2018 Paraguayan Primera División season

The 2018 División Profesional season (officially the Copa de Primera TIGO-Visión Banco 2018 for sponsorship reasons) was the 84th season of top-flight professional football in Paraguay. The season began on 2 February and ended on 8 December. Cerro Porteño were the defending champions.

Primera División

Season	2018
Dates	2 February – 8 December 2018
Champions	Apertura: Olimpia (41st title) Clausura: Olimpia (42nd title)
Relegated	Independiente 3 de Febrero
Copa Libertadores	Olimpia Cerro Porteño Libertad Nacional
Copa Sudamericana	Sol de América Independiente Deportivo Santaní Guaraní (cup winners)
Matches played	264
Goals scored	736 (2.79 per match)
Top goalscorer	Apertura: Néstor Camacho (14 goals) Clausura: Óscar Cardozo (15 goals)
Biggest home win	Cerro Porteño 5–0 Nacional (13 April) Guaraní 5–0 3 de Febrero (11 November)
Biggest away win	Deportivo Santaní 0–5 Olimpia (15 October)
Highest scoring	Guaraní 6–2 Sol de América (3 February) 3 de Febrero 4–4 Libertad (17 November)
← 2017 2019 →

In the Torneo Apertura, Olimpia won their forty-first league title with two matches to spare following a 2–1 win over Libertad on 30 May.^[1] Olimpia also clinched their forty-second league title in the Torneo Clausura with two matches to spare after beating Guaraní 4–1 on 28 November.^[2]

Teams

Stadia and locations

Dep. Capiatá

Sol de América

General Díaz
Sportivo Luqueño

Dep. Santaní

3 de Febrero

Asunción

Asunción teams:
Cerro Porteño
Guaraní
Independiente (CG)
Libertad
Nacional
Olimpia

Locations of the 2018 Primera División teams

Team	Manager	Home city	Stadium	Capacity
3 de Febrero	Eduardo Rivera	Ciudad del Este	Antonio Aranda	23,500
Cerro Porteño	Fernando Jubero	Asunción	General Pablo Rojas	45,000
Deportivo Capiatá	Julio Cabrera (caretaker)	Capiatá	Lic. Erico Galeano Segovia	10,000
Deportivo Santaní	Héctor Marecos	San Estanislao	Juan José Vázqueza	8,000
General Díaz	Florencio Villalba	Luque	General Adrián Jara	3,500
Guaraní	Gustavo Florentín	Asunción	Rogelio Livieresb	6,000
Independiente	Mario Jara	Asunción	Ricardo Gregor	1,500
Libertad	Leonel Álvarez	Asunción	Dr. Nicolás Leoz	10,000
Nacional	Fernando Gamboa	Asunción	Arsenio Erico	4,000
Olimpia	Daniel Garnero	Asunción	Manuel Ferreira	25,000
Sol de América	Ever Hugo Almeida	Villa Elisa	Luis Alfonso Giagni	10,000
Sportivo Luqueño	Pedro Sarabia	Luque	Feliciano Cáceres	25,000

Note: Teams occasionally play their home games at Estadio Defensores del Chaco in Asunción. Derbies between Cerro Porteño and Olimpia are also played at this stadium.
a: Deportivo Santaní played their Torneo Apertura home match against Olimpia at Estadio Antonio Aranda in Ciudad del Este instead of their regular stadium Estadio Juan José Vázquez in San Estanislao.
b: Guaraní played their home games at Estadio Defensores del Chaco in Asunción until mid-May while their regular stadium Estadio Rogelio Livieres underwent maintenance works. Guaraní played their Torneo Apertura home match against Olimpia at Estadio Antonio Aranda in Ciudad del Este.

