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The 2021 Bolivian Primera División season, known as the 2021 Copa Tigo season for sponsorship reasons, was the 44th season of the División Profesional del Fútbol Boliviano, Bolivia's top-flight football league and the fourth season under División de Fútbol Profesional management. The season began on 9 March and ended on 12 December 2021.

Independiente Petrolero won their first title in the tournament following a 3–2 win over Guabirá and a 1–0 loss for The Strongest against Real Santa Cruz on the last day of the season. Always Ready were the defending champions, having won the 2020 Apertura tournament.

Format

The format for the 2021 season was approved by the 16 División Profesional clubs on 17 February 2021. Given the need to allow clubs qualified for the Copa Libertadores and Copa Sudamericana as well as the national team to fulfill their international commitments, and concerns by the development of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was decided to play a single tournament in the year instead of the usual Apertura and Clausura system. The 16 teams played each other twice in a double round-robin tournament for a total of 30 rounds. The Bolivian Football Federation originally proposed 13 March 2021 as the date to start the competition, but per request from the four clubs that took part in the Copa Sudamericana the date was moved forward to 10 March 2021. The top four clubs at the end of the season qualified for the 2022 Copa Libertadores, with the champions and runners-up entering the group stage, while the next four best-placed teams qualified for the 2022 Copa Sudamericana.

Teams

16 teams competed in the league for the 2021 season, increasing from 14 since no clubs were relegated at the end of the previous season. Real Tomayapo and Independiente Petrolero, the 2020 Copa Simón Bolívar champions and runners-up, were both promoted for this season. The former competed for the first time in the top tier, while the latter returned after a 17-year absence.

Stadia and locations

Team	Manager	City	Stadium	Capacity
Always Ready	Pablo Godoy	El Alto	Municipal de Villa Ingenio	25,000
Atlético Palmaflor	Humberto Viviani	Quillacollo	Municipal de Quillacollo	6,000
Aurora	Sergio Zeballos (caretaker)	Cochabamba	Félix Capriles	32,000
Blooming	Rodrigo Venegas	Santa Cruz	Ramón Tahuichi Aguilera	38,000
Bolívar	Antônio Carlos Zago	La Paz	Hernando Siles	42,000
Guabirá	Víctor Hugo Antelo	Montero	Gilberto Parada	13,000
Independiente Petrolero	Marcelo Robledo	Sucre	Olímpico Patria	30,700
Jorge Wilstermann	Sergio Migliaccio	Cochabamba	Félix Capriles	32,000
Nacional Potosí	Roberto Mancilla (caretaker)	Potosí	Víctor Agustín Ugarte	32,105
Oriente Petrolero	Erwin Sánchez	Santa Cruz	Ramón Tahuichi Aguilera	38,000
Real Potosí	Sebastián Núñez	Potosí	Víctor Agustín Ugarte	32,105
Real Santa Cruz	David Perdiguero	Santa Cruz	Real Santa Cruz	14,000
Real Tomayapo	Álvaro Peña	Tarija	IV Centenario	15,000
Royal Pari	Miguel Ángel Portugal	Santa Cruz	Ramón Tahuichi Aguilera	38,000
San José	Luis Choque (caretaker)	Oruro	Jesús Bermúdez	33,795
The Strongest	Christian Díaz	La Paz	Hernando Siles	42,000

