2021 Paraguayan Primera División season

The 2021 División Profesional season (officially the Copa de Primera TIGO-Visión Banco 2021 for sponsorship reasons) was the 87th season of the Paraguayan Primera División, the top-flight professional football league in Paraguay. The season began on 5 February and ended on 5 December 2021. The fixtures for the season were announced on 15 January 2021.^[1][2] Olimpia were the defending champions after winning the 2020 Clausura tournament.

Primera División

Season	2021
Dates	5 February – 5 December 2021
Champions	Apertura: Libertad (21st title) Clausura: Cerro Porteño (34th title)
Relegated	Sportivo Luqueño River Plate
Copa Libertadores	Cerro Porteño Libertad Guaraní Olimpia
Copa Sudamericana	Nacional Guaireña Sol de América (via Copa Paraguay)
Matches played	180
Goals scored	456 (2.53 per match)
Top goalscorer	Apertura: Leonardo Villagra (10 goals) Clausura: Sebastián Ferreira and Lorenzo Melgarejo (9 goals each)
Biggest home win	Libertad 5–0 Sportivo Luqueño (29 August) Libertad 5–0 River Plate (3 December)
Biggest away win	12 de Octubre 0–5 Sol de América (20 February) Guaraní 1–6 Libertad (16 May)
Highest scoring	Guaraní 1–6 Libertad (16 May)
← 2020 2022 →

In the Torneo Apertura, Libertad secured their twenty-first league title with one match to spare following Nacional's loss to River Plate on 23 May,^[3] whilst in the Torneo Clausura Cerro Porteño won their thirty-fourth league title after drawing with eventual runners-up Guaraní 2–2 on the last matchday played on 4 December.^[4]

Teams

Ten teams competed in the season: the top ten teams in the relegation table of the previous season, with no teams promoted from the División Intermedia since the 2020 seasons of the lower-tier club tournaments of Paraguayan football were cancelled by the Paraguayan Football Association due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[5] General Díaz and San Lorenzo were both relegated to the second tier at the end of the previous season after eight and two years in the top flight, respectively.

Stadia and locations

Asunción

12 de Octubre

Guaireña

Sportivo Luqueño

Sol de América

Asunción teams:
Cerro Porteño
Guaraní
Libertad
Nacional
Olimpia
River Plate

Locations of the 2021 Primera División teams

Team	Manager	City	Stadium[note 1]	Capacity
12 de Octubre	Pedro Sarabia	Itauguá	Luis Alberto Salinas	10,000
Cerro Porteño	Francisco Arce	Asunción	General Pablo Rojas	45,000
Guaireña	Troadio Duarte	Villarrica	Parque del Guairá	12,000
Guaraní	Fernando Jubero	Asunción	Rogelio Livieres	6,000
Libertad	Daniel Garnero	Asunción	Dr. Nicolás Leoz	10,000
Nacional	Hernán Rodrigo López	Asunción	Arsenio Erico	4,000
Olimpia	Julio César Cáceres	Asunción	Manuel Ferreira	25,000
River Plate	Iván Almeida	Asunción	River Plate	6,500
Sol de América	Juan Pablo Pumpido	Villa Elisa	Luis Alfonso Giagni	11,000
Sportivo Luqueño	Miguel Ángel Zahzú	Luque	Feliciano Cáceres	25,000

1. Teams occasionally play their home matches at Estadio Defensores del Chaco in Asunción. Derbies between Cerro Porteño and Olimpia are also played at this stadium.

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Torneo Apertura
River Plate	Ariel Galeano	End of caretaker spell	18 December 2020	Pre-season	Mario Jara	21 December 2020[6]
Libertad	Juan Samudio		23 December 2020		Daniel Garnero	30 December 2020[7]
Sol de América	Celso Ayala	Sacked	17 February 2021[8]	10th	Gustavo Florentín	17 February 2021[8]
River Plate	Mario Jara	Resigned	9 March 2021[9]	8th	Enrique Landaida	10 March 2021[10]
Olimpia	Néstor Gorosito	Sacked	15 March 2021[11]	4th	Sergio Órteman	15 March 2021[12]
Sol de América	Gustavo Florentín	Resigned	23 March 2021[13]	8th	Ever Hugo Almeida	23 March 2021[14]
River Plate	Enrique Landaida	Sacked	17 April 2021[15]	10th	Celso Ayala	18 April 2021[16]
Sportivo Luqueño	Luis Escobar		1 May 2021[17]	8th	Gilberto Fleitas (caretaker)	1 May 2021[17]
Sol de América	Ever Hugo Almeida		3 May 2021[18]	9th	Iván Almeida (caretaker)	3 May 2021[18]
Sportivo Luqueño	Gilberto Fleitas	End of caretaker spell	9 May 2021	8th	Alfredo Berti	9 May 2021[19]
Guaraní	Gustavo Costas	Mutual consent	28 May 2021[20]	6th	Fernando Jubero	12 June 2021[21]
Torneo Clausura
Sol de América	Iván Almeida	End of caretaker spell	10 June 2021	Pre-tournament	Juan Pablo Pumpido	10 June 2021[22]
Olimpia	Sergio Órteman	Resigned	14 August 2021[23]	9th	Enrique Landaida	15 August 2021[24]
	Enrique Landaida	Change of role	12 September 2021[25]	10th	Álvaro Gutiérrez	9 September 2021[26]
Sportivo Luqueño	Alfredo Berti	Sacked	12 September 2021[27]	5th	Badayco Maciel[i]	13 September 2021[29]
Olimpia	Álvaro Gutiérrez	Resigned	14 October 2021[30]	10th	Julio César Cáceres	15 October 2021[31]
River Plate	Celso Ayala	Sacked	18 October 2021[32]	6th	Iván Almeida	19 October 2021[33]
Sportivo Luqueño	Badayco Maciel	Replaced	7 December 2021[34]	Relegation play-off	Miguel Ángel Zahzú	8 December 2021[34]

