2017–18 Primera División de Nicaragua

The 2017–18 season in Primera División de Nicaragua will be divided into two tournaments (Apertura and Clausura) and will determine the 69th and 70th champions in the history of the league. The Apertura tournament will be played in the second half of 2017, while the Clausura will be played in the first half of 2018.

Primera División

Season	2017–18
Champions	Apertura: Walter Ferretti Clausura: Diriangén
Relegated	San Francisco Masachapa
CONCACAF League	Walter Ferretti Diriangén
Matches played	65
Goals scored	181 (2.78 per match)
Top goalscorer	Carlos Chavarría (18 goals)
Biggest home win	Apertura: Real Estelí 5-0 Ocotal (28 July 2017) Real Madriz 5–0 UNAN Managua (22 October 2017) Clausura: Diriangén 6–0 Chinandega (21 January 2018) Real Estelí 7–1 Juventus Managua (3 February 2018) Diriangén 7–1 Real Madriz (7 April 2019)
Biggest away win	Apertura: Real Madriz 1-6 Managua (1 October 2017) Clausura: Juventus Managua 0–4 Managua (19 January 2018)
Highest scoring	Apertura: Real Madriz 1–6 Managua (30 September 2017) Ocotal 4–3 Real Estelí (8 October 2017) Clausura: Real Estelí 7–1 Juventus Managua (3 February 2018) Walter Ferretti 4–3 Juventus Managua (17 February 2018) Diriangén 7–1 Real Madriz (7 April 2019)
Longest unbeaten run	Apertura: 9 games Real Estelí Clausura: 12 games Real Estelí
Longest losing run	Apertura: 5 games UNAN Managua Clausura: 5 games San Francisco Masachapa
← 2016–17 2018–19 →

Format

The Apertura play-off format was changed from previous years, while the Clausura will use the same 4-team play-off format. For the Apetura, the top four teams from the regular stage advanced to a "quadrangular" double-round robin instead of a play-off stage. The regular stage and quadrangular winners would have played to decide the tournament's champion, but ultimately the same team won both and the final was not necessary. The same format was recently adopted by the Costa Rican Primera División, but for both half season.

Team information

A total of 10 teams will contest the league, including 8 sides from the 2016–17 Primera División 2 sides from the 2016–17 Segunda División.

At the end of the 2016–17 Primera División, Nandasmo finished last in the aggregate table and were relegated to the Segunda División. Taking their place was the champions from the Segunda División, Deportivo Ocotal.

The 9th place team in the aggregate table, Deportivo Sebaco, faced the second place team from the Segunda División, San Francisco Masachapa, in a playoff for a spot in the Primera División. San Francisco Masachapa won the playoff 3-2 on aggregate and were promoted, while Deportivo Sebaco were relegated.

Promotion and relegation

Promoted from Segunda División as of June, 2017.

• Champions: Ocotal
• Runners-up (via playoff): San Francisco Masachapa

Relegated to Segunda División as of June, 2017.

• Last Place: Nandasmo
• Ninth Place (via playoff): Deportivo Sebaco

Personnel and sponsoring

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer
Chinandega	Reyna Espinoza	TBD	TBD
Diriangén FC	Mauricio Cruz	TBD	TBD
Juventus Managua	Javier Martínez Espinoza	TBD	TBD
Managua	Tyrone Acevedo	TBD	TBD
Ocotal	Randall Moreno	TBD	TBD
Real Estelí	Otoniel Olivas	TBD	TBD
Real Madriz	Jorge Luis Ramos Pinacho/Arturo Zavala	TBD	TBD
San Francisco Masachapa	Luis Javier Londoño	TBD	TBD
UNAN Managua	Daniel García	TBD	TBD
Walter Ferretti	Flavio Da Silva	TBD	TBD

Apertura

Personnel and sponsoring

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer
Chinandega	Reyna Espinoza	TBD	TBD	TBD
Diriangén FC	Mauricio Cruz	TBD	TBD	TBD
Juventus Managua	Javier Martínez Espinoza	TBD	TBD	TBD
Managua	Tyrone Acevedo	TBD	TBD	TBD
Ocotal	Randall Moreno	TBD	TBD	TBD
Real Estelí	Otoniel Olivas	TBD	TBD	TBD
Real Madriz	Arturo Zavala	TBD	TBD	TBD
San Francisco Masachapa	Luis Javier Londoño	TBD	TBD	TBD
UNAN Managua	Daniel García	TBD	TBD	TBD
Walter Ferretti	Flavio Da Silva	TBD	TBD	TBD

