto 9 Pablo SabbagLa Equidad 7
Source: Soccerway
Torneo Finalización First stage Standings
Results
Semi-finals The eight teams that advanced to the semi-finals were drawn into two groups of four teams, with the top two teams from the first stage being seeded in each group. The two group winners advanced to the finals.
Group A
Group B
Finals
Tied 1–1 on aggregate, Deportivo Pereira won on penalties.
Top scorers Rank Name Club Goals 1 Leonardo CastroDeportivo Pereira 15 2 Marco PérezÁguilas Doradas 12 3 Diber CambindoIndependiente Medellín 11 Jefferson DuqueAtlético Nacional 5 Carlos BaccaJunior 9 Ricardo MárquezUnión Magdalena Wilson MoreloSanta Fe Dayro MorenoAtlético Bucaramanga 9 Ayron del ValleOnce Caldas 8 Andrey EstupiñánSanta Fe Jesús HernándezEnvigado Carlos RamírezDeportivo Pereira Pablo SabbagLa Equidad
Source: Soccerway
Aggregate table
Relegation A separate table was kept to determine the teams that are relegated to the Categoría Primera B for the next season. This table was elaborated from a sum of all first stage games played in the three most recent seasons (including the 2020, 2021–I, 2021–II, 2022–I, and 2022–II tournaments), with the points earned being averaged per match played. The bottom two teams of the relegation table at the end of the season were relegated to Categoría Primera B.
Team Relegation 1Atlético Nacional 35 76 66 57 40 17 98 177 2Millonarios 30 69 74 52 30 22 98 173 3Deportes Tolima 37 66 66 52 36 16 98 169 4Santa Fe 40 58 61 54 52 2 98 159 5Junior 33 62 63 54 40 14 98 158 6La Equidad 32 55 58 49 43 6 98 145 7América de Cali 33 58 54 41 36 5 98 145 8 20 52 67 55 44 11 98 139 9Atlético Bucaramanga 21 51 59 53 50 3 98 131 10Deportivo Cali 34 62 34 36 59 –23 98 130 11Águilas Doradas 31 39 58 40 41 –1 98 128 12Deportivo Pasto 34 39 54 40 43 –3 98 127 13Envigado 23 44 57 44 43 1 98 124 14Deportivo Pereira 18 51 55 47 47 0 98 124 15Once Caldas 29 37 56 39 36 3 98 122 16Jaguares 17 52 47 40 49 –9 98 116 17Alianza Petrolera 19 37 46 46 52 –6 98 102 18Unión Magdalena — — 40 31 56 –25 40 40 19Patriotas (R) 17 35 36 40 51 –11 98 88 20Cortuluá (R) — — 31 33 55 –22 40 31 Source: DimayorRules for classification: 1) average, 2) 2022 points, 3) goal difference, 4) goals scored, 5) away goals scored, 6) away goals against, 7) wins, 8) yellow cards, 9) red cards, 10) drawing of lots.
See also 2022 Categoría Primera B season 2022 Copa Colombia
References
External links Dimayor's official website