2022 Venezuelan Primera División season

The 2022 Primera División season, officially Liga de Fútbol Profesional Venezolano or Liga FUTVE, was the 66th season of the Venezuelan Primera División, the top-flight football league in Venezuela, and the 41st season since the start of the professional era. The season began on 24 February and ended with the final match on 30 October 2022.^[1]

Liga FUTVE

Season	2022
Dates	24 February – 30 October 2022
Champions	Metropolitanos (1st title)
Relegated	Aragua
Copa Libertadores	Metropolitanos Monagas Carabobo Zamora
Copa Sudamericana	Estudiantes de Mérida Deportivo Táchira Caracas Academia Puerto Cabello
Matches played	277
Goals scored	656 (2.37 per match)
Top goalscorer	Kevin Viveros (21 goals)
Biggest home win	Metropolitanos 5–0 Mineros (17 April)
Biggest away win	La Guaira 1–5 Monagas (15 May)
Highest scoring	Hnos. Colmenarez 2–5 Est. Mérida (21 October)
← 2021 2023 →

Metropolitanos won their first title in the competition, beating Monagas on penalty kicks after drawing 1–1 after extra time in the final.^[2] Deportivo Táchira were the defending champions.

Format changes

On 6 October 2021, the Liga FUTVE initially announced the return of the Apertura and Clausura format for the 2022 season, with the top eight clubs advancing to a play-off stage in which international berths would be decided. It was also announced that clubs would be required to fully meet club licensing requirements in order to be allowed to take part in the competition.^[3]

The competition format was eventually confirmed by the Liga FUTVE on 12 January 2022 after a meeting with representatives from the 16 participating clubs. Instead of the Apertura and Clausura tournaments originally announced, the 16 clubs took part in a round-robin first stage in which they played each other twice (once at home and once away) for a total of 30 games, with the top 12 clubs advancing to the next round of the competition. The top four clubs, which qualified for the 2023 Copa Libertadores, advanced to a final stage (Fase Final Libertadores) where they played each other twice with the top two teams playing a single-legged final to decide the league champions. The teams placed 5th to 12th advanced to the Fase Final Sudamericana where they were divided into two groups of four, in which the top two of each group qualified for the 2023 Copa Sudamericana. The last-placed team in the first stage was relegated to Segunda División.^[1]

Teams

On 30 December 2021, the Venezuelan Football Federation announced the results of the club licensing process for the 2022 season. Atlético Venezuela and Gran Valencia had their license applications denied, as well as the 2021 Segunda División champions Titanes, and were unable to take part in the competition. As a result, no teams were promoted and the 2022 Primera División season was played by 16 teams.^[4]

Relegated to 2022 Segunda División 7 Trujillanos (Occidental Group) 7 Yaracuyanos (Central Group) 7 LALA (Oriental Group)

Failed club licensing process Atlético Venezuela Gran Valencia

Promoted to 2022 Primera División None (Titanes were denied a license)

Stadia and locations

ARC

Barinas

Caracas

Deportivo Lara

Deportivo Táchira

Est. Mérida

Portuguesa

Mineros

Monagas

Zulia

ARC teams:
Academia Puerto Cabello
Aragua
Carabobo
Barinas teams:
H. Colmenarez
Zamora
Caracas teams:
Caracas
Deportivo La Guaira
Metropolitanos
Universidad Central

Locations of the 2022 Primera División teams

Team	Manager	City	Stadium	Capacity
Academia Puerto Cabello	Juan Tolisano	Puerto Cabello	La Bombonerita	7,500
Aragua	Leonel Vielma	Maracay	Olímpico Hermanos Ghersi Páez	14,000
Carabobo	Enrique Maggiolo	Valencia	Misael Delgado	10,400
Caracas	Henry Meléndez (caretaker)	Caracas	Olímpico de la UCV	23,940
Deportivo La Guaira	Daniel Farías	Caracas	Olímpico de la UCV	23,940
Deportivo Lara	Jesús Ortiz	Barquisimeto	Farid Richa	12,480
Deportivo Táchira	Eduardo Saragó	San Cristóbal	Polideportivo de Pueblo Nuevo	38,755
Estudiantes de Mérida	Leonardo González	Mérida	Metropolitano de Mérida	42,200
Hermanos Colmenarez	Horacio Matuszyczk	Barinas	Agustín Tovar	29,800
Metropolitanos	José María Morr	Caracas	Olímpico de la UCV	23,940
Mineros de Guayana	Elías Emmons (caretaker)	Ciudad Guayana	Polideportivo Cachamay	41,600
Monagas	Jhonny Ferreira	Maturín	Monumental de Maturín	51,796
Portuguesa	Martín Brignani	Acarigua	General José Antonio Páez	18,000
Universidad Central	Edson Rodríguez	Caracas	Olímpico de la UCV	23,940
Zamora	Noel Sanvicente	Barinas	Agustín Tovar	29,800
Zulia	Adolfo Monsalve	Maracaibo	Sede Deportiva Lino Alonso	500

