2020 Campeonato Nacional Primera B


The 2020 Primera B de Chile, also known as Campeonato Juegaenlinea.com 2020, was the 66th season of the Primera B de Chile, Chile's second-tier football league. The competition began on 22 February 2020 and ended on 7 February 2021. Ñublense were the champions, winning their second Primera B title and earning promotion to the Chilean Primera División for the following season.
The competition was suspended from 18 March to 29 August 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Format

The tournament was played by 15 teams, 14 returning from the previous season and the Segunda División Profesional champions San Marcos de Arica. The 15 teams played each other twice for a total of 28 matches, with one team having a bye day in each round. The team that finished in first place at the end of the round-robin tournament earned promotion to the Campeonato Nacional for the 2021 season as Primera B champions. Meanwhile, the teams finishing from second to sixth place played a playoff tournament for the second promotion berth, with the season runners-up having a bye to the final.
Since no teams were relegated at the end of the previous season, a weighted table that considered the performance of teams in the previous season as well as the current one was elaborated to decide relegation. The team finishing in bottom place of this table at the end of the season was relegated to the Segunda División Profesional.

Teams

Stadia and locations

ClubCityStadiumCapacity
BarnecheaSantiago Municipal de Lo Barnechea3,000
CobreloaCalamaZorros del Desierto12,346
Deportes CopiapóCopiapóLuis Valenzuela Hermosilla8,000
Deportes MelipillaMelipillaEstadio Municipal [Roberto Bravo Santibáñez|Municipal Roberto Bravo Santibáñez]6,000
Deportes Puerto MonttPuerto MonttChinquihue10,000
Deportes Santa CruzSanta CruzJoaquín Muñoz García5,000
Deportes TemucoTemucoGermán Becker18,413
Deportes ValdiviaValdiviaParque Municipal5,397
MagallanesSantiago Estadio Municipal [Luis Navarro Avilés|Municipal Luis Navarro Avilés]3,500
ÑublenseChillánMunicipal Nelson Oyarzún Arenas12,000
RangersTalcaFiscal de Talca8,200
San LuisQuillotaLucio Fariña Fernández7,680
San Marcos de AricaAricaCarlos Dittborn9,746
Santiago MorningSantiago Municipal de La Pintana6,000
Unión San FelipeSan FelipeMunicipal de San Felipe12,000

Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic

On 16 March 2020, the Asociación Nacional de Fútbol Profesional announced the suspension of the Primera B as well as the rest of its tournaments due to the COVID-19 pandemic, starting from 18 March 2020.
On 8 June, ANFP's Council of Presidents decided to resume the league on 31 July with matches to be played behind closed doors and clubs having at least four weeks of training sessions, pending approval from the Chilean government. However, this original date had to be pushed back as clubs were only given approval to resume training sessions starting from 16 July, with the ANFP considering the weekend of 8 August as a new tentative date of resumption, following three weeks of training sessions.
On 19 August, in a press conference held at Estadio Nacional Julio Martínez Prádanos in Santiago, Chilean President Sebastián Piñera confirmed 29 August as the date of resumption of both the first and second tier seasons, with games to be played behind closed doors. The competition eventually resumed that day, with its fifth round of matches.

Standings

Results

Promotion playoff

Quarter-finals

Deportes Melipilla won 3–2 on aggregate and advanced to the semi-final.
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''Rangers won 2–0 on aggregate and advanced to the semi-final.''

Semi-final

''Deportes Melipilla won 3–1 on aggregate and advanced to the final.''

Final

''Tied 1–1 on aggregate, Deportes Melipilla won on penalties and was promoted to the Chilean Primera División.''

Top goalscorers

Source:

Relegation

For this season, a weighted table was elaborated by computing an average of the points earned per game over this season and the previous one, with the average of points earned in the 2019 season weighted by 60% and the average of points earned in the 2020 season weighted by 40%. Promoted team San Marcos de Arica only had their points in the 2020 season averaged, without weighting. The team placed last in this table at the end of the season was relegated.
TeamRelegation
1Ñublense42275028'-
2Unión San Felipe39274628'-
3Deportes Melipilla39264228'-
4San Marcos de Arica4128'-
5Deportes Copiapó38263928'-
6Deportes Temuco38274128'-
737274228'-
8Cobreloa39263628'-
9Barnechea40273028'-
10Rangers28274528'-
11Santiago Morning34263128'-
12Magallanes25264028'-
13Deportes Santa Cruz37272228'-
14San Luis27263328'-
15Deportes Valdivia '19272828'

Source: