2023 Ecuadorian Serie A

The 2023 Campeonato Ecuatoriano de Fútbol Serie A, known as the LigaPro BET593 2023 for sponsoring purposes,^[1] was the 65th season of the Serie A, Ecuador's top tier football league, and the fifth under the management of the Liga Profesional de Fútbol del Ecuador (or LigaPro). The season began on 24 February and ended on 17 December 2023,^[2] with the fixture for the season being unveiled on 24 January 2023.^[3]

LigaPro Serie A

Season	2023
Dates	24 February – 17 December 2023
Champions	LDU Quito (12th title)
Relegated	Gualaceo Guayaquil City
Copa Libertadores	LDU Quito (via Copa Sudamericana) Independiente del Valle Barcelona El Nacional Aucas
Copa Sudamericana	Delfín Universidad Católica Técnico Universitario Deportivo Cuenca
Matches played	244
Goals scored	597 (2.45 per match)
Top goalscorer	Miguel Parrales (16 goals)
Biggest home win	Barcelona 5–0 Delfín (4 March) LDU Quito 6–1 Gualaceo (31 March)
Biggest away win	U. Católica 0–4 LDU Quito (29 April)
Highest scoring	LDU Quito 6–1 Gualaceo (31 March) Gualaceo 3–4 El Nacional (4 June) Ind. del Valle 3–4 El Nacional (16 June)
← 2022 2024 →

LDU Quito were the champions, winning their twelfth domestic league title after beating Independiente del Valle on penalty kicks in the finals after a 1–1 draw on aggregate.^[4] Aucas were the defending champions.

Teams

16 teams competed in the season. Macará and 9 de Octubre were relegated after finishing in the bottom two places of the aggregate table of the previous season, being replaced by the 2022 Serie B champions El Nacional and third place Libertad. El Nacional clinched promotion to the top flight with two matches to go after defeating Libertad 4–2 on 20 October 2022,^[5] whilst Libertad themselves ensured promotion in the last round played on 30 October 2022, with a 2–0 victory over Imbabura and a 1–1 draw for América de Quito against Independiente Juniors. Despite having finished in third place in Serie B, Libertad were promoted to the top flight since runners-up Independiente Juniors are Independiente del Valle's reserve team.^[6] El Nacional returned to Serie A after two seasons, and Libertad will compete in Serie A for the first time ever.

Stadia and locations

Aucas

Barcelona

Cumbayá

Delfín

Deportivo Cuenca

El Nacional

Emelec

Gualaceo

Guayaquil City

Independiente del Valle

Libertad

LDU Quito

Mushuc Runa

Orense

Técnico Universitario

Universidad Católica

Locations of the 2023 Serie A clubs.

Team	City	Stadium	Capacity
Aucas	Quito	Cooprogreso Gonzalo Pozo Ripalda	21,689
Barcelona	Guayaquil	Monumental Banco Pichincha	57,267
Cumbayá	Quito	Olímpico Atahualpa	35,258
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	George Capwell	40,020
Gualaceo	Azogues	Jorge Andrade Cantos	14,000
Guayaquil City	Guayaquil	Christian Benítez Betancourt	10,152
Independiente del Valle	Quito	Banco Guayaquil	12,000
LDU Quito	Quito	Rodrigo Paz Delgado	41,575
Libertad	Loja	Reina del Cisne	14,935
Mushuc Runa	Ambato	COAC Mushuc Runa	8,200
Orense	Machala	9 de Mayo	16,456
Técnico Universitario	Ambato	Bellavista Universidad Indoamérica	16,467
Universidad Católica	Quito	Olímpico Atahualpa	35,258

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Aucas	Santiago Escobar	Umbro	BET593
Barcelona	Diego López	Marathon	Pilsener
Cumbayá	Leonardo Vanegas	Lotto
Delfín	Guillermo Duró	Baldo's	La Esquina de Ales
Deportivo Cuenca	Carlos Ischia	Lotto	Ecuabet, Banco del Austro, Chubb Seguros
El Nacional	Ever Almeida	Lotto	ANDEC, Banco General Rumiñahui, Gana Play
Emelec	Hernán Torres	Adidas	Novibet
Gualaceo	Fabián Frías	Boman	Banco del Austro, Okibet
Guayaquil City	Pool Gavilánez	Astro	BET593, TC Televisión
Independiente del Valle	Martín Anselmi	Marathon	Ecuabet, Banco Guayaquil, Toyota
LDU Quito	Luis Zubeldía	Puma	Banco Pichincha
Libertad	Geovanny Cumbicus	Jasa	Banco de Loja, Grand Aviation
Mushuc Runa	Renato Salas	Boman	Cooperativa Mushuc Runa
Orense	Juan Carlos León	Elohim	Banco de Machala, IncarPalm
Técnico Universitario	Juan Pablo Buch	Kappa	Cooperativa San Francisco Ltda.
Universidad Católica	Igor Oca	Umbro	Banco Pichincha, Fundación Crisfe

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
First stage
Universidad Católica	Miguel Rondelli	End of contract	17 November 2022[7]	Pre-season	Igor Oca	28 November 2022[8]
Deportivo Cuenca	Gabriel Schürrer	Resigned	21 November 2022[9]		Gabriel del Valle and Juan Zubeldía	12 December 2022[10]
Emelec	Ismael Rescalvo	Mutual agreement	25 November 2022[11]		Miguel Rondelli	29 November 2022[12]
Deportivo Cuenca	Gabriel del Valle and Juan Zubeldía		3 May 2023[13]	10th	Jerson Stacio[i]	3 May 2023[14]
	Jerson Stacio	End of caretaker spell	12 May 2023	9th	Carlos Ischia	12 May 2023[15]
Libertad	Paúl Vélez	Sacked	24 May 2023[16]	15th	Marcelo Robledo	24 May 2023[16]
Mushuc Runa	Geovanny Cumbicus		29 May 2023[17]	16th	Renato Salas[ii]	29 May 2023[19]
Barcelona	Fabián Bustos	Resigned	4 June 2023[20]	3rd	Segundo Castillo[i]	4 June 2023[21]
Emelec	Miguel Rondelli	Mutual agreement	7 June 2023[22]	12th	Hernán Torres	8 June 2023[23]
Aucas	César Farías	Sacked	15 June 2023[24]	8th	Nelson Videla[i]	15 June 2023[25]
Second stage
Aucas	Nelson Videla	End of caretaker spell	23 June 2023	Pre-tournament	Santiago Escobar	23 June 2023[26]
Barcelona	Segundo Castillo		12 July 2023		Diego López	12 July 2023[27]
Libertad	Marcelo Robledo	Resigned	18 August 2023[28]	15th	Geovanny Cumbicus	18 August 2023[29]
Gualaceo	Leonardo Vanegas		18 September 2023[30]	16th	Diego Idrovo[i]	19 September 2023[31]
	Diego Idrovo	End of caretaker spell	23 September 2023		Fabián Frías	23 September 2023[32]
Cumbayá	Patricio Hurtado	Mutual agreement	8 November 2023[33]	14th	Leonardo Vanegas	8 November 2023[33]

Notes

1. Caretaker manager.
2. Originally as caretaker manager, appointed on a permanent basis on 21 June 2023.^[18]

First stage

The first stage began on 24 February and ended on 23 June 2023.

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Independiente del Valle	15	11	1	3	31	15	+16	34	Advance to Finals and qualification for Copa Libertadores group stage
2	El Nacional	15	10	0	5	32	25	+7	30
3	LDU Quito	15	7	5	3	29	17	+12	26
4	Barcelona	15	8	2	5	30	20	+10	26
5	Aucas	15	7	3	5	17	19	−2	24
6	Universidad Católica	15	7	3	5	22	25	−3	24
7	Delfín	15	7	3	5	18	23	−5	24
8	Deportivo Cuenca	15	7	0	8	24	21	+3	21
9	Orense	15	6	3	6	17	21	−4	21
10	Técnico Universitario	15	5	3	7	21	15	+6	18
11	Gualaceo	15	5	3	7	17	23	−6	18
12	Cumbayá	15	4	5	6	10	13	−3	17
13	Emelec	15	3	5	7	18	20	−2	14
14	Libertad	15	2	7	6	20	26	−6	13
15	Mushuc Runa	15	3	4	8	14	25	−11	13
16	Guayaquil City	15	3	3	9	17	29	−12	12

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.

