2018–19 Liga Primera de Nicaragua

The 2018–19 Liga Primera de Nicaragua season was divided into two tournaments (Apertura and Clausura) and determined the 71st and 72nd champions in the history of the Liga Primera de Nicaragua, the top division of football in Nicaragua. The Apertura tournament was played in the second half of 2018, while the Clausura was played in the first half of 2019.

Liga Primera de Nicaragua

Season	2018–19
Champions	Apertura: Managua Clausura: Real Estelí
Relegated	UNAN Managua
CONCACAF League	Managua Real Estelí
Matches played	65
Goals scored	181 (2.78 per match)
Top goalscorer	Apertura: Lucas Dos Santos (15 goals) – Clausura: TBD –
Biggest home win	Apertura: Real Estelí 5-0 Ocotal Clausura: TBD TBD
Biggest away win	Apertura: Real Madriz 1-6 Managua Clausura: TBD TBD
Highest scoring	Apertura: Ocotal 4-3 Real Estelí Real Madriz 1-6 Managua Clausura: TBD TBD
Longest unbeaten run	Apertura: TBD Clausura: TBD
Longest losing run	Apertura: TBD Clausura: TBD
← 2017–18 2019–20 →

Format

The Apertura play-off format was changed from previous years, while the Clausura will use the same 4-team play-off format. For the Apertura, the top four teams from the regular stage advanced to a "quadrangular" double-round robin instead of a play-off stage. The regular stage and quadrangular winners would have played to decide the tournament's champion, but ultimately the same team won both and the final was not necessary. The same format was recently adopted by the Costa Rican Primera División, but for both half seasons.

Team information

A total of ten teams contested the league, including eight sides from the 2017–18 Primera División, and two sides from the 2017–18 Segunda División.

FC San Francisco Masachapa finished last in the aggregate table and were relegated to the Segunda División. The champions from the Segunda División, ART Municipal Jalapa were promoted in their place.

The 9th place team in the aggregate table, Chinandega FC, faced the second place team from the Segunda División, Deportivo Sebaco, in a playoff for a spot in the Primera División. However, due to Sebaco's financial problems, they were not allowed in the playoff, meaning Chinandega remained in Primera División.

Promotion and relegation

Promoted from Segunda División as of July, 2018.

• Champions: ART Municipal Jalapa

Relegated to Segunda División as of July, 2018.

• Last Place: FC San Francisco Masachapa

Managerial changes

Before the start of the season

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment	Position in table
Walter Ferretti	Flavio da Silva	Resigned	June 2018	Henry Urbina	June 29, 2018	3rd & Semifinalist (Clausura 2018)
Real Esteli	Ramon Otenel	Contract finished	June 2018	Washington Fernando Araújo	July 22, 2018	4th & Quarterfinalist (Clausura 2018)
Juventus Managua	Héctor Mediana	Resigned	June 2018	Roberto Chanampe	July 2018	3rd & Semifinalist (Clausura 2018)
Ocotal	Randall Moreno	Resigned	June 2018	Jorge Luis Vanegas	July 2018	TBD (Clausura 2018)
Real Madriz	Tyrone Acevedo	Resigned	June 2018	Carlos Matamoros	July 2018	TBD (Clausura 2018)

During the Apertura season

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment	Position in table
Real Madriz	Carlos Matamoros	TBD	2018	Miguel Ángel Sánchez	2018	TBD (Apertura 2018)

Between Apertura and Clausura seasons

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment	Position in table
Ocotal	Jorge Luis Vangeas	Sacked	December 2018	Mario Alfaro	December 2018	9th (Apertura 2018)
Real Esteli	Washington Fernando Araújo	Resigned	December 2018	Sergio Ivan Rodríguez	December 2018	2nd & finalist (Apertura 2018)
Real Madriz	Miguel Ángel Sánchez	Resigned	December 2018	Sindulio Castellanos	January 2019	7th (Apertura 2018)
UNAN Managua	Luis Vega	resigned	December 2018	Daniel García	January 2019

