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The 2022 Liga Panameña de Fútbol or 2022 Liga LPF (known as the Liga LPF Tigo for sponsorship reasons) was the 35th season of the Liga Panameña de Fútbol (LPF), the top-flight football league in Panama, and the third under the management of the Liga Panameña de Fútbol. The season began on 4 February 2022, when the Apertura tournament started, and ended on 12 November 2022 with the Clausura tournament Final.

The season was originally scheduled to start on 21 January 2022, but the date was pushed back due to the detection of several COVID-19 cases in the participating clubs.

A total of twelve teams competed throughout the entire season, which was divided into two championships: Torneo Apertura and Torneo Clausura, each of them being an independent championship and crowning its own champion.

Competition format

Same as previous years, the season was divided into two championships: Torneo Apertura and Torneo Clausura. Both Apertura and Clausura were played under the same format which consisted in a Classification stage, where the 12 teams were geographically divided into the Eastern and Western Conferences (6 teams per conference); Play-offs, Semifinals and Final.

Within each conference, teams played each other twice on a double round-robin format (home and away). In addition, each team played one game against all the 6 teams in the opposite conference for a total of 16 games per team in the classification stage. Winners of each conference qualified directly to the semi-finals, whilst the second and third placed teams advanced to the play-offs stage.

The Play-offs stage was played on a single-leg format between the second placed team of each conference against the third placed team of the opposite conference, with the second placed teams hosting the matches. Winners of play-offs advanced to semi-finals to play against the first placed team of each conference on a home-and-away two-legged basis. Winners of the semifinals played the final on a single-leg match at a venue and date determined by the LFP, with highest team ranked in the classification stage acting as the "home" team for "administrative purposes.

Teams

A total of 12 teams took part in this season; the same ones that played in the previous 2021 season, including San Francisco, which finished in the last place (12th) on the aggregate table of the 2021 season, which meant its relegation to the 2022 Liga Prom season. However, San Francisco was able to stay in the Liga LPF, subject to the payment of a financial penalty, since the champions and runners-up of the 2021 Liga Prom (Alianza FC II and Panamá Oeste) did not meet the requirements of the Liga Panameña de Fútbol to play in the 2022 Liga LPF.

Stadia and locations

Personnel and kits

Team	Head Coach	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor(s)
Alianza	Jair Palacios	Kevin Melgar	Keuka	Clinilab Panamá
Árabe Unido	Julio Dely Valdés	Abdiel Macea	Kelme	BetCha.pa, AguAseo, Kendall Motor Oil
Atlético Chiriquí	Dayron Pérez	Miguel Saavedra	Kelme
Herrera	Alberto Valencia	Santiago Cedeño	Strik3r	Varela Hermanos S.A., Betcris, Gran Hotel Azuero, Hertz
Independiente	Franklin Narváez	César Samudio	Fila	Altos De La Pradera
Plaza Amador	Jorge Dely Valdés	Ricardo Buitrago	Puma	Sportium, SPARK
Potros del Este	Daniel Blanco	Edgar Góndola	Luanvi	UniWorld Air Cargo
San Francisco	Gary Stempel	Francisco Palacios	Strik3r	Betcha.pa
Sporting San Miguelito	Felipe Borowsky	Adolfo Machado	Spirits	Teletón 20-30
Tauro	Francisco Perlo	Edwin Aguilar	Patrick	Betcha.pa, Universidad del Istmo, KFC
Universitario	Julio Infante	Manuel Torres	FB Sports	Latin University of Panama
Veraguas United	Villi Trebino	Rolando Algandona	Strik3r	Betcris, Super Carnes, La Parmigiana