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Always Ready	Omar Asad	No contract signed	31 December 2020	Pre-season	Sebastián Núñez	18 January 2021
Atlético Palmaflor	Xabier Azkargorta	End of contract	31 December 2020		Julio César Baldivieso	7 January 2021
Real Potosí	Cristian Aldirico		31 December 2020		Alex Pallarés	5 January 2021
Real Santa Cruz	José Peña		31 December 2020		Néstor Clausen	6 January 2021
Aurora	Sergio Zeballos	End of caretaker spell	31 December 2020		Humberto Viviani	1 January 2021
Royal Pari	Miguel Ángel Abrigo		31 December 2020		Christian Díaz	10 January 2021
San José	Arnaldo Mancilla	Replaced	31 December 2020		Domingo Sánchez	18 January 2021
Jorge Wilstermann	Christian Díaz	Sacked	1 January 2021		Mauricio Soria	4 January 2021
Blooming	Gabriel Schürrer		4 January 2021		Eduardo Villegas	5 January 2021
Nacional Potosí	Sebastián Núñez	Signed by Always Ready	8 January 2021		Álvaro Peña	11 January 2021
Real Potosí	Alex Pallarés	Health issues	8 February 2021		Carlos Fonseca	9 February 2021
San José	Domingo Sánchez	Sacked	1 March 2021		Thiago Leitão	2 March 2021
	Thiago Leitão	Resigned	29 March 2021	16th	Manuel Luizaga (caretaker)	30 March 2021
Atlético Palmaflor	Julio César Baldivieso	Sacked	29 March 2021	4th	Thiago Leitão	30 March 2021
San José	Manuel Luizaga	End of caretaker spell	6 April 2021	16th	Marcos Ferrufino	6 April 2021
Nacional Potosí	Álvaro Peña	Sacked	8 April 2021	6th	Flavio Robatto	13 April 2021
Always Ready	Sebastián Núñez		10 April 2021	3rd	Omar Asad	13 April 2021
The Strongest	Alberto Illanes		22 April 2021	2nd	Luis Orozco (caretaker)	22 April 2021
Jorge Wilstermann	Mauricio Soria	Resigned	25 April 2021	14th	Marco Sandy (caretaker)	26 April 2021
The Strongest	Luis Orozco	End of caretaker spell	26 April 2021	1st	Gustavo Florentín	26 April 2021
Jorge Wilstermann	Marco Sandy		29 April 2021	14th	Diego Cagna	28 April 2021
Real Potosí	Carlos Fonseca	Sacked	12 May 2021	15th	Armando Ibáñez	13 May 2021
San José	Marcos Ferrufino		16 May 2021	16th	Domingo Sánchez	17 May 2021
Bolívar	Natxo González		23 May 2021	2nd	Vladimir Soria (caretaker)	23 May 2021
	Vladimir Soria	End of caretaker spell	14 July 2021	2nd	Antônio Carlos Zago	14 July 2021
Real Santa Cruz	Néstor Clausen	Resigned	21 July 2021	14th	David Perdiguero	22 July 2021
Always Ready	Omar Asad	Sacked	27 July 2021	8th	Pablo Godoy	29 July 2021
Royal Pari	Christian Díaz		27 July 2021	5th	Luis Marín Camacho (caretaker)	28 July 2021
Real Potosí	Armando Ibáñez		30 July 2021	15th	Marco Sandy	2 August 2021
Royal Pari	Luis Marín Camacho	End of caretaker spell	3 August 2021	5th	Miguel Ángel Portugal	3 August 2021
Nacional Potosí	Flavio Robatto	Sacked	4 August 2021	6th	Alberto Illanes	6 August 2021
Real Tomayapo	Horacio Pacheco	Resigned	8 August 2021	12th	Álvaro Peña	10 August 2021
The Strongest	Gustavo Florentín		15 August 2021	1st	Pablo Cabanillas (caretaker)	15 August 2021
Blooming	Eduardo Villegas	Mutual consent	19 August 2021	14th	Hernán Meske	19 August 2021
San José	Domingo Sánchez	Resigned	21 August 2021	16th	Óscar Daza	26 August 2021
The Strongest	Pablo Cabanillas	End of caretaker spell	21 August 2021	1st	Christian Díaz	19 August 2021
Guabirá	Víctor Hugo Andrada	Sacked	23 August 2021	10th	Víctor Hugo Antelo	25 August 2021
San José	Óscar Daza		14 September 2021	16th	Luis Choque (caretaker)	16 September 2021
Atlético Palmaflor	Thiago Leitão		15 September 2021	7th	Víctor Hugo Andrada	15 September 2021
Real Potosí	Marco Sandy		18 September 2021	15th	Ronald Villafuerte (caretaker)	18 September 2021
Jorge Wilstermann	Diego Cagna	Resigned	23 September 2021	9th	Sergio Migliaccio	24 September 2021
Real Potosí	Ronald Villafuerte	End of caretaker spell	29 September 2021	15th	Sebastián Núñez	29 September 2021
Aurora	Humberto Viviani	Resigned	17 October 2021	12th	Sergio Zeballos	18 October 2021
Atlético Palmaflor	Víctor Hugo Andrada		1 November 2021	9th	Humberto Viviani	3 November 2021
Nacional Potosí	Alberto Illanes		23 November 2021	11th	Roberto Mancilla	23 November 2021
Blooming	Hernán Meske		27 November 2021	15th	Rodrigo Venegas	28 November 2021

Notes

1. Originally as caretaker manager, appointed as manager until the end of the tournament on 7 September 2021.
2. Originally as caretaker manager, appointed as manager on a permanent basis on 29 September 2021.
3. ^ Caretaker manager until the end of the tournament.

Standings

1. San José were deducted twelve points as punishment for failing to pay outstanding debts with former players and managers.
2. San José were administratively relegated on 8 December 2021 per ruling by the Bolivian Football Federation's Superior Court of Appeals due to their failure to pay outstanding debts.

Results

1. Match cancelled and awarded 3–0 to Jorge Wilstermann due to San José's administrative relegation.
2. Match ended after 9 minutes of play due to the withdrawal of Royal Pari player Kevin Rosas by injury, leaving the team below the minimum number of players required per tournament regulations (seven). The score at the time of suspension was 3–0.

