Competition: | Liga Profesional de Primera División |
Season: | 2023 |
Dates: | 4 February – 16 December 2023 |
Winners: | Liverpool (1st title) |
Relegated: | Montevideo City Torque Plaza Colonia La Luz |
Continentalcup1: | Copa Libertadores |
Continentalcup1 Qualifiers: | Liverpool Peñarol Nacional Defensor Sporting |
Continentalcup2: | Copa Sudamericana |
Continentalcup2 Qualifiers: | Racing Montevideo Wanderers Cerro Largo Danubio |
Matches: | 300 |
Total Goals: | 687 |
League Topscorer: | Ignacio Ramírez (19 goals) |
Biggest Home Win: | Danubio 5–0 Plaza Colonia (26 February) |
Biggest Away Win: | (30 April) City Torque 0–4 Nacional (14 May) |
Highest Scoring: | La Luz 3–4 Peñarol (13 February) |
Prevseason: | 2022 |
Nextseason: | 2024 |
The 2023 Liga Profesional de Primera División season, also known as the Campeonato Uruguayo de Primera División 2023, was the 120th season of the Uruguayan Primera División, Uruguay's top-flight football league, and the 93rd in which it is professional. The season, which was named "100 años del Club Atlético Cerro", began on 4 February and ended on 16 December 2023.[1] [2]
Liverpool won their first league title at the end of the season, defeating Peñarol in the finals by a 3–0 aggregate score.[3] Nacional were the defending champions.
On 19 October 2022, the Primera División clubs voted to keep the format used in the previous season for 2023, with single round-robin Apertura and Clausura tournaments, a Torneo Intermedio played between these tournaments with the 16 teams divided into two groups of eight, and a three-team championship playoff between the winners of the Apertura and Clausura tournaments and the best team in the season's aggregate table, which gets a bye to the finals. The League Council of the Uruguayan Football Association presented a proposal to switch the order of the Apertura and Intermedio tournaments, so that the Intermedio (rebranded as Torneo Inicial in the proposal) would be played at the beginning of the season followed by the Apertura tournament during the winter months. However, the clubs did not accept the proposal and the season will be played in a similar way to the previous ones.[4]
16 teams competed in the season: the top thirteen teams in the relegation table of the 2022 season as well as three promoted teams from the Segunda División. The three lowest placed teams in the relegation table of the 2022 season, Albion, Rentistas, and Cerrito were relegated to the Segunda División for the 2023 season. They were replaced by the Segunda División champions Racing, runners-up La Luz, and the winners of the promotion play-offs Cerro.
Racing and Cerro returned to the top flight after three and two seasons, respectively, whilst La Luz played in the Primera División for the first time ever. On the other hand, Albion were relegated after one season, Cerrito were relegated after two seasons, and Rentistas returned to the second tier after three years.[5]
Team | Manager | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Boston River | Alejandro Apud | Kelme | Asociación Española, Cotrans | |
Cerro | Damián Santín | Identidad Cerro | Médica Uruguaya | |
Cerro Largo | Juan Jacinto Rodríguez (caretaker) | Matgeor | Silveira Agronegocios | |
Danubio | Mario Saralegui | Mgr Sport | ||
Defensor Sporting | Marcelo Méndez | Puma | Médica Uruguaya | |
Deportivo Maldonado | Fabián Coito | Joma | Enjoy Punta del Este | |
Fénix | Leonel Rocco | Mgr Sport | Cousa | |
La Luz | Marcelo Russo | Breus | Médica Uruguaya | |
Liverpool | Jorge Bava | Mgr Sport | Puritas | |
Montevideo City Torque | Leonardo Ramos | Puma | ||
Montevideo Wanderers | Alejandro Cappuccio | Umbro | BYD | |
Nacional | Álvaro Recoba | Umbro | Antel | |
Peñarol | Diego Aguirre | Puma | Antel | |
Plaza Colonia | Sebastián Díaz | Mgr Sport | DGO, Intendencia de Colonia | |
Racing | Eduardo Espinel | Macron | DGO | |
River Plate | Ignacio Ithurralde | Mgr Sport | Macromercado |
Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Torneo Apertura | |||||||
Montevideo City Torque | Lucas Nardi | End of caretaker spell | 21 October 2022 | Pre-season | Ignacio Ithurralde | 21 November 2022[6] | |
