The 2022 FBF División Profesional, known as the 2022 Copa Tigo for sponsorship reasons, was the 45th season of the División Profesional del Fútbol Boliviano, Bolivia's top-flight football league and the fifth season under División de Fútbol Profesional management. The season began on 4 February and was scheduled to end on 13 November 2022.
In the Torneo Apertura, Bolívar won their thirtieth league title and twenty-fourth in the professional era, by defeating crosstown rivals The Strongest in the final match played on 12 June by a 3–0 score. On the other hand, the Torneo Clausura was abandoned on 10 November 2022 with 24 out of 30 rounds played and no champion was declared due to civil unrest in the Santa Cruz Department. Independiente Petrolero were the defending champions, having won the 2021 tournament.
Format The format for the 2022 season was approved by the 16 División Profesional clubs on 21 December 2021. The league returned to the Apertura and Clausura format after the year-long tournament held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Torneo Apertura, which was played from 6 February to 12 June, had a first stage with the 16 participating clubs divided into two groups of eight, from which the top four clubs of each group advanced to a knockout stage in which the champions were decided. Meanwhile, the Torneo Clausura, played from 1 July to 10 November, was played under a double round-robin format.
The distribution of international berths was confirmed on 11 January 2022. The champions of both tournaments, as well as the Torneo Clausura runners-up and the best placed team in the aggregate table would qualify for the 2023 Copa Libertadores, while the Torneo Apertura runners-up, the Copa Bolivia champions, and the next two best placed teams in the aggregate table would qualify for the 2023 Copa Sudamericana.
Teams 16 teams competed in the league for the 2022 season, 14 of which took part in 2021. The 2021 Copa Simón Bolívar champions Universitario de Vinto and the winners of the promotion/relegation play-off Universitario de Sucre, were both promoted for this season. The former competed in the top tier for the first time ever, while the latter returned after a 3-year absence. The promoted teams replaced Real Potosí and San José, who were relegated at the end of the previous season.
Stadia and locations
TeamManagerCityStadiumCapacityAlways Ready Óscar Villegas (caretaker)El AltoMunicipal de Villa Ingenio25,000Atlético Palmaflor Denys Heredia (caretaker)QuillacolloMunicipal de Quillacollo6,000Aurora Roberto PérezCochabambaFélix Capriles32,000Blooming Víctor Hugo AnteloSanta CruzRamón Tahuichi Aguilera38,000Bolívar Antônio Carlos ZagoLa PazHernando Siles42,000Guabirá Mauricio SoriaMonteroGilberto Parada13,000Independiente Petrolero Rodrigo VenegasSucreOlímpico Patria30,700Jorge Wilstermann Alberto IllanesCochabambaFélix Capriles32,000Nacional Potosí Flavio RobattoPotosíVíctor Agustín Ugarte32,105Oriente Petrolero Erwin SánchezSanta CruzRamón Tahuichi Aguilera38,000Real Santa Cruz Andrés MarinangeliSanta CruzReal Santa Cruz14,000Real Tomayapo Richard RojasTarijaIV Centenario15,000Royal Pari Luis Marín Camacho (caretaker)Santa CruzRamón Tahuichi Aguilera38,000The Strongest Claudio BiaggioLa PazHernando Siles42,000Universitario de Sucre Francisco ArgüelloSucreOlímpico Patria30,700Universitario de Vinto Pablo GodoyVintoMunicipal de Quillacollo6,000
Managerial changes TeamOutgoing managerManner of departureDate of vacancyPosition in tableIncoming managerDate of appointmentTorneo AperturaNacional Potosí Roberto MancillaEnd of caretaker spell10 December 2021Pre-season Flavio Robatto14 December 2021Real Tomayapo Álvaro PeñaEnd of contract11 December 2021 Víctor Hugo Andrada21 December 2021Jorge Wilstermann Sergio MigliaccioReturn to goalkeeping coach post11 December 2021 Miguel Ponce13 December 2021Real Santa Cruz David PerdigueroEnd of contract31 December 2021 Daniel Farrar11 January 2022Always Ready Pablo GodoyDemoted to reserve squad29 January 2022 Sebastián Abreu29 January 2022Aurora Sergio ZeballosResigned19 February 20228th, Serie A Francisco Argüello21 February 2022Royal Pari Miguel Ángel PortugalSacked27 February 20228th, Serie B Julio César Baldivieso28 February 2022Always Ready Sebastián AbreuMutual agreement1 March 20226th, Serie B Eduardo Villegas2 March 2022Guabirá Víctor Hugo Antelo11 March 20228th, Serie A Mauricio Soria12 March 2022Real Santa Cruz Daniel FarrarSacked12 March 20227th, Serie A Andrés Marinangeli16 