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Torneo Apertura
San Francisco	Jorge Santos	End of caretaker spell	20 November 2021	Pre-season	Gonzalo Soto	19 January 2022
Sporting San Miguelito	Saúl Maldonado	Mutual agreement	22 November 2021		Felipe Borowsky	26 November 2021
Veraguas United	Isaac Jové	End of contract	4 December 2021		José Anthony Torres	January 2022
Independiente	Francisco Perlo	Signed by Academia Puerto Cabello	8 December 2021		Iván Guerra	15 December 2021
Árabe Unido	Sergio Angulo	End of contract	22 December 2021		Julio Dely Valdés	22 December 2021
Tauro	Kike García	Mutual agreement	29 December 2021		Rolando Palma	30 December 2021
Universitario	Gary Stempel	Resigned	16 February 2022	6th, WC	Alberto Blanco	17 February 2022
Veraguas United	José Anthony Torres	End of caretaker spell	21 March 2022	5th, WC	Daniel Lanata	22 March 2022
Torneo Clausura
Veraguas United	Daniel Lanata	End of contract	7 May 2022	Pre-season	Héctor Blanco	July 2022
Independiente	Iván Guerra	End of contract	18 May 2022		Franklin Narváez	23 May 2022
Herrera	Julio Infante	Sacked	20 May 2022		Emmanuel Calleja	23 May 2022
Universitario	Alberto Blanco	End of contract	20 May 2022		Julio Infante	23 June 2022
Atlético Chiriquí	Alberto Valencia	End of contract	21 May 2022		Dayron Pérez	July 2022
Tauro	Rolando Palma	Sacked	11 August 2022	6th, EC	Francisco Perlo	13 August 2022
San Francisco	Gonzalo Soto	Mutual agreement	28 August 2022	5th, WC	Gary Stempel	29 August 2022
Veraguas United	Héctor Blanco	Resigned	20 September 2022	5th, WC	Villi Trebino	20 September 2022
Herrera	Emmanuel Calleja	Sacked	21 September 2022	6th, WC	Alberto Valencia	30 September 2022

Notes

1. Juan Carlos Cubilla was the caretaker manager for the Torneo Apertura 3rd round match against Atlético Chiriquí.
2. ^ Caretaker manager.
3. Manuel Valencia was the caretaker manager for the Torneo Clausura 5th round match against Árabe Unido.
4. Miguel Corral was the caretaker manager for the Torneo Clausura 11th and 12th round match against Árabe Unido and Atlético Chiriquí.

Torneo Apertura

The Torneo Apertura began on 4 February and ended on 28 May with the final.

Classification stage

Eastern Conference

Western Conference

Results

Bracket

Play-offs

Independiente	1–2 (a.e.t.)	Tauro
Ávila 15'	Report	McKenzie 6' González 114'

Semi-finals

Alianza	1–0	Atlético Chiriquí
Verley 34'	Report

Atlético Chiriquí	1–1	Alianza
Aparicio 90+9'	Report	Verley 88'

Alianza won 2–1 on aggregate and advanced to the final.

Tauro	1–2	Sporting San Miguelito
Chará 60'	Report	Zúñiga 27', 54'

Sporting San Miguelito won 2–1 on aggregate and advanced to the final.

FInal

Sporting San Miguelito	1–2	Alianza
Peralta 45+2'	Report	Chiari 25', 78'

Top goalscorers

Players sorted first by goals scored, then by last name.

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Edgar Aparicio	Atlético Chiriquí	7
	Víctor Ávila	Independiente
	Ricardo Buitrago	Plaza Amador
4	Luis Zúñiga	Sporting San Miguelito	6
	José Florez	Atlético Chiriquí
	Sergio Cunningham	Herrera
7	Ricardo Clarke	Plaza Amador	5
	Alexis Corpas	Sporting San Miguelito
	César Medina	Alianza
	Ángel Orelien	Plaza Amador
	Omar Valencia	Tauro

Torneo Clausura

The Torneo Clausura began on 22 July and ended on 12 November with the final.

Classification stage

Eastern Conference

Western Conference

Results

Bracket

Play-offs

Universitario	1–0	Plaza Amador
Carmona 42'	Report

Semi-finals

Sporting San Miguelito	1–1	Independiente
Sánchez 73'	Report	Palacios 13'

Independiente	1–0	Sporting San Miguelito
Caicedo 46'	Report

Independiente won 2–1 on aggregate and advanced to the final.