Top scorers

Rank	Name	Club	Goals
1	Martín Prost	Independiente Petrolero	18
2	Carmelo Algarañaz	Always Ready	17
3	Kevin Mina	Guabirá	16
4	Leonardo Ramos	Bolívar	15
	Jefferson Tavares	Royal Pari
6	Edarlyn Reyes	Real Santa Cruz	14
7	Jair Reinoso	The Strongest	13
8	Juan Godoy	Independiente Petrolero	12
	Sebastián Gularte	Nacional Potosí
	Willie	The Strongest

Source: Soccerway

Relegation/promotion play-off

The relegation play-off was played by:

• Real Potosí (2021 División Profesional 15th place)
• Universitario de Sucre (2021 Copa Simón Bolívar runners-up)

The winners played in the top flight for the 2022 season.

Universitario de Sucre won 6–0 on points and were promoted to Primera División.

References

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9. "Baldivieso toma las riendas de Atlético Palmaflor" (in Spanish). BeSoccer. 7 January 2021. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
10. "El español Pallarés llega a Potosí para dirigir a Real" (in Spanish). Página Siete. 5 January 2021. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
11. "Néstor Clausen asume la conducción técnica de Real Santa Cruz" (in Spanish). Los Tiempos. 6 January 2021. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
12. "Humberto Viviani es el nuevo director técnico de Aurora" (in Spanish). Diario Opinión. 18 December 2020. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
13. "Se alejó de Alianza: Cristian Díaz es nuevo DT del Royal Pari de Bolivia" (in Spanish). Líbero. 10 January 2021. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
14. "Domingo Sánchez es el nuevo director técnico de San José" (in Spanish). Los Tiempos. 18 January 2021. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
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16. "Dirigencia de Wilstermann oficializa a Mauricio Soria como el nuevo técnico para el 2021" (in Spanish). Los Tiempos. 4 January 2021. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
17. "Gabriel Schurrer le duró solo dos meses a Blooming" (in Spanish). El Deber. 5 January 2021. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
18. "Blooming se lleva a Eduardo Villegas, el técnico con más títulos del fútbol boliviano" (in Spanish). La Razón. 5 January 2021. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
19. "Always Ready presentará a Sebastián Núñez como su nuevo DT" (in Spanish). El Deber. 9 January 2021. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
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21. "Pallarés dimite como DT de Real Potosí por complicaciones en su salud" (in Spanish). La Razón. 5 January 2021. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
22. "Carlos Fonseca es el nuevo técnico de Real Potosí" (in Spanish). Los Tiempos. 9 February 2021. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
23. "San José echa a Domingo Sánchez y se queda sin DT" (in Spanish). El Diario. 1 March 2021. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
24. "Thiago Leitao es el nuevo entrenador de San José" (in Spanish). La Razón. 2 March 2021. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
25. "Thiago Leitao dejó la dirección técnica de San José" (in Spanish). El Deber. 29 March 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
26. "Palmaflor se queda sin técnico. Rescinden contrato con Julio César Baldivieso" (in Spanish). Los Tiempos. 29 March 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
27. "Vinto Palmaflor: Thiago Leitao toma la posta de Julio César Baldivieso" (in Spanish). Los Tiempos. 30 March 2021.
28. "San José convence a Ferrufino para que sea su técnico" (in Spanish). Premium Sports BO. 6 April 2021. Retrieved 19 April 2021.
29. "Álvaro Peña dejó de ser director técnico de Nacional Potosí" (in Spanish). Los Tiempos. 8 April 2021. Retrieved 10 April 2021.
30. "Argentino Flavio Robatto es el nuevo DT de Nacional Potosí" (in Spanish). El Deber. 13 April 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
31. "Always Ready: Costa despide a DT Nuñez tras un bochornoso final" (in Spanish). Los Tiempos. 10 April 2021. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
32. "Omar Asad, el DT campeón 2020, vuelve a Always Ready" (in Spanish). La Razón. 13 April 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
33. ^ "Tras la caída del Tigre ante Boca, Illanes no va más" (in Spanish). La Razón. 22 April 2021. Retrieved 24 April 2021.
34. "Soria decide dejar la dirección técnica de Wilstermann" (in Spanish). Los Tiempos. 25 April 2021. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
35. "Marco Sandy asume dirección técnica de Wilstermann de manera interina" (in Spanish). Los Tiempos. 26 April 2021.
36. "Gustavo Florentín fue presentado como DT de The Strongest" (in Spanish). El Deber. 26 April 2021.
37. ^ "Diego Cagna es el nuevo director técnico de Wilstermann" (in Spanish). El Deber. 28 April 2021. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
38. ^ "Armando Ibáñez reemplaza al español Carlos Fonseca en la dirección técnica de Real Potosí" (in Spanish). El Deber. 13 May 2021. Retrieved 14 May 2021.
