2021 Bolivian Primera División

The 2021 Bolivian Primera División season, known as the 2021 Copa Tigo season for sponsorship reasons, was the 44th season of the División Profesional del Fútbol Boliviano, Bolivia's top-flight football league and the fourth season under División de Fútbol Profesional management. The season began on 9 March and ended on 12 December 2021.^[1]

División Profesional

Season	2021
Dates	9 March – 12 December 2021
Champions	Independiente Petrolero (1st title)
Relegated	Real Potosí San José
Copa Libertadores	Independiente Petrolero Always Ready The Strongest Bolívar
Copa Sudamericana	Royal Pari Oriente Petrolero Jorge Wilstermann Guabirá
Matches played	239
Goals scored	734 (3.07 per match)
Top goalscorer	Martín Prost (18 goals)
Biggest home win	The Strongest 7–0 Nacional Potosí (18 August)
Biggest away win	Aurora 0–8 Royal Pari (11 March)
Highest scoring	Indep. Petrolero 5–4 Wilstermann (25 April)
← 2020 2022 →

Independiente Petrolero won their first title in the tournament following a 3–2 win over Guabirá and a 1–0 loss for The Strongest against Real Santa Cruz on the last day of the season.^[2] Always Ready were the defending champions, having won the 2020 Apertura tournament.

Format

The format for the 2021 season was approved by the 16 División Profesional clubs on 17 February 2021.^[1] Given the need to allow clubs qualified for the Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana as well as the national team to fulfill their international commitments, and concerns by the development of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was decided to play a single tournament in the year instead of the usual Apertura and Clausura system. The 16 teams played each other twice in a double round-robin tournament for a total of 30 rounds. The Bolivian Football Federation originally proposed 13 March 2021 as the date to start the competition, but per request from the four clubs that took part in the Copa Sudamericana the date was moved forward to 10 March 2021. The top four clubs at the end of the season qualified for the 2022 Copa Libertadores, with the champions and runners-up entering the group stage, while the next four best-placed teams qualified for the 2022 Copa Sudamericana.^[3]

Teams

16 teams competed in the league for the 2021 season, increasing from 14 since no clubs were relegated at the end of the previous season.^[4] Real Tomayapo and Independiente Petrolero, the 2020 Copa Simón Bolívar champions and runners-up, were both promoted for this season. The former competed for the first time in the top tier, while the latter returned after a 17-year absence.^[5][6]

Stadia and locations

Always Ready

Atl. Palmaflor

Aurora
Wilstermann

Santa Cruz de la Sierra

Bolívar
The Strongest

Nacional Potosí
Real Potosí

San José

Guabirá

Indep. Petrolero

Real Tomayapo

Santa Cruz de la Sierra teams:
Blooming
Oriente Petrolero
Real Santa Cruz
Royal Pari

Locations of the 2021 División Profesional teams.

Team	Manager	City	Stadium	Capacity
Always Ready	Pablo Godoy	El Alto	Municipal de Villa Ingenio	25,000
Atlético Palmaflor	Humberto Viviani	Quillacollo	Municipal de Quillacollo	6,000
Aurora	Sergio Zeballos (caretaker)	Cochabamba	Félix Capriles	32,000
Blooming	Rodrigo Venegas	Santa Cruz	Ramón Tahuichi Aguilera	38,000
Bolívar	Antônio Carlos Zago	La Paz	Hernando Siles	42,000
Guabirá	Víctor Hugo Antelo	Montero	Gilberto Parada	13,000
Independiente Petrolero	Marcelo Robledo	Sucre	Olímpico Patria	30,700
Jorge Wilstermann	Sergio Migliaccio	Cochabamba	Félix Capriles	32,000
Nacional Potosí	Roberto Mancilla (caretaker)	Potosí	Víctor Agustín Ugarte	32,105
Oriente Petrolero	Erwin Sánchez	Santa Cruz	Ramón Tahuichi Aguilera	38,000
Real Potosí	Sebastián Núñez	Potosí	Víctor Agustín Ugarte	32,105
Real Santa Cruz	David Perdiguero	Santa Cruz	Real Santa Cruz	14,000
Real Tomayapo	Álvaro Peña	Tarija	IV Centenario	15,000
Royal Pari	Miguel Ángel Portugal	Santa Cruz	Ramón Tahuichi Aguilera	38,000
San José	Luis Choque (caretaker)	Oruro	Jesús Bermúdez	33,795
The Strongest	Christian Díaz	La Paz	Hernando Siles	42,000

