2019 Ecuadorian Serie A

The 2019 Campeonato Ecuatoriano de Fútbol Serie A (officially known as the LigaPro Banco Pichincha 2019 for sponsorship reasons)^[1] was the 61st season of the Serie A, Ecuador's top tier football league, and the first under the management of the Liga Profesional de Fútbol del Ecuador (or LigaPro). LDU Quito were the defending champions, but were defeated in the finals by Delfín following a scoreless draw on aggregate score after two legs and a penalty shootout, in which the latter team won their first league title.^[2]

LigaPro Banco Pichincha

Season	2019
Dates	8 February – 15 December 2019
Champions	Delfín (1st title)
Relegated	América de Quito Fuerza Amarilla
Copa Libertadores	Delfín LDU Quito Macará Barcelona Independiente del Valle (via Copa Sudamericana)
Copa Sudamericana	Universidad Católica Aucas Emelec El Nacional
Matches played	252
Goals scored	672 (2.67 per match)
Top goalscorer	Luis Amarilla (19 goals)
Biggest home win	U. Católica 6–0 Fuerza Amarilla (4 March)
Biggest away win	Mushuc Runa 0–4 LDU Quito (28 April) LDU Quito 1–5 U. Católica (13 July) Fuerza Amarilla 0–4 El Nacional (22 September)
Highest scoring	Barcelona 6–2 Dep. Cuenca (12 April) U. Católica 6–2 Técnico Universitario (5 July) Técnico Universitario 4–4 Guayaquil City (20 September)
← 2018 2020 →

Format

Starting from this season, the league was expanded from 12 to 16 teams and a new format was implemented. The first stage will be played as a double round-robin tournament with all teams playing each other twice, once at home and once away, for a total of 30 matches. The top eight teams at the end of the first stage will qualify for the playoffs, which will consist of three rounds: quarterfinals, semifinals, and final.

In the quarterfinals, the eight qualified teams were split into four ties to be played on a home-and-away basis: the best-placed team in the first round played against the eighth-best team, the second-best team against the seventh-best, and so on. The four winners advanced to the semifinals, with the winners of this stage playing the finals. In case of a tie in points and goals scored in the quarterfinals and semifinals, the best-placed team in each tie (according to the first stage standings) advanced to the following stage, whilst in a case of a tie in points and goals for in the final, a penalty shootout would be played to decide the champion.^[3]

Teams

Sixteen teams competed in the 2019 Serie A season, twelve of whom took part in the previous season. El Nacional and Guayaquil City would have been relegated from Serie A after accumulating the fewest points during the 2018 season, however, the expansion of the league prevented their relegation to Serie B. The four remaining spots in the top tier were filled by the top four teams in Serie B in the previous season: Mushuc Runa, América de Quito, Fuerza Amarilla and Olmedo.

Stadia and locations

Ambato

Barcelona

Delfín

Deportivo Cuenca

Emelec

Fuerza Amarilla

Guayaquil City

Independiente del Valle

Olmedo

Quito

Quito teams:
América
Aucas
El Nacional
LDU Quito
Universidad Católica
Ambato teams:
Macará
Mushuc Runa
Técnico Universitario

Locations of the 2019 Serie A teams.

Team	Home city	Stadium	Capacity
América de Quito	Quito	Olímpico Atahualpa	35,258
Aucas	Quito	Gonzalo Pozo Ripalda	21,689
Barcelona	Guayaquil	Monumental Banco Pichincha	57,267
Delfín	Manta	Jocay	17,834
Deportivo Cuenca	Cuenca	Banco del Austro Alejandro Serrano Aguilar	18,549
El Nacional	Quito	Olímpico Atahualpa	35,258
Emelec	Guayaquil	Banco del Pacífico Capwell	38,963
Fuerza Amarilla	Machala	9 de Mayo	16,456
Guayaquil City	Guayaquil	Christian Benítez Betancourt	10,152
Independiente del Valle	Sangolquí	Rumiñahui	7,233
LDU Quito	Quito	Rodrigo Paz Delgado	41,575
Macará	Ambato	Bellavista	16,467
Mushuc Runa	Ambato	COAC Mushuc Runa	6,000
Olmedo	Riobamba	Olímpico	7,233
Técnico Universitario	Ambato	Bellavista	16,467
Universidad Católica	Quito	Olímpico Atahualpa	35,258