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
First stage
Zamora	Alfarabi Romero	End of caretaker spell	21 October 2021	Pre-season	Noel Sanvicente	29 December 2021[5]
Academia Puerto Cabello	Jeremy Nowak		30 November 2021		Francisco Perlo	17 December 2021[6]
Deportivo Lara	Leonardo González	Resigned	9 December 2021[7]		Jorge Durán	29 December 2021[8]
Mineros	Pastor Márquez	Mutual agreement	11 December 2021[9]		Gabriel Martínez Poch	5 January 2022[10]
Carabobo	Enrique Maggiolo	End of contract	15 December 2021[11]		Enrique García	2 January 2022[12]
Caracas	Noel Sanvicente		15 December 2021[13]		Francesco Stifano	27 December 2021[14]
Deportivo Táchira	Juan Tolisano	Signed by Deportes Antofagasta	21 December 2021[15]		Alex Pallarés	24 December 2021[16]
Estudiantes de Mérida	Leonel Vielma	Mutual agreement	9 March 2022[17]	15th	Ildemaro Fernández[i]	9 March 2022[18]
	Ildemaro Fernández	End of caretaker spell	21 March 2022	12th	Leonardo González	21 March 2022[19]
Deportivo Lara	Jorge Durán	Mutual agreement	27 March 2022[20]	12th	Eder Mancilla	28 March 2022[21]
Mineros de Guayana	Gabriel Martínez Poch	Resigned	7 April 2022[22]	12th	Kelvin Salazar[i]	7 April 2022[23]
Academia Puerto Cabello	Francisco Perlo	Mutual agreement	13 April 2022[24]	15th	Bladimir Morales[i]	14 April 2022[25]
Zulia	Henry Meléndez	Sacked	15 April 2022[26]	16th	Francisco Perlo	19 April 2022[27]
Mineros de Guayana	Kelvin Salazar	End of caretaker spell	21 April 2022	13th	Jorge Durán	21 April 2022[28]
Universidad Central	Daniel Sasso	Mutual agreement	4 May 2022[29]	15th	Enrique Maggiolo	6 May 2022[30]
Academia Puerto Cabello	Bladimir Morales	End of caretaker spell	13 May 2022	13th	Juan Tolisano	13 May 2022[31]
Aragua	Edson Rodríguez	Mutual agreement	17 May 2022[32]	9th	Leonel Vielma	18 May 2022[33]
Carabobo	Enrique García	Sacked	4 July 2022[34]	6th	Antonio Franco	4 July 2022[35]
Deportivo Lara	Eder Mancilla	Resigned	14 July 2022[36]	16th	Eduardo Saragó	19 July 2022[37]
Hermanos Colmenarez	Luis Alberto Pacheco	Sacked	25 July 2022[38]	12th	Horacio Matuszyczk	26 July 2022[39]
Deportivo Lara	Eduardo Saragó	Resigned	27 July 2022[40]	15th	Jesús Ortiz[ii]	28 July 2022[42]
Portuguesa	Alí Cañas	Mutual agreement	2 August 2022[43]	10th	Martín Brignani	10 August 2022[44]
Zulia	Francisco Perlo	Resigned	12 August 2022[45]	11th	Adolfo Monsalve	13 August 2022[45]
Universidad Central	Enrique Maggiolo		16 August 2022[46]	16th	Edson Rodríguez	16 August 2022[46]
Deportivo Táchira	Alex Pallarés	Mutual agreement	19 August 2022[47]	5th	Eduardo Saragó	20 August 2022[48]
Mineros de Guayana	Jorge Durán		28 August 2022[49]	14th	Elías Emmons[i]	31 August 2022[50]
Caracas	Francesco Stifano	Sacked	19 September 2022[51]	11th	Henry Meléndez[i]	19 September 2022[51]
Final stages
Carabobo	Antonio Franco	Sacked	7 October 2022[52]	4th, Fase Final Libertadores	Enrique Maggiolo	7 October 2022[52]

Notes

1. Caretaker manager.
2. Originally as caretaker manager, appointed on a permanent basis on 9 August 2022.^[41]

First stage

The first stage started on 24 February 2022 and ended on 18 September 2022.

