The 2023 Categoría Primera B season (officially known as the 2023 Torneo BetPlay Dimayor season for sponsorship reasons) was the 34th season of the Categoría Primera B since its founding as Colombia's second division football league. The season began on 2 February and ended on 28 November 2023.
Patriotas won their first Primera B title as well as promotion to the top tier Categoría Primera A at the end of the season, defeating Fortaleza 3–2 on aggregate in the Grand Final. Runners-up Fortaleza were also promoted after placing first in the season's aggregate table.
Format
The format for the 2023 Primera B season was approved at DIMAYOR's General Assembly session of 14 December 2022 and confirmed on 12 January 2023, keeping the system used in the previous season.
Two tournaments (Torneo I and Torneo II) with three stages each were played. In the first stage of both tournaments, the 16 teams played a single round-robin tournament with an additional matchday for regional derbies and home-and-away order reversed for the Torneo II. The top eight teams at the end of the sixteen rounds advanced to the semi-final stage, in which teams were drawn into two groups of four where they played each one of their rivals twice. The top team of each group advanced to the finals, playing a double-legged series with the winners advancing to the season's Grand Final.
The Grand Final to decide the season champions as well as the first promotion to Primera A, was a double-legged series contested at the end of the season by the winners of the season's two tournaments. If one team won both of the season's tournaments, the Grand Final would not be played and that team would be automatically crowned Primera B champions and promoted to the top flight. The second promotion spot to Primera A for the 2024 season would be decided in a promotion play-off between the Grand Final loser and the best-placed team of the season's aggregate table, other than the Grand Final winners. If the Grand Final losers were the same team that topped the aggregate table, that team would also earn promotion and the play-off would not be played.
Teams
16 teams took part in the season. The previous season's champions Boyacá Chicó and the winners of the promotion play-off series Atlético Huila were promoted to Primera A for the 2023 season and were replaced in Primera B by Patriotas and Cortuluá, who were relegated from Primera A at the end of the 2022 season after finishing in the bottom two places of the top tier's relegation table.
On 14 December 2022 the General Assembly of DIMAYOR approved a proposal by Cortuluá to move their home matches from Tuluá to Yumbo, Valle del Cauca Department, starting from this season.
On 22 June 2023, and motivated by the lack of support from both the government and local private enterprises, the board of Valledupar voted 4–1 to move the club to Soacha and rebrand it, effectively folding the existing club. The move was confirmed at a General Assembly of DIMAYOR on 6 July 2023, in which Real Soacha Cundinamarca was announced as the new club that replaced Valledupar for the second half of the season.
- Notes
Torneo I
First stage
Standings
Results
Semi-finals
The eight teams that advanced to the semi-finals were drawn into two groups of four teams, with the top two teams from the first stage being seeded in each group. The two group winners advanced to the final.
Group A
Group B
Finals
Patriotas won 1–0 on aggregate.
Top scorers
Source: Soccerway
Torneo II
First stage
Standings
Results
Semi-finals
The eight teams that advanced to the semi-finals were drawn into two groups of four teams, with the top two teams from the first stage being seeded in each group. The two group winners will advance to the final.
Group A
Group B
Finals
Top scorers
Source: Soccerway
Grand Final
Patriotas won 3–2 on aggregate.
Aggregate table
Promotion play-off
Since the season runners-up Fortaleza also ended up as the best-placed team in the aggregate table, they earned automatic promotion to the Categoría Primera A and the promotion play-off was not played.
See also
- 2023 Categoría Primera A season
- 2023 Copa Colombia
References
External links
- Dimayor's official website (in Spanish)