Managerial changes

During the season

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment
Real Madriz	Abraham Zavala	Resigned	2017	Daniel Bartolotta	2017
UNAN Managua	Daniel Garcia	Resigned	2017	Edward Urroz	2017
Managua F.C.	Tyron Acevedo	Resigned	2017	Emilio Aburto	2017
FC San Francisco Maschapa	Luis Javier Londono	Resigned	2017	Jeffrey Perez	2017
Ocotal	Randall Moreno	Resigned	2017	Emiliano Barrera	2017

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Real Estelí	18	13	3	2	41	15	+26	42	Championship Group
2	Walter Ferretti	18	11	3	4	33	15	+18	36
3	Diriangén	18	7	6	5	29	22	+7	27
4	Managua	18	8	2	8	27	23	+4	26
5	Juventus Managua	18	6	7	5	21	20	+1	25
6	Real Madriz	18	5	6	7	28	35	−7	21
7	Ocotal	18	5	6	7	19	32	−13	21
8	Chinandega	18	5	4	9	26	41	−15	19
9	UNAN Managua	18	4	4	10	14	24	−10	16
10	San Francisco Masachapa	18	2	7	9	15	26	−11	13

Updated to match(es) played on 4 October 2017. Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

Records

Top Goalscorers

No.	Player	Club	Goals
1	Mauricio Castaneda	Real Madriz	12
2	Carlos Chavarria	Real Esteli	11
3	Bernardo Laureiro	Deportivo Walter Ferretti	11
4	Jarel Puerto	Chinandega FC	11
5	Edward Morrillo	Managua F.C.	7
6	Ulises Rayo	Deportivo Ocotal	7
7	Luis Gutierrez	Diriangén F.C.	6
8	Marlon Barrios	Real Madriz	5
9	Carlos Felix	Juventus Managua	5
10	Rodrigo Hernandez	UNAN Managua	5
10	Eder Munive	Deportivo Walter Ferretti	5

Results

Home \ Away	CHI	DIR	JUM	MAN	OCO	RES	RMA	SFM	UNM	WAF
Chinandega		3–3	2–1	3–3	1–3	2–2	3–1	3–1	1–0	0–4
Diriangén	4–1		2–1	1–2	4–1	0–2	3–0	1–1	2–0	0–2
Juventus Managua	3–0	1–1		2–1	1–0	1–0	1–1	1–0	2–2	1–2
Managua	4–0	0–2	2–1		0–0	1–2	0–1	3–1	0–1	1–2
Ocotal	1–1	2–2	1–1	2–0		4–3	1–1	1–3	1–0	0–0
Real Estelí	1–0	1–1	5–1	4–0	5–0		3–1	3–0	2–0	1–0
Real Madriz	4–3	1–1	1–1	1–6	2–1	1–2		2–2	5–0	0–2
San Francisco Masachapa	1–2	1–0	0–0	0–2	0–1	1–1	1–2		1–1	1–1
UNAN Managua	1–0	0–1	0–0	0–1	4–0	1–2	3–2	0–0		0–1
Walter Ferretti	4–1	3–1	0–2	0–1	4–0	1–2	2–2	2–1	3–1

Updated to match(es) played on 4 October 2017. Source: Soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Playoffs

Semi-finals

4 November 2017

Diriangén	1 – 0	Walter Ferretti
Luis Gutierrez 84'

20 November 2017

Walter Ferretti	1 – 0	Diriangén
Rene Huete 73'
Penalties
	7 – 6

Nicaragua National Football Stadium

1-1. Walter Ferretti advanced on Penalties.

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4 November 2017

Managua F.C.	0 – 1	Real Estelí
		Elmer Mejia 88'

Nicaragua National Football Stadium

Referee: R. Gonzalez

19 November 2017

Real Estelí	1 – 2	Managua
Luis Galeano 35'		Agenor Cano 51' Christiano 63'

Estadio Independencia

2-2. Managua advanced on away goal.