Universitario	1–0	Árabe Unido
Cox 61'	Report

Universitario won 1–0 on aggregate and advanced to the final.

FInal

Independiente	2–1 (a.e.t.)	Universitario
Hernández 55' Ávila 118'	Report	Cox 7'

Top goalscorers

Players sorted first by goals scored, then by last name.

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Joseph Cox	Universitario	13
2	Jorlian Sánchez	Sporting San Miguelito	9
3	Yoameth Murillo	Potros del Este	7
4	Dwann Oliveira	Sporting San Miguelito	6
	César Yanis	Potros del Este
6	Víctor Ávila	Árabe Unido	5
	Alexis Cundumi	Veraguas United
8	Gabriel Brown	Árabe Unido	4
	Mario Carmona	Universitario
	Gilberto Hernández	Independiente
	Jhamal Rodríguez	San Francisco
	Ángel Sánchez	Herrera

External links

• Liga Panameña de Fútbol LPF 2022

References

1. "¡Oficial! El Torneo Apertura 2022 LPF TIGO arranca el 21 de enero". www.rpctv.com (in Spanish). RPC. 7 January 2022.
2. "La Liga Panameña de Fútbol decide aplazar el inicio del Torneo Apertura 2022". www.tvn-2.com (in Spanish). TVN. 12 January 2022.
3. ^ "REGLAMENTO COMPETENCIA LPF TEMPORADA - 2022" (PDF). lpf.com.pa (in Spanish). Liga Panameña de Fútbol. 14 January 2022. Retrieved 5 March 2023.
4. Ortega, Isaac Abel (7 December 2021). "Existen los milagros". elsiglo.com.pa/ (in Spanish). El Siglo.
5. Liga Panameña de Fútbol (2 February 2022). "¡SEDES OFICIALES!" (Tweet) (in Spanish) – via Twitter.
6. "El director técnico del San Francisco, Gonzalo Soto no estará en el banquillo en la jornada 3 de la LPF" [San Francisco head coach Gonzalo Soto will not be on the bench for matchday 3 of the LPF.]. www.rpctv.com (in Spanish). RPC. 19 January 2022. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
7. San Francisco F.C. (19 January 2022). "Comunicado Oficial" (Tweet) (in Spanish). Retrieved 8 March 2023 – via Twitter.
8. "LPF: Gonzalo Soto regresa al San Francisco FC" [LPF: Gonzalo Soto returns to San Francisco FC]. www.tvn-2.com (in Spanish). TVN. 17 February 2022. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
9. Sporting San Miguelito (22 November 2021). "Cambio en la Dirección Técnica" (Tweet) (in Spanish). Retrieved 8 March 2023 – via Twitter.
10. Cárdenas, Luis (23 November 2021). "Saúl Maldonado no continuará en Sporting San Miguelito para la próxima temporada" [Saúl Maldonado will not continue with Sporting San Miguelito for next season] (in Spanish). Balonazos.com. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
11. "OFICIAL. Felipe Borowsky es el nuevo entrenador del Sporting" [OFFICIAL. Felipe Borowsky is Sporting's new coach]. www.rpctv.com (in Spanish). RPC. 26 November 2021. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
12. "EL VERAGUAS CD SE DESINTEGRA LUEGO DE SER PROTAGONISTA EN LA LPF" [Veraguas CD disintegrates after being a protagonist in the LPF] (in Spanish). JM Deportes. 29 December 2021. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
13. "Historia de Veraguas United" [History of Veraguas United] (in Spanish). Veraguas United FC. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
14. "Veraguas United FC, el nuevo equipo de la provincia de Urracá en la LPF" [Veraguas United FC, the new team from the province of Urracá in the LPF] (in Spanish). La Gaceta de Panamá. 7 February 2022. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
15. "OFICIAL. Francisco Perlo deja de ser entrenador del CAI" [OFFICIAL. Francisco Perlo steps down as coach of CAI] (in Spanish). RPC. 9 December 2021. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
16. Ortega, Isaac Abel (10 December 2021). "Francisco Perlo se despide del Club Atlético Independiente" [Francisco Perlo bids farewell to Club Atlético Independiente] (in Spanish). El Siglo. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
17. "LPF: CAI anuncia a Iván Guerra como nuevo entrenador" [LPF: CAI announces Iván Guerra as new coach] (in Spanish). RPC. 15 December 2021. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