Clausura 2019 seasons

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment	Position in table
Real Madriz	Sindulio Castellanos	Sacked	February 2019	Angel Orellana	February 2019	9th (Clausura 2019)

Apertura

Personnel and sponsoring

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Kit sponsors
ART Municipal Jalapa	Leonidas Rodríguez	Victor Zavala	Joma	Agrotris
Chinandega	Reyna Espinoza	Lester Espinoza	Nil	Nil
Diriangén FC	Mauricio Cruz	Jason Coronel	Joma	Claro, Ocal, Victoria frost
Juventus Managua	Roberto Chanampe	Darwin Guity	TBD	TBD
Managua	Emilio Aburto	Erling Méndez	Nil	Nil
Ocotal	Jorge Luis Vanegas	Guillermo Espino	Nil	Alcadia Ocotal
Real Estelí	Washington Fernando Araújo	Jason Casco	Kappa	Beco, Movistar, La Curaçao, Banpro, Vitalsis
Real Madriz	Carlos Matamoros x	Alvaro Bermúdez	TBD	Alcadia Somoto
UNAN Managua	Luis Vega	Marvin Fletes	Joma	Nil
Walter Ferretti	Henry Urbina	René Huete	Umbro	Claro, Iniser, Disnorte Dissur

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Managua	18	14	2	2	40	17	+23	44	Advance to Playoffs (Semifinals)
2	Real Estelí	18	10	6	2	33	12	+21	36
3	Walter Ferretti	18	7	7	4	21	18	+3	28	Advance to Playoffs (Quarterfinals)
4	Real Madriz	18	7	6	5	25	29	−4	27
5	Diriangén	18	7	5	6	23	19	+4	26
6	Juventus Managua	18	7	3	8	25	20	+5	24
7	ART Jalapa	18	5	4	9	15	30	−15	19
8	Chinandega	18	4	6	8	24	33	−9	18
9	Ocotal	18	3	6	9	17	32	−15	15
10	UNAN Managua	18	2	3	13	19	32	−13	9

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

Results

Home \ Away	ART	CHI	DIR	JUV	MAN	OCO	RES	RMA	UNA	WAL
ART Jalapa	—	2–0	0–3	1–3	0–3	1–2	1–0	1–1	1–0	0–0
Chinandega	4–1	—	1–3	0–1	1–3	0–0	3–3	3–0	2–2	2–2
Diriangén	0–2	1–2	—	0–0	1–0	3–1	0–0	1–1	3–1	0–0
Juventus Managua	0–1	3–0	2–1	—	1–2	1–0	1–2	2–3	2–1	4–0
Managua	5–1	1–2	2–0	3–2	—	2–0	2–1	4–2	1–0	1–0
Ocotal	1–0	0–0	1–2	0–0	2–5	—	1–1	2–2	0–0	1–2
Real Estelí	1–1	6–1	1–0	2–1	1–1	3–0	—	4–0	1–0	0–0
Real Madriz	1–1	3–2	2–1	1–0	0–0	3–2	0–2	—	2–1	1–2
UNAN Managua	4–0	2–1	1–2	2–2	2–3	2–3	0–4	0–2	—	0–1
Walter Ferretti	2–1	0–0	2–2	1–0	1–2	5–1	0–1	1–1	2–1	—

Updated to match(es) played on completed. Source: Soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Records

Top goalscorers

No.	Player	Club	Goals
1	Lucas Dos Santos	Managua	15
2	Luis Coronel	Diriangén	11
3	Yeiner Vivas	Chinandega	10
4	Luis Galeano	Real Esteli	8
5	Bruno De Morais	Walter Ferretti	7
6	Marcos Rivera	TBD	5
7	Isaac Sequeira	TBD	5
8	Edward Morillo	Managua	5
9	Ulises Rayo	TBD	5
10	Marlon Barrios	Real Madriz	5

Playoffs

Quarterfinals

7 November 2018

Walter Ferretti	1 – 2	Juventus Managua
Bruno de Morais 77'		Junior Arteaga 36' David Castrillón 93'

Estadio Nacional, Managua

Juventus Managua progressed.