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Always Ready	Omar Asad	No contract signed	31 December 2020[7]	Pre-season	Sebastián Núñez	18 January 2021[8]
Atlético Palmaflor	Xabier Azkargorta	End of contract	31 December 2020		Julio César Baldivieso	7 January 2021[9]
Real Potosí	Cristian Aldirico		31 December 2020		Alex Pallarés	5 January 2021[10]
Real Santa Cruz	José Peña		31 December 2020		Néstor Clausen	6 January 2021[11]
Aurora	Sergio Zeballos	End of caretaker spell	31 December 2020		Humberto Viviani	1 January 2021[12]
Royal Pari	Miguel Ángel Abrigo		31 December 2020		Christian Díaz	10 January 2021[13]
San José	Arnaldo Mancilla	Replaced	31 December 2020		Domingo Sánchez	18 January 2021[14]
Jorge Wilstermann	Christian Díaz	Sacked	1 January 2021[15]		Mauricio Soria	4 January 2021[16]
Blooming	Gabriel Schürrer		4 January 2021[17]		Eduardo Villegas	5 January 2021[18]
Nacional Potosí	Sebastián Núñez	Signed by Always Ready	8 January 2021[19]		Álvaro Peña	11 January 2021[20]
Real Potosí	Alex Pallarés	Health issues	8 February 2021[21]		Carlos Fonseca	9 February 2021[22]
San José	Domingo Sánchez	Sacked	1 March 2021[23]		Thiago Leitão	2 March 2021[24]
	Thiago Leitão	Resigned	29 March 2021[25]	16th	Manuel Luizaga (caretaker)	30 March 2021
Atlético Palmaflor	Julio César Baldivieso	Sacked	29 March 2021[26]	4th	Thiago Leitão	30 March 2021[27]
San José	Manuel Luizaga	End of caretaker spell	6 April 2021	16th	Marcos Ferrufino	6 April 2021[28]
Nacional Potosí	Álvaro Peña	Sacked	8 April 2021[29]	6th	Flavio Robatto	13 April 2021[30]
Always Ready	Sebastián Núñez		10 April 2021[31]	3rd	Omar Asad	13 April 2021[32]
The Strongest	Alberto Illanes		22 April 2021[33]	2nd	Luis Orozco (caretaker)	22 April 2021[33]
Jorge Wilstermann	Mauricio Soria	Resigned	25 April 2021[34]	14th	Marco Sandy (caretaker)	26 April 2021[35]
The Strongest	Luis Orozco	End of caretaker spell	26 April 2021	1st	Gustavo Florentín	26 April 2021[36]
Jorge Wilstermann	Marco Sandy		29 April 2021[37]	14th	Diego Cagna	28 April 2021[37]
Real Potosí	Carlos Fonseca	Sacked	12 May 2021[38]	15th	Armando Ibáñez	13 May 2021[38]
San José	Marcos Ferrufino		16 May 2021[39]	16th	Domingo Sánchez	17 May 2021[40]
Bolívar	Natxo González		23 May 2021[41]	2nd	Vladimir Soria (caretaker)	23 May 2021[41]
	Vladimir Soria	End of caretaker spell	14 July 2021	2nd	Antônio Carlos Zago	14 July 2021[42]
Real Santa Cruz	Néstor Clausen	Resigned	21 July 2021[43]	14th	David Perdiguero	22 July 2021[44]
Always Ready	Omar Asad	Sacked	27 July 2021[45]	8th	Pablo Godoy	29 July 2021[46]
Royal Pari	Christian Díaz		27 July 2021[47]	5th	Luis Marín Camacho (caretaker)	28 July 2021[48]
Real Potosí	Armando Ibáñez		30 July 2021[49]	15th	Marco Sandy	2 August 2021[50]
Royal Pari	Luis Marín Camacho	End of caretaker spell	3 August 2021	5th	Miguel Ángel Portugal	3 August 2021[51]
Nacional Potosí	Flavio Robatto	Sacked	4 August 2021[52]	6th	Alberto Illanes	6 August 2021[53]
Real Tomayapo	Horacio Pacheco	Resigned	8 August 2021[54]	12th	Álvaro Peña	10 August 2021[55]
The Strongest	Gustavo Florentín		15 August 2021[56]	1st	Pablo Cabanillas (caretaker)	15 August 2021[56]
Blooming	Eduardo Villegas	Mutual consent	19 August 2021[57]	14th	Hernán Meske[i]	19 August 2021[57]
San José	Domingo Sánchez	Resigned	21 August 2021[59]	16th	Óscar Daza	26 August 2021[60]
The Strongest	Pablo Cabanillas	End of caretaker spell	21 August 2021[61]	1st	Christian Díaz	19 August 2021[61]
Guabirá	Víctor Hugo Andrada	Sacked	23 August 2021[62]	10th	Víctor Hugo Antelo	25 August 2021[63]
San José	Óscar Daza		14 September 2021[64]	16th	Luis Choque (caretaker)	16 September 2021[65]
Atlético Palmaflor	Thiago Leitão		15 September 2021[66]	7th	Víctor Hugo Andrada	15 September 2021[67]
Real Potosí	Marco Sandy		18 September 2021[68]	15th	Ronald Villafuerte (caretaker)	18 September 2021[69]
Jorge Wilstermann	Diego Cagna	Resigned	23 September 2021[70]	9th	Sergio Migliaccio[ii]	24 September 2021[72]
Real Potosí	Ronald Villafuerte	End of caretaker spell	29 September 2021	15th	Sebastián Núñez	29 September 2021[73]
Aurora	Humberto Viviani	Resigned	17 October 2021[74]	12th	Sergio Zeballos[iii]	18 October 2021[75]
Atlético Palmaflor	Víctor Hugo Andrada		1 November 2021[76]	9th	Humberto Viviani	3 November 2021[77]
Nacional Potosí	Alberto Illanes		23 November 2021[78]	11th	Roberto Mancilla[iii]	23 November 2021[78]
Blooming	Hernán Meske		27 November 2021[79]	15th	Rodrigo Venegas	28 November 2021[80]

