2020 Categoría Primera A season
The 2020 Categoría Primera A season is the 73rd season of the Categoría Primera A, Colombia's top-flight football league. The season began on 23 January and is scheduled to conclude on 17 December 2020. América de Cali entered the season as defending champions having won the 2019 Finalización tournament.
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 ones, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On 29 June, and after an Assembly of its member clubs, DIMAYOR presented a timetable for the implementation of the biosafety 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, will 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 confirmed that the competition would resume on 30 August 2020 with alterations in its format, and pending government approval.
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.
Teams
20 teams take part, eighteen of them returning from last season plus Deportivo Pereira and Boyacá Chicó, who were promoted from the 2019 Primera B. Both promoted teams replaced Unión Magdalena and Atlético Huila 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
| Team | Manager | City | Stadium | Capacity |
| Alianza Petrolera |  César Torres | Barrancabermeja | Daniel Villa Zapata | 10,400 |
| América de Cali |  Juan Cruz Real | Cali Armenia | Pascual Guerrero Centenario | 33,130 20,716 |
| Atlético Bucaramanga |  Guillermo Sanguinetti | Bucaramanga Barrancabermeja | Alfonso López Daniel Villa Zapata | 28,000 10,400 |
| Atlético Nacional | Juan Carlos Osorio | Medellín | Atanasio Girardot | 40,043 |
| Boyacá Chicó | Jhon Jaime Gómez | Tunja | La Independencia | 20,630 |
| Cúcuta Deportivo | Jorge Artigas | Cúcuta | General Santander | 42,901 |
| Deportes Tolima | Hernán Torres | Ibagué | Manuel Murillo Toro | 28,100 |
| Deportivo Cali | Alfredo Arias | Palmira | Deportivo Cali | 44,000 |
| Deportivo Pasto | Diego Corredor | Pasto | Departamental Libertad | 20,665 |
| Deportivo Pereira | Néstor Craviotto | Pereira | Hernán Ramírez Villegas | 30,297 |
| Envigado |  José Arastey | Envigado | Polideportivo Sur | 11,000 |
| Independiente Medellín |  Aldo Bobadilla | Medellín | Atanasio Girardot | 40,043 |
| Jaguares | Alberto Suárez | Montería | Jaraguay | 12,000 |
| Junior | Julio Comesaña | Barranquilla | Metropolitano Roberto Meléndez | 49,692 |
| La Equidad | Alexis García | Bogotá | Metropolitano de Techo Nemesio Camacho El Campín | 8,000 36,343 |
| Millonarios | Alberto Gamero | Bogotá | Nemesio Camacho El Campín | 36,343 |
| Once Caldas | Hubert Bodhert | Manizales | Palogrande | 28,678 |
| Patriotas | Nelson Gómez | Tunja | La Independencia | 20,630 |
| Rionegro Águilas |  Francesco Stifano | Rionegro | Alberto Grisales | 14,000 |
| Santa Fe | Harold Rivera | Bogotá | Nemesio Camacho El Campín | 36,343 |
Managerial changes
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
| La Equidad | Guillermo Rivera | End of caretaker spell | 29 October 2019 | Pre-season | Alexis García | 7 January 2020 |
| Millonarios | Jorge Luis Pinto | Resigned | 5 November 2019 | Pre-season | Alberto Gamero | 3 December 2019 |
| Atlético Bucaramanga | Sergio Novoa | End of caretaker spell | 5 November 2019 | Pre-season | José Manuel Rodríguez | 5 November 2019 |
