Fernando Jaramillo puts a face to the criticism of Dimayor: the calendar, the Women’s League, relegation, the B… (interview)

The 2024-2 League may be among the most difficult to follow in the world, due to very particular circumstances. Many postponed matches, teams with an early schedule and others that have not played for a month are factors that mean that the standings do not reflect the real situation.

But that is not the only problem that Dimayor has: criticisms about the calendar of the Women’s League, about the relegation system, about the number of games played in the country, about the schedules of the games. And there is a phrase that has become popular to describe that: the ‘Dimayoradas’.

In this interview with EL TIEMPO, The president of the entity, Fernando Jaramillo, gives a face to the ‘Dimayoradas’ and explains why the decisions were made to try to move forward with a tournament that, in addition, was disrupted by a U-20 Women’s World Cup that is just around the corner.

Why is it so difficult to reduce the league’s schedule when there are international tournaments that affect it?

The administration always reviews and evaluates international events and competitions that may affect our calendars. This does not only happen with football tournaments, but also with social and cultural events that take place in stadiums where our championships are held. Together with the Assembly, we understand that by having two championships a year, each with semi-finals and home-and-away finals, we bring excitement to the entire country. Furthermore, economically, this game system is the one that brings the most income to the teams.

Why are matches scheduled at difficult times for people in many places, during working hours and on weekdays?

Due to calendar issues, we sometimes have to schedule matches during the week. We must understand three conditional situations that lead us to schedule matches during work hours. The first is that some stadiums do not have the lighting required to broadcast at night. Second, in a prior agreement with our licensee channel, Win Sports, the matches must be broadcast at an exclusive time, avoiding simultaneity. And third, in some venues we have restrictions in terms of security and the provision of police services with some specific times.

In A it could be understood because of television, but why in B is the development of a date being extended so much, stretching it out for almost a week?

“It’s all been about stadium availability. The U-20 Women’s World Cup also reserves several stadiums as training camps, which are the home grounds for several teams in the tournament.”

Everything has been related to the availability of stadiums. The U-20 Women’s World Cup also reserves several stadiums as training camps, which are the venues for several Torneo teams. Likewise, Liga clubs have had to use other stadiums where Torneo is played to play their matches. For example, the matches of La Equidad and Fortaleza are being played at the Olaya, but at the same time we have to schedule Real Cundinamarca, Bogotá FC and Tigres: they all have to play on different days. And vice versa: in Cali, many clubs are using the Deportivo Cali stadium to play; therefore, we have to check when the club that owns the stadium is playing to schedule the matches of Boca Juniors, Atlético, Internacional and Orsomarso. To all of this we have to add particular aspects that have made us extend the scheduling of some games. The Sierra Nevada stadium in Santa Marta made some adjustments that delayed delivery for the first date, the playing field of the Itagüí stadium is undergoing rigorous repair work. In addition, we have situations such as events or even difficulties in accessing the police service.

Why was the Women’s League final not brought forward, if, in the end, only two players from the finalists were called up? They had to wait 35 days.

That was a commitment previously established with all the teams participating in our Women’s League and we had to respect it. The idea was to ensure that clubs could count on full squads. The clearest example is Manuela Pavi, a player called up to the Colombian National Team for the Olympic Games: she returned and was the star of the final with two goals.

How feasible is it for the Women’s League to last longer in 2025?

It is worth noting that the 2024 Women’s League, for the first time, lasted six months and the Quadrangular Semifinals system was implemented for the first time. These achievements are part of the evolution that we want to give to women’s football year after year. Furthermore, the most important thing to keep in mind in this type of championship is to achieve financial sustainability. We are constantly looking for different sponsors from public and private entities that support the Women’s League in our country. This year we were able to hold this championship of this duration, thanks to the support of the National Government, through the Ministry of Sports, and BetPlay, the official sponsor of all our championships. We must also take into account, for the calendar, the international competitions of all categories of our Colombian Women’s Teams, where, unlike the men’s team, the majority of players are part of the local roster. Additionally, we must take into account the deadlines that Conmebol requires to confirm the participants in the Women’s Libertadores, which is generally in October.

Why has the average continued to decline?

This is a decision that is being made in conjunction with the assembly. It has considered that, up to now, a longer history of parties must be taken into account in order to remain or not in the first category. However, it is an issue that is under constant evaluation.

Isn’t it easier to return to a long tournament in the B division?

The idea behind having two championships a year is to give clubs that have had a bad semester a chance to rebuild themselves and seek promotion in the second half. The second thing we are looking for is to maintain the great emotions that come from having two quadrangulars a year, as well as a champion team every half year. You cannot imagine the socio-economic repercussions that the cities hosting the semi-finals and finals of our FPC have. Finally, we have the reclassification as an essential element to reward the performance of the entire year, and in this way recognize the teams that work well throughout the year. The leader of the reclassification obtains one of the possibilities to be promoted to the first division.

How do you react when people start talking about ‘Dimayoradas’ on social media?

You should know that all the decisions we make at Dimayor are the result of analyzing all possible scenarios and always seeking the best will to respect competitive equity and the benefit for Colombian football. We take the criticism we receive with ease, because our job is precisely to find solutions to problems that arise every day, and we know that someone will always be affected by the decisions we make.

JOSE ORLANDO ASCENCIO

Sports Deputy Editor

@josasc

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