The 2023 Liga Profesional de Primera División season, also known as the Campeonato Uruguayo de Primera División 2023, was the 120th season of the Uruguayan Primera División, Uruguay's top-flight football league, and the 93rd in which it is professional. The season, which was named "100 años del Club Atlético Cerro", began on 4 February and ended on 16 December 2023.
Liverpool won their first league title at the end of the season, defeating Peñarol in the finals by a 3–0 aggregate score. Nacional were the defending champions.
Format On 19 October 2022, the Primera División clubs voted to keep the format used in the previous season for 2023, with single round-robin Apertura and Clausura tournaments, a Torneo Intermedio played between these tournaments with the 16 teams divided into two groups of eight, and a three-team championship playoff between the winners of the Apertura and Clausura tournaments and the best team in the season's aggregate table, which gets a bye to the finals. The League Council of the Uruguayan Football Association presented a proposal to switch the order of the Apertura and Intermedio tournaments, so that the Intermedio (rebranded as Torneo Inicial in the proposal) would be played at the beginning of the season followed by the Apertura tournament during the winter months. However, the clubs did not accept the proposal and the season will be played in a similar way to the previous ones.
Teams 16 teams competed in the season: the top thirteen teams in the relegation table of the 2022 season as well as three promoted teams from the Segunda División. The three lowest placed teams in the relegation table of the 2022 season, Albion, Rentistas, and Cerrito were relegated to the Segunda División for the 2023 season. They were replaced by the Segunda División champions Racing, runners-up La Luz, and the winners of the promotion play-offs Cerro.
Racing and Cerro returned to the top flight after three and two seasons, respectively, whilst La Luz played in the Primera División for the first time ever. On the other hand, Albion were relegated after one season, Cerrito were relegated after two seasons, and Rentistas returned to the second tier after three years.
Stadiums and locations
Club City Stadium Capacity Boston River Las Piedras Parque Artigas 6,148 Cerro Montevideo Luis Tróccoli 25,000 Cerro Largo Melo Antonio Ubilla 9,000 Danubio Montevideo Jardines del Hipódromo 18,000 Defensor Sporting Montevideo Luis Franzini 18,000 Deportivo Maldonado Maldonado Domingo Burgueño Miguel 22,000 Fénix Montevideo Parque Capurro 10,000 La Luz Montevideo Parque Palermo 6,500 Liverpool Montevideo Belvedere 10,000 Montevideo City Torque Montevideo Centenario 60,235 Montevideo Wanderers Montevideo Parque Alfredo Víctor Viera 11,000 Nacional Montevideo Gran Parque Central 34,000 Peñarol Montevideo Campeón del Siglo 40,700 Plaza Colonia Colonia Parque Juan Prandi 4,500 Racing Montevideo Osvaldo Roberto 8,500 River Plate Montevideo Parque Federico Omar Saroldi 6,000
Personnel and kits Team Manager Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor Boston River Alejandro Apud Kelme Asociación Española, Cotrans Cerro Damián Santín Identidad Cerro Médica Uruguaya Cerro Largo Juan Jacinto Rodríguez (caretaker) Matgeor Silveira Agronegocios Danubio Mario Saralegui Mgr Sport Defensor Sporting Marcelo Méndez Puma Médica Uruguaya Deportivo Maldonado Fabián Coito Joma Enjoy Punta del Este Fénix Leonel Rocco Mgr Sport Cousa La Luz Marcelo Russo Breus Médica Uruguaya Liverpool Jorge Bava Mgr Sport Puritas Montevideo City Torque Leonardo Ramos Puma Montevideo Wanderers Alejandro Cappuccio Umbro BYD Nacional Álvaro Recoba Umbro Antel Peñarol Diego Aguirre Puma Antel Plaza Colonia Sebastián Díaz Mgr Sport DGO, Intendencia de Colonia Racing Eduardo Espinel Macron DGO River Plate Ignacio Ithurralde Mgr Sport Macromercado
