The 2020 Primera División season, officially Liga de Fútbol Profesional Venezolano or ''Liga FUTVE'', was the 39th professional season of the

Venezuelan Primera División The Primera División (; en, First Division), or Liga Venezolana (; en, Venezuelan League) is the top-flight professional football league of Venezuela. It was created in 1921 and turned professional in 1957. It is organized by the Federación V ...

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

's top-flight football league.

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

were the defending champions. The competition was suspended on 12 March 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 ...

, with all the results recorded until then voided on 15 May, and was reset starting from 14 October with a new format, ending on 15 December 2020.

Deportivo La Guaira Deportivo La Guaira (formerly known as Real Esppor) is a professional football club promoted to the Venezuelan league in 2009, based in La Guaira but playing its home games in Caracas at the Estadio Olímpico de la UCV. History Real Esppor Th ...

won their first league title, beating

Deportivo Táchira ''Deportivo'' (Spanish, 'sporting') may refer to: * Deportivo de La Coruña, commonly known as simply Deportivo, a Spanish football club * Déportivo, a French rock band * Deportivo (Mexicable), an aerial lift station in Ecatepec, Mexico * Deport ...

by a score of 2–0 in the final played at

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

Format changes

Original format

The league format changed for the 2020 season. No

Apertura and Clausura The ' and ' tournaments is a split season format for Spanish-speaking sports leagues. It is a relatively recent innovation for many Latin American football leagues in which the traditional association football season from August to May is div ...

tournaments would be held and the 20 teams would face each other in a home-and-away

round-robin tournament A round-robin tournament (or all-go-away-tournament) is a competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero ...

, for a total of 38 matches per team. The top eight teams of the first stage would advance to the semi-final stage, depending on eligibility requirements for CONMEBOL tournaments. The bottom two teams would be relegated. In the semi-final stage, the eight teams would be divided in two groups of four teams each, facing the other teams in their group twice. The two group winners would advance to the Serie Final to decide the league champions.

New format

Due to the

, the league was suspended on 12 March. On 15 May, the FVF announced the permanent suspension of the competition, with all first stage matches being voided. On 18 September, a new format was announced by the FVF and the Liga FUTVE, with the teams divided in two groups, playing each other twice. The group winners decided the league champions in a single match, and the next three teams of each group were awarded the remaining berths for CONMEBOL tournaments. Matches were played in Barinas,

Puerto Cabello Puerto Cabello () is a city on the north coast of Venezuela. It is located in Carabobo State, about 210 km west of Caracas. As of 2011, the city had a population of around 182,400. The city is home to the largest and busiest port in the coun ...

and

. Relegation was suspended until 2021. Due to the format change of the Copa Sudamericana, the play-offs to decide the order of berths for the tournament were not played.

Teams

On 24 January, Llaneros was administratively relegated to the

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

by FVF as ordered by

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

due to a lawsuit by former player Leonardo Ossa, whom the club failed to pay an outstanding debt. Llaneros played in the second tier during the 2020 season, therefore the league was contested by 19 teams.

Zulia Zulia State ( es, Estado Zulia, ; Wayuu: ''Mma’ipakat Suuria'') is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. The state capital is Maracaibo. As of the 2011 census, it has a population of 3,704,404, the largest population among Venezuela's states. It ...

and

LALA Lala may refer to: Geography * Lala language (disambiguation) Places * Lala (Naples Metro), an underground metro station in Naples, Italy * Lala, Assam, a town in Assam, India * Lala, Ilam, a village in Ilam Province, Iran * Lala, Lanao del No ...

withdrew from the competition on 7 September due to safety concerns caused by the pandemic.