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
América de Quito	Darwin Veloz	Astro	Consorcio Pichincha
Aucas	Gabriel Schürrer	Umbro	Banco del Pacífico
Barcelona	Tabaré Silva	Marathon	Pilsener
Delfín	Fabián Bustos	Yeliyan	Fresh Fish La Esquina de Ales
Deportivo Cuenca	Tabaré Silva	Joma	Chubb Seguros
El Nacional	Marcelo Zuleta	Lotto	Aceros ANDEC Banco General Rumiñahui
Emelec	Ismael Rescalvo	Adidas	Electrocables
Fuerza Amarilla	Luis Miguel Garcés	Elohim
Guayaquil City	Pool Gavilánez	Astro
Independiente del Valle	Miguel Ángel Ramírez	Marathon	Chery DirecTV
LDU Quito	Pablo Repetto	Puma	Banco Pichincha
Macará	Paúl Vélez	Boman	Cooperativa San Francisco Ltda.
Mushuc Runa	Martín Cardetti	Elohim	Cooperativa Mushuc Runa
Olmedo	Ricardo Dillon	Boman	Cooperativa Daquilema GolTV
Técnico Universitario	José Eugenio Hernández	Boman	Cooperativa San Francisco Ltda.
Universidad Católica	Santiago Escobar	Umbro	Discover Card

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Deportivo Cuenca	Richard Páez	Resigned	12 December 2018[4]	Pre-season	Luis Soler	13 December 2018[5]
El Nacional	Eduardo Favaro	End of contract	12 December 2018[6]		Marcelo Zuleta	21 December 2018[7]
Aucas	Darío Tempesta	Sacked	18 December 2018[8]		Eduardo Favaro	22 December 2018[9]
Barcelona	Guillermo Almada	Signed by Santos Laguna	12 April 2019[10]	5th	José Gavica (caretaker)	13 April 2019[10]
Emelec	Mariano Soso	Resigned	14 April 2019[11]	10th	Bolívar Vera (caretaker)	16 April 2019[12]
Barcelona	José Gavica	End of caretaker spell	21 April 2019	5th	Leonardo Ramos	22 April 2019[13]
Independiente del Valle	Ismael Rescalvo	Signed by Emelec	26 April 2019[14]	1st	Yuri Solano (caretaker)	26 April 2019[14]
Aucas	Eduardo Favaro	Sacked	28 April 2019[15]	7th	Gabriel Schürrer	1 May 2019[16]
Emelec	Bolívar Vera	End of caretaker spell	30 April 2019[17]	9th	Ismael Rescalvo	30 April 2019[18]
Técnico Universitario	Fabián Frías	Sacked	30 April 2019[19]	14th	José Eugenio Hernández	2 May 2019[20]
Independiente del Valle	Yuri Solano	End of caretaker spell	7 May 2019	1st	Miguel Ángel Ramírez	7 May 2019[21]
América de Quito	Francisco Correa	Resigned	13 May 2019[22]	16th	Luis Espinel	16 May 2019[23]
Deportivo Cuenca	Luis Soler	Sacked	14 May 2019[24]	11th	Jerson Stacio (caretaker)	14 May 2019[24]
Fuerza Amarilla	Raúl Duarte		21 May 2019[25]	15th	Diego Torres (caretaker)	21 May 2019[25]
Deportivo Cuenca	Jerson Stacio	End of caretaker spell	25 May 2019	10th	Tabaré Silva	30 May 2019[26]
Fuerza Amarilla	Diego Torres		25 May 2019	15th	Matías Tatangelo	24 June 2019[27]
Mushuc Runa	Geovanny Cumbicus	Sacked	28 May 2019[28]	13th	Martín Cardetti	30 May 2019[29]
América de Quito	Luis Espinel	Resigned	24 September 2019[30]	15th	Darwin Veloz	25 September 2019[31]
Fuerza Amarilla	Matías Tatangelo		27 September 2019[32]	16th	Luis Miguel Garcés	9 October 2019[33]
Barcelona	Leonardo Ramos		30 October 2019[34]	3rd	Nelson Tapia (caretaker)	31 October 2019[35]
	Nelson Tapia	End of caretaker spell	4 November 2019	2nd	Tabaré Silva	4 November 2019[36]

First stage

The First stage began on February 8 and ended on November 3. The top eight teams at the end of this stage advanced to the playoffs, while the bottom two were relegated.