18. Cárdenas, Luis (18 December 2021). "El entrenador venezolano Ivan Guerra será el nuevo Director Técnico del CAI en Panamá" [Venezuelan coach Iván Guerra will be the new head coach of CAI in Panama] (in Spanish). Balonazos.com. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
19. Club Deportivo Árabe Unido (22 December 2021). "Nuestro equipo anuncia oficialmente las salidas del DT Sergio "Checho" Angulo y del PF Andrés Mosquera" (Tweet) (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 March 2023 – via Twitter.
20. Martínez, Álvaro (19 November 2021). "Sergio Angulo no dirigirá a Árabe Unido en la última fecha" [Sergio Angulo will not coach Árabe Unido on the last day of the season] (in Spanish). Cable Onda Sports. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
21. Martínez, Álvaro (21 November 2021). "Nos despedimos de la mejor manera" [We say goodbye in the best way.] (in Spanish). Club Deportivo Árabe Unido. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
22. Vidal, Edgardo (22 December 2021). "Christmas bombshell. Julio Dely Valdés to coach Árabe Unido de Colón" [Christmas bombshell. Julio Dely Valdés to coach Árabe Unido from Colón] (in Spanish). Mi Diario. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
23. "Tauro FC de Panamá anunció que el DT venezolano Enrique García no los seguirá dirigiendo" [Tauro FC from Panama announced that Venezuelan coach Enrique García will not continue to coach them] (in Spanish). Balonazos.com. 29 December 2021. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
24. "LPF: Rolando Palma regresa al Tauro FC como entrenador" [LPF: Rolando Palma returns to Tauro FC as head coach]. www.rpctv.com (in Spanish). RPC. 30 December 2021. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
25. ^ "Stempel no aguantó más: no le pagaban" [Stempel couldn't take it anymore: he wasn't getting paid] (in Spanish). Metro Libre. 17 February 2022. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
26. "Gary Stempel habla de su salida por falta de pagos en Universitario" [Gary Stempel talks about his departure due to lack of payments at Universitario]. www.rpctv.com (in Spanish). RPC. 17 February 2022. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
27. "'Chalate' Anthony Torres sale de la dirección técnica del Veraguas United" ['Chalate' Anthony Torres leaves the technical direction of Veraguas United] (in Spanish). TVN. 21 March 2022. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
28. "Daniel Lanata, de Tacuary al fútbol panameño" [Daniel Lanata, from Tacuary to Panamanian football]. versus.lanacion.com.py (in Spanish). La Nación. 22 March 2022. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
29. Veraguas United F.C. (10 July 2022). "¡NUESTRA PLANTILLA OFICIAL CLAUSURA 2022!" (Tweet) (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 March 2023 – via Twitter.
30. "La particular liga donde Héctor Blanco continuará su carrera como DT" [The particular league where Héctor Blanco will continue his career as manager]. versus.lanacion.com.py (in Spanish). La Nación. 14 July 2022. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
31. Vera, Ángel (19 May 2022). "El entrenador Iván Guerra no continuará al mando del CAI en la Liga de Panamá" [Coach Iván Guerra will not continue at the helm of CAI in the Panamanian League] (in Spanish). Balonazos.com. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
32. ^ Martínez, Álvaro (21 May 2022). "Infante, Blanco y Guerra son agentes libres" [Infante, Blanco and Guerra are free agents] (in Spanish). Cable Onda Sports. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
33. Independiente de La Chorrera (23 May 2022). "El técnico chorrerano Franklin Narváez será el encargado de dirigir nuestro equipo profesional" (Tweet) (in Spanish). Retrieved 8 March 2023 – via Twitter.
