The 2020 Categoría Primera A season (officially known as the 2020 Liga BetPlay Dimayor season for sponsorship reasons) was the 73rd season of the
Categoría Primera A
The Categoría Primera A (), commonly referred to as Liga BetPlay Dimayor (between 2015 and 2019 ''Liga Águila'') due to sponsorship by online betting company BetPlay, is a Colombian professional league for association football clubs. It is the ...
,
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 top-flight football league. The season began on 23 January
and concluded on 29 December 2020.
América de Cali
América de Cali S. A., best known as América de Cali or América, is a Colombian professional football club based in Cali. It competes in the Categoría Primera A, the top-flight league of Colombian football. The team plays its home games at ...
entered the season as defending champions having won the
2019 Finalización tournament, and managed to defend their title by beating
Santa Fe 3–2 on aggregate in the finals, winning their fifteenth domestic league championship.
The competition was suspended from 13 March to 12 September due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
.
Format
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the league season was planned to be played as follows:
* Two tournaments per year, with three stages each. The first stage would be 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.
* Due to the
2020 Copa América scheduled to be held in the country from mid-June to mid-July, and in order to conclude the ''Torneo Apertura'' on 24 May, the second stage for this tournament would be a knockout round contested by the top four teams at the end of the first stage, with the best-placed team at the end of the first stage facing the fourth-best placed team and the second-best placed team playing the third-best placed one in a double-legged series. The ''Torneo Finalización'' would feature the semifinal stage
as it was played during the previous season.
* The finals in both tournaments would be contested by the winners of each semifinal tie or group, playing a double-legged series for the championship.
* The distribution of international qualification berths as well as the relegation system would not change.
[
On 25 July 2020, DIMAYOR's General Assembly decided to continue playing the ''Torneo Apertura'' as the only tournament to be held in the season, with the semifinal stage originally planned for the ''Torneo Finalización''. The allocation of international qualification berths was also altered, with the Copa Libertadores berth originally allocated to the Finalización winners going to the league runners-up, and the fourth Copa Sudamericana berth going to the winner of a play-off involving the aggregate table fourth best team not qualified for the Copa Libertadores and the 12 teams that fail to qualify for the semifinal stage.][ Further format changes were confirmed on 13 August 2020, with DIMAYOR's General Assembly deciding to suspend relegation for this season and postpone it until the end of the first semester of 2021, in order to ensure teams could be able to play the same amount of matches as originally scheduled before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.]
On 9 September 2020, DIMAYOR confirmed the format to be used for the remainder of the season, with the single round-robin stage started in the ''Torneo Apertura'' being resumed and played as planned and eight teams advancing out of the first stage. The semifinal stage was ultimately replaced by double-legged knockout series to decide the league champions, whilst the 12 teams that failed to qualify for the knockout stage would be sorted into three groups of four teams, with the group winners and the best group runners-up advancing to a single-legged semifinal stage and the winners of those semifinals facing each other in a single-legged final, with its winner playing against the aggregate table fourth-best placed team not qualified for the 2021 Copa Libertadores for the ''Colombia 4'' berth to the 2021 Copa Sudamericana
The 2021 Copa CONMEBOL Sudamericana was the 20th 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.
Starting ...
.
Teams
20 teams took part, eighteen of them returning from last season plus Deportivo Pereira
Deportivo Pereira is a professional Colombian football team based in Pereira, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. They play their home games at the Hernán Ramírez Villegas stadium.
History Early years
While there are several ...
and 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 ...
, who were promoted from the 2019 Primera B. Both promoted teams replaced Unión Magdalena
Unión Magdalena () commonly known as El Unión, and nicknamed as El Ciclón Bananero (The Banana Cyclone) and also Los Samarios (The Samarios), is a Colombian football club from the city of Santa Marta, capital of the department of Magdalena, ...
and 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' ...
who were relegated at the end of the previous season by having finished as the bottom two teams of the relegation table.
Stadia and locations
Managerial changes
Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
On 13 March 2020, after a meeting with its member clubs, DIMAYOR announced the temporary suspension of the tournament, along with the Primera B and Copa Colombia
The Copa Colombia ( en, Colombia Cup, link=yes); officially known as Copa BetPlay Dimayor is an annual football tournament in Colombia. It is contested by the 36 professional clubs of DIMAYOR and is the nation's domestic cup competition, equiva ...
ones, due to the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
.
On 29 June, and after an Assembly of its member clubs, DIMAYOR presented a timetable for the implementation of the biosecurity protocol to resume its competitions, with COVID-19 testing for players and staff members of every club scheduled to be held from 10 to 15 July, and individual training resuming the following day. The resumption of collective training sessions, scheduled for 20 August, would be subject to government approval. According to said timetable, the league was scheduled to resume on 27 August, pending the fulfillment of the previous stages as well as final approval by the Colombian government. On 25 July, it was announced that the competition would resume on 30 August with alterations in its format, and pending government approval. With the Ministry of Health authorizing stages 4 and 5 of the biosecurity protocol (collective trainings and competition, respectively) on 20 August, and due to some adjustments to the protocol requested by DIMAYOR, that date of resumption had to be pushed back for at least two weeks, to mid-September.