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7 November 2018

Real Madriz	4 – 5	Diriangén
Aldryn Ramírez 19’31’43’72'		Erick Tellez 45’61’65’90+6 90+12'

Estadio Solidaridad, Somoto

Attendance: 71’672

Referee: Juan Esparado

Diriangén progressed.

Semifinals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Real Esteli	7 – 3	Juventus Managua	2 – 1	5 – 2
Managua F.C.	4 – 1	Diriangén	2 – 1	2 – 0

^ TBD wins on away goals

First leg

November 24, 2018 (2018-11-24)

7:00pm

Juventus Managua	1 – 2	Real Esteli
Nasser Valverde 84'		Jorge Betancur 3' Luis Galeano 79'

Estadio Nacional, Managua

Referee: Miller Lopez

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November 25, 2018 (2018-11-25)

3:00pm

Diriangén	1 – 2	Managua F.C.
Jorge Garcia 9'		Lucas dos Santos 13' Agenor Báez 72'

Estadio Cacique, Diriangén

Referee: Rodolfo Paiz

Second leg

December 1, 2018 (2018-12-01)

Real Esteli	5 – 2	Juventus Managua
Luis Galeano 3' 38' Nasser Valverde own 45' Vinicius de Souza 59' Alexis Somarriba 85'		Nasser Valverde 15' Brandon Ayerdis 86'

Estadio Independencia, Esteli

Real Esteli won 7-3 on aggregate.

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December 2, 2018 (2018-12-02)

Managua F.C.	2 – 0	Diriangén
Edward Murillo 28' Jeffery Araica 62'		Nil

Estadio Nacional, Managua

Managua won 4-1 on aggregate.

Final

First leg

December 8, 2018 (2018-12-08)

19:00

Real Esteli	0 – 0	Managua F.C.
Nil		Nil

Estadio Independencia, Esteli

Referee: Erick Lezama

Second leg

December 15, 2018 (2018-12-15)

19:00

Managua F.C.	1 – 0	Real Esteli
Lucas dos Santos 118'		Nil

Estadio Nacional, Managua

Referee: Nitzar Sandoval

Managua won 1-0 on aggregate.

Apertura 2018 champions
Managua F.C. 1st title

Clausura

Personnel and sponsoring

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Kit Sponsors
ART Jalapa	Leonidas Rodríguez	TBD	TBD	Agrotris
Chinandega	Reyna Espinoza	Lester Espinoza	Nil	Nil
Diriangén FC	Mauricio Cruz	Carlos Torres	Joma	Claro, Victoria Frost, Babysec, Sinsa, OCAL, Kelloggs, Flor de Cana
Juventus Managua	Roberto Chanampe	Alexis Somarriba	Nil	Nil
Managua	Emilio Aburto	Christiano Fernández	Nil	Managua FC
Ocotal	Mario Alfaro	Marcos Rivera	Nil	Alcadia de Ocotal
Real Estelí	Sergio Ivan Rodríguez	Manuel Rosas	Kappa	Movistar, La Curaco, Beco, Vitalsis Health, Banco de la Producción
Real Madriz	Sindulio Castellanos	Alvaro Bermúdez	Nil	Alcadia de Madriz
UNAN Managua	Daniel García	Diedrich Téllez	Joma	Nil
Walter Ferretti	Henry Urbina	Denis Espinoza	Umbro	Claro, Iniser, Disnorte Dissur, Flor de Cana

