2021 Paraguayan División Intermedia

The 2021 División Intermedia season, named "Cincuentenario del Club Atlético 3 de Febrero y Homenaje al Lic. Miguel Ángel Cañete Alderete",[1] was the 103rd season of the second-tier league of Paraguayan football and 24th under the Paraguayan División Intermedia name. The season began on 9 April and ended on 26 October 2021. The fixtures for the season were announced on 15 January 2021.[2]

División Intermedia
Season2021
Dates9 April – 26 October 2021
ChampionsGeneral Caballero (JLM) (1st title)
PromotedGeneral Caballero (JLM)
Resistencia
Tacuary
Sportivo Ameliano
RelegatedDeportivo Capiatá
Fulgencio Yegros
General Díaz
Copa SudamericanaGeneral Caballero (JLM)
Matches played306
Goals scored752 (2.46 per match)
Top goalscorerAlex Arce (24 goals)
Biggest home win2 de Mayo 4–0 Sportivo Trinidense
(6 June)
Sportivo Ameliano 4–0 Fulgencio Yegros
(22 July)
Resistencia 4–0 Sportivo Iteño
(15 August)
Guaraní (T) 4–0 Dep. Capiatá
(22 August)
Tacuary 5–1 2 de Mayo
(28 August)
San Lorenzo 5–1 Sportivo Trinidense
(18 October)
Tacuary 4–0 Rubio Ñu
(26 October)
Biggest away win2 de Mayo 1–8 San Lorenzo
(26 October)
Highest scoring2 de Mayo 1–8 San Lorenzo
(26 October)
← 2019
2022

The competition returned after a one-year hiatus as the 2020 seasons of the lower-tier club tournaments of Paraguayan football were cancelled by the Paraguayan Football Association due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[3]

General Caballero (JLM) won their first División Intermedia title with four matches to spare, following a 4–1 victory over Rubio Ñu on 27 September 2021.[4]

Format

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18 teams took part in the competition, which was played under a double round-robin system with teams playing each other twice, once at home and once away for a total of 34 matches. The top three teams at the end of the season were promoted to the Paraguayan Primera División for the 2022 season, with the champions also qualifying for the 2022 Copa Sudamericana, while the fourth-placed team will play a play-off against the ninth-placed team of the Primera División relegation table for promotion to the top flight.[5]

The bottom three teams in the relegation table at the end of the season were relegated: teams located within 50 kilometres of Asunción were relegated to Primera División B, while teams from outside Greater Asunción and the Central Department were relegated to Primera División B Nacional.

Teams

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18 teams competed in the season: 11 teams from the previous División Intermedia season plus the four teams relegated from Primera División in its 2019 and 2020 seasons (Deportivo Capiatá, Deportivo Santaní, General Díaz and San Lorenzo), the top two teams from the 2019 Primera División B (Sportivo Ameliano and Tacuary) and the 2019 Primera División B Nacional champions Guaraní from Trinidad.

Pastoreo F.C., who were entitled to enter this year's competition as 2019–20 Campeonato Nacional de Interligas champions, had their debut postponed to 2022 per decision by the APF's Executive Committee, since Guaraní de Trinidad already held the berth reserved to the Unión del Fútbol del Interior (UFI) for this season.[6]

Stadia and locations

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Team City Stadium Capacity
2 de Mayo Pedro Juan Caballero Río Parapití 25,000
3 de Febrero Ciudad del Este Antonio Aranda 23,500
Atyrá Atyrá San Francisco de Asís 10,000
Deportivo Capiatá Capiatá Erico Galeano Segovia 15,000
Deportivo Santaní San Estanislao Juan José Vázquez 8,000
Fernando de la Mora Asunción Emiliano Ghezzi 6,000
Fulgencio Yegros Ñemby Parque Fulgencio Yegros 1,000
General Caballero (JLM) Juan León Mallorquín Ka'arendy 3,000
General Díaz Luque General Adrián Jara 4,000
Guaraní (T) Trinidad Los Fundadores 1,000
Independiente (CG) Asunción Ricardo Gregor 4,000
Resistencia Asunción Tomás Beggan Correa 3,500
Rubio Ñu Asunción La Arboleda 8,000
San Lorenzo San Lorenzo Gunther Vogel 5,000
Sportivo Ameliano Asunción José Tomás Silva[note 1] 800
Sportivo Iteño Itá Salvador Morga 4,500
Sportivo Trinidense Asunción Martín Torres 3,000
Tacuary Asunción Toribio Vargas[note 1] 3,000
  1. ^ a b Using Estadio Roque Battilana in Asunción and Estadio General Adrián Jara in Luque as home stadiums for the season.