| Rionegro Águilas | Flabio Torres | Sacked | 5 November 2019 | Pre-season | Francesco Stifano | 12 December 2019 |
| Cúcuta Deportivo | Guillermo Sanguinetti | End of contract | 27 November 2019 | Pre-season | Jairo Patiño | 5 January 2020 |
| Deportes Tolima | Alberto Gamero | Signed by Millonarios | 3 December 2019 | Pre-season | Hernán Torres | 6 December 2019 |
| Deportivo Pasto |  Octavio Zambrano | Sacked | 4 December 2019 | Pre-season | Diego Corredor | 4 December 2019 |
| Deportivo Cali | Lucas Pusineri | Mutual consent | 7 December 2019 | Pre-season | Alfredo Arias | 13 December 2019 |
| Atlético Bucaramanga | José Manuel Rodríguez | Sacked | 17 February 2020 | 20th | Jorge Amado Nunes | 17 February 2020 |
| Cúcuta Deportivo | Jairo Patiño | Sacked | 17 February 2020 | 16th | Jorge Artigas | 17 February 2020 |
| Atlético Bucaramanga | Jorge Amado Nunes | End of caretaker spell | 23 February 2020 | 17th | Guillermo Sanguinetti | 22 February 2020 |
| Jaguares | Juan Cruz Real | Resigned | 12 March 2020 | 16th | Alberto Suárez | 17 July 2020 |
| América de Cali |  Alexandre Guimarães | End of contract | 14 June 2020 | 8th | Juan Cruz Real | 13 July 2020 |
First stage
Standings
Results
Top goalscorers
| Rank | Name | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Michael Rangel | América de Cali | 5 |
| 1 | Diego Valdés | Santa Fe | 5 |
| 3 | Andrés Andrade | Atlético Nacional | 4 |
| 3 | Miguel Borja | Junior | 4 |
| 3 | Diomar Díaz | Jaguares | 4 |
| 3 | Jefferson Duque | Atlético Nacional | 4 |
| 3 | Jairo Molina | Deportivo Pereira | 4 |
| 3 | Jáder Obrian | Rionegro Águilas | 4 |
| 3 | Pablo Sabbag | La Equidad | 4 |
| 3 | Gustavo Torres | Atlético Nacional | 4 |
Source:
Relegation
A separate table is kept to determine the teams that get relegated to the Categoría Primera B 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.| Team | Relegation | |||||||||
| 1 | Atlético Nacional | 71 | 66 | 15 | 86 | 122 | 77 | 45 | 152 | - |
| 2 | Deportes Tolima | 72 | 64 | 13 | 85 | 115 | 71 | 44 | 149 | - |
| 3 | 69 | 59 | 11 | 86 | 133 | 103 | 30 | 139 | - | |
| 4 | Junior | 62 | 63 | 13 | 86 | 99 | 66 | 33 | 138 | - |
| 5 | Deportivo Cali | 58 | 67 | 11 | 85 | 110 | 80 | 30 | 136 | - |
| 6 | Once Caldas | 63 | 56 | 12 | 86 | 104 | 82 | 22 | 131 | - |
| 7 | América de Cali | 47 | 67 | 12 | 86 | 107 | 106 | 1 | 126 | - |
| 8 | Millonarios | 51 | 67 | 6 | 85 | 103 | 94 | 9 | 124 | - |
| 9 | Santa Fe | 56 | 46 | 13 | 86 | 96 | 73 | 23 | 115 | - |
| 10 | Atlético Bucaramanga | 58 | 46 | 9 | 86 | 92 | 105 | –13 | 113 | - |
| 11 | La Equidad | 61 | 42 | 9 | 86 | 96 | 91 | 5 | 112 | - |
| 12 | Alianza Petrolera | 42 | 55 | 13 | 86 | 90 | 100 | –10 | 110 | - |
| 13 | Rionegro Águilas | 57 | 40 | 10 | 86 | 90 | 107 | –17 | 107 | - |
| 14 | Cúcuta Deportivo | 42 | 59 | 6 | 86 | 105 | 125 | –20 | 107 | - |
| 15 | Deportivo Pasto | 35 | 54 | 14 | 85 | 79 | 83 | –4 | 103 | - |
| 16 | Patriotas | 49 | 50 | 4 | 86 | 76 | 104 | –28 | 103 | - |
| 17 | Envigado | 46 | 47 | 9 | 86 | 93 | 104 | –11 | 102 | - |
| 18 | Deportivo Pereira | 39 | 38 | 11 | 86 | 70 | 124 | –54 | 88 | - |
| 19 | Jaguares | 39 | 38 | 7 | 86 | 71 | 129 | –58 | 84 | |
| 20 | Boyacá Chicó | 39 | 38 | 5 | 86 | 65 | 124 | –59 | 82 |
Source:
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal difference; 3rd goals scored; 4th away goals scored.