Another piece of Colombian football is coming: Liga crosses paths with Libertadores, Sudamericana and concerts

ELast December 13th, it took place the Dimayor assembly and the idea was to define how the Colombian soccer competitions should be played in 2024, taking into account that the Copa América will be played in the middle of the year, in the second semester there will be the U-20 Women’s World Cup and the stadiums will be committed to repairs and the usual concerts. But The changes to the calendar were minimal and the modifications were in other areas.

Although Fernando Jaramillo, president of Dimayor, had a proposal to reduce the number of matches in the two semesters, the club presidents voted against. They decided that a League should continue to be played with a round-robin phase, two semi-final home runs and a round-trip final. Only They removed the date of regional classics and reduced a single date, leaving each semester with 27 match dates (19 from the round-robin, 6 from home runs and 2 from the finals).

But if this were not enough, the calendar should also respect the Conmebol calendar for the Copa Sudamericana and the Copa Libertadores, the Fifa dates and finish a couple of weeks before the start of the Copa America. None of this was fulfilled and now matches will be played in the same week as the international tournaments and there is a warning to move stadiums due to lack of stadiums.

BetPlay League 1-2024 crosses paths with the Copa Libertadores and the Copa Sudamericana

Although Conmebol informed its calendar in advance, in the aforementioned Dimayor meeting they decided that the bulk of matches for the League would be maintained, this is because You have to meet a number of matches for the channel that has the broadcast rights and because this way there are also more meetings to sell tickets and advertising.

Up to that point it seems like the normal panorama of the FPC, but on Friday, December 22, the official calendar was announced and the effects of this measure began to be noticed.

These are the dates of Copa Libertadores and Sudamericana matches for the first half of 2024. The matches have not been scheduled, but it is known that these dates have no modifications and are only changed in case of force majeure:

• Previous phases of Libertadores with Atltico Nacional and Golden Eagles

February 6, 7 and 8

February 13, 14 and 15

February 20, 21 and 22

February 27, 28 and 29

March: 5, 6 and 7

March 12, 13 and 14

• Libertadores group phase with Millonarios and Junior de Barranquilla (possibly with Atltico Nacional and/or Águilas Doradas)

April 2, 3 and 4

April 9, 10 and 11

April 23, 24 and 25

May 7, 8 and 9

May 14, 15 and 16

May 28, 29 and 30

• Previous phase of Sudamericana with América de Cali, Alianza Petrolera, Deportes Tolima and Independiente Medellín

March 5, 6 and 7

• Sudamericana group stage with América de Cali or Alianza Petrolera y Deportes Tolima or Independiente Medellín

April 2, 3 and 4

April 9, 10 and 11

April 23, 24 and 25

May 7, 8 and 9

May 14, 15 and 16

May 28, 29 and 30

In addition, there are two periods of Fifa dates that can overlap Colombian soccer matches, even though they areThe highest body in world football published this schedule from 2021. And even though the Colombia National Team does not mention many local soccer playersThere are also teams from the region that do call up several figures from the Colombian teams.

• Fifa dates for the first half of 2024

March 18 to 26

June 3 to 11

Well, there was a great surprise when the fans of the teams that will participate in international cups realized that The local soccer fixture will have games in these same weeks and that they will be forced to play with a difference of 48 hours (in the best case scenario) or 24 hours (in the worst case scenario) to seek the local title.

• BetPlay League Dates 1-2024

Date 1: January 19, 20 and 21

Date 2: January 26, 27 and 28

Date 3: January 30 and 31, February 1

Date 4: February 2, 3 and 4

Date 5: February 6, 7 and 8 (Libertadores)

Date 6: February 9, 10 and 11

Date 7: February 16, 17 and 18

Date 8: February 20, 21 and 22 (Libertadores)

Date 9: February 23, 24 and 25

Date 10: February 29, March 1 and 2

Date 11: March 8, 9 and 10

Date 12: March 15, 16 and 17 (Fifa Dates)

Date 13: March 22, 23 and 24 (Fifa Dates)

Date 14: March 29, 30 and 31

Date 15: April 2, 3 and 4 (Libertadores and Sudamericana)

Date 16: April 5, 6 and 7

Date 17: April 9, 10 and 11 (Libertadores and Sudamericana)

Date 18: April 12, 13 and 14

Date 19: April 19, 20 and 21

And it is not yet known if these dates will be met, since it is customary that this does not happen, so the programming of the semi-final home runs and the finals is not yet known. So, They can also be crossed with the second round of the group stages of Libertadores and Sudamericana.

Concert dates intersect with the BetPlay League 1-2024

Although not all concerts are confirmed, there are specific reservations for some stadiums in Colombia and The Campn de Bogotá is the scenario that would be most compromised by 2024. According to the announced data, there is a pair of concerts that intersect with BetPlay League matches 1-2024 and Copa Libertadores 2024.

It must be understood that it is not only the loan for the day of the event, since the assembly of the structure prior and subsequent shots, so the availability of the stage will be much less than necessary. Especially when Conmebol is the one that manages the shows and they request each stadium for inspection a couple of days before.

If nothing extraordinary happens, For the event on March 16, League Date 12 (Santa Fe vs. Tolima) could not be played in El Campn..

But the complicated case is in the double concert in April because Karol G’s installation is of great magnitude and the stadium would be requested several days in advance. Fairly, In those days a couple of FPC classics are scheduled in El Campn and there could be a Copa Libertadores game.

For The week of April 2, 3 and 4 is scheduled for League Date 15 (Millonarios vs. Santa Fe) and for the weekend of April 6, 7 and 8 of the same month is Date 16 (Santa Fe vs. Nacional). In addition, in the Conmebol calendar the start of the Libertadores group stage is fixed between April 2 and 4, crossing with a possible loan of the stadium for Karol G and also with the capital classic between blues and reds.

The ‘solution’ to the BetPlay League 1-2024 calendar problems

Given this scenario, there were questions about the president of Dimayor in an interview with ESPN Colombia and he explained that there was a warning to the presidents of the clubs about the few available dates, but as They approved maintaining the same format, they had to respect the calendar and not ask for postponements:

As an administration we were clear that we must have a serious commitment to this championship format that we have defined… We have no margin for error, postponing games is going to be very complex and the clubs committed to playing with alternate teams and that they have to have an alternate stadium… At certain times they may be subject to playing in another stadium

This suggests that matches could be played on consecutive days of the League and Libertadores or Sudamericana, without there being any excuse to play with substitutes. And to ‘facilitate’ this, the teams that will be in international competition will be allowed to register 35 professionals, 5 more than the other clubs.