On 31 August, the Ministry of Health issued the resolution that approved the adjusted protocol and greenlit the start of collective training sessions for 1 September, while President of DIMAYOR Fernando Jaramillo confirmed that the tournament would resume on 19 September, with the postponed matches Deportivo Cali
Asociación Deportivo Cali, best known as Deportivo Cali, is a Colombian sports club based in Cali, most notable for its football team, which currently competes in the Categoría Primera A.
Deportivo Cali is one of the most successful footba ...
vs. Millonarios
Millonarios Fútbol Club is a professional Colombian football team based in Bogotá, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. They play their home games at the El Campín stadium.
Millonarios was initially created in 1937 by students f ...
and Deportivo Pasto
Asociación Deportivo Pasto, also known as Deportivo Pasto, is a Colombian professional football team based in the city of Pasto, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. They play their home games at the Estadio Departamental Libertad. D ...
vs. Deportes Tolima
Club Deportes Tolima S.A., commonly known as Deportes Tolima, or simply as Tolima, is a Colombian professional football club based in Ibagué, Tolima Department that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A.
Founded in 1954, the club has wo ...
to be played on 13 and 14 September, respectively. On 3 September, DIMAYOR confirmed that the league would resume on 12 September 2020, with the postponed matches as it was planned, while the rest of clubs were notified that the ninth round of the competition would be played in the weekend of 19–20 September, with a meeting to confirm the competition format to be held on 9 September.
On 18 September, the match Atlético Nacional
Atlético Nacional S. A., best known as Atlético Nacional, is a Colombian professional association football, football club based in Medellín. The club is one of only three clubs to have played in every first division tournament in the countr ...
vs. Deportes Tolima
Club Deportes Tolima S.A., commonly known as Deportes Tolima, or simply as Tolima, is a Colombian professional football club based in Ibagué, Tolima Department that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A.
Founded in 1954, the club has wo ...
was suspended by DIMAYOR on advice from representatives from the Ministry of Health following the confirmation of positive COVID-19 cases in the latter team and despite having authorized the team's trip to Medellín to play the match. The match was scheduled to be played in the evening of that same day, and was eventually rescheduled for 30 September.
First stage
Standings
Results
Knockout stage
Bracket
Quarter-finals
First leg
Second leg
Semi-finals
First leg
Second leg
Finals
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''América de Cali won 3–2 on aggregate.''
Liguilla
Group stage
The 12 teams that failed to qualify for the knockout stages were split into three groups of four teams according to geographical criteria and played each one of their rivals once in a single round-robin tournament, with the two highest-placed teams from the first stage in each group playing two matches at home. The three group winners and the best group runners-up advanced to the semi-finals.
The fixture for the Liguilla group stage was unveiled by DIMAYOR on 23 November. Due to the liquidation of Cúcuta Deportivo
Cúcuta Deportivo Fútbol Club S. A. is a professional Colombian football club based in Cúcuta, which plays in the Categoria Primera B.
The club was officially founded on 10 September 1924, and its first appearance in a professional league wa ...
, DIMAYOR decided to exclude that club from the competition and the Liguilla was played by 11 teams as a result, with one of the groups being comprised by three teams only.
Group A
Group B
Group C
Ranking of group runners-up
The best team among the three group runners-up qualified for the Liguilla semi-finals.
Semi-finals
The teams with the best performance after the first stage and the Liguilla group stage hosted the match.
----
Final
The team with the best performance after the first stage and the previous stages of the Liguilla hosted the match.
Aggregate table
Copa Sudamericana play-off
The Liguilla winners played the aggregate table fourth best team not qualified for the 2021 Copa Libertadores in a single match for the ''Colombia 4'' berth in the 2021 Copa Sudamericana. The match was hosted by the aggregate table fourth best team not qualified for the Copa Libertadores.
Top goalscorers
Source
Soccerway
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Relegation
A separate table is kept to determine the teams that get relegated to 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 ...
for the next season. This table is elaborated from a sum of all first stage games played for the current season and the previous two seasons. For purposes of elaborating the table, promoted teams are given the same point and goal tallies as the team in the 18th position at the start of the season.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, no teams were relegated at the end of this season, with relegation being postponed until the end of the first semester of 2021 in order to ensure teams could be able to play the same amount of matches as originally scheduled.[
Source]
Dimayor
br />Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd goals scored; 4th away goals scored.
Awards
Team of the year
See also
* 2020 Categoría Primera B season
* 2020 Copa Colombia
References
External links
Dimayor's official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:2020 Categoria Primera A season
Categoría Primera A seasons
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 ...
1
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 ...