Results

Home \ Away	AUC	BSC	CUM	DEL	CUE	NAC	EME	GUA	GCY	IDV	LDQ	LIB	MUS	ORE	TEC	CAT
Aucas	—	—	2–1	—	0–2	0–2	2–1	1–0	1–0	—	—	—	—	2–0	—	4–1
Barcelona	5–1	—	4–1	5–0	2–1	—	1–3	—	—	—	—	—	1–0	2–0	—	1–2
Cumbayá	—	—	—	0–1	—	2–0	0–0	1–0	—	1–0	—	2–1	1–1	—	—	0–1
Delfín	2–0	—	—	—	—	2–0	3–2	1–0	—	—	—	3–2	3–0	1–1	—	0–0
Deportivo Cuenca	—	—	1–0	4–0	—	—	3–2	1–2	4–1	1–2	2–0	—	3–0	—	—	—
El Nacional	—	4–1	—	—	3–1	—	—	—	—	—	0–2	4–2	—	3–1	3–2	1–2
Emelec	—	—	—	—	—	1–2	—	0–0	0–0	2–3	1–1	2–0	—	—	1–0	—
Gualaceo	—	2–1	—	—	—	3–4	—	—	2–1	1–2	—	1–1	—	2–1	1–1	1–0
Guayaquil City	—	1–2	1–1	2–1	—	3–1	—	—	—	—	1–2	1–1	4–1	—	—	—
Independiente del Valle	2–0	1–0	—	3–0	—	3–4	—	—	4–0	—	2–3	—	3–1	—	1–0	—
LDU Quito	1–1	0–1	0–0	1–1	—	—	—	6–1	—	—	—	4–2	—	—	2–1	—
Libertad	2–2	2–2	—	—	3–1	—	—	—	—	0–0	—	—	—	0–0	1–0	2–2
Mushuc Runa	0–0	—	—	—	—	0–1	0–0	2–1	—	—	2–2	2–1	—	3–1	—	—
Orense	—	—	1–0	—	2–0	—	2–1	—	3–2	0–2	2–1	—	—	—	2–1	—
Técnico Universitario	0–1	2–2	0–0	3–0	3–0	—	—	—	3–0	—	—	—	1–0	—	—	4–1
Universidad Católica	—	—	—	—	1–0	—	3–2	—	3–0	2–3	0–4	—	3–2	1–1	—	—

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

Attendances

#	Club	Average attendance
1	Emelec	11,945
2	Barcelona	7,273
3	LDU Quito	7,131
4	Libertad	5,342
5	Técnico Universitario	4,370
6	El Nacional	4,252
7	Orense SC	3,200
8	SD Aucas	2,814
9	Deportivo Cuenca	2,670
10	Independiente del Valle	2,586
11	Universidad Católica del Ecuador	1,221
12	Gualaceo SC	933
13	Mushuc Runa	637
14	Cumbayá FC	542
15	Delfín SC	528
16	Guayaquil City	432

Source: World Football

Second stage

The second stage began on 4 August and ended on 3 December 2023.

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	LDU Quito	15	11	3	1	21	4	+17	36	Advance to Finals and qualification for Copa Libertadores group stage
2	Barcelona	15	9	5	1	24	15	+9	32
3	Aucas	15	6	7	2	22	15	+7	25
4	Delfín	15	5	9	1	19	12	+7	24
5	El Nacional	15	5	8	2	25	19	+6	23
6	Emelec	15	5	7	3	14	8	+6	22
7	Universidad Católica	15	5	7	3	15	12	+3	22
8	Independiente del Valle	15	6	3	6	18	15	+3	21
9	Técnico Universitario	15	4	7	4	20	17	+3	19
10	Mushuc Runa	15	5	4	6	14	19	−5	19
11	Orense	15	4	4	7	15	15	0	16
12	Deportivo Cuenca	15	3	7	5	12	16	−4	16
13	Libertad	15	4	3	8	12	18	−6	15
14	Guayaquil City	15	2	4	9	5	18	−13	10
15	Cumbayá	15	1	6	8	14	26	−12	9
16	Gualaceo	15	1	4	10	9	30	−21	7

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.