Finals

26 November 2017

Managua	1-1	Walter Ferretti
Agenor Báez 63'	Report	Bernardo Laureiro 7'

Proyecto de Estadio

Referee: Ricardo Hernandez

3 December 2017

Walter Ferretti	0-0	Managua
None	Report	None

Proyecto de Estadio Nacional

Referee: Odanel Velez

1-1. Walter Ferretti won on away goal

Apertura 2017 champions
Walter Ferretti 4th title

Clausura

Personnel and sponsoring

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer
Chinandega	Reyna Espinoza	TBD	TBD
Diriangén FC	Mauricio Cruz x	TBD	TBD
Juventus Managua	Oscar Blanco	TBD	TBD
Managua	Emilio Aburto	TBD	TBD
Ocotal	Carlos Cardona	TBD	TBD
Real Estelí	Otoniel Olivas x	TBD	TBD
Real Madriz	Tyron Acevedo	TBD	TBD
San Francisco Masachapa	Jeffrey Perez	TBD	TBD
UNAN Managua	Carlos Avedissian	TBD	TBD
Walter Ferretti	Flavio Da Silva x	TBD	TBD

Managerial changes

Before the Clasura season

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment
Real Madriz	Daniel Bartolotta	Resigned	December 2017	Tyron Acevedo	December 2017
Ocotal	Emiliano Barrera	Resigned	December 2017	Carlos Cardona	January 2018
UNAN Managua	Edward Urroz	Resigned	December 2017	Carlos Avedissian	December 2017
Juventus Managua	Javier Martinez	Resigned	December 2017	Oscar Blanco	January 2018

During the Clasura season

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment
Juventus Managua	Oscar Blanco	Resigned	February 2018	Héctor Mediana	February 2018
UNAN Managua	Carlos Avedissian	Resigned	February 2018	Luis Vega	February 2018

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Real Estelí	18	13	2	3	41	13	+28	41	Championship Group
2	Diriangén	18	9	4	5	37	20	+17	31
3	Juventus Managua	18	9	3	6	29	27	+2	30
4	Walter Ferretti	18	7	7	4	25	23	+2	28
5	Ocotal	18	7	4	7	28	28	0	25
6	Managua	18	6	6	6	29	21	+8	24
7	UNAN Managua	18	6	4	8	24	23	+1	22
8	Real Madriz	18	5	5	8	16	31	−15	20
9	Chinandega	18	3	7	8	14	30	−16	16
10	San Francisco Masachapa	18	1	6	11	14	37	−23	9

Source: Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

Results

Home \ Away	CHI	DIR	JUM	MAN	OCO	RES	RMA	SFM	UNM	WAF
Chinandega		2–1	0–2	2–2	1–1	1–3	0–0	0–0	2–1	2–2
Diriangén	6–0		3–3	1–0	2–4	1–0	7–1	4–0	0–1	1–0
Juventus Managua	0–0	2–0		2–2	4–1	2–3	1–0	2–0	2–1	0–0
Managua	2–0	2–2	1–3		1–0	2–3	1–1	4–0	2–3	0–2
Ocotal	5–2	1–1	1–0	1–3		2–1	4–0	1–1	1–0	1–4
Real Estelí	1–0	1–1	7–1	0–0	2–1		1–2	5–1	2–0	1–0
Real Madriz	2–0	1–3	1–0	2–1	0–2	0–1		0–0	5–0	0–1
San Francisco Masachapa	1–0	1–2	1–3	0–0	4–1	1–3	2–2		1–3	1–2
UNAN Managua	2–1	0–2	0–1	1–1	0–0	1–3	4–0	3–0		2–2
Walter Ferretti	0–0	1–0	4–3	0–3	2–1	1–4	2–2	1–1	1–1

Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source: Soccerway
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Records

Top Goalscorers

No.	Player	Club	Goals
1	Carlos Felix	Juventus Managua	11
2	Lucas Oliviera	Managua F.C.	8
3	Andres Mendoza	Diriangén F.C.	8
4	Gregorio Torres	Real Esteli	8
5	Carlos Chavarria	Real Esteli	7
6	Yeison Esquivel	Diriangén F.C.	7
7	Pablo Gallego	Real Esteli	7
8	Erling Ruiz	Deportivo Ocotal	7
9	Luis Coronel	Diriangén F.C.	5
10	Brandon Mena	San Francisco	5
10	Edward Morrillo	Managua F.C.	5

Playoffs

	Semifinals							Final
	1	Real Estelí	1	2	3
	4	Walter Ferretti	1	0	1
								1	Real Estelí
								2	Diriangén
	2	Diriangén	1	2	3
	3	Juventus Managua	2	0	2

Semi-finals

30 April 2018

Walter Ferretti	1 – 1	Real Estelí
Eder Munive 20'		Luis Lopez 30'

Proyecto de Estadio

6 May 2018

Real Estelí	2 – 0	Walter Ferretti
Gregorio Torres 69' Marlon Lopez 75'		None

Estadio Independencia

Real Esteli won 3-1 on aggregate.

