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 (once at home and once away) 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
ClubCityStadiumCapacityBarnecheaSantiago (Lo Barnechea)Municipal de Lo Barnechea3,000CobreloaCalamaZorros del Desierto12,346 Deportes CopiapóCopiapóLuis Valenzuela Hermosilla8,000Deportes MelipillaMelipillaMunicipal Roberto Bravo Santibáñez6,000Deportes Puerto MonttPuerto MonttChinquihue10,000Deportes Santa Cruz Santa CruzJoaquín Muñoz García5,000Deportes TemucoTemucoGermán Becker18,413 Deportes ValdiviaValdiviaParque Municipal5,397MagallanesSantiago (San Bernardo)Municipal Luis Navarro Avilés3,500ÑublenseChillánMunicipal Nelson Oyarzún Arenas12,000RangersTalcaFiscal de Talca8,200San LuisQuillotaLucio Fariña Fernández7,680San Marcos de Arica AricaCarlos Dittborn9,746Santiago MorningSantiago (La Pintana)Municipal de La Pintana6,000Unión San FelipeSan FelipeMunicipal de San Felipe12,000
Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic On 16 March 2020, the Asociación Nacional de Fútbol Profesional (ANFP) 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.
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 Rank Name Club Goals 1 Gonzalo SosaDeportes Melipilla 17 2 Alfredo ÁbalosRangers 13 3 Leandro GarateBarnechea 12 Matías ZamoraDeportes Valdivia 5 Manuel LópezRangers 11 Oscar OrtegaÑublense 7 Lionel AltamiranoDeportes Puerto Montt 10 Ignacio LemmoDeportes Puerto Montt Gabriel TellasCobreloa 10 Gustavo GuerreñoDeportes Melipilla 9 Mathias PintoÑublense Luca PontigoDeportes Copiapó
Source: Soccerway
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.
Team Relegation 1Ñublense 42 27 50 28 2Unión San Felipe 39 27 46 28 3Deportes Melipilla 39 26 42 28 4San Marcos de Arica — — — 41 28 5Deportes Copiapó 38 26 39 28 6Deportes Temuco 38 27 41 28 7 37 27 42 28 8Cobreloa 39 26 36 28 9Barnechea 40 27 30 28 10Rangers 28 27 45 28 11Santiago Morning 34 26 31 28 12Magallanes 25 26 40 28 13Deportes Santa Cruz 37 27 22 28 14San Luis 27 26 33 28 15Deportes Valdivia (R) 19 27 28 28 Source: ANFP
See also 2020 Chilean Primera División
References
External links Campeonato Primera B on ANFP's website