39. "Nuevo directorio de San José destituye al DT Marcos Ferrufino" (in Spanish). La Razón. 17 May 2021. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
40. "Sánchez asumió como DT de San José con la misión de salvarlo del descenso" (in Spanish). El Deber. 20 May 2021. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
41. ^ "Natxo González deja la dirección técnica de Bolívar" (in Spanish). Página Siete. 23 May 2021. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
42. "El brasileño Antonio Carlos Zago es el nuevo DT de Bolívar" (in Spanish). El Deber. 14 July 2021. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
43. "Clausen no es más entrenador de Real Santa Cruz" (in Spanish). El Deber. 21 July 2021. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
44. "David Perdiguero debutará ante San José como DT de Real Santa Cruz" (in Spanish). El Deber. 23 July 2021. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
45. "Omar Asad se va de Always Ready" (in Spanish). El Deber. 27 July 2021.
46. "Paraguayo Pablo Godoy se hace cargo de Always Ready" (in Spanish). El País. 29 July 2021. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
47. "Royal Pari rescinde con Cristian Díaz" (in Spanish). El Deber. 27 July 2021.
48. "Luis Camacho dirigirá a Royal Pari en el partido contra Real Potosí" (in Spanish). El Deber. 28 July 2021. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
49. "Ibáñez: "Si la gente que maneja Real Potosí no se pone las pilas, el equipo seguirá igual venga quien venga"" (in Spanish). El Deber. 1 August 2021. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
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51. "Royal Pari anuncia el regreso del técnico Miguel Ángel Portugal" [Royal Pari announce the return of manager Miguel Ángel Portugal] (in Spanish). El Día. 3 August 2021. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
52. "Despiden a Robatto y Mancilla asume como DT interino en Nacional" (in Spanish). El Diario. 6 August 2021. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
53. "Alberto Illanes, nuevo director técnico de Nacional Potosí" (in Spanish). El Deber. 6 August 2021. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
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68. "Dirigencia de Real Potosí baja el pulgar al técnico Marco Sandy" (in Spanish). Opinión. 18 September 2021. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
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70. "Diego Cagna deja la dirección técnica de Wilstermann" (in Spanish). Opinión. 24 September 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
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72. "Tensa calma se vive en el campamento de Wilstermann" (in Spanish). Los Tiempos. 25 September 2021. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
73. "El chileno Sebastián Núñez, nuevo director técnico de Real Potosí" (in Spanish). El Deber. 29 September 2021. Retrieved 30 September 2021.
74. "La derrota de Aurora ante Real Tomayapo le costó el cargo al DT Humberto Viviani" (in Spanish). El Deber. 17 October 2021. Retrieved 18 October 2021.
75. "Zeballos: Se luchará un cupo a la Copa y haremos ajustes" (in Spanish). Diario Opinión. 19 October 2021. Retrieved 19 October 2021.
76. "Andrada renuncia: 'Los números son malos, no me puedo quedar'" (in Spanish). Premium. 1 November 2021. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
77. "Vinto Palmaflor y Viviani retoman el idilio y trabajarán juntos hasta fin de año" (in Spanish). Los Tiempos. 3 November 2021.
78. ^ "Illanes renuncia a Nacional tras una mala campaña" (in Spanish). Premium. 23 November 2021.
79. "Hernán Meske renunció a la dirección técnica de Blooming" (in Spanish). El Deber. 27 November 2021. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
80. "El chileno Rodrigo Venegas, elegido para dirigir a Blooming" (in Spanish). El Deber. 28 November 2021. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
81. "San José arrancó el torneo con tres puntos menos" (in Spanish). Los Tiempos. 15 March 2021. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
82. "San José, a un paso de perder la categoría por resta de 6 puntos" (in Spanish). Los Tiempos. 26 June 2021. Retrieved 17 July 2021.
83. "Tribunal Superior de Apelaciones resta otros tres puntos a San José" (in Spanish). El Deber. 27 July 2021. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
84. "Descenso administrativo, el primero en el fútbol nacional" (in Spanish). Los Tiempos. 9 December 2021. Retrieved 9 December 2021.
85. "Suspenden el partido entre San José y Wilstermann" (in Spanish). Los Tiempos. 10 December 2021.
86. "El partido entre The Strongest y Royal Pari duró solo 9 minutos" (in Spanish). El Deber. 8 May 2021.

External links

• División Profesional on the FBF's official website (in Spanish)

• Bolivian Primera División seasons
• 2021 in Bolivian football
• 2021 in South American football leagues