Notes

1. Originally as caretaker manager, appointed as manager until the end of the tournament on 7 September 2021.^[58]
2. Originally as caretaker manager, appointed as manager on a permanent basis on 29 September 2021.^[71]
3. Caretaker manager until the end of the tournament.

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Independiente Petrolero (C)	30	20	5	5	59	33	+26	65	Qualification for Copa Libertadores group stage
2	Always Ready	30	19	7	4	66	31	+35	64
3	The Strongest	30	19	6	5	57	24	+33	63	Qualification for Copa Libertadores second stage
4	Bolívar	30	16	8	6	63	29	+34	56	Qualification for Copa Libertadores first stage
5	Royal Pari	30	16	3	11	66	45	+21	51	Qualification for Copa Sudamericana first stage
6	Oriente Petrolero	30	15	6	9	46	29	+17	51
7	Jorge Wilstermann	30	15	4	11	64	48	+16	49
8	Guabirá	30	13	5	12	47	47	0	44
9	Atlético Palmaflor	30	11	7	12	42	45	−3	40
10	Nacional Potosí	30	10	9	11	45	46	−1	39
11	Real Santa Cruz	30	11	5	14	39	47	−8	38
12	Aurora	30	9	6	15	40	51	−11	33
13	Real Tomayapo	30	9	5	16	28	45	−17	32
14	Blooming	30	7	5	18	34	56	−22	26
15	Real Potosí (R)	30	7	4	19	30	63	−33	25	Qualification for Relegation play-off
16	San José[a] (R)	30	0	1	29	9	96	−87	−11	Administrative relegation to Bolivian Football Regional Leagues[b]

Source: FBF, 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; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. San José were deducted twelve points as punishment for failing to pay outstanding debts with former players and managers.^[81][82][83]
2. San José were administratively relegated on 8 December 2021 per ruling by the Bolivian Football Federation's Superior Court of Appeals due to their failure to pay outstanding debts.^[84]

