Colombia Primera A is a massively popular football league in this notable South American country. However, it’s popular beyond as well, especially when we consider the placing of sports bets on it.
If you want to do the same, know that you’re in the right place. Just as we’ve made many excellent Champions League betting predictions in the past, we’re here to do the same for Primera A.
We’ll help you understand the Colombia Primera A league, how it works, the top teams and players you need to know about, and the bets you should place. So, let’s not waste any time and jump right in!
What Is the Colombia Primera A?
The Colombia Primera A is the top football league in the country’s professional football club league system. Its full name is Categoria Primera A, but it’s more commonly called the Liga BetPlay Dimayor, primarily due to sponsorship reasons as it’s currently sponsored by the notable online betting company BetPlay.
From 2015 to 2019, it was called Liga Aguila, and many still know it by this name. However, the league has been in existence for around ¾ of a century, or specifically, since August 1948.
Primera A is organized by the Major Division of Colombian Professional Football (División Mayor del Fútbol Profesional Colombiano), or DIMAYOR for short. This is the main organization for professional football leagues and tournaments in the country.
The league occurs every year for almost the whole year, typically from January/February to December of that same year. The only year that had no champion was 1989, after referee Alvaro Ortega was assassinated in Medellin. All games were subsequently canceled.
How Does Categoria Primera A operate?
The Colombia Primera A league has been using the same competing format since 2019.
All in all, 20 teams compete in two tournaments — Apertura and Finalizacion. Both of these use the same three-stage format that works like this:
- First stage — Single round-robin system where each team plays every other team once. Each team plays a total of 19 matches.
- Second stage — Top eight teams from the first stage advance to a knockout round with two groups of four teams where each team plays another in home and away matches. In total, every team plays six games.
- Third stage — The leaders of both groups get to compete with each other in only two matches. These are the finals that determine the champion of either two Primera A tournaments.
Due to this unique system, you actually get two separate tournaments with the same teams in the same year. Colombia also gets two Primera A champions every year.
Despite this complicated yet exciting system, we still have a relegation rule where the two worst teams get relegated to Categoria Primera B or the second-highest league in the Colombia league system.
These two teams are determined by averaging the point totals gained by teams over the last three seasons.
2022 Categoria Primera A Season Overview
The 2022 season works in the same way as the past few seasons have — according to the same format described in this piece.
The teams participating in the 75th season of the Primera A are:
- Águilas Doradas from Rionegro — First appearance in 2011 — No titles
- Alianza Petrolera from Barrancabermeja — First appearance in 2013 — No titles
- América de Cali from Cali — First appearance in 1948 — 15 titles
- Atlético Bucaramanga from Bucaramanga — First appearance in 1949 — No titles
- Atlético Nacional from Medellín — First appearance in 1948 — 16 titles
- Cortuluá from Tuluá — First appearance in 1994 — No titles
- Deportes Tolima from Ibagué — First appearance in 1955 — 3 titles
- Deportivo Cali from Cali — First appearance in 1948 — 10 titles
- Deportivo Pasto from Pasto — First appearance in 1999 — 1 title
- Deportivo Pereira from Pereira — First appearance in 1949 — No titles
- Envigado from Envigado — First appearance in 1992 — No titles
- Independiente Medellín from Medellín — First appearance in 1948 — 6 titles
- Jaguares from Montería — First appearance in 2015 — No titles
- Junior from Barranquilla — First appearance in 1948 — 9 titles
- La Equidad from Bogotá — First appearance in 2007 — No titles
- Millonarios from Bogotá — First appearance in 1948 — 15 titles
- Once Caldas from Manizales — First appearance in 1948 — 4 titles
- Patriotas from Tunja— First appearance in 2012 — No titles
- Santa Fe from Bogotá — First appearance in 1948 — 9 titles
- Unión Magdalena from Santa Marta — First appearance in 1951 — 1 title
Most Successful Teams in the Categoria Primera A
Some of the most successful teams are not only those with the most titles but with the most seasons behind them. The more a team participated, the better the score it had that allowed it to remain in the league for as many seasons as possible. So, let’s take a look at the teams with the most seasons played and those with the most titles.
Teams with the most seasons played:
All other teams have less than 30 seasons played behind them, usually less than 10.
And now the teams with the most titles:
The only other teams with champion titles, each with a single one, are Deportivo Pasto, Deportes Quindío, Cúcuta Deportivo, Boyacá Chicó, and Unión Magdalena.
Best Betting Markets for the Colombia Categoria Primera A
One of the best you should place on Primera A games is the Over 1.5 goal bet, as most matches end with more than two goals. The average per match for most of the recent seasons has been between 2.1 and 2.5 goals. BTTS accumulator tips (both teams to score) might be handy here.
Furthermore, matches end in favor of the home team a lot more often than in the away team’s favor. So, take that into consideration for typical winner bets.
Other than that, sticking to the current favorites and teams with noticeable winning streaks is always a good option. Make sure to check their histories before placing a wager.
You can view the original article HERE.
