2020 Liga 1 (Peru)


The 2020 Liga 1 de Fútbol Profesional is the 104th season of the Peruvian Primera División, the highest division of Peruvian football. A total of 20 teams are competing in the season with Binacional coming in as defending champions. It was the first Liga 1 season to incorporate the use of the video assistant referee review system.
On 12 March, the Liga de Fútbol Profesional announced the decision to suspend the competition due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On 8 June, the FPF and the Liga de Fútbol Profesional announced that the league would resume on 31 July with the seventh round of the Torneo Apertura, with training sessions to resume on 22 June. It was also announced that all the remaining matches of the season would be relocated to Lima to avoid the constant travel between cities that clubs must do under normal circumstances, as well as an alteration to the competition format. However, after some delays with COVID-19 testing, the date for resumption was pushed back to 7 August.

Competition format

The season will be divided into three stages: Torneo Apertura, Torneo Clausura, and the Playoffs.
The first and second stages will be two Apertura and Clausura tournaments. In the Apertura tournament, each team will play the other teams once for a total of 19 games. Prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Clausura tournament was scheduled to be played in a similar way to the Apertura, with reversed fixtures, however, its format will be altered due to the 5-month suspension of the league. For the Clausura, the 20 teams will be split into two groups of 10 according to their final placement in the Apertura: teams placing in odd-numbered positions will play in one group while teams placed in even-numbered positions will play in the other one. Teams will play the other teams in their group once, with the winners of both groups playing a final to decide the Clausura winners. Points earned during the Apertura will not carry over during the Clausura. The winners of the Apertura and Clausura stages will qualify to the playoffs along with the top two teams of the aggregate table at the end of the season.
The playoffs to decide the national champion will be contested by four teams, which will play two semifinals with the winners playing the final. In every stage of the playoffs, the teams with the most points on the aggregate table will choose which leg they play as the home team. If the teams are tied in points after the two legs of the final, a third match on neutral ground will be played to decide the national champion. If a team wins both the Apertura and Clausura, the playoffs will not be played and that team will be declared as champion.
Qualification to international competitions will be as follows: the top four teams of the aggregate table will qualify for the 2021 Copa Libertadores, while the next three best teams in that table will qualify for the 2021 Copa Sudamericana, with a fourth berth being allocated to the 2020 Copa Bicentenario winners. With the cancellation of the Copa Bicentenario due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Copa Sudamericana berth allocated to its winner was transferred to the eighth best team in the aggregate table. The four teams with the fewest points in the aggregate table at the end of the season will be relegated, unless the Copa Perú is not played this season, in which case only three teams will be relegated. If the Liga 2 is not played this season either, only two teams will be relegated.

Teams

A total of 20 teams have been confirmed to play in the 2020 Liga 1, an increase of two teams from the previous season. The top sixteen teams in the 2019 Liga 1 will take part, along with 2019 Liga 2 champions Cienciano, Copa Perú champions Carlos Stein, and the top two teams of the promotion play-offs.
On 23 December 2019, Real Garcilaso announced its name change to Cusco Fútbol Club.

Stadia and locations

TeamManagerCityStadiumCapacity
Alianza Lima Mario SalasLimaAlejandro Villanueva35,000
Alianza Universidad Rony RevollarHuánucoHeraclio Tapia25,000
Atlético Grau Rafael CastilloPiura
Sullana
Miguel Grau
Campeones del 36
25,000
12,000
Ayacucho Gerardo AmeliAyacuchoCiudad de Cumaná15,000
Binacional Flabio TorresJuliacaGuillermo Briceño Rosamedina20,030
Cantolao Hernán LisiCallaoMiguel Grau17,000
Carlos A. Mannucci Pablo PeiranoTrujilloMansiche25,000
Carlos Stein Orlando LavalleOlmos
Guadalupe
Francisco Mendoza Pizarro
Carlos A. Olivares
7,000
12,000
Cienciano Marcelo GrioniCuscoGarcilaso42,056
Cusco Carlos RamacciottiCusco
Sicuani
Garcilaso
Túpac Amaru
42,056
15,000
Deportivo Llacuabamba Néstor OteroCajabamba
Cajamarca
Germán Contreras Jara
Héroes de San Ramón
6,300
18,000
Deportivo Municipal Víctor RiveraLimaIván Elías Moreno
Universidad San Marcos
10,000
43,000
Melgar Carlos BustosArequipaVirgen de Chapi60,000
Sport Boys Marcelo VivasCallaoMiguel Grau17,000
Sport Huancayo Wilmar ValenciaHuancayoEstadio Huancayo20,000
Sporting Cristal Roberto MosqueraLimaAlberto Gallardo18,000
Universidad César Vallejo José del SolarTrujilloMansiche25,000
Universidad San Martín Héctor BidoglioLimaAlberto Gallardo18,000
Universitario Ángel ComizzoLimaMonumental80,093
UTC Franco NavarroCajamarcaHéroes de San Ramón18,000

Managerial changes

Stage 1 (Torneo Apertura)

Standings

Results

Stage 2 (Torneo Clausura)

Group A

Group B

Stage 2 final

Aggregate table

Both stages of the 2020 season will be aggregated into a single league table throughout the season to determine two of the teams that will qualify for the playoffs and the Copa Libertadores and three Copa Sudamericana qualifiers, as well as those to be relegated at the end of the season.

Playoffs

Top goalscorers

RankNameClubGoals
1 Lionard PajoyAlianza Universidad5
1 Aldair RodríguezBinacional5
3 Othoniel ArceMelgar4
3 Danilo CarandoCusco4
3 Jonathan Dos SantosUniversitario4
3 Osnar NoronhaCarlos A. Mannucci4
3 Sebastián PencoSport Boys4
3 Juan RomagnoliCienciano4
9 Mauro GuevgeoziánUTC3
9 Enzo MaidanaAlianza Universidad3
9 Joel SánchezMelgar3
9 Leandro SosaAyacucho3
9 Marcio ValverdeSport Huancayo3

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