2023 FBF División Profesional


The 2023 FBF División Profesional, known as the 2023 Liga Tigo for sponsorship reasons, was the 46th season of the División Profesional del Fútbol Boliviano, Bolivia's top-flight football league and the sixth season under División de Fútbol Profesional management. The season started on 4 February and ended on 6 December 2023.
The competition was suspended at a meeting of the División Profesional's Council on 5 September 2023, along with the 2023 Copa de la División Profesional, after the Bolivian Football Federation president Fernando Costa denounced suspicions of match-fixing, bribery, illegal betting and alterations to VAR. However, the suspension was lifted per suggestion from Costa on 27 September after reforms to the referee commission were performed and an agreement with CONMEBOL for monitoring was reached, as well as to allow the FBF's Sports Disciplinary Court to finish the investigations on the matter.
The Strongest were the champions, clinching their sixteenth league title with two games in hand and a 1–1 draw against Always Ready on 26 November 2023. Bolívar were the defending champions.

Format

On 11 November 2022, the Bolivian Football Federation announced that the 2023 season of the División Profesional would have 17 teams, as the division's Higher Council decided that no club would be directly relegated to the Bolivian Football Regional Leagues. With this, the 2022 Copa Simón Bolívar earned a direct spot in the top tier, while the runners-up played a promotion/relegation play-off against the last-placed team in the aggregate table, Universitario de Sucre.
The format for the season was confirmed after a meeting of the División Profesional's Council held on 13 January 2023. Teams played two parallel tournaments in the season: a double round-robin league tournament which was played on weekends and crowned the season's only champion and a league cup tournament which was played on weekdays with a group stage and an eight-team knockout stage. The champions of both tournaments qualified for the 2024 Copa Libertadores, whilst the league cup runners-up qualified for the 2024 Copa Sudamericana. The remaining international berths as well as relegation were decided by an aggregate table which considered the performance of teams in both the league tournament and the group stage of the División Profesional cup. The two teams with the lowest average at the end of the season were directly relegated to the regional leagues, while the team with the next lowest average played a relegation play-off series, this in order to return to 16 teams in the league for the following season.

Teams

17 teams competed in the league for the 2023 season, 15 of which took part in 2022. Vaca Díez took part in the top flight for the first time ever, ensuring their promotion on 24 November 2022 after winning the 2022 Copa Simón Bolívar, whilst Libertad Gran Mamoré were also promoted after winning the promotion/relegation play-off against Universitario de Sucre, who were relegated after one season in the top flight.

Stadia and locations

TeamCityStadiumCapacity
Always ReadyEl AltoMunicipal de Villa Ingenio25,000
AuroraCochabambaFélix Capriles32,000
BloomingSanta Cruz de la SierraRamón Tahuichi Aguilera38,000
BolívarLa PazHernando Siles42,000
GuabiráMonteroGilberto Parada13,000
Independiente PetroleroSucreOlímpico Patria30,700
Jorge WilstermannCochabambaFélix Capriles32,000
Libertad Gran MamoréTrinidadGran Mamoré12,000
Nacional PotosíPotosíVíctor Agustín Ugarte32,105
Oriente PetroleroSanta Cruz de la SierraRamón Tahuichi Aguilera38,000
Palmaflor del TrópicoVilla TunariBicentenario25,000
Real Santa CruzSanta Cruz de la SierraReal Santa Cruz14,000
Real TomayapoTarijaIV Centenario15,000
Royal PariSanta Cruz de la SierraRamón Tahuichi Aguilera38,000
The StrongestLa PazHernando Siles42,000
Universitario de VintoCochabambaFélix Capriles32,000
Vaca DíezCobijaRoberto Jordán Cuéllar24,000

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Managerial changes

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Top scorers

Source:

Aggregate table

For this season, the aggregate table considered the performance of teams in the 2023 División Profesional league tournament as well as the group stage of the 2023 Copa de la División Profesional. Given the odd number of teams in the league for the season and the uneven size of groups in the Copa de la División Profesional, this table was based on averages, dividing the sum of points in both tournaments by the total number of games played in both tournaments for each team.
TeamQualification or relegation
1Bolívar422561110849+5981'Qualification for Copa Libertadores group stage
2The Strongest '40221177540+3577'Qualification for Copa Libertadores group stage
3Always Ready422012107453+2172'
4Aurora401713105035+1564'Qualification for Copa Libertadores first stage
5Nacional Potosí42199149263+2966'Qualification for Copa Sudamericana first stage
6Real Tomayapo421613134448−461'Qualification for Copa Sudamericana first stage
7Jorge Wilstermann421715105938+2160'Qualification for Copa Sudamericana first stage
8Universitario de Vinto421317124745+256'Qualification for Copa Sudamericana first stage
9Blooming42167195364−1155'-
10Real Santa Cruz401410163553−1852'-
11Oriente Petrolero421213175161−1049'-
12Guabirá40137204356−1346'-
13Royal Pari421212185468−1448'-
1442153244362−1948'-
1542137224282−4046'Qualification for [|Promotion/relegation play-off]
16Vaca Díez '42128225682−2644'Relegation to Bolivian Football Regional Leagues
17Palmaflor del Trópico ''' Average, 2) Average goal difference, 4) Average goals for, 5) Average away goals for, 6) Average yellow cards, 7) Average red cards, 8) Drawing of lots.
' Champion; ' Relegated
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Promotion/relegation play-off

The relegation play-off was played by:
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''Tied 2–2 on aggregate, San Antonio Bulo Bulo won on penalties and promoted to the División Profesional.''