Competition: | Liga Profesional de Primera División |
Season: | 2021 |
Dates: | 15 May – 7 December 2021 |
Winners: | Peñarol (51st title) |
Relegated: | Progreso Sud América Villa Española |
Continentalcup1: | Copa Libertadores |
Continentalcup1 Qualifiers: | Peñarol Nacional Plaza Colonia Montevideo City Torque |
Continentalcup2: | Copa Sudamericana |
Continentalcup2 Qualifiers: | Cerro Largo Montevideo Wanderers Liverpool River Plate |
Matches: | 241 |
Total Goals: | 610 |
League Topscorer: | Maximiliano Silvera (21 goals) |
Biggest Home Win: | Liverpool 5–0 Sud América (11 June) (30 October) |
Biggest Away Win: | River Plate 0–4 Cerro Largo (2 October) |
Highest Scoring: | Peñarol 5–2 Boston River (30 May) Liverpool 5–2 Fénix (22 June) Fénix 3–4 River Plate (26 June) Boston River 2–5 Peñarol (26 September) City Torque 4–3 Boston River (3 October) |
Prevseason: | 2020 |
Nextseason: | 2022 |
The 2021 Liga Profesional de Primera División season, also known as the Campeonato Uruguayo de Primera División 2021, was the 118th season of the Uruguayan Primera División, Uruguay's top-flight football league, and the 91st in which it is professional. The season, named "Dr. Tabaré Vázquez" after the late former President of Uruguay and chairman of Progreso from 1979 to 1989, started on 15 May and ended on 7 December 2021, with the starting date having been pushed back from early 2021 due to the late conclusion of the previous season owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.[1] [2]
The tournament was originally scheduled to start on 8 May, however its date of start was postponed for a week to 15 May per request from the Uruguayan government.[3] Peñarol won their fifty-first league title at the end of the season, winning the Torneo Clausura and placing first in the season's aggregate table and then beating Torneo Apertura winners Plaza Colonia on penalties in the semi-final played on 7 December.[4] Nacional were the defending champions.
For the 2021 season, the competition was scheduled to run for eight months, from May to December, and had a change from the previous editions with the elimination of the Torneo Intermedio which is usually played midway into the season and adds seven matchdays to the league schedule. This change was intended to leave extra time available to finish the season before the end of the year in the event the health emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic forced any suspension of matches in the course of the season. With that change, clubs only played 15 matches in the Torneo Apertura and 15 matches in the Torneo Clausura, for a total of 30 matches in the season, as well as the ones belonging to the Championship playoff for the clubs that eventually qualified for it. Matches would only be scheduled on weekends, with mid-week dates to be used only if necessary due to the pandemic.[1]
The three lowest placed teams in the relegation table of the 2020 season, Defensor Sporting, Danubio, and Cerro, were relegated to the Segunda División for the 2021 season. They were replaced by Cerrito, Sud América, and Villa Española, who were promoted from the Segunda División.
Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Torneo Apertura | ||||||
Villa Española | Damián Santín | Resigned | 18 December 2020[6] | Pre-season | Bruno Piano | 1 February 2021 |
Sud América | Maximiliano Viera | 10 February 2021[7] | Claudio Biaggio | 6 March 2021[8] | ||
River Plate | Jorge Fossati | End of contract | 29 March 2021[9] | Gustavo Díaz | 5 April 2021[10] | |
Nacional | Martín Ligüera | End of caretaker spell | 7 April 2021 | Alejandro Cappuccio | 9 April 2021[11] | |
Rentistas | Alejandro Cappuccio | Resigned | 7 April 2021[12] | Martín Varini | 8 April 2021[13] | |
Liverpool | Marcelo Méndez | Signed by Atlético San Luis | 11 June 2021[14] | 1st | Gustavo Ferrín (caretaker) | 11 June 2021[15] |
Gustavo Ferrín | End of caretaker spell | 17 June 2021 | 2nd | Jorge Bava | 15 June 2021 | |
Villa Española | Bruno Piano | Resigned | 20 June 2021[16] | 16th | Julio Mozzo | 21 June 2021 |
Fénix | Juan Ramón Carrasco | Sacked | 23 June 2021[17] | 11th | Murad Djellatian (caretaker) | 23 June 2021[18] |
Boston River | Juan Tejera | 23 June 2021[19] | 15th | Ignacio Ithurralde | 23 June 2021[20] | |
Fénix | Murad Djellatian | End of caretaker spell | 26 June 2021 | 11th | Ignacio Pallas | 26 June 2021[21] |
Montevideo City Torque | Pablo Marini | End of contract | 30 June 2021[22] | 7th | Román Cuello | 25 June 2021[23] |
Progreso | Maximiliano Viera | Resigned | 20 August 2021[24] | 15th | Álvaro Fuerte | 20 August 2021[25] |
Nacional | Alejandro Cappuccio | Mutual consent | 22 August 2021[26] | 2nd | Martín Ligüera | 22 August 2021 |
Torneo Clausura | ||||||
Rentistas | Martín Varini | Mutual consent | 2 October 2021[27] | 16th | Diego Jaume | 3 October 2021[28] |
Sud América | Claudio Biaggio | 4 October 2021[29] | 12th | Luis López | 5 October 2021[30] |
The Torneo Apertura, named "Eduardo Roca Couture", was the first tournament of the 2021 season. It began on 15 May and ended on 22 August 2021.