Managerial changes TeamOutgoing managerManner of departureDate of vacancyPosition in tableIncoming managerDate of appointmentTorneo AperturaMontevideo City Torque Lucas NardiEnd of caretaker spell21 October 2022Pre-season Ignacio Ithurralde21 November 2022Cerro Largo Mario SaraleguiEnd of contract22 October 2022 Eduardo Espinel10 November 2022Plaza Colonia Alejandro Cappuccio23 October 2022 Nicolás Vigneri5 January 2023Racing Damián SantínResigned27 October 2022 Gustavo Fermani16 November 2022Danubio Jorge FossatiEnd of contract4 November 2022 Esteban Conde14 November 2022Boston River Ignacio Ithurralde4 November 2022 Daniel Farías17 November 2022Deportivo Maldonado Francisco PalladinoSigned by Santiago Wanderers7 November 2022 Fabián Coito19 November 2022Peñarol Leonardo RamosSacked7 November 2022 Alfredo Arias25 November 2022Nacional Pablo RepettoEnd of contract31 December 2022 Ricardo Zielinski17 November 2022Fénix Ignacio Pallas31 December 2022 Damián Santín17 November 2022La Luz Julio FuentesMutual agreement17 February 202315th Federico Porto17 February 2023 Federico PortoEnd of caretaker spell20 February 202316th Ignacio Pallas20 February 2023Nacional Ricardo ZielinskiMutual agreement19 March 20233rd Álvaro Gutiérrez20 March 2023Boston River Daniel FaríasSacked3 April 202314th Alejandro Apud4 April 2023Fénix Damián Santín3 April 202316th Leonel Rocco4 April 2023Cerro Danielo NúñezMutual agreement4 April 202313th Gustavo Ferreyra5 April 2023Montevideo City Torque Ignacio IthurraldeSacked10 April 202311th Lucas Nardi11 April 2023Torneo IntermedioPlaza Colonia Nicolás VigneriMutual agreement17 May 2023Pre-tournament Adrián Fernández22 May 2023Peñarol Alfredo AriasSacked18 June 20238th, Serie A Juan Manuel Olivera19 June 2023 Juan Manuel OliveraEnd of caretaker spell26 June 2023 Darío Rodríguez26 June 2023Cerro Largo Eduardo EspinelResigned2 July 20237th, Serie B Ignacio Ordóñez3 July 2023La Luz Ignacio PallasSacked25 July 20238th, Serie A Marcelo Russo25 July 2023River Plate Gustavo DíazResigned27 July 20236th, Serie A Ignacio Ithurralde27 July 2023Torneo ClausuraDanubio Esteban CondeSacked26 August 202315th Mario Saralegui28 August 2023Plaza Colonia Adrián Fernández28 August 202314th Sebastián Díaz28 August 2023Montevideo City Torque Lucas NardiResigned12 September 20238th Leonardo Ramos13 September 2023Racing Gustavo FermaniReturn to the youth setup14 September 202313th Eduardo Espinel15 September 2023Cerro Gustavo FerreyraResigned2 October 202316th Damián Santín2 October 2023Nacional Álvaro GutiérrezMutual agreement20 October 20236th Álvaro Recoba20 October 2023Peñarol Darío RodríguezSacked15 November 20232nd Juan Manuel Olivera15 November 2023Montevideo Wanderers Sergio BlancoResigned15 November 202316th Alejandro Cappuccio17 November 2023Cerro Largo Ignacio OrdóñezSacked16 November 20238th Juan Jacinto Rodríguez 16 November 2023Peñarol Juan Manuel OliveraEnd of caretaker spell21 November 20233rd Diego Aguirre21 November 2023 Notes
Torneo Apertura The Torneo Apertura, named "Julio César Morales", was the first tournament of the 2023 season. It began on 4 February 2023 and ended on 15 May 2023.
Standings
Results
Torneo Intermedio The Torneo Intermedio, named "Omar Borrás", was the second tournament of the 2023 season, played between the Apertura and Clausura tournaments. It consists of two groups whose composition depends on the final standings of the Torneo Apertura: teams in odd-numbered positions play in Serie A, and teams in even-numbered positions play in Serie B. It started on 2 June and ended on 30 July, and the winners were granted a berth into the 2024 Copa Sudamericana and the 2024 Supercopa Uruguaya.