Standings

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Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 General Caballero (JLM) (C, P) 34 22 7 5 67 31 +36 73 Promotion to Primera División and qualification for Copa Sudamericana first stage
2 Resistencia (P) 34 16 13 5 44 22 +22 61 Promotion to Primera División
3 Tacuary (P) 34 16 9 9 54 44 +10 57
4 Sportivo Ameliano (P) 34 16 8 10 51 37 +14 56 Qualification for Promotion play-off
5 San Lorenzo 34 14 11 9 60 44 +16 53
6 Sportivo Trinidense 34 14 10 10 48 48 0 52
7 Independiente (CG) 34 14 9 11 38 30 +8 51
8 3 de Febrero 34 11 15 8 48 44 +4 48
9 Fernando de la Mora 34 10 15 9 40 36 +4 45
10 Atyrá 34 10 13 11 47 45 +2 43
11 Guaraní (T) 34 10 11 13 34 37 −3 41
12 Deportivo Santaní 34 9 14 11 38 42 −4 41
13 Rubio Ñu 34 9 12 13 34 44 −10 39
14 Sportivo Iteño 34 8 15 11 26 39 −13 39
15 Deportivo Capiatá 34 8 15 11 34 47 −13 39
16 2 de Mayo 34 9 9 16 39 55 −16 36
17 General Díaz 34 6 6 22 25 53 −28 24
18 Fulgencio Yegros 34 5 6 23 25 54 −29 21
Source: APF
Rules for classification: 1) Points, 2) Playoff game (only if needed to decide promotion between two teams), 3) Goal difference, 4) Goals for, 5) Away goals for, 6) Drawing of lots.
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted

Results

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Home \ Away 2DM 3FE ATY CAP SAN FDM FYE GCM GEN GUA IND RES RUB SSL SPA SPI TRI TAC
2 de Mayo 3–4 3–0 0–0 2–0 0–0 2–1 3–1 0–3 0–0 0–2 1–0 1–0 1–8 1–3 1–1 4–0 0–1
3 de Febrero 1–1 2–2 2–2 0–2 1–1 1–1 1–4 4–2 1–1 0–0 0–0 2–1 2–2 0–0 0–1 2–1 3–0
Atyrá 2–2 2–0 4–1 0–2 2–2 2–3 0–1 2–1 2–2 2–1 1–1 0–0 1–2 1–1 1–1 0–0 1–2
Deportivo Capiatá 0–0 1–1 2–2 1–1 1–0 3–1 1–3 4–1 1–1 0–3 0–4 3–3 2–3 0–0 1–1 1–0 1–1
Deportivo Santaní 0–0 2–0 1–3 1–1 0–2 1–1 0–0 2–0 3–1 3–1 0–3 1–1 2–3 1–4 2–2 3–1 1–1
Fernando de la Mora 3–1 1–0 1–1 1–0 0–0 0–0 0–3 2–0 3–1 1–0 0–1 2–2 2–2 1–3 0–1 2–2 2–3
Fulgencio Yegros 2–1 0–1 0–1 1–2 2–1 0–2 1–3 0–0 1–2 0–0 0–1 0–3 1–1 2–1 0–1 0–1 0–1
General Caballero (JLM) 2–1 4–3 1–0 0–1 5–2 2–0 2–0 0–0 2–0 0–0 2–2 4–1 2–1 2–0 3–0 2–0 4–1
General Díaz 3–1 1–3 3–1 0–1 0–1 1–1 0–4 2–0 0–2 0–2 1–1 1–0 1–0 0–2 0–1 0–2 2–2
Guaraní (T) 0–2 0–0 1–0 4–0 0–0 0–0 1–0 1–1 1–0 0–1 0–2 0–1 2–1 0–0 2–1 3–5 1–2
Independiente (CG) 3–1 1–2 2–4 1–1 2–1 2–1 2–1 0–1 1–0 0–0 0–1 1–0 0–1 1–1 3–0 0–0 0–2
Resistencia 2–1 0–0 2–1 0–1 1–1 2–2 3–0 1–1 1–0 1–2 0–0 1–0 1–1 2–0 4–0 2–1 1–0
Rubio Ñu 0–2 2–0 0–3 0–0 1–0 2–1 2–1 2–2 3–1 0–0 1–0 1–1 3–2 0–1 0–0 2–2 1–3
San Lorenzo 3–1 0–1 1–1 2–1 1–1 1–3 2–0 1–3 1–0 1–0 1–2 1–1 2–0 2–0 1–1 5–1 2–2
Sportivo Ameliano 3–1 3–3 1–1 1–0 2–0 1–1 4–0 0–2 4–1 0–3 1–2 2–0 1–0 3–0 3–0 0–3 1–3
Sportivo Iteño 1–1 0–0 0–1 3–0 0–2 0–0 1–0 2–4 0–0 1–0 2–1 1–1 0–0 2–2 1–2 0–2 1–3
Sportivo Trinidense 1–0 2–4 2–1 2–1 1–1 1–1 3–1 1–0 3–1 2–1 1–1 1–0 2–2 0–3 2–1 0–0 2–2
Tacuary 5–1 1–4 1–2 0–0 0–0 0–2 3–1 3–1 1–0 3–2 1–3 0–1 4–0 1–1 1–2 0–0 2–1
Source: APF, Soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top scorers