The Torneo Clausura, named "Marcos Basiaco", was the second and last tournament of the 2021 season. It began on 11 September and ended on 5 December 2021.
Since Peñarol, who had the best record in the aggregate table, won the semi-final, they became champions automatically and the finals were not played. Nacional became runners-up as the second-placed team in the aggregate table. Both teams qualified for the 2022 Copa Libertadores group stage.
Rank | Name | Club | Goals | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
align=center | 1 | Maximiliano Silvera | Cerrito | align=center | 21 | |
align=center | 2 | Matías Arezo | River Plate | align=center | 16 | |
align=center | 3 | Gonzalo Bergessio | Nacional | align=center | 15 | |
align=center | 4 | Federico Martínez | Liverpool | align=center | 14 | |
5 | Agustín Álvarez Martínez | Peñarol | 13 | |||
Leandro Otormín | Cerro Largo | |||||
align=center | 7 | Juan Ignacio Ramírez | Liverpool | align=center | 11 | |
8 | Sebastián Guerrero | Montevideo City Torque | 10 | |||
Salomón Rodríguez | Rentistas | |||||
10 | Lucas Di Yorio | Cerro Largo | 9 | |||
Renzo López | Montevideo Wanderers / Plaza Colonia | |||||
Lucas Rodríguez | Montevideo City Torque | - | 13 | Pablo Ceppelini | Peñarol | 8 |
Sebastián Fernández | Liverpool | |||||
Maureen Franco | Fénix | |||||
Facundo Labandeira | Boston River | |||||
align=center | 17 | Rubén Bentancourt | Boston River / Peñarol | align=center | 7 --> |
Source: AUF
Relegation is determined at the end of the season by computing an average of the number of points earned per game over the two most recent seasons: 2020 and 2021. The three teams with the lowest average at the end of the season were relegated to the Segunda División for the following season.
width=28 | width=185 | Team | width=50 | width=50 | width=50 | width=50 | width=50 | Relegation | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Nacional | 69 | 59 | 128 | 67 | |||||||||
2 | Peñarol | 65 | 60 | 125 | 67 | |||||||||
3 | 61 | 50 | 110 | 67 | ||||||||||
4 | Liverpool | 65 | 42 | 107 | 67 | |||||||||
5 | Plaza Colonia | 46 | 56 | 102 | 67 | |||||||||
6 | Cerro Largo | 50 | 46 | 96 | 67 | |||||||||
7 | Montevideo Wanderers | 52 | 44 | 96 | 67 | |||||||||
8 | River Plate | 49 | 42 | 91 | 67 | |||||||||
9 | Cerrito | — | 40 | 40 | 30 | |||||||||
10 | Fénix | 49 | 40 | 89 | 67 | |||||||||
11 | Rentistas | 47 | 30 | 77 | 67 | |||||||||
12 | Deportivo Maldonado | 46 | 31 | 77 | 67 | |||||||||
13 | Boston River | 40 | 36 | 76 | 67 | |||||||||
14 | Progreso (R) | 38 | 36 | 74 | 67 | |||||||||
15 | Sud América (R) | — | 31 | 31 | 30 | |||||||||
16 | Villa Española (R) | — | 15 | 15 | 30 |
On 28 December 2021 the AUF announced the winners of the season awards, who were chosen by its Technical Staff based on voting by managers and captains of the 16 Primera División teams as well as a group of local sports journalists.[31] 30 players were nominated for Best Player and the Team of the Season according to their ratings and evaluations by the Technical Staff throughout the season.[32]
Award | Winner | Club | |
---|---|---|---|
Best Player | Agustín Canobbio | Peñarol | |
Youth Talent | Agustín Álvarez Martínez | Peñarol | |
Best Goal | Matías Arezo | River Plate | |
Best Save | Sebastián Lentinelly | Liverpool | |
Public's Player | Gonzalo Bergessio | Nacional | |
Best Manager | Mauricio Larriera | Peñarol | |
Best Newcomer | Ignacio Sosa | Fénix | |
Top Scorer | Maximiliano Silvera | Cerrito | |
Least beaten goal in regular season | Peñarol | ||
Most minutes on field | Gonzalo Falcón | Boston River | |
Fair Play Award | Peñarol | ||
Best Referee | Andrés Matonte | ||
Best Assistant referee | Martín Soppi |