The 2023 Categoría Primera B season (officially known as the 2023 Torneo BetPlay Dimayor season for sponsorship reasons) is the 34th season of the

Categoría Primera B Categoría Primera B, commonly referred to as Torneo BetPlay Dimayor due to sponsorship by online betting company BetPlay (formerly ''Torneo Águila''), is the second-division football league in Colombia. Format DIMAYOR has applied a new forma ...

since its founding as

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

's second division football league. The season began on 2 February and is scheduled to end on 9 December 2023.

Format

The format for the 2023 Primera B season was approved at DIMAYOR's General Assembly session of 14 December 2022 and confirmed on 12 January 2023, keeping the system used in the previous season. Two tournaments (''Torneo I'' and ''Torneo II'') with three stages each will be played. In the first stage of both tournaments, the 16 teams will play a single round-robin tournament with an additional matchday for regional derbies and home-and-away order reversed for the ''Torneo II''. The top eight teams at the end of the sixteen rounds will advance to the semi-final stage, in which teams will be drawn into two groups of four where they will play each one of their rivals twice. The top team of each group will advance to the finals, playing a double-legged series with the winners advancing to the season's Grand Final. The Grand Final to decide the season champions as well as the first promotion to Primera A, will be a double-legged series contested at the end of the season by the winners of the season's two tournaments. If one team wins both of the season's tournaments, the Grand Final will not be played and that team will be automatically crowned Primera B champions and promoted to the top flight. The second promotion spot to Primera A for the 2024 season will be decided in a promotion play-off between the Grand Final loser and the best-placed team of the season's aggregate table, other than the Grand Final winners.

Teams

16 teams take part in the season. The previous season's champions

Boyacá Chicó Boyacá is the name of a region in Colombia. It may refer to other connections to Colombia: * Battle of Boyacá * Boyacá Department (Gran Colombia) * Boyacá Department ** Boyacá, Boyacá, a municipality * Boyacá State, a former state * P ...

and the winners of the promotion play-off series

Atlético Huila Atlético Huila is a professional Colombian football team based in Neiva, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera B. The club was founded on November 29, 1990, making it one of the youngest professional football clubs in Colombia. The club' ...

were promoted to Primera A for the 2023 season and were replaced in Primera B by Patriotas and

Cortuluá Cortuluá, officially named Cortuluá Fútbol Club S. A. and previously known as Corporación Club Deportivo Tuluá, is a Colombian football club from the municipality of Tuluá in the Valle del Cauca. It was founded in 1967 and plays in the Cate ...

, who were relegated from Primera A at the end of the 2022 season after finishing in the bottom two places of the top tier's relegation table. On 14 December 2022 the General Assembly of DIMAYOR approved a proposal by Cortuluá to move their home matches from

Tuluá Tuluá (), is a city located in the heart of Valle del Cauca, Colombia. A major industrial and commercial center, it is the region's fourth-largest city after Cali—the department capital— Buenaventura and Palmira. Founded around 1741 by Ju ...

Yumbo Yumbo is a small, industrial city and municipality in western Colombia. It is located in the Valle del Cauca Department, just north of Cali. In 2019, it had a population of approximately 130,000 inhabitants. History Modern Yumbo was founded in ...

, Valle del Cauca Department, starting from this season. On 22 June 2023, and motivated by the lack of support from both the government and local private enterprises, the board of Valledupar voted 4–1 to move the club to Soacha and rebrand it, effectively folding the existing club. The move as well as the new club that will replace Valledupar for the second half of the season are set to be confirmed at a General Assembly of DIMAYOR scheduled for 6 July 2023.

Torneo I

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 final.

Format

Teams

Torneo I

First stage

Standings

Results

Semi-finals

Group A

Group B

Finals

Top scorers

Aggregate table

See also

References

External links