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Macará	30	17	11	2	47	16	+31	62	Advance to Playoffs
2	Barcelona	30	17	4	9	55	38	+17	55
3	Universidad Católica	30	16	5	9	48	29	+19	53
4	Delfín	30	15	8	7	46	33	+13	53
5	Independiente del Valle	30	15	7	8	41	29	+12	52
6	LDU Quito	30	13	10	7	46	30	+16	49
7	Aucas	30	14	7	9	48	44	+4	49
8	Emelec	30	14	4	12	43	30	+13	46
9	El Nacional[a]	30	13	6	11	41	34	+7	44
10	Deportivo Cuenca[b]	30	12	7	11	44	46	−2	42
11	Olmedo	30	9	7	14	34	44	−10	34
12	Guayaquil City	30	8	7	15	35	48	−13	31
13	Mushuc Runa	30	8	6	16	36	58	−22	30
14	Técnico Universitario	30	8	5	17	40	60	−20	29
15	América de Quito (R)	30	6	7	17	26	41	−15	25	Relegation to Serie B
16	Fuerza Amarilla[c] (R)	30	2	5	23	24	74	−50	6

Source: LigaPro, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points, 2) Goal difference, 3) Goals for, 4) Away goals for, 5) Head-to-head record, 6) Drawing of lots.
(R) Relegated
Notes:

1. El Nacional were deducted one point for failing to submit their payrolls and social security contributions to the IESS for the month of August.^[37]
2. Deportivo Cuenca were deducted one point for failing to submit their payrolls and social security contributions to the IESS for the month of May.^[38]
3. Fuerza Amarilla were deducted four points for failing to submit their payrolls and social security contributions to the IESS,^[39] and one additional point for failing to submit their payrolls and social security contributions to the IESS for the month of May.^[38]

Results

Home \ Away	AME	AUC	BAR	DEL	CUE	NAC	EME	FAM	GUA	IDV	LDQ	MAC	MUS	OLM	TEC	CAT
América de Quito	—	1–1	2–2	1–1	3–0[a]	1–3	1–2	3–0[b]	3–0	1–1	0–1	0–1	0–1	1–1	2–0	1–0
Aucas	3–0	—	3–4	4–2	1–0	0–0	0–2	2–1	4–2	2–1	2–1	0–0	1–1	1–0	1–0	3–1
Barcelona	4–0	2–1	—	3–1	6–2	5–2	0–3	2–1	1–0	4–1	1–1	0–2	2–0	2–0	0–1	1–2
Delfín	2–1	4–2	1–2	—	2–0	1–1	0–0	1–0	0–1	0–1	2–1	1–1	1–0	4–0	4–2	2–1
Deportivo Cuenca	2–0	1–2	1–1	2–3	—	2–2	1–0	3–0	2–0	3–2	1–0	1–2	3–1	2–1	4–3	1–2
El Nacional	0–1	1–3	1–0	0–1	1–1	—	1–0	3–0	2–1	4–2	2–2	1–2	2–0	1–1	1–2	0–1
Emelec	3–0[c]	2–1	0–1	0–1	0–1	2–1	—	1–2	2–1	1–3	1–1	1–0	6–1	3–1	1–0	1–0
Fuerza Amarilla	3–0	3–3	0–3	0–2	2–2	0–4	1–4	—	0–1	0–1	1–1	0–3	1–2	1–4	2–2	1–2
Guayaquil City	1–1	1–1	0–2	1–3	1–2	0–1	1–0	1–1	—	0–1	1–0	1–1	4–2	3–0	3–1	2–1
Independiente del Valle	0–0	4–0	3–0	0–0	2–0	1–0	1–0	2–0	2–2	—	0–1	0–2	2–3	2–1	1–0	2–1
LDU Quito	1–0	0–1	2–0	1–1	2–2	2–0	2–1	5–2	4–0	1–1	—	1–1	4–0	3–2	0–0	1–5
Macará	1–0	3–0	0–0	1–1	1–1	0–1	2–1	5–1	2–0	1–1	3–0	—	1–1	1–1	2–0	1–0
Mushuc Runa	2–1	1–2	5–1	2–0	1–1	0–1	0–2	3–0	3–2	0–2	0–4	1–1	—	1–4	3–4	1–1
Olmedo	1–0	2–1	1–2	2–2	2–1	0–2	3–1	1–0	1–1	1–0	0–2	0–2	1–1	—	0–2	0–0
Técnico Universitario	3–2	3–2	0–3	1–2	1–2	0–2	2–2	2–1	4–4	1–1	0–2	0–2	3–0	0–3	—	1–2
Universidad Católica	1–0	1–1	2–1	2–1	2–0	3–1	1–1	6–0	1–0	0–1	0–0	1–3	1–0	2–0	6–2	—