Results

Home \ Away	CAR	APF	AUR	BLO	BOL	GUA	IPE	WIL	NAC	OPE	RPO	RSC	RTO	RPA	SJO	STR
Always Ready	—	3–2	2–0	5–1	1–1	6–1	2–2	0–0	1–1	2–0	2–1	4–0	3–1	2–1	5–0	2–1
Atlético Palmaflor	0–1	—	3–2	3–0	2–2	2–1	0–0	3–1	0–0	2–1	0–1	1–0	2–0	2–0	1–0	0–0
Aurora	3–4	2–1	—	2–0	1–1	2–1	3–0	1–1	0–0	1–2	5–0	4–1	1–2	0–8	3–0	0–1
Blooming	1–2	1–1	1–0	—	2–2	0–1	2–2	2–2	2–1	1–1	1–0	3–1	0–1	0–1	4–0	2–0
Bolívar	0–2	3–1	5–1	2–0	—	6–0	1–0	4–0	4–2	1–1	1–0	1–1	2–0	2–0	4–1	0–1
Guabirá	0–0	2–0	4–0	4–2	3–1	—	2–3	3–2	3–2	1–1	3–0	1–0	0–2	3–2	4–0	0–0
Independiente Petrolero	1–2	2–0	3–0	3–0	2–1	2–1	—	5–4	2–0	1–0	2–1	2–1	1–0	1–0	4–0	2–2
Jorge Wilstermann	5–2	5–0	2–1	2–1	1–0	2–1	2–3	—	1–2	0–1	3–1	5–1	3–0	4–1	4–0	0–3
Nacional Potosí	0–2	3–2	0–0	4–0	1–1	2–1	1–2	0–1	—	1–0	4–2	2–2	0–0	2–1	7–1	3–4
Oriente Petrolero	0–0	3–0	1–0	3–0	1–3	2–0	1–2	4–2	0–0	—	2–0	2–0	3–1	2–4	4–0	2–0
Real Potosí	3–2	1–5	1–1	3–1	0–2	1–3	0–5	2–2	1–2	2–1	—	3–0	1–0	1–3	3–0	1–3
Real Santa Cruz	2–3	1–0	1–1	1–0	0–3	3–0	2–0	0–2	1–1	0–0	4–1	—	2–0	2–1	5–0	1–0
Real Tomayapo	1–0	3–3	1–2	2–1	1–3	1–1	0–2	1–2	3–0	0–1	0–0	2–1	—	1–4	1–0	0–0
Royal Pari	2–1	2–2	1–0	4–3	1–1	1–1	3–1	3–2	2–0	0–3	5–0	3–2	4–2	—	6–1	0–1
San José	0–4	1–3	1–4	1–2	0–5	0–1	1–3	0–3[a]	0–4	0–2	0–0	1–2	1–2	0–3	—	0–1
The Strongest	1–1	4–1	3–0	2–1	3–1	2–1	1–1	3–1	7–0	5–2	1–0	1–2	2–0	3–0[b]	2–0	—

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

1. Match cancelled and awarded 3–0 to Jorge Wilstermann due to San José's administrative relegation.^[85]
2. Match ended after 9 minutes of play due to the withdrawal of Royal Pari player Kevin Rosas by injury, leaving the team below the minimum number of players required per tournament regulations (seven). The score at the time of suspension was 3–0.^[86]

Top scorers

Rank	Name	Club	Goals
1	Martín Prost	Independiente Petrolero	18
2	Carmelo Algarañaz	Always Ready	17
3	Kevin Mina	Guabirá	16
4	Leonardo Ramos	Bolívar	15
	Jefferson Tavares	Royal Pari
6	Edarlyn Reyes	Real Santa Cruz	14
7	Jair Reinoso	The Strongest	13
8	Juan Godoy	Independiente Petrolero	12
	Sebastián Gularte	Nacional Potosí
	Willie	The Strongest

Source: Soccerway

Relegation/promotion play-off

The relegation play-off was played by:

• Real Potosí (2021 División Profesional 15th place)
• Universitario de Sucre (2021 Copa Simón Bolívar runners-up)

The winners played in the top flight for the 2022 season.

15 December 2021 (2021-12-15)

19:00 UTC−4

Real Potosí	1–2	Universitario de Sucre
Lovera 75' (pen.)	Report	Brun 12' Argüello 51'

Estadio Víctor Agustín Ugarte, Potosí

Referee: Jordy Alemán

---

19 December 2021 (2021-12-19)

15:00 UTC−4

Universitario de Sucre	2–0	Real Potosí
Gonzales 57' González 86' (pen.)	Report

Estadio Olímpico Patria, Sucre

Referee: Ivo Méndez

Universitario de Sucre won 6–0 on points and were promoted to Primera División.