2020 Paraguayan Primera División season
The 2020 División Profesional season is the 86th season of the Paraguayan Primera División, the top-flight professional football league in Paraguay. The season began on 17 January and is scheduled to end on 6 December. The fixtures for the season were announced on 16 December 2019. Olimpia are the defending champions after winning both tournaments of the 2019 season.
The tournament was suspended from 13 March to 21 July due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Teams
Twelve teams compete in the season: the top ten teams in the relegation table of the previous season, and two teams promoted from the División Intermedia. The new teams will be 2019 División Intermedia champions Guaireña and runners-up 12 de Octubre, with the former competing in the top tier for the first time ever and the latter returning after a five-year absence. Both teams replaced Deportivo Capiatá and Deportivo Santaní, who were relegated to the second tier after seven and two years, respectively.Stadia and locations
Team | Manager | City | Stadium | Capacity |
12 de Octubre | Mario Jara | Itauguá | Luis Alberto Salinas | 10,000 |
Cerro Porteño | Francisco Arce | Asunción | General Pablo Rojas | 45,000 |
General Díaz | Robert Pereira | Luque Asunción San Lorenzo | General Adrián Jara River Plate Gunther Vogel | 3,500 6,500 5,000 |
Guaireña | Troadio Duarte | Villarrica Itauguá | Parque del Guairá Luis Alberto Salinas | 12,000 10,000 |
Guaraní | Gustavo Costas | Asunción | Rogelio Livieres | 6,000 |
Libertad | Ramón Díaz | Asunción | Dr. Nicolás Leoz | 10,000 |
Nacional | Roberto Torres | Asunción | Arsenio Erico | 4,000 |
Olimpia | Daniel Garnero | Asunción | Manuel Ferreira | 25,000 |
River Plate | Celso Ayala | Asunción | River Plate | 6,500 |
San Lorenzo | Cristian Martínez | San Lorenzo | Gunther Vogel | 5,000 |
Sol de América | Sergio Órteman | Villa Elisa | Luis Alfonso Giagni | 10,000 |
Sportivo Luqueño | Hernán Rodrigo López | Luque San Lorenzo Itauguá Asunción | Feliciano Cáceres Gunther Vogel Luis Alberto Salinas River Plate | 25,000 5,000 10,000 6,500 |
Managerial changes
Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
On 10 March, and following a 15-day suspension of all public or private mass gathering events ordered by the Paraguayan government as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Paraguayan Football Association announced that every match of its official competitions, including the Primera División, would be played behind closed doors during that period of time. However, on 13 March the APF announced the suspension of the tournament, following advise from its Medical Directorate.On 28 May 2020, the APF and the presidents of the 12 Primera División clubs reached an agreement to resume the competition on 17 July, with the ninth round of the Torneo Apertura. The plan to resume competition included socialization of health protocols to the Paraguayan government and application of COVID-19 tests before the start of individual training sessions on 10 June, with collective training to resume between 16 and 22 June. On the early morning of 17 July, within hours of the planned resumption of the competition, the APF announced the postponement of the matches involving 12 de Octubre, Guaraní and San Lorenzo, due to the confirmation of COVID-19 cases in those clubs, and after consultation with its Medical Directorate as well as the presidents of the league's 12 clubs, the governing body officially announced the postponement of the return of the competition to at least 22 July.
Following new tests in those three clubs which reported negative results, the competition was eventually confirmed to resume on 21 July, with the River Plate vs. Nacional and Cerro Porteño vs. Libertad matches.
Torneo Apertura
The Campeonato de Apertura, named "Dr. Emilio Insfrán Villalba", is the 121st official championship of the Primera División and the first championship of the 2020 season. It started on 17 January and, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, was scheduled to conclude on 31 May.Standings
Results
Top goalscorers
Rank | Name | Club | Goals |
1 | Sebastián Ferreira | Libertad | 8 |
1 | Roque Santa Cruz | Olimpia | 8 |
3 | Pablo Zeballos | 12 de Octubre | 6 |
4 | José Verdún | Guaireña | 5 |
5 | Brahian Ayala | Guaireña | 4 |
5 | Raúl Bobadilla | Guaraní | 4 |
5 | Óscar Cardozo | Libertad | 4 |
5 | Fernando Fernández | Guaraní | 4 |
5 | Dionisio Pérez | River Plate | 4 |
5 | Isidro Pitta | Sportivo Luqueño | 4 |
Source:
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 two teams with the lowest average will be relegated to the División Intermedia for the following season.Pos | Team | 2018 Pts | 2019 Pts | 2020 Pts | Total Pts | Total Pld | Avg | Relegation |
1 | Olimpia | 102 | 108 | 19 | 229 | 98 | ' | - |
2 | Libertad | 76 | 85 | 22 | 183 | 99 | ' | - |
3 | Cerro Porteño | 82 | 80 | 18 | 180 | 98 | ' | - |
4 | Guaireña | — | — | 17 | 17 | 10 | ' | - |
5 | Guaraní | 48 | 69 | 19 | 136 | 98 | ' | - |
6 | Nacional | 65 | 52 | 16 | 133 | 99 | ' | - |
7 | Sol de América | 63 | 57 | 11 | 131 | 98 | ' | - |
8 | River Plate | — | 52 | 14 | 66 | 54 | ' | - |
9 | 46 | 52 | 9 | 107 | 99 | ' | - | |
10 | San Lorenzo | — | 49 | 7 | 56 | 54 | ' | - |
11 | General Díaz | 46 | 41 | 9 | 96 | 99 | ' | |
12 | 12 de Octubre | — | — | 7 | 7 | 10 | ' |