Stadia and locations

Managerial changes

Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic

Due to the

, on 12 March the Liga FUTVE announced the suspension of the seventh round of matches, scheduled for the weekend of 14–15 March. That same day, the FVF announced the suspension of every footballing activity in the country. On 15 March, the Liga FUTVE cancelled a meeting originally scheduled for 18 March and also confirmed the indefinite suspension of the Primera División tournament. On 15 May, and after an emergency meeting held the previous day via video conference, the FVF announced the "permanent suspension" of the Primera and Segunda División seasons due to the inability to resume play under the conditions initially stated in the league regulations, effectively voiding the standings and results of matches played up until the suspension of the season. At the same time, the Federation's Commission of Club Competitions was tasked with elaborating a new tournament with a format and regulations suited to the necessary conditions for its execution, considering the application of sporting merit, club licensing requirements, and medical protocols. That same day, the Liga FUTVE issued a statement in which it rejected the suspension and voiding of the results of the 2020 season by the FVF, stating that the decision was made without consulting the league nor the teams, which was deemed to be as "a disrespect as well as putting at risk the economic and sports stability" of sports institutions. In early June both the FVF and the Liga FUTVE presented, on their own, proposals to resume the competition. While the organization administering the league proposed to resume the tournament at the point at which it was suspended and play a single round-robin instead of a double round-robin as originally planned, with matches played only in the

Carabobo state , anthem = '' Himno del Estado Carabobo'' , image_map = Carabobo in Venezuela.svg , map_alt = , map_caption = Location within Venezuela , pushpin_map = , pushpin_map_ ...

, the governing body proposed to play a new tournament from scratch with the teams split into two groups according to geographical proximity. On 14 June, the Venezuelan government authorized clubs to resume their training sessions starting from 15 June under biosecurity protocols and announced that the organizers of the football league had to put together a plan along with the National Institute of Sport (IND) to establish the new schedule and dates for the competition. Activities were also restricted to the "Carabobo-

Yaracuy Yaracuy State ( es, link=no, Estado Yaracuy, ;) is one of the 23 states of Venezuela. It is bordered by Falcón in the north, in the west by Lara, in the south by Portuguesa and Cojedes and in the east by Cojedes and Carabobo. Its geography ...

axis" as those were two of the states with the lowest rates of infection for COVID-19. However, following a letter sent to the FVF by FIFA in which it confirmed that the power to organize the national football league rested in the national governing body, on 10 July the Liga FUTVE decided to withdraw their proposal to resume the competition, leaving the responsibility to organize the tournament on the FVF. On 7 September,

announced that they would not be taking part in the tournament, arguing that the adequate biosecurity conditions were not in place to resume activities. That same day,

also declined to take part due to the same issues raised by Zulia. The new format was announced on 18 September, with the group stage taking place in Barinas,

and

First stage

The first stage began on 30 January. Each team would play each other twice for 36 matchdays. It was scheduled to end on 25 October with the top eight teams advancing to the semi-finals and the bottom team being relegated. The first stage standings and matches up to the suspension of the league on 12 March were voided by the FVF on 15 May.

Standings

Results

Torneo de Normalización

Group stage

The 17 teams were drawn into two groups: one group of nine teams, hosted in

and

, and one group of eight teams, hosted in Barinas. The top teams in each group advanced to the Final to decide the league champions, the group runners-up decided their starting round in the Copa Libertadores qualifying stages, and the third and fourth placed teams qualified for the Copa Sudamericana. The draw was held on 18 September 2020.

Group A

Group A was played at La Bombonerita in

and

Estadio Misael Delgado Estadio Misael Delgado is a multi-use stadium in Valencia, Venezuela. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home stadium of Carabobo FC. The stadium holds 10,400 people (all seaters) and was reopened in 2001 (last remodel). ...

=Standings

=Results

Group B

Group B was played at

Estadio Agustín Tovar Estadio Agustín Tovar, also known as Estadio La Carolina, is a multi-purpose stadium in Barinas, Venezuela. It is currently used mostly for football matches and it is the home stadium of Zamora FC. The stadium holds 30,000 people and was compl ...

in Barinas.

=Standings

=Results

Third place play-off

The winner qualified for the Copa Libertadores second stage, while the loser qualified for the first stage of said competition.

Final

The final was a single match at a neutral venue, played on 15 December 2020. The winners were crowned as the league champions.

Aggregate table

Top goalscorers

Source
Liga FUTVE

References

External links

* of the

Venezuelan Football Federation The Venezuelan Football Federation ( es, link=no, Federación Venezolana de Fútbol or FVF) is the governing body of football in Venezuela. It was founded in 1925 and affiliated in 1952. It is a member of CONMEBOL as well as FIFA, and is in c ...

Liga FUTVE
{{2020 in South American football (CONMEBOL)

Venezuelan Primera División seasons 1