Cerro Largo | Mario Saralegui | End of contract | 22 October 2022[7] | Eduardo Espinel | 10 November 2022[8] | ||
Plaza Colonia | Alejandro Cappuccio | 23 October 2022[9] | Nicolás Vigneri | 5 January 2023[10] | |||
Racing | Damián Santín | Resigned | 27 October 2022[11] | Gustavo Fermani | 16 November 2022[12] | ||
Danubio | Jorge Fossati | End of contract | 4 November 2022[13] | Esteban Conde | 14 November 2022[14] | ||
Boston River | Ignacio Ithurralde | 4 November 2022[15] | Daniel Farías | 17 November 2022[16] | |||
Deportivo Maldonado | Francisco Palladino | Signed by Santiago Wanderers | 7 November 2022[17] | Fabián Coito | 19 November 2022[18] | ||
Peñarol | Leonardo Ramos | Sacked | 7 November 2022[19] | Alfredo Arias | 25 November 2022[20] | ||
Nacional | Pablo Repetto | End of contract | 31 December 2022[21] | Ricardo Zielinski | 17 November 2022[22] | ||
Fénix | Ignacio Pallas | 31 December 2022[23] | Damián Santín | 17 November 2022[24] | |||
La Luz | Julio Fuentes | Mutual agreement | 17 February 2023[25] | 15th | Federico Porto | 17 February 2023[26] | |
Federico Porto | End of caretaker spell | 20 February 2023 | 16th | Ignacio Pallas | 20 February 2023[27] | ||
Nacional | Ricardo Zielinski | Mutual agreement | 19 March 2023[28] | 3rd | Álvaro Gutiérrez | 20 March 2023[29] | |
Boston River | Daniel Farías | Sacked | 3 April 2023[30] | 14th | Alejandro Apud | 4 April 2023[31] | |
Fénix | Damián Santín | 3 April 2023[32] | 16th | Leonel Rocco | 4 April 2023 | ||
Cerro | Danielo Núñez | Mutual agreement | 4 April 2023[33] | 13th | Gustavo Ferreyra | 5 April 2023[34] | |
Montevideo City Torque | Ignacio Ithurralde | Sacked | 10 April 2023[35] | 11th | Lucas Nardi | 11 April 2023[36] | |
Torneo Intermedio | |||||||
Plaza Colonia | Nicolás Vigneri | Mutual agreement | 17 May 2023[37] | Pre-tournament | Adrián Fernández | 22 May 2023[38] | |
Peñarol | Alfredo Arias | Sacked | 18 June 2023[39] | 8th, Serie A | Juan Manuel Olivera | 19 June 2023[40] | |
Juan Manuel Olivera | End of caretaker spell | 26 June 2023 | Darío Rodríguez | 26 June 2023[41] | |||
Cerro Largo | Eduardo Espinel | Resigned | 2 July 2023[42] | 7th, Serie B | Ignacio Ordóñez | 3 July 2023[43] | |
La Luz | Ignacio Pallas | Sacked | 25 July 2023[44] | 8th, Serie A | Marcelo Russo | 25 July 2023[45] | |
River Plate | Gustavo Díaz | Resigned | 27 July 2023[46] | 6th, Serie A | Ignacio Ithurralde | 27 July 2023[47] | |
Torneo Clausura | |||||||
Danubio | Esteban Conde | Sacked | 26 August 2023[48] | 15th | Mario Saralegui | 28 August 2023[49] | |
Plaza Colonia | Adrián Fernández | 28 August 2023[50] | 14th | Sebastián Díaz | 28 August 2023 | ||
Montevideo City Torque | Lucas Nardi | Resigned | 12 September 2023[51] | 8th | Leonardo Ramos | 13 September 2023[52] | |
Racing | Gustavo Fermani | Return to the youth setup | 14 September 2023[53] | 13th | Eduardo Espinel | 15 September 2023[54] | |
Cerro | Gustavo Ferreyra | Resigned | 2 October 2023[55] | 16th | Damián Santín | 2 October 2023[56] | |
Nacional | Álvaro Gutiérrez | Mutual agreement | 20 October 2023[57] | 6th | Álvaro Recoba | 20 October 2023 | |
Peñarol | Darío Rodríguez | Sacked | 15 November 2023[58] | 2nd | Juan Manuel Olivera | 15 November 2023 | |
Montevideo Wanderers | Sergio Blanco | Resigned | 15 November 2023[59] | 16th | Alejandro Cappuccio | 17 November 2023[60] | |
Cerro Largo | Ignacio Ordóñez | Sacked | 16 November 2023[61] | 8th | 16 November 2023 | ||
Peñarol | Juan Manuel Olivera | End of caretaker spell | 21 November 2023 | 3rd | Diego Aguirre | 21 November 2023[62] |
The Torneo Apertura, named "Julio César Morales", was the first tournament of the 2023 season.[2] It began on 4 February 2023 and ended on 15 May 2023.[1]
The Torneo Intermedio, named "Omar Borrás",[2] was the second tournament of the 2023 season, played between the Apertura and Clausura tournaments. It consists of two groups whose composition depends on the final standings of the Torneo Apertura: teams in odd-numbered positions play in Serie A, and teams in even-numbered positions play in Serie B. It started on 2 June and ended on 30 July,[63] [64] and the winners were granted a berth into the 2024 Copa Sudamericana and the 2024 Supercopa Uruguaya.
