The 2006 Categoría Primera B season, officially known as the 2006 Copa Premier for sponsorship reasons, was the 17th season of Colombia's second tier football league

Categoría Primera B Categoría Primera B, commonly referred to as Torneo BetPlay Dimayor due to Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by online betting company BetPlay, is the second-division association football, football league in Colombia. The tournament was inaugura ...

since its founding. The competition began on 11 February and ended on 29 November 2006.

La Equidad Club Deportivo La Equidad, also known as La Equidad, is a professional Colombian football team based in Bogotá, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. They play their home games at the Metropolitano de Techo stadium. History La Equid ...

were the champions, winning both of the season's short tournaments to claim their first Primera B title as well as promotion to

Categoría Primera A The Categoría Primera A (), commonly referred to as Liga BetPlay Dimayor due to Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by online betting company BetPlay, is a professional association football league in Colombia and the highest level of the Colombian ...

Format

The season was divided into two tournaments: ''Torneo I'' and ''Torneo II''. In both tournaments, the 18 participating teams were drawn into two groups of nine teams each, with teams playing all teams in their group as well as one team from the other group twice. In ''Torneo I'', the groups were formed by geographical criteria, grouping nearby teams, while in the second tournament of the season, geographical rivals were assigned to different groups. The top two teams of each group advanced to a final group stage which was also played in a double round-robin fashion. The winners of both of the season's tournaments would face each other in the season's grand final, with the champion being promoted at the end of the season and the runner-up playing the promotion/relegation playoff, which was implemented starting from this season.

Teams

18 teams took part in the competition in this season. The 2005 Primera B champions

Cúcuta Deportivo Cúcuta Deportivo Fútbol Club S. A. (Spanish ), commonly referred to as Cúcuta Deportivo, is a professional Colombian football club from the city of Cúcuta. Founded on 10 September 1924, it is one of the oldest active football clubs in the co ...

, who were promoted to

, were replaced by

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 De ...

, relegated from the top flight in the previous season. Prior to the start of the season, Florida Soccer was sold and moved to

Montería Montería () is a municipality and city located in northern Colombia and the capital of the Departments of Colombia, Department of Córdoba Department, Córdoba. The city is located away from the Caribbean sea, by the Sinú River. The city and r ...

, becoming Córdoba F.C., Bello F.C. was renamed

Atlético Bello Atlético Bello is a Colombian soccer club, from the municipality of Bello, Antioquia north of Valle de Aburrá, it was founded in 1995 as "Atlético Bello" and refounded on January 1, 2015, as "Club Deportivo Atlético Bello", currently He plays ...

, and

Dépor F.C. Depor may refer to one or more football (soccer) teams named ''Deportivo'': * Depor F.C., Cali, Colombia * Deportivo Cali, Cali, Colombia * Deportivo Pasto, Pasto, Colombia * Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), comm ...

relocated from

Cartago, Valle del Cauca Cartago () is a city in southwestern Colombia, about west of Bogotá. It is in the extreme northern portion of the Valle del Cauca. It is located very close to the city of Pereira, Risaralda about a 20-minute drive. It is the sixth largest ...

Jamundí Jamundí is a town and municipality in the Departments of Colombia, Department of Valle del Cauca Department, Valle del Cauca, Colombia. Jamundí is located south of Cali (the capital of the department) in the west riverside of the Cauca River ...

, in the same department. ;Notes

Torneo I

First stage

Group A

Group B

Cuadrangular Final

Torneo II

First stage

Group A

Group B

Cuadrangular Final

Finals

The final series was canceled after

won the season's two short tournaments, promoting directly to

Runners-up playoff

Given the cancellation of the final series, a playoff series between

Valledupar Valledupar () is a city and municipality in northeastern Colombia. It is the capital of Cesar Department. Its name, ''Valle de Upar'' (Valley of Upar), was established in honor of the Amerindian cacique who ruled the valley; ''Cacique Upar''. The ...

and

Cortuluá Cortuluá, officially named Cortuluá Fútbol Club S. A. and previously known as Corporación Club Deportivo Tuluá for short, was a Colombian football club from Tuluá, Valle del Cauca Department. It was founded in 1967 and last played in Categ ...

, runners-up of the Torneo I and Torneo II, respectively, was played to decide the team that would advance to the promotion/relegation playoff. ---- ''Valledupar won 3–2 on aggregate and advanced to the promotion/relegation playoff.''

Promotion/relegation playoff

As the second worst team in the

2006 Categoría Primera A season The 2006 Categoría Primera A season is the 59th season of Colombia's top-flight football league. Campeonato Apertura The Copa Mustang I 2006 was the first tournament of the 2006 season of Fútbol Profesional Colombiano, first division in Colo ...

's relegation table,

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

had to play a two-legged tie against

, the runners-up playoff winner. Atlético Huila played the second leg at home as the Primera A team. The winner would be promoted or remain in Primera A for the 2007 season, while the loser would be relegated or remain in Primera B. ---- ''Atlético Huila won 3–0 on aggregate and both teams remained in their respective leagues.''

Top scorers

Source: Historia del Fútbol Profesional Colombiano 70 Años

References

External links

Official Site of Primera B (Spanish)

History of Primera B
{{DEFAULTSORT:2006 Categoria Primera B season Categoría Primera B seasons 2006 in Colombian football

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...