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Real Estelí	18	14	3	1	44	13	+31	45	Advance to Playoffs (Semifinals)
2	Managua	18	13	1	4	51	24	+27	40
3	Walter Ferretti	18	11	3	4	31	15	+16	36	Advance to Playoffs (Quarterfinals)
4	Juventus Managua	18	8	2	8	40	40	0	26
5	Diriangén	18	7	4	7	36	29	+7	25
6	Ocotal	18	6	5	7	27	25	+2	23
7	UNAN Managua	18	5	3	10	25	38	−13	18
8	Real Madriz	18	3	6	9	16	31	−15	15
9	ART Jalapa	18	4	3	11	22	54	−32	15
10	Chinandega	18	3	2	13	15	38	−23	11

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

Results

Home \ Away	ART	CHI	DIR	JUV	MAN	OCO	RES	RMA	UNA	WAL
ART Jalapa	—	1–0	2–4	4–1	2–2	1–1	0–10	0–2	0–0	1–2
Chinandega	2–3	—	1–2	2–4	0–4	0–1	0–3	2–0	1–1	0–3
Diriangén	6–2	5–0	—	3–1	3–1	1–1	2–3	2–2	1–0	1–1
Juventus Managua	6–1	5–0	2–1	—	2–3	3–0	2–2	3–3	3–2	2–1
Managua	3–0	3–1	5–3	6–1	—	4–2	0–1	5–1	3–1	1–2
Ocotal	2–1	1–0	3–0	1–2	1–2	—	1–2	3–2	2–2	1–2
Real Estelí	6–2	1–0	1–0	3–1	2–1	1–1	—	4–0	3–0	1–0
Real Madriz	0–1	0–0	0–0	3–0	0–3	0–0	0–1	—	2–1	0–3
UNAN Managua	4–1	3–2	2–1	4–2	1–3	0–5	0–3	3–1	—	2–3
Walter Ferretti	3–0	4–0	2–1	1–0	1–2	2–1	0–0	0–0	1–2	—

Updated to match(es) played on 28 April 2019. Source: Soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Records

Top goalscorers

No.	Player	Club	Goals
1	Edward Morillo	Managua F.C.	17
2	Lucas Oliveira	Managua F.C.	16
3	Douglas Caé	Real Esteli	12
4	Robinson Luiz	Juventus Managua	10
5	Yeison Esquivel	Diriangén FC	8
6	Ervin Aguirre	Deportivo Ocotal	7
7	Luis Coronel	Diriangén FC	7
8	Jafett Del Portillo	ART Municipal Jalapa	7
9	Aaron Chavez	UNAN Managua	6
10	Junior Arteaga	Juventus Managua	5

Playoffs

	Quarterfinals					Semifinals							Finals
						1	Real Estelí	0	3	3
	4	Juventus Managua	1			5	Diriangén	1	0	1
	5	Diriangén	2										1	Real Estelí (a)	3	0	3
													2	Managua	3	0	3
						2	Managua (a)	1	0	1
	3	Walter Ferretti	1			3	Walter Ferretti	1	0	1
	6	Ocotal	0

Quarterfinals

5 May 2019

Walter Ferretti	1 – 0	Ocotal
Rafael De Almeida 69'		Nil

Estadio Nacional de Fútbol, Managua

Walter Ferretti progressed.

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6 May 2019

Juventus Managua	1 – 2	Diriangén
Allan Mercado 82'		Luis Coronel 57' Yeison Esquivel 62'

Estadio Nacional, Managua

Diriangén progressed.

Semifinals

First leg

May 12, 2019 (2019-05-12)

7:00pm

Diriangén	1 – 0	Real Esteli
Luis Coronel 7'		Nil

Estadio Cacique Diriangén, Diriamba

Referee: Nitzar Sandoval

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May 13, 2019 (2019-05-13)

6:00pm

Walter Ferretti	1 – 1	Managua F.C.
Rodrigo Hernandez 62'		Christiano Fernandez 73'

Estadio Olímpico del IND Managua, Managua

Referee: Ricardo Mendoza

Second leg

May 18, 2019 (2019-05-18)

7:00pm

Real Esteli	3 – 0	Diriangén
Oscar López 11' Henry García 64' Luis Lopez 76'		Nil

Estadio Independencia, Estelí

Referee: Ricardo Mendoza

Real Esteli progressed 3-1 on aggregate.

