2019 Paraguayan Primera División season

The 2019 División Profesional season (officially the Copa de Primera TIGO-Visión Banco 2019 for sponsorship reasons) was the 85th season of top-flight professional football in Paraguay. The season began on 22 January and ended on 15 December. The fixtures for the season were announced on 13 December 2018.^[1] Olimpia were the defending champions after winning both tournaments of the 2018 season, and won a third championship in a row in the Torneo Apertura with three matches to spare after defeating Deportivo Santaní by a 6–0 score on 4 May.^[2] Olimpia also crowned themselves in the Torneo Clausura, winning a fourth title in a row with one matchday remaining, following a 2–2 draw at home against Guaraní on 8 December.^[3]

Primera División

Season	2019
Dates	22 January – 15 December 2019
Champions	Apertura: Olimpia (43rd title) Clausura: Olimpia (44th title)
Relegated	Deportivo Capiatá Deportivo Santaní
Copa Libertadores	Olimpia Libertad Cerro Porteño Guaraní
Copa Sudamericana	Sol de América Nacional River Plate Sportivo Luqueño
Matches played	264
Goals scored	724 (2.74 per match)
Top goalscorer	Apertura: William Mendieta and Roque Santa Cruz (11 goals each) Clausura: Roque Santa Cruz (15 goals)
Biggest home win	Cerro Porteño 7–2 Sol de América (18 March) Guaraní 5–0 General Díaz (1 September) Cerro Porteño 5–0 Nacional (10 November)
Biggest away win	Deportivo Santaní 0–6 Olimpia (4 May) Deportivo Capiatá 0–6 Olimpia (30 August)
Highest scoring	Cerro Porteño 7–2 Sol de América (18 March)
← 2018 2020 →

Teams

Twelve teams competed 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 were 2018 División Intermedia champions River Plate and runners-up San Lorenzo, who returned to the top flight after two and three years, respectively. Both replaced Independiente (CG) and 3 de Febrero, who were relegated to the second tier after two and one year, respectively.

Stadia and locations

Asunción

Dep. Capiatá

Dep. Santaní

General Díaz
Sportivo Luqueño

San Lorenzo

Sol de América

Asunción teams:
Cerro Porteño
Guaraní
Libertad
Nacional
Olimpia
River Plate

Locations of the 2019 Primera División teams

Team	Manager	Home city	Stadium	Capacity
Cerro Porteño	Víctor Bernay (caretaker)	Asunción	General Pablo Rojas	45,000
Deportivo Capiatá	Carlos Recalde	Capiatá	Erico Galeano	10,000
Deportivo Santaní	Robert Gauto (caretaker)	San Estanislao	Juan José Vázquez	8,000
General Díaz	Cristian Martínez	Luque	General Adrián Jara	3,500
Guaraní	Gustavo Costas	Asunción	Rogelio Livieres	6,000
Libertad	José Chamot	Asunción	Dr. Nicolás Leoz	10,000
Nacional	Francisco Arce	Asunción	Arsenio Erico	4,000
Olimpia	Daniel Garnero	Asunción	Manuel Ferreira	25,000
River Plate	Marcelo Philipp	Asunción	River Plate	6,500
San Lorenzo	Sergio Órteman	San Lorenzo	Gunther Vogel	5,000
Sol de América	Pablo Escobar	Villa Elisa	Luis Alfonso Giagni	10,000
Sportivo Luqueño	Celso Ayala	Luque	La Arboledaa	8,000

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: Sportivo Luqueño will play their home games at Estadio La Arboleda in Asunción as their regular stadium Estadio Feliciano Cáceres is closed for repair works.^[4] They played their Torneo Apertura home game against San Lorenzo at Estadio Erico Galeano in Capiatá.