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Torneo Apertura
General Díaz	Mario Jara	Resigned	6 December 2017[3]	Pre-season	Aldo Bobadilla	15 December 2017[4]
Guaraní	Daniel Garnero	Signed by Olimpia	7 December 2017[5]		Sebastián Saja	8 December 2017[6]
Olimpia	Aldo Bobadilla	Mutual consent	11 December 2017[7]		Daniel Garnero	13 December 2017[8]
Libertad	Fernando Jubero	Resigned	23 December 2017[9]		Aldo Bobadilla	28 December 2017[10]
General Díaz	Aldo Bobadilla		28 December 2017[10]		Florencio Villalba (caretaker)	2 January 2018[11]
General Díaz	Florencio Villalba	End of caretaker spell	24 January 2018		Francisco Arce	24 January 2018[12]
Cerro Porteño	Leonel Álvarez	Resigned	31 January 2018[13]		Jorge Núñez (caretaker)	31 January 2018[13]
Cerro Porteño	Jorge Núñez	End of caretaker spell	5 February 2018	10th	Luis Zubeldía	5 February 2018[14]
Sportivo Luqueño	Javier Sanguinetti	Sacked	25 February 2018[15]	12th	Eduardo Rivera	25 February 2018[15]
3 de Febrero	Marcio Marolla		4 March 2018[16]	12th	José Arrúa	5 March 2018[17]
Deportivo Santaní	Pedro Sarabia	Mutual consent	14 March 2018[18]	11th	Mario Jara	15 March 2018[19]
Guaraní	Sebastián Saja	Resigned	25 March 2018[20]	9th	Fernando Burgo (caretaker)	25 March 2018[20]
Sportivo Luqueño	Eduardo Rivera		3 April 2018[21]	8th	Fernando Ortiz	4 April 2018[22]
General Díaz	Francisco Arce	Sacked	8 April 2018[23]	8th	Florencio Villalba (caretaker)	9 April 2018[23]
Deportivo Capiatá	Gustavo Florentín	Resigned	26 May 2018[24]	8th	Diego Gavilán	27 May 2018[25]
Sportivo Luqueño	Fernando Ortiz	Sacked	27 May 2018[26]	11th	Héctor Schönhauser (caretaker)	28 May 2018[27]
Guaraní	Fernando Burgo	End of caretaker spell	30 May 2018	7th	Juan Manuel Azconzábal	31 May 2018[28]
Sol de América	Héctor Marecos	Sacked	31 May 2018[29]	6th	Alfredo Vera (caretaker)	1 June 2018[29]
Sol de América	Alfredo Vera	End of caretaker spell	8 June 2018	6th	Fernando Ortiz	9 June 2018[30]
Sportivo Luqueño	Héctor Schönhauser		9 June 2018	10th	Gustavo Florentín	9 June 2018[31]
Torneo Clausura
Libertad	Aldo Bobadilla	Mutual consent	21 July 2018[32]	9th	Eduardo Villalba (caretaker)	21 July 2018[33]
General Díaz	Florencio Villalba	End of caretaker spell	22 July 2018	6th	Aldo Bobadilla	22 July 2018[34]
3 de Febrero	José Arrúa	Resigned	5 August 2018[35]	7th	Eduardo Rivera	5 August 2018[35]
Cerro Porteño	Luis Zubeldía	Sacked	20 August 2018[36]	3rd	Fernando Jubero	22 August 2018[37]
Sol de América	Fernando Ortiz	Resigned	24 August 2018[38]	10th	Ever Hugo Almeida	25 August 2018[39]
Deportivo Santaní	Mario Jara	Sacked	26 August 2018[40]	9th	Héctor Marecos	28 August 2018[41]
Guaraní	Juan Manuel Azconzábal		9 September 2018[42]	10th	Gustavo Florentín	10 September 2018[43]
Sportivo Luqueño	Gustavo Florentín	Signed by Guaraní	9 September 2018[44]	5th	Javier Sanguinetti	10 September 2018[45]
Independiente (CG)	Pablo Caballero	Resigned	23 September 2018[46]	12th	Víctor Genes	24 September 2018[47]
Libertad	Eduardo Villalba	End of caretaker spell	8 October 2018	3rd	Leonel Álvarez	9 October 2018[48]
Deportivo Capiatá	Diego Gavilán	Resigned	20 October 2018[49]	6th	Pablo Caballero	20 October 2018[49]
Sportivo Luqueño	Javier Sanguinetti	Sacked	22 October 2018[50]	12th	Pedro Sarabia	23 October 2018[51]
Independiente (CG)	Víctor Genes	Health issues	2 November 2018[52]	11th	Osvaldo Cohener (caretaker)	2 November 2018[52]
Independiente (CG)	Osvaldo Cohener	End of caretaker spell	4 November 2018[53]	12th	Mario Jara	4 November 2018[53]
Nacional	Celso Ayala	Resigned	5 November 2018[54]	8th	Fernando Gamboa	6 November 2018[55]
General Díaz	Aldo Bobadilla	Mutual consent	13 November 2018[56]	12th	Florencio Villalba	13 November 2018[57]
Deportivo Capiatá	Pablo Caballero	Sacked	8 December 2018[58]	8th	Julio Cabrera (caretaker)	8 December 2018[58]

Torneo Apertura

The Campeonato de Apertura, named "Centenario del Estadio Defensores del Chaco", was the 117th official championship of the Primera División and the first championship of the 2018 season. It started on February 2 and concluded on June 10.^[59]

