2017 Categoría Primera B season


The 2017 Categoría Primera B season was the 28th season since its founding as Colombia's second division football league.

Format

For this season, the league switched from the 'one tournament per year' format used in the two most recent seasons to a 'two tournaments per year' one. The season will consist of two tournaments: the 'Torneo Apertura' and the 'Torneo Finalización'. Both were divided into three stages. The First Stage was contested on a home-and-away basis, with each team playing the other teams once and playing a regional rival once more. The top eight teams after the sixteen rounds advanced to a knockout round, where they were pitted into four ties to be played on a home-and-away basis, with the four winners advancing to the semifinals and the winner of each semifinal advancing to the final of the tournament, which was played on a home-and-away basis as well.
The winners of both finals qualified for the season final which was played after the conclusion of the Torneo Finalización and also consisted of two legs, with its winner being promoted to the Categoría Primera A for the 2018 season. The season runner-up would have to play the best team in the aggregate table on a home-and-away basis for the second promotion berth. In case a team won both the Apertura and Finalización tournaments, it would be promoted and the second promoted team would have been the winner of the double-legged series between the next two best teams in the aggregate table, however, if the season runner-up ended up as the best team in the aggregate table, it would also be promoted and the promotion play-off would not be played.

Teams

16 teams took part, fourteen of them returning from last season plus Boyacá Chicó and Fortaleza, who were relegated from the 2016 Primera A. The former played in the second tier after 13 years while the latter returned after one season in the top flight. Both teams replaced América de Cali and Tigres who earned promotion at the end of the last season.
ClubHome cityStadium2016 season
AtléticoCaliPascual Guerrero16th
BarranquillaBarranquillaMetropolitano Roberto Meléndez12th
BogotáBogotáMetropolitano de Techo8th
Boyacá ChicóTunjaLa Independencia20th
Cúcuta DeportivoCúcutaGeneral Santandera10th
Deportes QuindíoArmeniaCentenario6th
Deportivo PereiraPereiraHernán Ramírez Villegas1st
FortalezaBogotáMunicipal Héctor El Zipa González19th
LeonesItagüíMetropolitano Ciudad de Itagüí5th
LlanerosVillavicencioManuel Calle Lombana15th
OrsomarsoPalmiraFrancisco Rivera Escobar11th
Real CartagenaCartagenaJaime Morón León3rd
Real SantanderFloridablancaÁlvaro Gómez Hurtado14th
Unión MagdalenaSanta MartaDiego de Carvajalb13th
UniversitarioPopayánCiro López7th
ValleduparValleduparArmando Maestre Pavajeau9th

a: Cúcuta Deportivo used the Estadio Municipal Héctor El Zipa González in Zipaquirá as home stadium between February and August.

b: Unión Magdalena used the Estadio Diego de Carvajal in Magangué instead of the Estadio Municipal de Ciénaga as home stadium for the 2017 season.

Torneo Apertura

First stage

Standings

Results

Knockout phase bracket

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Finals

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Top goalscorers

Source:

Torneo Finalización

First stage

Standings

Results

Knockout phase bracket

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Finals

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Top goalscorers

RankNameClubGoals
1 Jeison MedinaLeones10
1 Jhon VelásquezLlaneros10
3 Erwin CarrilloCúcuta Deportivo9
4 Mario ÁlvarezLlaneros7
4 Diego EcheverriCúcuta Deportivo7
4 José Hugo PalaciosLlaneros7
4 Luis Ferney RíosReal Santander7
4 Juan José SalcedoReal Cartagena7
9 Ethan GonzálezBarranquilla6
9 Juan Camilo ZapataValledupar6

Source:

Final

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Aggregate table

Promotion play-off

Since the season runners-up Leones also ended up as the best team in the aggregate table, they earned automatic promotion to the Categoría Primera A and the promotion play-off was not played.