The 2021 Chilean Primera División, known as Campeonato PlanVital 2021 for sponsorship purposes, was the 91st season of the Chilean Primera División, Chile's top-flight football league. The season began on 27 March and ended on 5 December 2021. Universidad Católica were the defending champions, and won their fourth straight title in the competition, and sixteenth overall, after a 3–0 away win over Everton on 4 December 2021, the last matchday of the season.
Format In early February 2021, several bodies floated format proposals for the 2021 season, considering that the 2020 and 2021 editions of both the Copa Chile and Supercopa de Chile still needed to be played. ANFP considered playing a tournament with two stages, starting from late March. In the first stage, the 17 teams would play each other in a single round-robin tournament with the teams being split for the second stage in two groups: the top eight teams would play against each other for the championship, four Copa Libertadores berths and two Copa Sudamericana ones, while the remaining nine teams would play to avoid relegation, with the top team of that group also qualifying for the Copa Sudamericana. Three teams would be relegated: two teams directly and another one in a play-off. Meanwhile, the players union Sifup proposed to play a double round-robin tournament from April to December with two relegations, the 2020 Copa Chile in the first semester of 2021 and a league cup involving the Primera División teams in the second semester, with league broadcaster TNT Sports supporting a double round-robin tournament, or two short tournaments with play-offs in case the long tournament proposal was not feasible.
On 2 March 2021, ANFP's Council of Presidents voted to approve the format for the season. It was eventually decided to play a double round-robin tournament with the top three teams after 34 rounds qualifying for the Copa Libertadores, with a fourth berth being awarded to the 2021 Copa Chile champions. The teams placed from fourth to seventh place will qualify for the Copa Sudamericana, while the bottom two teams were relegated to Primera B, with the team placed third-from-bottom playing a double-legged play-off against the winners of the Primera B play-offs.
Teams 17 teams took part in the league in this season, down by one from the previous season: 15 teams from the 2020 tournament, plus the 2020 Primera B champions Ñublense and Deportes Melipilla, winners of the Primera B promotion play-offs. Ñublense returned to the top flight after five and a half years, while Deportes Melipilla played in Primera División after 13 years. Both promoted teams replaced Coquimbo Unido, Deportes Iquique, and Universidad de Concepción, who were relegated to Primera B at the end of the 2020 season.
Stadia and locations
Team City Stadium CapacityAudax Italiano Santiago (La Florida) Bicentenario de La Florida 12,000Cobresal El Salvador El Cobre 12,000Colo-Colo Santiago (Macul) Monumental David Arellano 47,347Curicó Unido Curicó La Granja 8,278Deportes Antofagasta Antofagasta Calvo y Bascuñán 21,178Deportes La Serena La Serena La Portada 18,243Deportes Melipilla Melipilla Roberto Bravo Santibáñez 6,000Everton Viña del Mar Sausalito 22,360Huachipato Talcahuano Huachipato-CAP Acero 10,500Ñublense Chillán Nelson Oyarzún Arenas 12,000O'Higgins Rancagua El Teniente 13,849Palestino Santiago (La Cisterna) Municipal de La Cisterna 8,000Santiago Wanderers Valparaíso Elías Figueroa Brander 20,575Unión Española Santiago (Independencia) Santa Laura-Universidad SEK 19,000Unión La Calera La Calera Nicolás Chahuán Nazar 9,200Universidad Católica Santiago (Las Condes) San Carlos de Apoquindo 14,118Universidad de Chile Santiago (Ñuñoa) Nacional Julio Martínez Prádanos 48,665 Notes