The Torneo Clausura, named "Señor José Emilio Fernández", was the third and last tournament of the 2023 season. It began on 18 August and ended on 8 December 2023.[65]
----
Liverpool won 3–0 on aggregate.
Rank | Player | Club | Goals | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
align=center | 1 | Ignacio Ramírez | Nacional | align=center | 19 | |
align=center | 2 | Matías Arezo | Peñarol | align=center | 18 | |
align=center | 3 | Christian Ebere | Plaza Colonia | align=center | 17 | |
align=center | 4 | Rubén Bentancourt | Liverpool | align=center | 13 | |
align=center | 5 | Abel Hernández | Peñarol | align=center | 12 | |
align=center | 6 | Agustín Ocampo | Fénix | align=center | 11 | |
align=center | 7 | Nicolás Siri | Montevideo City Torque | align=center | 10 | |
8 | Guillermo May | Danubio | 9 | |||
Tiago Palacios | Montevideo City Torque | |||||
Nicolás Schiappacasse | La Luz | - | 11 | Adrián Balboa | Defensor Sporting | 8 |
Sebastián Fernández | Danubio | |||||
Emiliano Gómez | Boston River | |||||
Luciano Rodríguez | Liverpool | |||||
15 | Maximiliano Cantera | Deportivo Maldonado | 7 | |||
Jonathan dos Santos | River Plate | |||||
Luis Gorocito | Racing | |||||
Aníbal Hernández | La Luz | |||||
Alan Medina | Liverpool | |||||
Álvaro Navarro | Defensor Sporting | |||||
Sebastián Rodríguez | Peñarol | |||||
Hugo Silveira | Cerro Largo --> |
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: 2022 and 2023. 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 | Liverpool | 74 | 72 | 146 | 74 | |||||||||
2 | Nacional | 81 | 64 | 145 | 74 | |||||||||
3 | Peñarol | 59 | 69 | 128 | 74 | |||||||||
4 | Defensor Sporting | 58 | 60 | 118 | 74 | |||||||||
5 | River Plate | 60 | 48 | 108 | 74 | |||||||||
6 | Deportivo Maldonado | 63 | 43 | 106 | 74 | |||||||||
7 | Danubio | 56 | 48 | 104 | 74 | |||||||||
8 | Boston River | 62 | 41 | 103 | 74 | |||||||||
9 | Montevideo Wanderers | 51 | 50 | 101 | 74 | |||||||||
10 | Racing | — | 50 | 50 | 37 | |||||||||
11 | Cerro Largo | 40 | 50 | 90 | 74 | |||||||||
12 | Cerro | — | 43 | 43 | 37 | |||||||||
13 | Fénix | 49 | 37 | 86 | 74 | |||||||||
14 | 36 | 45 | 81 | 74 | ||||||||||
15 | Plaza Colonia (R) | 35 | 39 | 74 | 74 | |||||||||
16 | La Luz (R) | — | 35 | 35 | 37 |
On 1 February 2024 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.[66] 36 players were nominated for the Public's Player and Team of the Season awards according to their ratings and evaluations by the Technical Staff throughout the season.[67]
Award | Winner | Club | |
---|---|---|---|
Best Player | Federico Pereira | Liverpool | |
Public's Player | Matías Arezo | Peñarol | |
Youth Talent | Luciano Rodríguez | Liverpool | |
Best Manager | Jorge Bava | Liverpool | |
Best Goal | Abel Hernández | Peñarol | |
Best Save | Sebastián Britos | Liverpool | |
Best Newcomer | Mateo Antoni | Liverpool | |
Top Scorer | Ignacio Ramírez | Nacional | |
Least beaten goal in regular season | Defensor Sporting | ||
Most minutes on field | Mauricio Silveira | Montevideo Wanderers | |
Fair Play Award | Deportivo Maldonado | ||
Best Referee | Mathías de Armas | ||
Best Assistant Referee | Agustín Berisso |