Serie A
Serie B
Torneo Intermedio Final
Torneo Clausura The Torneo Clausura, named "Señor José Emilio Fernández", was the third and last tournament of the 2023 season. It began on 18 August and ended on 8 December 2023.
Standings
Results
Aggregate table
Championship playoff
Semi-final
Finals
Liverpool won 3–0 on aggregate.
Top scorers {| class="wikitable" border="1" |- ! Rank ! Player ! Club ! Goals |- | align=center | 1 | Ignacio Ramírez |Nacional | align=center | 19 |- | align=center | 2 | Matías Arezo |Peñarol | align=center | 18 |- | align=center | 3 | Christian Ebere |Plaza Colonia | align=center | 17 |- | align=center | 4 | Rubén Bentancourt |Liverpool | align=center | 13 |- | align=center | 5 | Abel Hernández |Peñarol | align=center | 12 |- | align=center | 6 | Agustín Ocampo |Fénix | align=center | 11 |- | align=center | 7 | Nicolás Siri |Montevideo City Torque | align=center | 10 |- | rowspan=3 align=center | 8 | Guillermo May |Danubio | rowspan=3 align=center | 9 |- | Tiago Palacios |Montevideo City Torque |- | Nicolás Schiappacasse |La Luz
Source: AUF
Relegation Relegation is determined at the end of the season by computing an average of the number of points earned per game over the two most recent seasons: 2022 and 2023. The three teams with the lowest average at the end of the season were relegated to the Segunda División for the following season.
Team Relegation 1Liverpool 74 74 148 74 2Nacional 81 64 145 74 3Peñarol 59 69 128 74 4Defensor Sporting 58 60 118 74 5River Plate 60 48 108 74 6Deportivo Maldonado 63 43 106 74 7Danubio 56 48 104 74 8Boston River 62 41 103 74 9Montevideo Wanderers 51 50 101 74 10Racing — 50 50 37 11Cerro Largo 40 50 90 74 12Cerro — 43 43 37 13Fénix 49 37 86 74 14 36 45 81 74 15Plaza Colonia (R) 35 39 74 74 16La Luz (R) — 35 35 37
Season awards On 1 February 2024 the AUF announced the winners of the season awards, who were chosen by its Technical Staff based on voting by managers and captains of the 16 Primera División teams as well as a group of local sports journalists. 36 players were nominated for the Public's Player and Team of the Season awards according to their ratings and evaluations by the Technical Staff throughout the season.
AwardWinnerClubBest Player Federico PereiraLiverpoolPublic's Player Matías ArezoPeñarolYouth Talent Luciano RodríguezLiverpoolBest Manager Jorge BavaLiverpoolBest Goal Abel Hernández()PeñarolBest Save Sebastián Britos()LiverpoolBest Newcomer Mateo AntoniLiverpoolTop Scorer Ignacio Ramírez()NacionalLeast beaten goal in regular seasonDefensor Sporting()Most minutes on field Mauricio Silveira()Montevideo WanderersFair Play AwardDeportivo MaldonadoBest RefereeMathías de ArmasBest Assistant RefereeAgustín Berisso
Team of the SeasonGoalkeeperDefendersMidfieldersForwardsBench Sebastián Britos (Liverpool) Juan Pintado (Defensor Sporting) Federico Pereira (Liverpool) Juan Izquierdo (Liverpool) Miguel Samudio (Liverpool) Marcelo Meli (Liverpool) Sebastián Rodríguez (Peñarol) Alan Medina (Liverpool) Luciano Rodríguez (Liverpool) Ignacio Ramírez (Nacional) Matías Arezo (Peñarol) Mauro Goicoechea (Danubio) Mateo Antoni (Liverpool) Mauro Brasil (Cerro Largo) Nicolás Fonseca (Montevideo Wanderers) Tiago Palacios (Montevideo City Torque) Rubén Bentancourt (Liverpool) Thiago Vecino (Liverpool)
See also 2023 Uruguayan Segunda División season 2023 Copa Uruguay
References
External links Asociación Uruguaya de Fútbol - Campeonato Uruguayo