Results

Home \ Away	AUC	BSC	CUM	DEL	CUE	NAC	EME	GUA	GCY	IDV	LDQ	LIB	MUS	ORE	TEC	CAT
Aucas	—	3–2	—	0–0	—	—	—	—	—	2–0	0–0	1–2	4–0	—	2–4	—
Barcelona	—	—	—	—	—	3–2	—	2–0	2–1	1–1	1–0	1–0	—	—	1–0	—
Cumbayá	1–1	2–2	—	—	1–1	—	—	—	2–2	—	1–2	—	—	0–1	0–1	—
Delfín	—	1–1	4–0	—	0–0	—	—	—	1–0	1–0	0–0	—	—	—	2–2	—
Deportivo Cuenca	0–0	1–2	—	—	—	1–0	—	—	—	—	—	2–1	—	1–0	1–1	2–3
El Nacional	2–2	—	2–2	2–2	—	—	1–1	4–2	2–0	2–1	—	—	2–0	—	—	—
Emelec	0–0	0–0	3–0	0–1	2–1	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	3–1	0–0	—	2–1
Gualaceo	1–2	—	0–3	2–2	1–1	—	0–2	—	—	—	1–3	—	0–0	—	—	—
Guayaquil City	0–1	—	—	—	0–0	—	0–0	0–2	—	0–2	—	—	—	1–0	1–0	0–0
Independiente del Valle	—	—	2–0	—	2–0	—	2–1	2–0	—	—	—	2–0	—	2–2	—	0–1
LDU Quito	—	—	—	—	2–0	0–0	1–0	—	2–0	2–0	—	—	3–1	1–0	—	1–0
Libertad	—	—	3–1	1–3	—	0–1	0–0	3–0	1–0	—	0–2	—	0–1	—	—	—
Mushuc Runa	—	2–2	1–1	2–0	1–1	—	—	—	3–0	1–0	—	—	—	—	1–0	0–2
Orense	1–2	2–3	—	0–0	—	1–1	—	2–0	—	—	—	3–0	1–0	—	—	1–2
Técnico Universitario	—	—	—	—	—	3–3	0–0	4–0	—	2–2	0–2	1–1	—	2–1	—	—
Universidad Católica	2–2	0–1	1–0	2–2	—	1–1	—	0–0	—	—	—	0–0	—	—	0–0	—

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

Finals

The finals (Third stage) were played by Independiente del Valle (first stage winners) and LDU Quito (second stage winners). The winners of this double-legged series were crowned as Serie A champions. By having the greater number of points in the aggregate table, LDU Quito played the second leg at home.

10 December 2023 (2023-12-10)

16:30 UTC−5

Independiente del Valle	0–0	LDU Quito
	Report

Estadio Banco Guayaquil, Quito

Referee: Guillermo Guerrero

---

17 December 2023 (2023-12-17)

16:30 UTC−5

LDU Quito	1–1	Independiente del Valle
Ibarra 19'	Report	Páez 16'
Penalties
Alzugaray Hurtado Quiñónez	3–0	Faravelli Alcívar Moreno

Estadio Rodrigo Paz Delgado, Quito

Referee: Augusto Aragón

Tied 1–1 on aggregate, LDU Quito won on penalties.

Aggregate table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	LDU Quito (C)	30	18	8	4	50	21	+29	62	Qualification for Copa Libertadores group stage[a]
2	Barcelona	30	17	7	6	54	35	+19	58
3	Independiente del Valle	30	17	4	9	49	30	+19	55
4	El Nacional	30	15	8	7	57	44	+13	53	Qualification for Copa Libertadores second stage
5	Aucas	30	13	10	7	39	34	+5	49	Qualification for Copa Libertadores first stage
6	Delfín	30	12	12	6	37	35	+2	48	Qualification for Copa Sudamericana first stage
7	Universidad Católica	30	12	10	8	37	37	0	46
8	Técnico Universitario	30	9	10	11	41	32	+9	37
9	Deportivo Cuenca	30	10	7	13	36	37	−1	37
10	Orense	30	10	7	13	32	36	−4	37
11	Emelec	30	8	12	10	32	28	+4	36
12	Mushuc Runa	30	8	8	14	28	44	−16	32
13	Libertad	30	6	10	14	32	44	−12	28
14	Cumbayá	30	5	11	14	24	39	−15	26
15	Gualaceo (R)	30	6	7	17	26	53	−27	25	Relegation to Ecuadorian Serie B
16	Guayaquil City (R)	30	5	7	18	22	47	−25	22

Source: LigaPro
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; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. LDU Quito qualified for the Copa Libertadores group stage by winning the 2023 Copa Sudamericana.

Top scorers

Rank	Name	Club	Goals
1	Miguel Parrales	Guayaquil City	16
2	Jean Carlos Blanco	Técnico Universitario	13
3	Francisco Fydriszewski	Barcelona	12
	Michael Hoyos	Independiente del Valle
5	Jhon Cifuente	Aucas	11
	Joaquín Vergés	Gualaceo
7	Alexander Alvarado	LDU Quito	10
	Raúl Becerra	Deportivo Cuenca
	Damián Díaz	Barcelona
10	Ronie Carrillo	El Nacional	9

Source: Ecuagol