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May 19, 2019 (2019-05-19)

6:00pm

Managua F.C.	0 – 0	Walter Ferretti
Nil		Nil

Estadio Olímpico del IND Managua, Managua

Referee: Odanel Velez

Managua F.C. advances 1-0 on away goals.

Final

First leg

May 25, 2019 (2019-05-25)

19:00

Managua F.C.	3 – 3	Real Esteli
Kevin Serpio 74' Lucas Dos Santos 42' 66'		Cristian Gutierrez 45' Ricardo Rivas 39' Vinicius da Souza 90'

Estadio Nacional, Managua

Referee: Oscar Davila

Second leg

June 1, 2019 (2019-06-01)

19:00

Real Esteli	0 – 0	Managua F.C.

Estadio Independencia, Esteli

Referee: Nitzar Sandoval

3-3, Real Esteli won on away goal.

Clausura 2019 champions
Real Esteli 15th title

Aggregate table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Managua (Q)	36	27	3	6	91	41	+50	84	CONCACAF League round of 16[a]
2	Real Estelí (Q)	36	24	9	3	77	25	+52	81	CONCACAF League preliminary round[b]
3	Walter Ferretti	36	18	10	8	52	33	+19	64
4	Diriangén	36	14	9	13	59	48	+11	51
5	Juventus Managua	36	15	5	16	65	60	+5	50
6	Real Madriz	36	10	12	14	41	60	−19	42
7	Ocotal	36	9	11	16	44	57	−13	38
8	ART Jalapa	36	9	7	20	37	84	−47	34
9	Chinandega (Q)	36	7	8	21	39	71	−32	29	Relegation playoffs
10	UNAN Managua (R)	36	7	6	23	44	70	−26	27	Relegated to Segunda División

Source: Soccerway Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(Q) Qualified for the phase indicated; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. As Apertura champions (NCA1)
2. As Clausura champions (NCA2)

List of foreign players in the league

This is a list of foreign players in the 2018–19 season. The following players:

1. Have played at least one game for the respective club.
2. Have not been capped for the Nicaragua national football team on any level, independently from the birthplace

A new rule was introduced this season, that clubs can have four foreign players per club and can only add a new player if there is an injury or a player/s is released and it is before the close of the season transfer window.

ART Jalapa Cristhian Cabria Evaristo González Erwin Cabrera Alexis Hernández Jafet Del Portillo

Chinandega Johan Hurtado Brayan Cañate Richard Charris Yeiner Vivas José Mendoza

Diriangén Pedro Dos Santos Carlos Tórres Yeison Esquivel Juan Pablo Fernández Jesús Cervantes Dahan Virgen

Juventus Managua Darwin Guity Herbert Cabrera David Castrillón Robinson Luiz Yeison Díaz Ezequiel Góngora

Managua Marel Álvarez Lucas Dos Santos Cristiano Fernández da Lima Edward Morillo

Ocotal Aldair Niño Jafet Del Portillo Edgard Hernández Lancelott Devenish Nelson Maldonado Gerson Díaz Cristopher Aguilar Kevin Meraz

Real Estelí Richard Rodríguez Maycon Santana Vinicius da Souza Jorge Betancur Eder Chaux Douglas Caé Roninho De Souza

Real Madriz Erlyn Ruiz Jose Estrada Edder Mondragón Marlon Barrios Cristhian Cabria Nahun Martínez

UNAN Jesus Guerrero Allan Gutiérrez

Walter Ferretti Rafael De Almeida Bruno de Morais Rodrigo Hernández Johan Bonilla Paulo Cézar

(player released during the Apertura season) (player released between the Apertura and Clausura seasons) (player released during the Clausura season)

External links

• http://www.ligaprimera.com/ocotal
• https://int.soccerway.com/national/nicaragua/primera-division/20172018/apertura/r41773/
• https://futbolnica.net/category/futbol-de-primera/