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

1. Match awarded 3–0 to América de Quito due to Deportivo Cuenca being suspended by FEF.^[40]
2. Match awarded 3–0 to América de Quito due to Fuerza Amarilla being suspended by FEF.
3. The match, which originally ended 0–0, was awarded 3–0 to Emelec due to América de Quito fielding the suspended player Onofre Mejía.^[41] Although a decision by LigaPro's Committee of Appeals overrode this ruling and restored the original score,^[42] on 10 September 2019 the Court of Arbitration for Sport accepted the appeal filed by Emelec, awarding the match to the aforementioned club.^[43]

Playoffs

	Quarter-finals							Semi-finals							Finals
	7	Aucas	1	0	1
	2	Barcelona	0	0	0
								7	Aucas	1	0	1
								6	LDU Quito	3	0	3
	6	LDU Quito	2	2	4
	3	Universidad Católica	3	0	3
															6	LDU Quito	0	0	0 (1)
															4	Delfín (p)	0	0	0 (2)
	5	Independiente del Valle	0	2	2
	4	Delfín (bsr)	0	2	2
								4	Delfín	2	1	3
								1	Macará	1	1	2
	8	Emelec	1	2	3
	1	Macará (bsr)	2	1	3

Quarter-finals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Emelec	3–3 (bsr)	Macará	1–2	2–1
Aucas	1–0	Barcelona	1–0	0–0
LDU Quito	4–3	Universidad Católica	2–3	2–0
Independiente del Valle	2–2 (bsr)	Delfín	0–0	2–2

First leg

Aucas v Barcelona

23 November 2019 (2019-11-23)	Aucas	1–0	Barcelona	Quito
17:15	Figueroa 77'	Report		Stadium: Gonzalo Pozo Ripalda Referee: Luis Espinel

LDU Quito v Universidad Católica

23 November 2019 (2019-11-23)	LDU Quito	2–3	Universidad Católica	Quito
19:30	Valencia 90' Rodríguez 90+4'	Report	Amarilla 13', 61', 62'	Stadium: Rodrigo Paz Delgado Referee: Marlon Vera

Emelec v Macará

24 November 2019 (2019-11-24)	Emelec	1–2	Macará	Guayaquil
16:00	Godoy 16'	Report	J. Corozo 43' Estrada 77'	Stadium: George Capwell Referee: Roberto Sánchez

Independiente del Valle v Delfín

24 November 2019 (2019-11-24)	Independiente del Valle	0–0	Delfín	Sangolquí
18:15		Report		Stadium: Rumiñahui Referee: Carlos Orbe

Second leg

Universidad Católica v LDU Quito

27 November 2019 (2019-11-27)	Universidad Católica	0–2 (3–4 agg.)	LDU Quito	Quito
17:30		Report	Guerra 48' J. Julio 58'	Stadium: Olímpico Atahualpa Referee: Roberto Sánchez

Barcelona v Aucas

27 November 2019 (2019-11-27)	Barcelona	0–0 (0–1 agg.)	Aucas	Guayaquil
19:45		Report		Stadium: Monumental Isidro Romero Carbo Referee: Marlon Vera

Delfín (bsr) v Independiente del Valle

28 November 2019 (2019-11-28)	Delfín (bsr)	2–2 (2–2 agg.)	Independiente del Valle	Manta
15:30	Noboa 7' Ordóñez 16'	Report	Torres 19', 41'	Stadium: Jocay Referee: Luis Espinel

Macará (bsr) v Emelec

28 November 2019 (2019-11-28)	Macará (bsr)	1–2 (3–3 agg.)	Emelec	Ambato
19:30	De la Cruz 84' (pen.)	Report	Caicedo 45' Pernía 80'	Stadium: Bellavista Referee: Diego Lara

Semi-finals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Delfín	3–2	Macará	2–1	1–1
Aucas	1–3	LDU Quito	1–3	0–0

First leg

Aucas v LDU Quito

30 November 2019 (2019-11-30)	Aucas	1–3	LDU Quito	Quito
19:00	Figueroa 64'	Report	J. Julio 20' A. Julio 23' Martínez Borja 39'	Stadium: Gonzalo Pozo Ripalda Referee: Guillermo Guerrero

Delfín v Macará

1 December 2019 (2019-12-01)	Delfín	2–1	Macará	Manta
17:00	Garcés 10' (pen.) Piñatares 64'	Report	M. Corozo 61'	Stadium: Jocay Referee: Marlon Vera