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Zamora	30	14	13	3	44	24	+20	55	Advance to Fase Final Libertadores
2	Metropolitanos	30	15	8	7	44	29	+15	53
3	Monagas	30	13	9	8	46	33	+13	48
4	Carabobo	30	11	13	6	36	22	+14	46
5	Deportivo La Guaira	30	12	10	8	46	42	+4	46	Advance to Fase Final Sudamericana
6	Deportivo Táchira	30	11	11	8	38	33	+5	44
7	Academia Puerto Cabello	30	11	8	11	38	41	−3	41
8	Hermanos Colmenarez	30	11	7	12	39	38	+1	40
9	Estudiantes de Mérida	30	9	12	9	38	37	+1	39
10	Portuguesa	30	7	16	7	26	27	−1	37
11	Caracas	30	8	12	10	34	36	−2	36
12	Deportivo Lara	30	9	9	12	32	36	−4	36
13	Mineros de Guayana	30	8	10	12	43	54	−11	34
14	Zulia	30	8	8	14	29	43	−14	32
15	Universidad Central	30	6	9	15	19	40	−21	27
16	Aragua (R)	30	5	9	16	32	49	−17	24	Relegation to Segunda División

Source: Liga FUTVE, Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-head results; 5) Drawing of lots.
(R) Relegated

Results

Home \ Away	APC	ARA	CBO	CAR	DLG	LAR	TAC	ESM	HCO	MET	MIN	MON	POR	UCV	ZAM	ZUL
Academia Puerto Cabello	—	2–1	1–1	0–0	1–1	3–2	1–2	1–0	1–2	0–2	4–2	0–2	1–1	3–0	0–0	2–2
Aragua	0–1	—	1–1	4–2	0–2	1–1	1–0	0–1	1–0	2–3	3–3	2–4	0–1	1–0	0–1	0–0
Carabobo	0–1	5–1	—	0–0	2–0	2–2	3–1	0–0	1–0	2–0	3–1	1–2	0–0	4–0	1–1	1–0
Caracas	3–1	1–0	0–0	—	3–2	1–2	2–0	3–1	1–2	1–1	1–0	2–2	1–1	1–2	1–1	3–1
Deportivo La Guaira	2–1	3–3	3–2	2–0	—	2–3	0–0	1–1	2–0	1–0	1–1	1–5	2–1	0–1	1–1	2–1
Deportivo Lara	1–2	2–2	1–0	1–1	2–0	—	2–0	2–2	0–1	1–2	2–3	0–0	1–0	0–0	0–2	3–0
Deportivo Táchira	1–1	2–0	0–0	0–0	3–3	2–0	—	2–2	0–1	3–0	1–0	4–2	2–2	0–0	1–1	3–0
Estudiantes de Mérida	1–3	2–1	0–0	0–0	2–1	1–0	1–2	—	2–2	3–1	2–0	1–1	1–1	3–0	1–2	2–0
Hermanos Colmenarez	4–1	4–1	2–3	2–1	0–2	3–1	1–2	1–1	—	1–2	1–1	2–0	0–0	2–0	1–1	0–2
Metropolitanos	0–2	1–1	0–0	3–0	1–2	3–1	1–1	2–0	2–1	—	5–0	0–0	0–0	2–0	2–0	2–0
Mineros de Guayana	2–0	0–3	2–3	1–2	3–3	1–0	1–2	1–1	3–1	2–2	—	1–3	2–2	3–1	2–2	0–3
Monagas	0–1	3–1	0–0	0–0	2–2	0–1	3–0	2–2	3–1	2–1	1–2	—	2–4	1–0	0–1	2–0
Portuguesa	2–1	1–0	0–1	2–1	1–0	0–0	0–0	2–1	1–1	0–0	0–2	1–2	—	0–0	2–3	1–1
Universidad Central	2–2	2–1	0–0	1–0	0–0	0–0	2–1	1–2	0–1	2–3	0–2	0–2	2–0	—	1–1	0–1
Zamora	1–0	1–1	1–0	3–3	2–3	2–0	2–0	2–0	1–1	0–1	1–1	2–0	0–0	2–0	—	5–1
Zulia	4–1	0–0	2–0	1–0	0–2	0–1	1–3	3–2	2–1	1–2	1–1	0–0	0–0	2–2	0–2	—