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Olimpia (C)	22	16	5	1	52	22	+30	53	Qualification to Copa Libertadores group stage
2	Cerro Porteño	22	12	6	4	43	17	+26	42
3	Libertad	22	11	6	5	37	24	+13	39
4	Nacional	22	10	8	4	32	21	+11	38
5	Independiente	22	9	4	9	30	32	−2	31
6	Sol de América	22	8	6	8	36	40	−4	30
7	General Díaz	22	6	6	10	27	39	−12	24
8	Guaraní	22	6	5	11	25	39	−14	23
9	Deportivo Santaní	22	4	10	8	22	25	−3	22
10	Sportivo Luqueño	22	5	6	11	25	37	−12	21
11	Deportivo Capiatá	22	5	6	11	31	44	−13	21
12	3 de Febrero	22	2	8	12	21	40	−19	14

Source: APF, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points, 2) Playoff game, if needed to decide championship.
If there are more than two teams tied in points: 2) Goal difference, 3) Goals for, 4) Away goals for, 5) Drawing of lots.
(C) Champions

Results

Home \ Away	3FE	CCP	CAP	SAN	GEN	GUA	IND	LIB	NAC	OLI	SOL	SLU
3 de Febrero	—	1–1	3–0	0–0	2–2	1–2	0–2	1–4	1–1	0–4	2–1	0–2
Cerro Porteño	3–1	—	2–2	0–0	4–1	2–1	4–0	0–2	5–0	1–0	2–0	2–0
Deportivo Capiatá	2–1	2–3	—	2–1	1–1	0–1	2–1	2–4	0–1	2–2	1–1	4–1
Deportivo Santaní	1–0	1–1	3–3	—	0–1	2–0	1–1	1–2	1–1	1–5	2–0	3–0
General Díaz	3–2	1–0	1–1	1–0	—	0–3	1–1	0–2	1–2	1–2	1–1	2–1
Guaraní	1–1	0–4	2–1	1–1	2–2	—	0–1	0–2	1–4	0–0	6–2	1–4
Independiente	1–1	0–3	3–1	1–0	2–3	2–1	—	3–1	0–3[a]	1–2	3–1	4–1
Libertad	2–0	1–1	3–2	1–1	1–0	2–0	1–0	—	0–0	0–1	1–2	1–2
Nacional	0–0	2–1	4–0	0–0	3–1	3–0	1–0	1–1	—	0–0	1–1	0–2
Olimpia	3–2	1–0	1–0	2–1	3–1	5–2	4–2	2–1	4–2	—	3–3	3–0
Sol de América	4–1	0–3	5–1	3–2	4–3	0–0	0–1	3–3	1–0	0–3	—	3–1
Sportivo Luqueño	1–1	1–1	1–2	0–0	2–0	0–1	1–1	2–2	1–3	2–2	0–1	—

Source: APF, Soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

1. Match awarded 3–0 to Nacional due to Independiente (CG) fielding a non-native Paraguayan under-19 player. The original result was a 4–0 win for Independiente (CG).^[60]

Top goalscorers

Rank	Name	Club	Goals
1	Néstor Camacho	Olimpia	14
2	Sebastián Ferreira	Independiente	11[note 1]
	William Mendieta	Olimpia	11
4	Antonio Bareiro	Libertad	10
5	Adam Bareiro	Nacional	9
	César Villagra	Sol de América
7	Óscar Cardozo	Libertad	8
	Fabio Escobar	Deportivo Santaní
9	Enrique Borja	General Díaz	7
10	Ernesto Álvarez	Sol de América	6
	Diego Churín	Cerro Porteño

1. Sebastián Ferreira's official goal tally excludes 2 goals scored in the match awarded to Nacional.

Source: APF, Soccerway

Torneo Clausura

The Campeonato de Clausura, named "Dr. Gerónimo Angulo Gastón", was the 118th official championship of the Primera División and the second championship of the 2018 season. It started on July 17 and concluded on December 8.^[59]

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Olimpia (C)	22	15	4	3	48	20	+28	49	Qualification to Copa Libertadores group stage
2	Cerro Porteño	22	11	7	4	36	21	+15	40
3	Libertad	22	10	7	5	33	20	+13	37
4	Sol de América	22	9	6	7	29	30	−1	33
5	Deportivo Santaní	22	7	7	8	22	29	−7	28
6	Nacional	22	6	9	7	28	31	−3	27
7	Guaraní	22	6	7	9	27	30	−3	25
8	3 de Febrero	22	6	7	9	32	37	−5	25
9	Sportivo Luqueño	22	6	7	9	23	30	−7	25
10	Deportivo Capiatá	22	6	6	10	25	36	−11	24
11	General Díaz	22	5	7	10	30	38	−8	22
12	Independiente	22	4	8	10	22	32	−10	20

Source: APF, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points, 2) Playoff game, if needed to decide championship.
If there are more than two teams tied in points: 2) Goal difference, 3) Goals for, 4) Away goals for, 5) Drawing of lots.
(C) Champions