Second leg

Macará v Delfín

7 December 2019 (2019-12-07)	Macará	1–1 (2–3 agg.)	Delfín	Ambato
16:00	M. Corozo 66'	Report	Ordóñez 53'	Stadium: Bellavista Referee: Guillermo Guerrero

LDU Quito v Aucas

7 December 2019 (2019-12-07)	LDU Quito	0–0 (3–1 agg.)	Aucas	Quito
19:00		Report		Stadium: Rodrigo Paz Delgado Referee: Luis Espinel

Finals

11 December 2019 (2019-12-11)

19:30

LDU Quito	0–0	Delfín
	Report

Estadio Rodrigo Paz Delgado, Quito

Referee: Marlon Vera

---

15 December 2019 (2019-12-15)

15:00

Delfín	0–0	LDU Quito
	Report
Penalties
López Piñatares L. Cangá Noboa Garcés	2–1	Alcívar Valencia Caicedo Ayoví Martínez Borja

Estadio Jocay, Manta

Referee: Roberto Sánchez

Tied 0–0 on aggregate, Delfín won on penalties.

Campeonato Ecuatoriano de Fútbol 2019 Serie A champions
Delfín 1st title

International qualification

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Macará	30	17	11	2	47	16	+31	62	Qualification for Copa Libertadores second stage
2	Barcelona	30	17	4	9	55	38	+17	55	Qualification for Copa Libertadores first stage
3	Universidad Católica	30	16	5	9	48	29	+19	53	Qualification for Copa Sudamericana first stage
4	Delfín (C)	30	15	8	7	46	33	+13	53	Qualification for Copa Libertadores group stage
5	Independiente del Valle	30	15	7	8	41	29	+12	52	Qualification for Copa Libertadores group stage[a]
6	LDU Quito	30	13	10	7	46	30	+16	49	Qualification for Copa Libertadores group stage
7	Aucas	30	14	7	9	48	44	+4	49	Qualification for Copa Sudamericana first stage
8	Emelec	30	14	4	12	43	30	+13	46
9	El Nacional[b]	30	13	6	11	41	34	+7	44	Qualification for Copa Sudamericana first stage[c]
10	Deportivo Cuenca[d]	30	12	7	11	44	46	−2	42
11	Olmedo	30	9	7	14	34	44	−10	34
12	Guayaquil City	30	8	7	15	35	48	−13	31
13	Mushuc Runa	30	8	6	16	36	58	−22	30
14	Técnico Universitario	30	8	5	17	40	60	−20	29
15	América de Quito	30	6	7	17	26	41	−15	25
16	Fuerza Amarilla[e]	30	2	5	23	24	74	−50	6

Source: LigaPro, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points, 2) Goal difference, 3) Goals for, 4) Away goals for, 5) Head-to-head record, 6) Drawing of lots.
(C) Champions
Notes:

1. Independiente del Valle qualified for the Copa Libertadores group stage by winning the 2019 Copa Sudamericana.
2. El Nacional were deducted one point for failing to submit their payrolls and social security contributions to the IESS for the month of August.^[37]
3. El Nacional qualified for the Copa Sudamericana first stage since the Copa Ecuador top four as well as the league top eight were already qualified for international competition.
4. Deportivo Cuenca were deducted one point for failing to submit their payrolls and social security contributions to the IESS for the month of May.^[38]
5. Fuerza Amarilla were deducted four points for failing to submit their payrolls and social security contributions to the IESS,^[39] and one additional point for failing to submit their payrolls and social security contributions to the IESS for the month of May.^[38]

Top goalscorers

Rank	Name	Club	Goals
1	Luis Amarilla	Universidad Católica	19
2	Raúl Becerra	Deportivo Cuenca	18
3	Michael Estrada	Macará	17
4	Fidel Martínez	Barcelona	16
5	Carlos Garcés	Delfín	14
	Gonzalo Mastriani	Guayaquil City
	Bruno Vides	Universidad Católica
8	Rodrigo Aguirre	LDU Quito	12
9	Jonathan Borja	El Nacional	11
10	Roberto Ordóñez	Delfín	10
	Muriel Orlando	Olmedo

Source: Soccerway

See also

• Ecuadorian Serie A
• 2019 in Ecuadorian football
• 2019 Ecuadorian Serie B
• 2019 Súperliga Femenina
• 2019 Ecuadorian Women's Serie B