Notes

1. Originally as caretaker manager, appointed as manager until the end of the tournament on 20 September 2021.^[28]

Torneo Apertura

The Campeonato de Apertura, named "Centenario del Sportivo Luqueño", was the 123rd official championship of the Primera División and the first championship of the 2021 season. It started on 5 February and ended on 30 May.^[35]

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Libertad (C)	18	12	2	4	36	15	+21	38	Qualification for Copa Libertadores group stage
2	Olimpia	18	10	3	5	34	23	+11	33
3	Nacional	18	8	6	4	26	19	+7	30
4	Cerro Porteño	18	8	4	6	24	22	+2	28
5	Guaireña	18	6	8	4	20	14	+6	26
6	Guaraní	18	7	4	7	24	27	−3	25
7	12 de Octubre	18	5	7	6	20	25	−5	22
8	Sportivo Luqueño	18	5	3	10	19	29	−10	18
9	Sol de América	18	3	5	10	18	28	−10	14
10	River Plate	18	2	6	10	13	32	−19	12

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	12O	CCP	GFC	GUA	LIB	NAC	OLI	RIV	SOL	SLU
12 de Octubre	—	0–2	1–1	1–1	2–1	2–2	0–2	2–2	0–5	1–0
Cerro Porteño	0–1	—	2–2	2–1	0–3	2–2	2–0	3–0	1–0	1–0
Guaireña	0–0	0–1	—	0–0	1–0	1–0	1–2	0–0	2–2	3–0
Guaraní	2–1	2–0	0–3	—	1–6	2–2	0–3	2–0	2–0	0–1
Libertad	3–1	2–1	2–1	1–1	—	1–1	0–1	2–1	1–2	2–0
Nacional	1–1	2–0	1–3	2–0	0–3	—	2–1	0–1	1–0	1–0
Olimpia	2–2	2–0	0–0	2–1	0–1	1–4	—	5–1	3–3	4–1
River Plate	0–2	1–1	0–1	1–4	1–3	0–0	1–2	—	0–2	1–0
Sol de América	0–3	1–3	0–0	1–3	0–2	1–2	0–2	1–1	—	0–2
Sportivo Luqueño	1–0	3–3	3–1	1–2	1–3	0–3	4–2	2–2	0–0	—

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

Top scorers

Rank	Name	Club	Goals
1	Leonardo Villagra	Nacional	10
2	Óscar Cardozo	Libertad	9
3	Mauro Boselli	Cerro Porteño	7
	Robert Morales	Cerro Porteño
	Jorge Recalde	Olimpia
6	Carlos Arrua	Nacional	6
	Fernando Fernández	Guaraní
	Alejandro Silva	Olimpia
9	José Ariel Núñez	12 de Octubre	5
	Fernando Romero	Guaireña
	Pablo Velázquez	12 de Octubre
	Pablo Zeballos	River Plate

Source: Soccerway

Torneo Clausura

The Campeonato de Clausura, named "Homenaje a César Zabala", was the 124th official championship of the Primera División and the second championship of the 2021 season. It began on 16 July and ended on 5 December.^[36]

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Cerro Porteño (C)	18	11	5	2	27	8	+19	38	Qualification for Copa Libertadores group stage
2	Guaraní	18	10	6	2	39	19	+20	36
3	Sol de América	18	8	4	6	22	22	0	28
4	Libertad	18	7	6	5	32	21	+11	27
5	12 de Octubre	18	5	6	7	18	22	−4	21
6	Sportivo Luqueño	18	5	6	7	16	27	−11	21
7	Nacional	18	4	8	6	17	25	−8	20
8	Olimpia	18	6	0	12	24	29	−5	18
9	Guaireña	18	4	6	8	12	21	−9	18
10	River Plate	18	4	5	9	15	28	−13	17