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Torneo Apertura
Deportivo Capiatá	Julio Cabrera	End of caretaker spell	8 December 2018	Pre-season	José Basualdo	19 December 2018[5]
Nacional	Fernando Gamboa	Sacked	31 January 2019[6]	12th	Hugo Caballero (caretaker)	31 January 2019[7]
General Díaz	Florencio Villalba	Resigned	10 February 2019[8]	10th	Luis Escobar (caretaker)	11 February 2019[9]
Sportivo Luqueño	Pedro Sarabia		15 February 2019[10]	10th	Roberto Torres	11 February 2019[11]
Deportivo Santaní	Héctor Marecos	Sacked	17 February 2019[12]	12th	Carlos Jara	17 February 2019[12]
Sol de América	Ever Hugo Almeida	Resigned	22 February 2019[13]	5th	Alfredo Vera (caretaker)	23 February 2019[14]
Deportivo Capiatá	José Basualdo	Sacked	28 February 2019[15]	8th	Celso Ayala	1 March 2019[15]
Nacional	Hugo Caballero	End of caretaker spell	4 March 2019[16]	11th	Aldo Bobadilla	4 March 2019[16]
Libertad	Leonel Álvarez	Sacked	6 March 2019[17]	8th	José Chamot	7 March 2019[18]
Sol de América	Alfredo Vera	End of caretaker spell	18 March 2019	9th	Javier Sanguinetti	19 March 2019[19]
Deportivo Santaní	Carlos Jara	Sacked	20 March 2019[20]	12th	Martín García	21 March 2019[20]
General Díaz	Luis Escobar	End of caretaker spell	18 April 2019[21]	11th	Cristian Martínez	18 April 2019[21]
Deportivo Santaní	Martín García	Resigned	21 April 2019[22]	12th	Pablo Caballero	22 April 2019[23]
Torneo Clausura
Cerro Porteño	Fernando Jubero	Mutual consent	20 May 2019[24]	Pre-tournament	Miguel Ángel Russo	7 June 2019[25]
Deportivo Capiatá	Celso Ayala	Sacked	22 May 2019[26]		Mario Jara	23 May 2019[27]
Guaraní	Gustavo Florentín	Mutual consent	29 May 2019[28]		Gustavo Costas	6 June 2019[29]
Deportivo Santaní	Pablo Caballero	Resigned	4 June 2019[30]		Pedro Sarabia	6 June 2019[31]
Deportivo Capiatá	Mario Jara	Sacked	25 August 2019[32]	7th	Héctor Marecos	25 August 2019[32]
Sol de América	Javier Sanguinetti	Mutual consent	25 August 2019[33]	9th	Pablo Escobar	28 August 2019[34]
Deportivo Santaní	Pedro Sarabia	Sacked	26 August 2019[35]	12th	Robert Gauto (caretaker)	27 August 2019[35]
Sportivo Luqueño	Roberto Torres	Mutual consent	30 August 2019[36]	11th	Hugo Centurión	31 August 2019[37]
Deportivo Santaní	Robert Gauto	End of caretaker spell	31 August 2019	12th	Mario Jara	1 September 2019[38]
Nacional	Aldo Bobadilla	Signed by Independiente Medellín	4 September 2019[39]	8th	Francisco Arce	9 September 2019[40]
Deportivo Capiatá	Héctor Marecos	Sacked	26 September 2019[41]	12th	Carlos Recalde	26 September 2019[41]
River Plate	Daniel Farrar	Resigned	2 October 2019[42]	8th	Marcelo Philipp	3 October 2019[43]
Cerro Porteño	Miguel Ángel Russo	Mutual consent	8 October 2019[44]	4th	Víctor Bernay (caretaker)	8 October 2019[44]
Sportivo Luqueño	Hugo Centurión	Sacked	8 October 2019[45]	12th	Celso Ayala	8 October 2019[45]
Deportivo Santaní	Mario Jara	Resigned	27 October 2019[46]	10th	Robert Gauto (caretaker)	27 October 2019[46]

Torneo Apertura

The Campeonato de Apertura, named "Víctor Genes", was the 119th official championship of the Primera División and the first championship of the 2019 season. It started on January 22 and concluded on May 20.^[1]

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Olimpia (C)	22	16	6	0	61	17	+44	54	Qualification for Copa Libertadores group stage
2	Cerro Porteño	22	13	4	5	48	25	+23	43
3	Libertad	22	11	4	7	39	29	+10	37
4	Guaraní	22	10	7	5	37	29	+8	37
5	Sportivo Luqueño	22	8	7	7	28	30	−2	31
6	River Plate	22	7	7	8	25	31	−6	28
7	San Lorenzo	22	8	3	11	33	37	−4	27
8	Deportivo Capiatá	22	6	8	8	24	32	−8	26
9	Sol de América	22	8	2	12	31	43	−12	26
10	Nacional	22	5	8	9	19	27	−8	23
11	General Díaz	22	3	7	12	22	41	−19	16
12	Deportivo Santaní	22	2	7	13	15	38	−23	13

Source: APF, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points, 2) Playoff game (only if needed to decide championship between two teams), 3) Goal difference, 4) Goals for, 5) Away goals for, 6) Drawing of lots.
(C) Champions