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

Fase Final Libertadores

The top four teams in the first stage contested Fase Final Libertadores, playing each other twice. The top two teams advanced to the final and also qualified for the group stage of the 2023 Copa Libertadores, whilst the third- and fourth-placed teams qualified for the preliminary stages of the same competition.^[53]

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Metropolitanos	6	2	3	1	3	2	+1	9	Advance to Final and qualification for Copa Libertadores group stage
2	Monagas	6	2	2	2	8	8	0	8
3	Carabobo	6	2	1	3	8	8	0	7	Qualification for Copa Libertadores second stage
4	Zamora	6	1	4	1	5	6	−1	7	Qualification for Copa Libertadores first stage

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-head results; 5) Drawing of lots.

Results

Home \ Away	CBO	MET	MON	ZAM
Carabobo	—	0–0	3–2	0–2
Metropolitanos	1–0	—	0–2	0–0
Monagas	2–1	0–2	—	1–1
Zamora	1–4	0–0	1–1	—

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

Fase Final Sudamericana

Fase Final Sudamericana was contested by the teams ranked 5th to 12th in the first stage, which were drawn into two groups with the teams placed fifth and sixth in the previous stage being seeded into each group and played each other team in their group twice. The top two teams of each group qualified for the 2023 Copa Sudamericana.^[53]

Group A

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Estudiantes de Mérida	6	3	2	1	12	8	+4	11	Qualification for Copa Sudamericana first stage
2	Caracas	6	3	2	1	7	4	+3	11
3	Hermanos Colmenarez	6	1	2	3	8	9	−1	5
4	Deportivo La Guaira	6	1	2	3	3	9	−6	5

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-head results; 5) Drawing of lots.

Results

Home \ Away	CAR	DLG	ESM	HCO
Caracas	—	2–0	1–2	1–0
Deportivo La Guaira	1–2	—	1–0	0–0
Estudiantes de Mérida	1–1	1–1	—	3–2
Hermanos Colmenarez	0–0	4–0	2–5	—

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

Group B

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Deportivo Táchira	6	3	2	1	4	2	+2	11	Qualification for Copa Sudamericana first stage
2	Academia Puerto Cabello	6	3	1	2	7	5	+2	10
3	Deportivo Lara	6	3	0	3	4	6	−2	9
4	Portuguesa	6	1	1	4	3	5	−2	4

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-head results; 5) Drawing of lots.

Results

Home \ Away	APC	LAR	TAC	POR
Academia Puerto Cabello	—	3–1	0–0	0–2
Deportivo Lara	1–0	—	0–2	1–0
Deportivo Táchira	0–2	1–0	—	0–0
Portuguesa	1–2	0–1	0–1	—

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

Final

The final match was hosted by the team with the best performance in the first stage of the season.

30 October 2022 (2022-10-30)

18:30 UTC−4

Metropolitanos	1–1 (a.e.t.)	Monagas
Ortiz 101'	Report	Navas 91'
Penalties
Vargas Moreira Gómez Antón Cermeño	4–3	F. González Peralta Navas Zalzman Martínez

Estadio Olímpico de la UCV, Caracas

Attendance: 11,247

Referee: Jesús Valenzuela

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Kevin Viveros	Carabobo	21
2	Juan Camilo Zapata	Hermanos Colmenarez	19
3	Jovanny Bolívar	Deportivo La Guaira	17
4	Richard Blanco	Mineros de Guayana	13
	Aquiles Ocanto	Monagas
6	Antonio Romero	Zamora	11
	Guido Rouse	Zulia
8	Erickson Gallardo	Zamora	10
	Charlis Ortiz	Metropolitanos
10	Samuel Sosa	Academia Puerto Cabello	9

Source: Liga FUTVE