The 2018 Bolivian Primera División season was the 41st season of

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

's top-flight

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

league and the first season under División de Fútbol Profesional management. Bolívar were the defending champions, having won the 2017 Clausura tournament. In the Torneo Apertura,

Jorge Wilstermann Jorge Wilstermann (; 23 April 1910 – 17 January 1936) was the first Bolivian commercial pilot. The son of a mechanic who worked for Lloyd Aéreo Boliviano, Wilstermann took an interest in aviation, and became Bolivia's first civilian aviator. J ...

won their fourteenth league title, and seventh in the professional era, after beating

The Strongest Club The Strongest is a Bolivian professional football club based in La Paz, that currently plays in the Bolivian Primera División. Founded in 1908, their team colours are yellow and black. Although they have a home ground, Estadio Rafae ...

on penalties in the third and last match of the finals on 6 June, and

San José San José or San Jose (Spanish for Saint Joseph) most often refers to: *San Jose, California, United States *San José, Costa Rica, the nation's capital San José or San Jose may also refer to: Places Argentina * San José, Buenos Aires ** San ...

won their fourth league title in the Torneo Clausura on 19 December after tying with Royal Pari by a 1–1 score.

Format

Given that the league was expanded from 12 to 14 teams, the league format had a slight variation for this season. The ''Torneo Apertura'' was played in the first half of the year, with the 14 teams being split into two groups of seven teams each for the first stage, in which teams in each group played each other as well as a team from the other group (their derby rival) twice, for a total of 14 matches. The top four teams from each group qualified for the knockout stage, where they were sorted in four ties played on a home-and-away basis, with the four winners advancing to the semifinals and the winners of each semifinal advancing to the final of the tournament. The six teams that failed to qualify for the knockout stage played another separate knockout tournament for a berth to the

Copa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Sudamericana, named as ''Copa Sudamericana'' (; pt, Copa Sul-Americana ), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 2002. It is the second-most prestigious club competition in South American ...

. On the other hand, the ''Torneo Clausura'' was played in the second half of the year under a double round-robin system, with all teams playing each other twice for a total of 26 matches. International qualification was as follows: the champions and runners-up of each tournament qualified for the

2019 Copa Libertadores The 2019 Copa CONMEBOL Libertadores was the 60th edition of the CONMEBOL Libertadores (also referred to as the ''Copa Libertadores''), South America's premier club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL. Flamengo defeated defending champions ...

, while the third-placed team in each tournament, as well as the fourth-placed in the Clausura and the winners of the Apertura's secondary knockout tournament would qualify for the

2019 Copa Sudamericana The 2019 Copa CONMEBOL Sudamericana was the 18th edition of the CONMEBOL Sudamericana (also referred to as the ''Copa Sudamericana'', or pt, Copa Sul-Americana), South America's secondary club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL. Ecuadori ...

Teams

The number of teams for the 2018 season was increased by two, from twelve to fourteen. Aurora and Royal Pari were promoted to the top flight after winning the 2016–17 Copa Simón Bolívar and

2017 Copa Simón Bolívar Seventeen or 17 may refer to: *17 (number), the natural number following 16 and preceding 18 * one of the years 17 BC, AD 17, 1917, 2017 Literature Magazines * ''Seventeen'' (American magazine), an American magazine * ''Seventeen'' (Japanese ...

, respectively. Petrolero was relegated to the ATF Championship after losing the relegation playoff to Destroyers, the 2016–17 Copa Simón Bolívar runner-up. a: Aurora and Jorge Wilstermann played their Torneo Apertura home games at Estadio Capitán José Angulo in Sacaba due to the closure of

Estadio Félix Capriles The Estadio Sudamericano Félix Capriles is a multi-purpose stadium in Cochabamba, Bolivia. It is currently used mostly for football matches. The stadium has a maximum capacity of 32,000. It is the home stadium of Club Jorge Wilstermann and Cl ...

in preparation of the

2018 South American Games The 2018 South American Games was a multi-sport event that took place in Cochabamba, Bolivia. It was the 11th edition of the ODESUR South American Games. A total of 373 sporting events are scheduled to be contested across a variety of sports. B ...

. Aurora played its Torneo Apertura home match against Jorge Wilstermann at

Estadio Evo Morales A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

in Ivirgarzama.
b: Guabirá played six of their seven home games in the Torneo Apertura first stage at

Estadio Ramón Tahuichi Aguilera Estadio Ramón "Tahuichi" Aguilera Costas is a multi-purpose stadium in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. It is used mostly for football matches, on club level by Blooming, Oriente Petrolero, Destroyers, and Royal Pari. The stadium has a capacity of 38,000 ...

in Santa Cruz de la Sierra and Estadio Samuel Vaca in Warnes while their regular stadium Estadio Gilberto Parada underwent remodeling works.

Managerial changes

Torneo Apertura

The Torneo Apertura began on 27 January and ended on 6 June.

Standings

Serie A

Serie B

Results

Championship playoff

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Third place play-off

Finals

---- ----

Copa Sudamericana playoff

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Finals

Top goalscorers

Source
LFPB
/small>

Torneo Clausura

Standings

Results

Top goalscorers

Source
Soccerway
/small>

Aggregate table

The aggregate table was elaborated considering the results in the Torneo Apertura (only the first stage) and the Torneo Clausura. The bottom-placed team in this table at the end of the season was relegated, while the next lowest placed team played the relegation playoff. In addition to this, all international qualification berths left vacant at the end of the season were allocated through this table.

Relegation/promotion playoff

The relegation playoff was played between: * Destroyers ( 2018 División Profesional aggregate table 13th place) * Avilés Industrial (

2018 Copa Simón Bolívar Eighteen or 18 may refer to: * 18 (number), the natural number following 17 and preceding 19 * one of the years 18 BC, AD 18, 1918, 2018 Film, television and entertainment * ''18'' (film), a 1993 Taiwanese experimental film based on the short s ...

runners-up) The winners will play in the top flight for the 2019 season. ---- ''Destroyers won 6–0 on points.''

References

External links

Official website of the LFPB
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boliviano Season

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

2018 in South American football leagues 1 2018 in Bolivian sport