Results

Home \ Away	3FE	CCP	CAP	SAN	GEN	GUA	IND	LIB	NAC	OLI	SOL	SLU
3 de Febrero	—	1–3	0–0	0–0	1–1	2–1	4–1	4–4	1–3	1–0	0–2	0–2
Cerro Porteño	1–1	—	1–0	1–1	3–1	1–1	2–0	0–1	1–1	0–2	2–0	0–1
Deportivo Capiatá	2–1	2–4	—	0–2	3–1	1–1	3–0	1–1	1–1	1–4	0–1	2–1
Deportivo Santaní	1–3	2–2	0–1	—	3–1	2–2	0–0	1–0	3–0	0–5	2–1	1–0
General Díaz	1–5	1–4	2–3	4–0	—	3–1	2–1	1–1	1–2	1–1	1–0	2–2
Guaraní	5–0	0–1	1–0	1–0	0–2	—	0–0	2–2	1–1	0–3	2–1	3–0
Independiente	1–4	0–1	2–0	0–0	2–2	1–0	—	1–0	2–2	1–1	2–2	1–1
Libertad	0–0	1–1	3–0	3–1	1–0	3–0	2–1	—	1–0	0–2	4–0	2–3
Nacional	4–2	0–3	3–1	3–1	1–1	0–0	0–3	1–2	—	1–2	0–0	3–1
Olimpia	1–0	2–2	4–1	0–1	2–2	4–1	3–2	1–0	2–0	—	3–2	4–2
Sol de América	3–1	2–1	2–2	1–1	1–0	3–2	2–1	0–2	1–1	2–1	—	1–0
Sportivo Luqueño	1–1	1–2	1–1	1–0	2–0	0–3	1–0	0–0	1–1	0–1	2–2	—

Source: APF, Soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top goalscorers

Rank	Name	Club	Goals
1	Óscar Cardozo	Libertad	15
2	Diego Churín	Cerro Porteño	12
	Adrián Martínez	Sol de América
	Santiago Salcedo	Deportivo Capiatá
5	Adam Bareiro	Nacional	10
	Jorge Ortega	Olimpia
7	Enrique Borja	General Díaz	9
	Roque Santa Cruz	Olimpia
9	William Mendieta	Olimpia	8
10	Facundo Parra	3 de Febrero	7

Source: APF Archived 2018-03-24 at the Wayback Machine, Soccerway

Aggregate table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Olimpia (C)	44	31	9	4	100	42	+58	102	Qualification to Copa Libertadores group stage
2	Cerro Porteño	44	23	13	8	79	38	+41	82
3	Libertad	44	21	13	10	70	44	+26	76	Qualification to Copa Libertadores second stage
4	Nacional	44	16	17	11	60	52	+8	65	Qualification to Copa Libertadores first stage
5	Sol de América	44	17	12	15	65	70	−5	63	Qualification to Copa Sudamericana first stage[a]
6	Independiente	44	13	12	19	52	64	−12	51
7	Deportivo Santaní	44	11	17	16	44	54	−10	50
8	Guaraní	44	12	12	20	52	69	−17	48
9	Sportivo Luqueño	44	11	13	20	48	67	−19	46
10	General Díaz	44	11	13	20	57	78	−21	46
11	Deportivo Capiatá	44	11	12	21	56	80	−24	45
12	3 de Febrero	44	8	15	21	53	77	−24	39

Source: APF
Rules for classification: 1) Points, 2) Playoff game, only if needed to decide international qualification between two teams.
If there are more than two teams tied in points: 2) Goal difference, 3) Goals for, 4) Away goals for, 5) Drawing of lots.
(C) Champions
Notes:

1. Guaraní qualified for the Copa Sudamericana first stage as 2018 Copa Paraguay champions.

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 were relegated to the División Intermedia for the following season.

Pos	Team	2016 Pts	2017 Pts	2018 Pts	Total Pts	Total Pld	Avg	Relegation
1	Olimpia	90	78	102	270	132	2.045
2	Libertad	83	75	76	234	132	1.773
3	Cerro Porteño	66	80	82	228	132	1.727
4	Guaraní	83	85	48	216	132	1.636
5	Sol de América	63	62	63	188	132	1.424
6	Nacional	54	50	65	169	132	1.28
7	Deportivo Capiatá	67	50	45	162	132	1.227
8	General Díaz	46	60	46	152	132	1.152
9	Deportivo Santaní	—	—	50	50	44	1.136
10	Sportivo Luqueño	53	50	46	149	132	1.129
11	Independiente (R)	—	47	51	98	88	1.114	Relegation to División Intermedia
12	3 de Febrero (R)	—	—	39	39	44	0.886

Source: APF