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	12O	CCP	GFC	GUA	LIB	NAC	OLI	RIV	SOL	SLU
12 de Octubre	—	0–1	0–0	1–2	0–1	2–2	1–3	2–2	1–0	0–1
Cerro Porteño	1–0	—	2–0	0–0	1–1	0–2	1–0	2–0	3–0	0–1
Guaireña	0–1	0–2	—	1–1	2–1	0–0	0–2	1–2	1–1	1–2
Guaraní	4–1	2–2	3–0	—	2–2	1–1	3–1	2–1	3–0	2–1
Libertad	3–3	0–2	0–0	2–0	—	1–2	0–3	5–0	1–1	5–0
Nacional	1–1	1–5	0–2	1–1	1–0	—	1–3	1–1	1–1	0–0
Olimpia	1–2	0–3	0–2	1–3	2–3	1–2	—	1–3	0–1	4–0
River Plate	0–2	0–0	1–1	1–5	0–1	1–0	1–2	—	0–2	0–0
Sol de América	0–1	1–2	3–0	2–1	0–4	3–0	1–0	1–0	—	2–1
Sportivo Luqueño	0–0	0–0	0–1	1–4	2–2	2–1	2–0	0–2	3–3	—

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

Top scorers

Rank	Name	Club	Goals
1	Sebastián Ferreira	Libertad	9
	Lorenzo Melgarejo	Libertad
3	Chico	Sol de América	8
4	Claudio Aquino	Cerro Porteño	7
	José Florentín	Guaraní
	José Verdún	Guaireña
7	Enrique Borja	Sportivo Luqueño	6
	Robert Morales	Cerro Porteño
	Alfio Oviedo	Guaraní
10	Hernesto Caballero	River Plate	5
	Fernando Fernández	Guaraní
	Marcelo González	Guaraní

Source: Soccerway

Aggregate table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Cerro Porteño (C)	36	19	9	8	51	30	+21	66	Qualification for Copa Libertadores group stage[a]
2	Libertad (C)	36	19	8	9	68	36	+32	65
3	Guaraní	36	17	10	9	63	46	+17	61	Qualification for Copa Libertadores second stage
4	Olimpia	36	16	3	17	58	52	+6	51	Qualification for Copa Libertadores first stage
5	Nacional	36	12	14	10	43	44	−1	50	Qualification for Copa Sudamericana first stage
6	Guaireña	36	10	14	12	32	35	−3	44
7	12 de Octubre	36	10	13	13	38	47	−9	43
8	Sol de América	36	11	9	16	40	50	−10	42	Qualification for Copa Sudamericana first stage[b]
9	Sportivo Luqueño	36	10	9	17	35	56	−21	39
10	River Plate	36	6	11	19	28	60	−32	29

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. Cerro Porteño also qualified for the 2021 Supercopa Paraguay as the best-ranked champions in the aggregate table.
2. Sol de América qualified for the Copa Sudamericana first stage as 2021 Copa Paraguay runners-up.

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 team with the lowest average was relegated to the División Intermedia for the following season, while the team with the second lowest average played a double-legged relegation play-off against the 2021 Intermedia fourth placed team.^[37]

Relegation table

Pos	Team	2019 Pts	2020 Pts	2021 Pts	Total Pts	Total Pld	Avg	Relegation
1	Olimpia	108	62	51	221	113	1.956
2	Cerro Porteño	80	69	66	215	113	1.903
3	Libertad	85	62	65	212	113	1.876
4	Guaraní	69	59	61	189	113	1.673
5	Nacional	52	44	50	146	113	1.292
6	Guaireña	—	41	44	85	69	1.232
7	12 de Octubre	—	41	43	84	69	1.217
8	Sol de América	57	35	42	134	113	1.186
9	Sportivo Luqueño (R)	52	36	39	127	113	1.124	Qualification for Relegation play-off
10	River Plate (R)	52	38	29	119	113	1.053	Relegation to División Intermedia

Source: APF

Promotion/relegation play-off

7 December 2021 (2021-12-07)

19:30 UTC−3

Sportivo Ameliano	3–2	Sportivo Luqueño
Giménez 21', 72' Arce 63'	Report	Ortiz 17' Palau 76'

Estadio Defensores del Chaco, Asunción

Referee: Carlos Benítez

---

11 December 2021 (2021-12-11)

19:30 UTC−3

Sportivo Luqueño	1–1	Sportivo Ameliano
Castro 77'	Report	Giménez 42'

Estadio Defensores del Chaco, Asunción

Referee: Alipio Colmán

Sportivo Ameliano won 4–3 on aggregate and were promoted to Primera División. Sportivo Luqueño were relegated to the División Intermedia.

Season awards

On 14 December 2021 a ceremony was held at the Paraguayan Football Association's headquarters to announce the winners of the season awards (Premios de Primera), who were chosen based on voting by the managers of the 10 Primera División teams, local sports journalists, the APF's Referee Commission, the public as well as official statistics.^[38]

Award	Winner	Club
Best Player	Claudio Aquino	Cerro Porteño
Revelation Player	Julio César Enciso	Libertad
People's Player	Jean Paulo Fernandes	Cerro Porteño
Top Scorer	Leonardo Villagra (14 goals)	Nacional
Best Goal	Claudio Aquino (against Olimpia, Torneo Clausura Round 14)	Cerro Porteño
Best Goalkeeper	Jean Paulo Fernandes	Cerro Porteño
Best Manager	Francisco Arce	Cerro Porteño
Fair Play Team	Guaireña
Best Referee	Giancarlo Juliadoza
Best VAR Referee	Mario Díaz de Vivar