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30 April 2018

Juventus Managua	2 – 1	Diriangén
Anderson Treminio 5' 30'		Andres Mendoza 65'

Proyecto de Estadio

6 May 2018

Diriangén	2 – 0	Juventus Managua
Agner Acuna 51' Andres Mendoza 71'		None

Diriangen won 3-2 on aggregate.

Finals

26 May 2018

Diriangén	2 - 1	Real Estelí
Carlos Torres 30' 81'		Gregorio Torres 25'

Estadio Cacique Diriangén, Diriamba

Referee: Rodolfo Paiz

3 June 2018

Real Estelí	1-1	Diriangén
Pablo Gállego 62'	[1]	Luis Fernando Coronel 95'

Estadio Independencia, Estelí

Referee: Erick Lezama

Diriangen won 3-2 on aggregate.

Clausura 2018 champions
Diriangén 26th title

List of foreign players in the league

This is a list of foreign players in the 2017–18 season. The following players:

1. Have played at least one game for the respective club.
2. Have not been capped for the Nicaragua national football team on any level, independently from the birthplace

A new rule was introduced this season, that clubs can have four foreign players per club and can only add a new player if there is an injury or a player/s is released and it's before the close of the season transfer window.

Chinandega

• Jairo Olivares
• Jarel Puerto
• Brayan Cañate
• Richard Charris
• Allan Gutiérrez

Diriangén

• Henry Niño
• Francisco Rodriguez
• Erick Alcázar
• Johan Bonilla
• Brandon Salazar
• Andrés Mendoza
• Pedro Dos Santos
• Josué Meneses
• Carlos Tórres
• Yeison Esquivel

Juventus Managua

• Maycon Santana
• Luis Fernando González
• Darwin Guity
• Carlos Félix
• Diego de la Cruz

Managua

• Cristiano Fernández da Lima
• Vinicius da Souza
• Lucas Oliviera
• Armando Valdez
• Lisandro Andino
• Edward Morillo
• Oscar Urróz

Masachapa/San Francisco

• Brandon Mena
• Carlos Mosquera
• Ever Rodríguez
• Ernesto Benítez
• Enzo Brahim
• Raúl Nomesque

Ocotal

• Cristhian Cabria
• Nelson Maldonado
• Rolín Álvarez
• Erlyn Ruíz
• Marcos Rivera
• Juan Sebastián Bedoya

Real Estelí

• Gregorio Torres
• Gabriel Da Silva
• Revson Santos
• Lucas Rodríguez
• Gastón Pagan
• Guillermo Sierra
• Jorge Betancur
• Richard Rodríguez
• Pablo Gállego

Real Madriz

• Edder Mondragón
• Mauricio Castañeda
• Marel Álvarez
• Marlon Barrios
• Jesus Guerrero

UNAN

• Ever Benítez
• Daniel Venancio
• Franklin García
• Gledson Pereira
• Rodrigo Hernández
• Juan Diego Uribe
• Oscar Castillo Palomino

Walter Ferretti

• Yosimar Rivera
• Rafael De Almeida
• Robinson Luiz
• José Bernardo Laureiro
• Eder Munive

(player released during the Apertura season) (player released between the Apertura and Clausura seasons) (player released during the Clausura season)

Aggregate table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Real Estelí	36	26	5	5	82	32	+50	83
2	Diriangén	36	18	10	8	58	38	+20	64	2018 CONCACAF League
3	Juventus Managua	36	16	10	10	66	42	+24	58
4	Managua	36	15	10	11	50	47	+3	55
5	Ocotal	36	14	8	14	56	44	+12	50
6	Walter Ferretti	36	12	10	14	47	60	−13	46	2018 CONCACAF League
7	Real Madriz	36	10	11	15	44	66	−22	41
8	UNAN Managua	36	10	8	18	38	47	−9	38
9	Chinandega	36	8	11	17	40	71	−31	35	Relegation play-off
10	San Francisco Masachapa	36	3	13	20	29	63	−34	22	Relegation to 2018-2019 Segunda División de Fútbol de Nicaragua

Source: RSSSF
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

External links

• http://www.ligaprimera.com/ocotal
• https://int.soccerway.com/national/nicaragua/primera-division/20172018/apertura/r41773/