2008 Primera A

The Primera A 2008 season (officially "Torneo Primera A 2008") started on February 23, 2008. The Apertura champions was Orión and the Clausura champion was Río Abajo F.C. On November 15, 2008 a grand final was played and Río Abajo were crowned champions after defeating 2–1 Orión. However Río Abajo lost the promotion play-off against Plaza Amador in a 3–2 aggregate score, thus failing to promote to ANAPROF.

Liga Nacional de Ascenso

Season	2008
Champions	Río Abajo F.C.
← 2006 2009 →

Primera A 2008 team distribution

Changes for 2008

• The league is once again separated into Apertura and Clausura.
• The Primera A champion will play a playoff for promotion with the last team in the ANAPROF general standings instead of being promoted directly.
• There will be no relegation during this season.
• The Apertura and Clausura winners will play a match in order to decide an overall champion who would play the playoff for promotion to ANAPROF. This playoff between the Apertura and Clausura champions is the same as the Grand Championship format used previously in ANAPROF and Primera A.
• Club Deportivo Policía Nacional renamed themselves during mid-season to Sociedad Deportiva Atlético Nacional.

Primera A 2008 teams

Club	City	Stadium
Atlético Nacional	Panama City	Estadio Kobee
Chorrillito	Arraiján	Campo de Campana
C.A.I.	La Chorrera	Ciudad del Niño Valdes
Génesis	Panama City	Estadio Balboa
Orión	San Miguelito	Estadio Bernardo Gil
Pan de Azúcar	San Miguelito	Campo de la UTP
Paraíso	San Miguelito	Estadio Bernardo Gil
Río Abajo	Panama City	Estadio Balboa

Primera A Apertura 2008

Apertura 2008 Standings

Place (Posición)	Team (Equipo)	Played (PJ)	Won (PG)	Draw (PE)	Lost (PP)	Goals Scored (GF)	Goals Conceded (GC)	+/- (Dif.)	Points (Pts.)
1.	Río Abajo F.C.	14	10	1	3	41	19	+22	31
2.	Orión	14	9	1	4	30	17	+13	28
3.	Paraíso	14	7	3	4	28	24	+4	24
4.	Chorrillito	14	7	2	5	32	24	+8	23
5.	Atlético Nacional	14	6	3	5	28	31	-3	21
6.	Pan de Azúcar	14	6	1	7	22	34	-12	19
7.	C.A.I.	14	3	1	10	20	31	-11	10
8.	Génesis	14	3	0	11	15	35	-20	9

Green indicates Semifinal Berth

Apertura 2008 Results table

Home \ Away	CHO	CAI	GÉN	ORI	PAN	ATL	PAR	RÍO
Chorrillito	—	1–4	6–0	2–1	2–0	2–3	2–1	1–3
C.A.I.	1–1	—	0–3	0–1	2–3	2–0	1–2	1–3
Génesis	1–3	0–5	—	0–1	1–3	1–0	[*]	1–2
Orión	1–0	2–0	3–2	—	0–1	1–1	3–4	4–1
Pan de Azúcar	1–4	3–1	3–2	0–4	—	1–2	1–2	1–3
Atlético Nacional	0–7	5–1	3–2	2–3	2–2	—	3–1	4–3
Paraiso	2–2	2–1	0–1	3–6	6–2	2–2	—	1–1
Río Abajo	6–0	5–1	6–1	1–0	3–1	3–1	1–2	—

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

• [*] The score is unknown, but it was reported as a win for Paraiso F.C.

Final round

	Semifinals (agg)					Final
	Río Abajo F.C.		8
	Chorrillito		9
						Chorrillito		2
						Orion		3
	Orion		5
	Paraíso		1

Semifinals 1st leg

June 3, 2008

Río Abajo F.C.	5–4	Chorrillito

Ciudad del Niño Valdes

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May 30, 2008

Orion	1–1	Paraíso

Estadio Bernardo Gil

Semifinals 2nd leg

June 7, 2008

Chorrillito	5–3	Río Abajo F.C.