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Rank Name Club Goals
1   Alex Arce Sportivo Ameliano 24
2   Digno González 3 de Febrero 22
3   Gustavo Aguilar Tacuary 20
4   Jorge Sanguina Atyrá 14
  Marcelo Ferreira Independiente (CG)
  Santiago Salcedo San Lorenzo
7   Teodoro Arce General Caballero (JLM) 11
  Antonio Oviedo Rubio Ñu
9   Ronald Roa Deportivo Capiatá 10
  Édgar Villalba Deportivo Santaní
  Adrián Alcaraz Fernando de la Mora
  Sergio Dietze Guaraní (T)
  Gustavo Legal Sportivo Trinidense

Source: APF

Promotion play-off

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The fourth-placed team in the División Intermedia, Sportivo Ameliano, played a double-legged promotion play-off against Sportivo Luqueño, the ninth-placed team of the relegation table of the 2021 Primera División season. The winner was promoted to the 2022 Primera División.

Sportivo Ameliano3–2Sportivo Luqueño
  • Giménez   21', 72'
  • Arce   63'
Report
Referee: Carlos Benítez

Sportivo Luqueño1–1Sportivo Ameliano
Report
Referee: Alipio Colmán

Sportivo Ameliano won 4–3 on aggregate and were promoted to Primera División.

Relegation

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Relegation is determined at the end of the season by computing an average of the number of points earned per game over the past three seasons. The three teams with the lowest average were relegated to the Primera División B or Primera División B Nacional for the following season, depending on their geographical location.

Pos
Team
2018
Pts
2019
Pts
2021
Pts
Total
Pts
Total
Pld
Avg Relegation
1 General Caballero (JLM) 41 73 114 64 1.781
2 Tacuary 57 57 34 1.676
3 Sportivo Ameliano 56 56 34 1.647
4 San Lorenzo 53 53 34 1.559
5 Resistencia 40 45 61 146 94 1.553
6 Fernando de la Mora 51 43 45 139 94 1.479
7 2 de Mayo 46 55 36 137 94 1.457
8 Independiente (CG) 41 51 92 64 1.438
9 Atyrá 49 43 92 64 1.438
10 Sportivo Trinidense 38 40 52 130 94 1.383
11 3 de Febrero 39 48 87 64 1.359
12 Rubio Ñu 44 35 39 118 94 1.255
13 Guaraní (T) 41 41 34 1.206
14 Deportivo Santaní 41 41 34 1.206
15 Sportivo Iteño 34 36 39 109 94 1.16
16 Deportivo Capiatá (R) 39 39 34 1.147 Relegation to Primera División B
17 Fulgencio Yegros (R) 41 24 21 86 94 0.915
18 General Díaz (R) 24 24 34 0.706

Source: APF

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "A la espera de la Intermedia 2021" (in Spanish). APF. 7 April 2021. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  2. ^ "La Intermedia conoce su fixture 2021" (in Spanish). Tigo Sports. 15 January 2021. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  3. ^ "Es oficial: ¡APF suspende Intermedia y 6 torneos más!" (in Spanish). Versus. 11 September 2020. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  4. ^ "General Caballero JLM es campeón de la Intermedia 2021" (in Spanish). Tigo Sports. 27 September 2021.
  5. ^ "Intermedia 2021: tres ascensos, promoción y clasificación a Sudamericana" (in Spanish). Tigo Sports. 31 December 2020. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
  6. ^ "Pastoreo FC queda fuera de la temporada 2021" (in Spanish). ABC Color. 25 November 2020. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
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