Results

Home \ Away	CCP	CAP	SAN	GEN	GUA	LIB	NAC	OLI	RIV	SSL	SOL	SLU
Cerro Porteño	—	1–0	3–2	2–0	5–2	1–2	1–1	1–3	3–1	1–1	7–2	2–0
Deportivo Capiatá	1–1	—	2–1	2–2	0–1	2–1	1–0	2–2	3–3	1–1	3–2	1–3
Deportivo Santaní	1–3	0–0	—	0–1	1–1	0–3	1–2	0–6	1–1	1–0	2–3	0–1
General Díaz	1–3	1–0	2–0	—	1–1	1–3	1–1	0–2	0–1	3–3	1–4	0–0
Guaraní	0–1	1–2	0–0	1–1	—	3–1	2–2	1–5	2–1	4–1	3–1	2–2
Libertad	1–0	5–1	4–0	4–0	1–1	—	1–2	2–3	2–1	2–1	2–2	1–0
Nacional	0–3	2–1	0–0	1–0	0–2	0–1	—	2–4	0–0	3–1	0–1	0–1
Olimpia	2–2	3–0	2–2	4–1	2–0	3–0	0–0	—	0–0	2–0	4–0	2–0
River Plate	1–5	1–0	1–2	3–2	0–1	1–1	1–1	2–2	—	2–1	1–0	2–1
San Lorenzo	2–1	0–1	2–0	2–1	1–3	3–0[a]	1–0	1–4	1–0	—	2–4	0–3
Sol de América	0–1	0–0	1–0	3–0	1–4	2–0	3–1	0–1	0–1	1–6	—	0–1
Sportivo Luqueño	2–1	1–1	1–1	2–2	0–2	2–2	1–1	1–5	3–1	0–3	3–1	—

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

1. Match awarded 3–0 to San Lorenzo due to Libertad fielding more foreign players than allowed. The match originally ended with a 3–4 win for Libertad.^[47]

Top goalscorers

Rank	Name	Club	Goals
1	William Mendieta	Olimpia	11
	Roque Santa Cruz	Olimpia
3	Sebastián Fernández	San Lorenzo	9
	Jorge Ortega	Olimpia
	César Villagra	Sol de América
6	José Ortigoza	Guaraní	8
	Nildo Viera	River Plate
8	Jorge Benítez	Cerro Porteño	7
	Óscar Cardozo	Libertad
	Joaquín Larrivey	Cerro Porteño

Source: Soccerway

Attendances

#	Football club	Home games	Average attendance[48]
1	Cerro Porteño	11	15,753
2	Club Olimpia	11	11,323
3	Deportivo Santaní	11	3,392
4	CS San Lorenzo	11	2,369
5	Deportivo Capiatá	11	1,522
6	Sportivo Luqueño	11	1,196
7	Club Libertad	11	1,074
8	Club Sol de América	11	957
9	Club Guaraní	11	935
10	Club General Díaz	11	874
11	CRP	11	537
12	Club Nacional	11	514

Torneo Clausura

The Campeonato de Clausura, named "Ranulfo Miranda y 100 años de la Cruz Roja Paraguaya", was the 120th official championship of the Primera División and the second championship of the 2019 season. It started on July 12 and concluded on December 15.^[49]

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Olimpia (C)	22	17	3	2	53	15	+38	54	Qualification for Copa Libertadores group stage
2	Libertad	22	15	3	4	35	12	+23	48
3	Cerro Porteño	22	11	4	7	42	28	+14	37
4	Guaraní	22	9	5	8	32	28	+4	32
5	Sol de América	22	8	7	7	22	23	−1	31
6	Nacional	22	7	8	7	29	27	+2	29
7	General Díaz	22	6	7	9	27	33	−6	25
8	River Plate	22	6	6	10	18	24	−6	24
9	San Lorenzo	22	5	7	10	23	36	−13	22
10	Sportivo Luqueño	22	5	6	11	20	37	−17	21
11	Deportivo Capiatá	22	5	6	11	18	38	−20	21
12	Deportivo Santaní	22	5	4	13	20	39	−19	19

Source: APF, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points, 2) Playoff game (only if needed to decide championship between two teams), 3) Goal difference, 4) Goals for, 5) Away goals for, 6) Drawing of lots.
(C) Champions

