2020 league round-ups
South American leagues find a way to crown their champions
When coronavirus struck last March, Europe had to decide how to finish championships that were already in the closing straight. South America’s task was more complicated.
Argentina aside, everyone now organises their season by the calendar year. The 2020 campaign had barely started when the action was interrupted. Administrators on the continent were faced with the challenge of improvising entire league championships. They came up with different solutions, which was hardly a surprise, for two reasons. First, a variety of formats are used across the continent – there is nothing like the European consensus in favour of the league system. And also, they had different timescales to work within, either because COVID-19 hit some countries harder than others, or because governments and health authorities took a different view on when it was possible to return.
With the international competitions, the Copas Libertadores and Sudamericana, a decision was made to retain the existing structure of the tournaments, despite the six-month break between mid-March and September 15. The solution was to push back the finish date from late November to the end of January – a cramming of fixtures which, as we will see, has had an effect on events in some of the league campaigns. Brazil, Chile and Uruguay followed suit, extending their leagues until the end of February. Elsewhere, in order to wrap up 2020 before the start of 2021, some creative thinking was called for. Despite all the differences, one thing held true across the continent; matches were played behind closed doors.
The first national league back in action was Paraguay, which restarted on July 21. The country
divides its season into two separate championships, the Apertura and Clausura, with the 12 teams playing each other home and away in both. The Apertura was completed as scheduled, with Cerro Porteno in top form at the restart, powering to a 33rd league title with a comfortable five-point margin. It ended a run of four consecutive titles for Olimpia, and with a disappointing exit in the group phase of the Libertadores, this brought an end to the reign of Argentine coach Daniel Garnero. But they would be back, under Nestor Gorosito, another Argentine.
For the Clausura, the teams played each other just once, with the top eight qualifying for a knockout competition. Olimpia beat Cerro Porteno on penalties in the quarter-final, but in the final found themselves two goals down to Guarani – who had reached the second round of the Libertadores and may have been jaded as a result. Olimpia, for whom Roque Santa Cruz was once again in fine form, hit back to equalise, and in spite of playing the last 20 minutes with ten men, held out to force a penalty shoot-out. The vital kick was missed by Raul Bobadilla, the Guarani striker who stripped himself near naked when celebrating a goal in the semi-final. This time, though, Olimpia could celebrate their 45th title.
While Paraguay were first back, Bolivia (November 27) and Venezuela (October 14) were last to restart – which may have something to do with the fact that both lost their FA presidents to COVID-19.
In both cases a much-shortened campaign ended with an unusual winner. Bolivia scrapped the Clausura, made the Apertura the sole championship and had to cram in fixtures to play all 26 rounds by New Year’s Eve. It turned into a La Paz duel, with the big two Bolivar and The Strongest beaten to the title by Always Ready, a team whose last win had been in 1957. Promoted in 2019, Always Ready spent almost all of the last three decades out of the first division, but now have enough money behind them to assemble a squad of veterans, guided over the line by Omar Asad, another Argentine coach. In Venezuela the administrators played a game of damage limitation. The 17 teams (Zulia and LALA pulled out) were divided into two groups, each of which played in a single city, Valencia or Barinas. The group winners met in a final, where the traditional Deportivo Tachira were beaten 2-0 by Deportivo La Guaira, a team from Caracas who were founded in 2008 as Real Esspor and now have their first title.
The South American country with most coronavirus deaths per capita is Peru, where the authorities responded by moving the entire championship to the capital city of Lima in a bid to limit the spread of the disease. The eventual restart date was August 18. For the first time the top flight was made up of 20 teams. In the Apertura they met each other home and away. To shorten things they were divided into two groups for the Clausura, with the group leaders playing off for the right to meet the Apertura winners in the two-legged grand final – which was a contest between two of Lima’s traditional big three. In another triumph for Roberto Mosquera, a coach with an impressive body of work, Sporting Cristal beat Universitario 3-2 on aggregate to land their 20th title – and finish the decade with a record of coming out on top in every even year. Amazingly, the other local giant, Alianza Lima, were relegated – despite never having to leave their home city. They threw money at the problem, appointing a sequence of big-name coaches, but perhaps suffered from the Copa Libertadores fixture pile up, found themselves sinking in quicksand and could not dig themselves out.
There was a big-name relegation in Ecuador too (restart date August 14), where El Nacional of Quito went down, while two other giants disputed the title. Two phases were played, the 16 teams meeting each once per phase, with the winners meeting in the final. Liga of Quito (LDU) drew 1-1 on aggregate with Barcelona of Guayaquil, and for the second consecutive year endured a nightmare penalty shootout, leaving Barcelona to celebrate a 16th title.
And there was a 15th league title in Colombia for America de Cali – proof for relegated sides that there is life after the second division. A traditional giant, especially in the ’80s, they went down in 2011 and spent half the decade in the second division. Their league win at the end of 2019 was their first in over a decade, and now they successfully defended their title. After a September 12 restart, the 20 teams played each other once, with the top eight qualifying for the knockout phase. America overcame Junior of Barranquilla, the most successful side of recent times, in the semis before holding off a reaction from Santa Fe of Bogota to win the title 3-2 on aggregate.
In order to wrap up 2020 before the start of 2021, some creative thinking was called for