The 2021 División Intermedia season, named ''"Cincuentenario del Club Atlético 3 de Febrero y Homenaje al Lic. Miguel Ángel Cañete Alderete"'', was the 103rd season of the second-tier league of Paraguayan football and 24th under the Paraguayan División Intermedia name. The season began on 9 April and ended on 26 October 2021. The fixtures for the season were announced on 15 January 2021. The competition returned after a one-year hiatus as the 2020 seasons of the lower-tier club tournaments of Paraguayan football were cancelled by the Paraguayan Football Association due to the COVID-19 pandemic. General Caballero (JLM) won their first División Intermedia title with four matches to spare, following a 4–1 victory over Rubio Ñu on 27 September 2021.

Format

18 teams took part in the competition, which was played under a double round-robin system with teams playing each other twice, once at home and once away for a total of 34 matches. The top three teams at the end of the season were promoted to the Paraguayan Primera División for the 2022 season, with the champions also qualifying for the

2022 Copa Sudamericana The 2022 Copa CONMEBOL Sudamericana was the 21st edition of the Copa Sudamericana, CONMEBOL Sudamericana (also referred to as the ''Copa Sudamericana''), South America's secondary club association football, football tournament organized by CONMEBO ...

, while the fourth-placed team will play a play-off against the ninth-placed team of the Primera División relegation table for promotion to the top flight. The bottom three teams in the relegation table at the end of the season were relegated: teams located within 50 kilometres of Asunción were relegated to

Primera División B Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera, Venezuelan musician, compos ...

, while teams from outside Greater Asunción and the Central Department were relegated to Primera División B Nacional.

Teams

18 teams competed in the season: 11 teams from the previous División Intermedia season plus the four teams relegated from Primera División in its

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and

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

seasons (

Deportivo Capiatá Club Deportivo Capiatá, is a Paraguayan football club based in the city of Capiatá. The club was founded on September 8, 2008 and plays in the Third División of the Paraguayan league. Their home games are played at the Estadio Lic. Erico Ga ...

Deportivo Santaní Club Deportivo Santaní, is a Paraguayan football club based in the city of San Estanislao, locally known as ''Santaní''. The club was founded February 27, 2009 and plays in División Intermedia, the second division in the Paraguayan football ...

, General Díaz and

San Lorenzo San Lorenzo is the Italian and Spanish name for Lawrence of Rome, Saint Lawrence, the 3rd-century Christian martyr, and may refer to: Places Argentina * San Lorenzo, Santa Fe * San Lorenzo Department, Chaco * Monte San Lorenzo, a mountain on t ...

), the top two teams from the 2019 Primera División B ( Sportivo Ameliano and Tacuary) and the 2019 Primera División B Nacional champions Guaraní from Trinidad.

Pastoreo F.C. Pastoreo Fútbol Club, also known as Pastoreo FC or simply Pastoreo, is a Paraguayan association football, football club based in Doctor Juan Manuel Frutos, locally known as ''Pastoreo''. The club was founded in 2020 and plays in the Paraguayan ...

, who were entitled to enter this year's competition as 2019–20

Campeonato Nacional de Interligas The Campeonato Nacional de Interligas (Spanish for ''National Championship of Interleague'') is the biggest football event involving teams with combined players from different clubs of every regional leagues in Paraguay from all departments. The to ...

champions, had their debut postponed to 2022 per decision by the APF's Executive Committee, since Guaraní de Trinidad already held the berth reserved to the

Unión del Fútbol del Interior The Unión del Fútbol del Interior ( en, Football Union of the Interior) or UFI is an association affiliated to the Paraguayan Football Association that was founded in 1927 to organize and govern football outside of Asunción, specifically on ea ...

(UFI) for this season.

Stadia and locations

Standings

Results

Top scorers

Source
APF
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Promotion play-off

The fourth-placed team in the División Intermedia, Sportivo Ameliano, played a double-legged promotion play-off against Sportivo Luqueño, the ninth-placed team of the relegation table of the 2021 Primera División season. The winner was promoted to the 2022 Primera División. ---- ''Sportivo Ameliano won 4–3 on aggregate and were promoted to Primera División.''

Relegation

Relegation is determined at the end of the season by computing an average of the number of points earned per game over the past three seasons. The three teams with the lowest average were relegated to the

or Primera División B Nacional for the following season, depending on their geographical location. Source
APF

References

External links

División Intermedia on the APF's website
{{Paraguayan División Intermedia Paraguayan División Intermedia Par I