Results

Home \ Away	CCP	CAP	SAN	GEN	GUA	LIB	NAC	OLI	RIV	SSL	SOL	SLU
Cerro Porteño	—	3–0	4–0	2–4	2–2	1–3	5–0	0–0	2–0	2–0	1–0	1–2
Deportivo Capiatá	3–2	—	3–1	0–2	1–2	1–1	0–0	0–6	0–1	1–1	0–4	1–0
Deportivo Santaní	0–2	1–2	—	1–1	2–1	1–0	3–1	0–1	0–1	1–1	1–1	2–3
General Díaz	2–2	3–1	0–1	—	0–3	1–0	1–1	1–4	1–1	1–1	0–3	3–0
Guaraní	1–2	2–1	2–1	5–0	—	1–1	0–5	1–1	1–3	3–1	0–1	1–3
Libertad	2–1	2–0	2–0	3–1	1–0	—	2–0	2–0	2–1	3–0	1–0	0–0
Nacional	1–1	3–0	4–0	0–0	0–2	1–0	—	1–3	1–1	4–2	0–0	1–1
Olimpia	4–2	1–0	4–0	2–0	2–2	2–1	3–0	—	2–1	4–1	2–0	3–1
River Plate	1–2	1–1	1–0	1–0	0–1	0–2	0–1	0–1	—	0–0	2–2	1–1
San Lorenzo	2–1	1–1	3–2	1–1	0–0	0–1	0–3	1–4	2–0	—	1–2	2–0
Sol de América	0–2	1–1	2–2	1–0	0–1	0–1	2–1	0–4	1–0	1–0	—	2–2
Sportivo Luqueño	1–2	0–1	0–1	0–5	1–0	1–5	1–1	1–0	1–2	1–3	0–0	—

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

Top goalscorers

Rank	Name	Club	Goals
1	Roque Santa Cruz	Olimpia	15
2	Antonio Bareiro	Libertad	10
3	Santiago Salcedo	Deportivo Capiatá	9
4	Fernando Fernández	Guaraní	8
	Brian Montenegro	Olimpia
6	Diego Churín	Cerro Porteño	6
	Nelson Haedo Valdez	Cerro Porteño
	José Ortigoza	Guaraní
	Óscar Ruiz	Cerro Porteño
	Alejandro Silva	Olimpia
	Leonardo Villagra	Nacional

Source: Soccerway

Aggregate table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Olimpia (C)	44	33	9	2	114	32	+82	108	Qualification for Copa Libertadores group stage
2	Libertad	44	26	7	11	74	41	+33	85
3	Cerro Porteño	44	24	8	12	90	53	+37	80	Qualification for Copa Libertadores second stage
4	Guaraní	44	19	12	13	68	57	+11	69	Qualification for Copa Libertadores first stage
5	Sol de América	44	16	9	19	53	66	−13	57	Qualification for Copa Sudamericana first stage
6	Nacional	44	12	16	16	48	54	−6	52
7	River Plate	44	13	13	18	43	55	−12	52
8	Sportivo Luqueño	44	13	13	18	47	66	−19	52	Qualification for Copa Sudamericana first stage[a]
9	San Lorenzo	44	13	10	21	56	73	−17	49
10	Deportivo Capiatá	44	11	14	19	42	70	−28	47
11	General Díaz	44	9	14	21	49	74	−25	41
12	Deportivo Santaní	44	7	11	26	35	77	−42	32

Source: APF
Rules for classification: 1) Points, 2) Playoff game (only if needed to decide international qualification between two teams), 3) Goal difference, 4) Goals for, 5) Away goals for, 6) Drawing of lots.
(C) Champions
Notes:

1. Sportivo Luqueño qualified for the Copa Sudamericana first stage since Deportivo Capiatá, the 2019 Copa Paraguay third-placed team, were relegated and lost the right to claim their berth.

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	2017 Pts	2018 Pts	2019 Pts	Total Pts	Total Pld	Avg	Relegation
1	Olimpia	78	102	108	288	132	2.182
2	Cerro Porteño	80	82	80	242	132	1.833
3	Libertad	75	76	85	236	132	1.788
4	Guaraní	85	48	69	202	132	1.53
5	Sol de América	62	63	57	182	132	1.379
6	Nacional	50	65	52	167	132	1.265
7	River Plate	—	—	52	52	44	1.182
8	Sportivo Luqueño	50	46	52	148	132	1.121
9	San Lorenzo	—	—	49	49	44	1.114
10	General Díaz	60	46	41	147	132	1.114
11	Deportivo Capiatá (R)	50	45	47	142	132	1.076	Relegation to División Intermedia
12	Deportivo Santaní (R)	—	50	32	82	88	0.932

Updated to games played on 15 December 2019. Source: APF