Estadio Bernardo Gil

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June 1, 2008

Paraíso	0–4	Orion

Estadio Bernardo Gil

Final

June 13, 2008

Chorrillito	2–3	Orión

Estadio Bernardo Gil

Apertura 2008 Champion: Orión

Primera A Clausura 2008

Clausura 2008 standings

Place (Posición)	Team (Equipo)	Played (PJ)	Won (PG)	Draw (PE)	Lost (PP)	Goals Scored (GF)	Goals Conceded (GC)	+/- (Dif.)	Points (Pts.)
1.	Orión	14	9	2	3	52	21	+31	29
2.	Río Abajo F.C.	14	8	3	3	39	20	+19	27
3.	Pan de Azúcar	14	7	5	2	30	15	+15	25
4.	Chorrillito	14	6	3	5	30	26	+4	21
5.	Paraíso	14	6	3	5	25	25	0	21
6.	Atlético Nacional	14	4	6	4	27	19	+8	18
7.	Génesis	14	2	3	9	17	58	-41	9
8.	C.A.I.	14	0	3	11	15	50	-35	3

Green indicates Semifinal Berth (Los equipos en verde señalan los clasificados a semifinales).

Clausura 2008 results table

Home \ Away	CHO	CAI	GÉN	ORI	PAN	ATL	PAR	RÍO
Chorrillito	—	5–1	3–2	2–1	1–2	0–3	1–1	1–1
C.A.I.	2–4	—	3–3	0–6	0–4	2–3	1–1	0–5
Génesis	0–2	2–1	—	3–3	1–5	2–1	0–4	0–9
Orión	3–1	6–1	9–1	—	3–0	1–0	2–1	2–3
Pan de Azúcar	4–2	4–1	0–0	2–2	—	1–1	3–0*	4–2
Atlético Nacional	1–1	1–1	11–2	1–4	1–1	—	1–1	1–1
Paraíso	0–3**	3–0	7–1	1–8	1–0	2–1	—	3–2
Río Abajo	5–4	3–2	1–0	5–2	0–0	0–1	2–0	—

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

• [*] Awarded 3–0 to Pan de Azúcar by ANAPROF because Paraíso failed the league's regulation by not bringing their away kit, thus since both teams' home kit was white the game had to be suspended.^[1]
• [**] Originally 3–1 victory for Paraíso but awarded to Chorrillito.^[2]

Final round

	Semifinals (agg)					Final
	Orión		2
	Chorrillito		3
						Chorrillito		0
						Río Abajo F.C.		2
	Río Abajo F.C.		8
	Pan de Azúcar		0

Semifinals 1st leg

October 25, 2008

Chorrillito	2–1	Orión
Mario Cox Aristides Ortega		Roberty Morales

Campo de Campana

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October 25, 2008

Pan de Azúcar	0–2	Río Abajo F.C.
		Eladio Carranza 70' Eduardo Valerezco 80'

Estadio Balboa

Semifinals 2nd leg

November 1, 2008

Río Abajo F.C.	6–0	Pan de Azúcar

Albrook Field

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November 1, 2008

Orion	1–1	Chorrillito

Estadio Bernardo Gil

Final

November 7, 2008

Río Abajo F.C.	2–0	Chorrillito
Jefferson Vivero 75' 90'

Estadio Bernardo Gil

Clausura 2008 Champion: Río Abajo F.C.

Primera A 2008 Grand Final

Club	Champion
Orión	Primera A 2008 Apertura Champion
Río Abajo F.C.	Primera A 2008 Clausura Champion

Final

November 15, 2008

Orión	1-2	Río Abajo F.C.
Jose Ruiz 14'		Joshua Bailey 18' Jefferson Vivero 27'

Estadio Bernardo Gil

Primera A 2008 Champion:
Río Abajo 1st Title

Promotion playoff

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Plaza Amador	3–2	Río Abajo F.C.	2–2	1–0

Río Abajo remain in Primera A

1st leg

November 21, 2008

Plaza Amador	2–2	Río Abajo F.C.
Luis Olivardia 24' 37'		Hector de la Cruz 8' Aramis Haywood 83'

Estadio Bernardo Gil

2nd leg

December 6, 2008

Río Abajo F.C.	0–1	Plaza Amador
		Nestor Murillo 56'

Estadio Balboa