Personnel and kits Team Head coach Kit manufacturer Sponsors Audax Italiano Pablo Sánchez Macron Traverso Cobresal Gustavo Huerta KS7 PF Colo-Colo Gustavo Quinteros Adidas Pilsen del Sur Curicó Unido Damián Muñoz OneFit Multihogar Deportes Antofagasta Diego Reveco (caretaker) Claus-7 Minera Escondida Deportes La Serena Ivo Basay Macron Betano Deportes Melipilla Cristián Arán Training Ariztía Everton Roberto Sensini Charly Claro Huachipato Mario Salas OneFit PF Ñublense Jaime García OneFit Fanaloza O'Higgins Miguel Ramírez Adidas Sun Monticello Palestino Patricio Graff Capelli Sport Bank of Palestine Santiago Wanderers Jorge Garcés Macron TCL Unión Española César Bravo Kappa Universidad SEK Unión La Calera Francisco Meneghini Siker PF Universidad Católica Cristian Paulucci Under Armour BICE Universidad de Chile Cristián Romero (caretaker) Adidas Petrobras
Managerial changes TeamOutgoing managerManner of departureDate of vacancyPosition in tableIncoming managerDate of appointmentDeportes Antofagasta Héctor TapiaEnd of contract14 February 2021Pre-season Juan José Ribera22 February 2021Santiago Wanderers Miguel Ramírez16 February 2021 Ronald Fuentes18 February 2021Unión La Calera Juan Pablo VojvodaMutual consent18 February 2021 Luca Marcogiuseppe1 March 2021Universidad Católica Ariel HolanUse of exit clause18 February 2021 Gustavo Poyet28 February 2021Unión Española Jorge PellicerSacked3 May 202114th César Bravo3 May 2021Santiago Wanderers Ronald FuentesResigned8 May 202117th Víctor Rivero13 May 2021Universidad de Chile Rafael DudamelMutual consent5 June 202110th Esteban Valencia6 June 2021Santiago Wanderers Víctor Rivero25 June 202117th Emiliano Astorga6 July 2021Unión La Calera Luca Marcogiuseppe1 July 20213rd Francisco Meneghini1 July 2021Curicó Unido Martín PalermoResigned25 July 202116th Damián Muñoz25 July 2021O'Higgins Dalcio GiovagnoliMutual consent8 August 202111th Miguel Ramírez9 August 2021Palestino José Luis Sierra16 August 202114th Patricio Graff19 August 2021Universidad Católica Gustavo Poyet30 August 20215th Cristian Paulucci31 August 2021Deportes Melipilla John ArmijoSacked30 August 202115th Cristián Arán1 September 2021Deportes La Serena Miguel Ponce31 August 202112th Óscar Correa (caretaker)1 September 2021 Óscar CorreaEnd of caretaker spell7 September 202111th Ivo Basay7 September 2021Deportes Antofagasta Juan José RiberaMutual consent29 September 20219th Diego Reveco (caretaker)29 September 2021Huachipato Juan Luvera17 October 202115th Mario Salas18 October 2021Universidad de Chile Esteban ValenciaResigned31 October 202112th Cristián Romero (caretaker)31 October 2021Santiago Wanderers Emiliano AstorgaMutual consent8 November 202117th Jorge Garcés8 November 2021 Notes
Standings
Results
Top scorers Rank Name Club Goals 1 Gonzalo SosaDeportes Melipilla 23 Fernando ZampedriUniversidad Católica 3 Joaquín LarriveyUniversidad de Chile 20 4 Cristian PalaciosUnión Española 16 5 Diego ValenciaUniversidad Católica 14 6 Bryan CarrascoPalestino 13 7 Brayan HurtadoCobresal 12 8 Leandro BenegasCuricó Unido 11 Nicolás GuerraÑublense Iván MoralesColo-Colo Lautaro PalaciosAudax Italiano
Source: Soccerway
Promotion/relegation play-off The team placed 15th in the season table (Huachipato) played the winners of the Primera B play-offs (Deportes Copiapó) in a double-legged series, with the winner earning the right to play in the top flight for the following season.
Huachipato won 4–2 on aggregate and remained in Primera División.
See also 2021 Primera B de Chile 2021 Copa Chile
References
External links Primera División on ANFP's website