March 2022Jorge Wilstermann Miguel Ponce14 April 20226th, Serie B Sergio Migliaccio15 April 2022Universitario de Sucre Jhonny Serrudo1 May 20226th, Serie A Adrián Romero2 May 2022Universitario de Vinto Marcelo ClarosEnd of contract25 May 20225th, Serie B David Perdiguero28 May 2022Real Tomayapo Víctor Hugo AndradaResigned30 May 20228th, Serie B Richard Rojas2 June 2022Always Ready Eduardo VillegasSacked2 June 2022Quarter-finals Julio César Baldivieso7 June 2022Royal Pari Julio César Baldivieso2 June 2022Quarter-finals Luis García6 June 2022Jorge Wilstermann Sergio MigliaccioEnd of caretaker spell7 June 20226th, Serie B Álvaro Peña7 June 2022Torneo ClausuraThe Strongest Christian DíazSacked12 July 202211th Claudio Biaggio15 July 2022Universitario de Sucre Adrián RomeroMutual agreement25 July 202215th Álvaro Villarroel25 July 2022Royal Pari Luis GarcíaSacked28 July 20226th Víctor Hugo Andrada29 July 2022Universitario de Sucre Álvaro VillarroelEnd of caretaker spell1 August 202215th Sebastián Núñez1 August 2022Jorge Wilstermann Álvaro PeñaSacked4 August 202210th Sergio Migliaccio4 August 2022 Sergio MigliaccioEnd of caretaker spell8 August 202212th Alberto Illanes8 August 2022Blooming Rodrigo VenegasResigned10 August 202210th Néstor Clausen12 August 2022Universitario de Vinto David PerdigueroSacked15 August 202216th Pablo Godoy15 August 2022Blooming Néstor ClausenResigned22 August 202213th Víctor Hugo Antelo22 August 2022Independiente Petrolero Marcelo Robledo6 September 202210th Rodrigo Venegas9 September 2022Royal Pari Víctor Hugo Andrada12 September 202215th Luis Marín Camacho12 September 2022Aurora Francisco Argüello13 September 20227th Christian Vargas13 September 2022Always Ready Julio César BaldiviesoSacked17 September 20223rd Óscar Villegas21 September 2022Aurora Christian VargasEnd of caretaker spell15 October 20227th Roberto Pérez15 October 2022Atlético Palmaflor Humberto VivianiSacked22 October 20229th Denys Heredia27 October 2022Universitario de Sucre Sebastián NúñezMutual agreement3 November 202215th Francisco Argüello3 November 2022 Notes
Torneo Apertura First stage Standings Serie A
Serie B
Results
Knockout stage Bracket
Quarter-finals
First leg
Second leg
Semi-finals
First leg
Second leg
Final
Top scorers Rank Name Club Goals 1 ChicoBolívar 10 2 Bruno MirandaBolívar 9 Facundo SuárezOriente Petrolero 4 Andrés ChávezJorge Wilstermann 8 5 Gilbert ÁlvarezRoyal Pari 7 Bruno SávioBolívar Wesley da SilvaAtlético Palmaflor Hugo DorregoOriente Petrolero Tommy TobarNacional Potosí 10 Joel AmorosoRoyal Pari 6 Mario BarberyNacional Potosí RafinhaBlooming
Source: Soccerway
Torneo Clausura The Torneo Clausura, which was originally scheduled to begin on 24 June, had its start date pushed back to 1 July due to technical issues for the implementation of VAR. The tournament was scheduled to end on 13 November 2022, but it was suspended on 21 October with six rounds to go due to civil unrest in the Santa Cruz Department and officially abandoned on 10 November 2022 in a meeting of the División Profesional's Higher Council. As a result, no champion nor runner-up were declared.
Standings
Results
Top scorers Rank Name Club Goals 1 Marcos RiquelmeAlways Ready 19 2 Tommy TobarNacional Potosí 15 3 Jonatan CristaldoIndependiente Petrolero 12 Dorny RomeroReal Santa Cruz 5 ChicoBolívar 11 6 Enrique TriverioThe Strongest 10 7 Martín ProstThe Strongest 9 8 Marcos OvejeroUniversitario de Sucre 8 Facundo SuárezOriente Petrolero
Source: Soccerway
Aggregate table Due to the abandonment of the Torneo Clausura, the berths for international tournaments for the following season were awarded through aggregate table placement. In addition to this, the División Profesional's Higher Council decided that the bottom-placed team in this table at the moment the Clausura tournament was abandoned would play the relegation play-off and no teams would be directly relegated to the Bolivian Football Regional Leagues.
Promotion/relegation play-off The relegation play-off was played by: Universitario de Sucre (2022 División Profesional aggregate table 16th place) Libertad Gran Mamoré (2022 Copa Simón Bolívar runners-up)
The winners will play in the top flight for the 2023 season.
Libertad Gran Mamoré won 6–0 on aggregate and were promoted to the Bolivian Primera División. Universitario de Sucre were relegated to the Chuquisaca Football Association Championship.
See also 2022 Copa Bolivia
References
External links División Profesional on the FBF's official website