2023 has been a very complicated year for Dimayor from the point of view of organizing the championship. Twenty-three games were postponed for different reasons, due to the tight schedule.in a season in which there were elections, the Copa Libertadores Femenina and six qualifying dates for the World Cup.
2024 is just as complicated or more complicated: there will be the Copa América, the U-20 Women’s World Cup will be played in the country, there are six other qualifying dates and, in addition, like this year, there are many concerts scheduled.
The fatigue is noticeable. There are teams with more than 70 games played in the year (Millonarios, for example, will reach 72, if they do not qualify for the final and without counting the friendlies). To compare, Manchester City, which has competition in the League, two local cups, the Champions League and the Club World Cup, will play 64 this year. Eight less, and coach Josep Guardiola complained about the matter.
For this reason, the assembly that Dimayor will call for December 12 will be crucial. It will define the championship system for next year, with an urgent need to reduce the number of dates.
Fernando Jaramillo, in favor of playing an annual tournament
The initial idea of the administration, headed by President Fernando Jaramillo, was to return to the annual tournament. But in preliminary polls this was not received.
“There was an intention to propose a championship year: there are days when we are not going to have the stadiums, that restricts a lot, but that is not going to be successful. “It will be summarized in a proposal of two tournaments with playoffs, eliminating the classic date,” Jaramillo explained to EL TIEMPO.
With that formula, six fewer dates would be played per year than with the current championship: the two classics and four less between the round-robin phase and the final.
“People don’t understand that it is something that does not depend on us. It is very difficult to program, there is no room for maneuver, any inconvenience throws the entire programming out of order. Many clubs had to play the postponed games with the championship already advanced. The idea next year is not to postpone games, that the teams have alternate stadiums,” he added.
There are many teams that do not agree with the formula of an annual championship, because, according to them, the system reduces the possibilities of competing.
“The two short tournaments in the year allow more possibilities to aspire to important things. The purchasing power of the historic teams, the owners of the fans, the owners of the big sponsors, would open an even wider gap in front of the young teams in the country. Long tournaments only favor the big teams,” said Fernando Salazar, the largest shareholder of Águilas Doradas, a club that finished first in the two round-robin phases in 2023. If the tournament had been annual, with those points it would have been champion ( see graph).
The voices of the players and the licensing channel
One of the requests from the Colombian Association of Professional Soccer Players (Acolfutpro) is to arrange the match schedule to have a vacation period and better recovery time.
“We have asked for a long tournament, like in Europe, for all teams to start the competition and finish on the same day. There are teams that only play seven and a half months a year. And the Colombia Cup should be played in a single match,” said the executive director of Acolfutpro, Carlos González Puche.
Another factor that influences when thinking about an annual championship is the television contract with Win Sports. Asked in September of this year about this issue, the president of the channel, Juan Carlos Peña, assured that the number of games broadcast is not an obstacle to a change of format, but there are other factors.
“In one format or another we would agree on the number of games. What would be negative for the entire ecosystem, not for the channel, is losing two important moments a year in several variables: with two championships we have two important peaks in commercial terms and in audiences. A final like the one in June, with its home runs, not only brings more income, but also more fans to football. Having only one moment a year would delay growth a little, including audiences, fans, marketing. There would be an impact,” Peña said then.
The reduction does not seem easy. The room for maneuver is becoming less and less. The decision is in the hands of the club presidents.
Jose Orlando Ascencio
Sports Deputy Editor
@josasc
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