34. "LPF: Herrera FC y CAI anuncian nuevos entrenadores" [LPF: Herrera FC and CAI announce new coaches]. www.rpctv.com (in Spanish). RPC. 23 May 2022. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
35. Herrera F.C. (20 May 2022). "¡Gracias Julio Infante! Queremos anunciar a todos nuestros fanáticos y prensa en general, la salida del D.T. Julio Infante" (Tweet) (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 March 2023 – via Twitter.
36. "LPF: Julio Infante deja de ser entrenador de Herrera FC" [LPF: Julio Infante steps down as coach of Herrera FC]. www.rpctv.com (in Spanish). RPC. 20 May 2022. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
37. "Herrera FC anuncia a su nuevo entrenador, el español Emmanuel Calleja" [Herrera FC announces its new coach, Spaniard Emmanuel Calleja]. www.diaadia.com.pa (in Spanish). Día a Día. 23 May 2022. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
38. "JULIO INFANTE TIENE NUEVO EQUIPO EN LA LPF" [Julio Infante has a new team in the LPF]. jmdeportes.com (in Spanish). JM Deportes. 23 June 2022. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
39. Atlético Chiriquí (18 July 2022). "Queremos darle la bienvenida a nuestro nuevo Director Técnico: Dayron Perez" (Tweet) (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 March 2023 – via Twitter.
40. "LPF: Dayron Pérez se apunta como nuevo entrenador del Atlético Chiriquí" [LPF: Dayron Perez signs on as new coach of Atletico Chiriqui]. www.rpctv.com (in Spanish). RPC. 18 July 2022. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
41. "Tauro FC destituye al técnico Rolando Palma" [Tauro FC dismisses coach Rolando Palma]. www.tvn-2.com (in Spanish). TVN. 11 August 2022. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
42. Martínez, Álvaro (14 August 2022). "Tauro FC gana su primer juego con gol de un canterano al 94'" [Tauro FC wins its first game with a homegrown player's goal at 94']. www.cospanama.com (in Spanish). Cable Onda Sports. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
43. "Francisco Perlo vuelve a Panamá para dirigir al Tauro FC" [Francisco Perlo returns to Panama to coach Tauro FC]. www.tvn-2.com (in Spanish). TVN. 13 August 2022. Retrieved 11 March 2023.
44. Vidal, Edgardo (29 August 2022). "San Francisco pierde ante Alianza FC y despide al técnico Gonzalo Soto en cierre de la J7" [San Francisco loses to Alianza FC and fires coach Gonzalo Soto at the end of MD7] (in Spanish). Mi Diario. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
45. "LPF: Gary Stempel regresa como DT del San Francisco FC" [LPF: Gary Stempel returns as San Francisco FC Head Coach]. www.rpctv.com (in Spanish). RPC. 29 August 2022. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
46. ^ "LPF: Veraguas United anunció la salida de miembros de su cuerpo técnico" [LPF: Veraguas United announced the departure of its technical staff] (in Spanish). TVN. 20 September 2022. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
47. ^ "LPF: Herrera FC destituye a Emmanuel Calleja" [LPF: Herrera FC dismisses Emmanuel Calleja]. www.rpctv.com (in Spanish). RPC. 21 September 2022. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
48. Gonzalez Pereira, Jean Carlos (30 September 2022). "Herrera FC hace oficial la llegada de su nuevo director técnico tras la salida de Calleja" [Herrera FC makes official the arrival of its new head coach following the departure of Calleja] (in Spanish). Fútbol Centroamérica. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
49. Cárdenas, Luis (1 October 2022). "El entrenador Alberto Nino Valencia vuelve a dirigir en Panamá con Herrera FC" [Coach Alberto Nino Valencia returns to coaching in Panama with Herrera FC] (in Spanish). Balonazos.com. Retrieved 8 March 2023.

• Liga Panameña de Fútbol seasons
• 2021–22 in Central American football leagues
• 2022–23 in Central American football leagues