| Competition: | Torneo Descentralizado |
| Season: | 2012 |
| Dates: | 18 February 2012 – 9 December 2012 |
| Winners: | Sporting Cristal 16th Primera División title |
| Relegated: | Sport Boys Cobresol |
| Continentalcup1: | Copa Libertadores |
| Continentalcup1 Qualifiers: | Sporting Cristal Real Garcilaso Universidad César Vallejo |
| Continentalcup2: | Copa Sudamericana |
| Continentalcup2 Qualifiers: | Juan Aurich Melgar Sport Huancayo Inti Gas |
| League Topscorer: | Andy Pando |
| Biggest Home Win: | León de Huánuco 7–1 Unión Comercio Sporting Cristal 6–0 Cobresol |
| Biggest Away Win: | Sport Boys 0–5 Sporting Cristal |
| Matches: | 354 |
| Prevseason: | 2011 |
| Nextseason: | 2013 |
The 2012 Torneo Descentralizado de Fútbol Profesional (known as the 2012 Copa Movistar for sponsorship reasons) is the ninety-sixth season of Association Peruvian football. A total of 16 teams competed in the tournament, with Juan Aurich as the defending champion. The Torneo Descentralizado began on February 19 and ended on December 9, 2012.
The season was divided into 3 stages. In the first stage 16 teams play a round-robin home-and-away round for a total of 30 matches each. In the second stage the 16 teams were divided into 2 groups. In addition, the team ranked first at the end of the first stage was eligible to play the 2013 Copa Libertadores as Peru 3. Each team carried their records from the first stage into the second stage. Both groups played another round-robin home-and-away round for 14 matches. Bonus points were awarded to two teams based on the performance of their reserve teams in the 2012 Torneo de Promoción y Reserva before the first match of the second stage. The teams ranked first in each group at the end of the 14 matches advanced to the third stage. The two teams with the fewest points at the end of the second stage were relegated. In the third stage the championship was contested in a two-legged Play-off. The Play-off finalists qualified for the Copa Libertadores. The remaining international competition berths were determined by the season aggregate table.
On 20 February 2012, Universidad San Martín, in protest of the ongoing players' strike, announced its definitive withdrawal from the tournament, the ADFP, and professional football. It also announced it would be closing its football club.[1] On 14 March 2012, Universidad San Martín returned to the tournament and professional football.
| Team | City | Stadium | Capacity[2] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 35,000 | |||
| 40,000 | |||
| 25,000 | |||
| 15,000 | |||
| 25,000 | |||
| 24,500 | |||
| 15,000 | |||
| 40,217 | |||
| 40,000 | |||
| 17,000 | |||
| 20,000 | |||
| 18,000 | |||
| Unión Comercio | 5,000 | ||
| 25,000 | |||
| 18,000 | |||
| 80,093 | |||
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| Team | Manager | Captain | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor[3] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alianza Lima |  | | Nike | |
| Cienciano |  | | Aries | Movistar |
| Cobresol | | | Loma's | Universidad Alas Peruanas |
| Inti Gas |  | | Walon | Inti Gas |
| José Gálvez | | | Real | SIDERPERU/Megaplaza |
| Juan Aurich | 2 | | Walon | Grupo Oviedo |
| León de Huánuco | | | Walon | Roky's |
| Melgar |  | | Marathon | |
| Real Garcilaso | | | Walon | I-RUN |
| Sport Boys | | | Triathlon | Gobierno Regional del Callao |
| Sport Huancayo | 1 | | Manchete | Caja Municipal de Huancayo |
| Sporting Cristal | | | Umbro | Cerveza Cristal/Volkswagen |
| Unión Comercio | Real | New Holland | ||
| Universidad César Vallejo | | | Walon | Universidad César Vallejo |
| Universidad San Martín | | | Umbro | Herbalife |
| Universitario | | | Umbro | Radio Exitosa |
1 Cristian Arrasada acted as interem manager until Wilmar Valencia was eligible to manage when the Liguillas began.
2 Juan Chumpitaz acted as interem manager until Franco Navarro was eligible to manage when the Liguillas began.
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pre-season changes | ||||||||
| Melgar | End of contract | December 2011 | N/A | December 2011 | ||||
| León de Huánuco | End of contract | December 2011 | N/A | December 2011 | ||||
| Sport Huancayo | End of contract | December 2011 | N/A | December 2011 | ||||
| Sporting Cristal | Francisco Melgar (interim) | End of contract | December 2011 | N/A | December 2011 | |||
| Universidad San Martín | End of contract | December 2011 | N/A | December 2011 | ||||
| First Stage changes | ||||||||
| José Gálvez | Resigned[4] | 24 March 2012 | 5th | Javier Arce (interim) | 28 March 2012 | |||
| Cienciano | Sacked | 17 April 2012 | 10th | Raul Arias | 18 April 2012 | |||
| Sport Huancayo | Resigned | 18 April 2012 | 6th | Jorge Machuca (interim)[5] | 24 April 2012 | |||
| Unión Comercio | Resigned | 22 April 2012 | 10th | Mario Viera | 30 April 2012 | |||
| Cobresol | Sacked | 30 April 2012 | 16th | Javier Chirinos | 7 May 2012 | |||
| Universitario | Resigned | 26 May 2012 | 14th | Nolberto Solano | June 2012 | |||
| Sport Huancayo | End of contract | June 2012 | 11th | Wilmar Valencia | June 2012[6] | |||
| Universidad San Martín | Resigned | 24 June 2012 | 10th | Orlando Lavalle (interim) | 25 June 2012 | |||
| Sport Boys | Resigned | 1 July 2012 | 15th | Julio Colina (interim)[7] | 3 July 2012 | |||
| Universidad San Martín | Orlando Lavalle (interim) | Resigned | 13 July 2012 | 12th | Angel Cappa | 13 July 2012 | ||
| Juan Aurich | Diego Umaña | Resigned | 13 July 2012 | 6th | Franco Navarro | 14 July 2012 | ||
| Cobresol | Resigned[8] | 30 July 2012 | 16th | Germán Pinillos[9] | 31 July 2012 | |||
| Second Stage changes | ||||||||
| León de Huánuco | Resigned | 15 August 2012 | 9th | Jean Ferrari | 16 August 2012 | |||
| Cobresol | Resigned | 13 September 2012 | 16th | Octavio Vidales | 14 September 2012 | |||
| Sport Boys | Julio Colina (interim) | Resigned | 20 September 2012 | 15th | Jorge Espejo | 20 September 2012 | ||
The Second Stage begins on 18 August and concludes 25 November. The winner of each Liguilla will qualify for the group stage of the 2013 Copa Libertadores.
The Third Stage will be the finals (also known as the Play-off) of the 2012 season between the winners of each group of the Second Stage. They will be played in December. The group winner with the most points on the aggregate table chooses which leg they will play as the home team. They will also choose the venue of the third match in case both teams are tied on points after the second leg.
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The aggregate table will determine the four teams who qualify to the 2013 Copa Sudamericana, one team to the 2013 Copa Libertadores if necessary, and the two teams to be relegated to the Segunda División. The aggregate table consists of the points earned in the First and Second stages.
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| align=center rowspan=1 | 1 | Andy Pando | Real Garcilaso | 27 |
| align=center rowspan=1 | 2 | Miguel Ximénez | Universitario | 20 |
| align=center rowspan=1 | 3 | Roberto Jiménez | Universidad César Vallejo | 18 |
| align=center rowspan=3 | 4 | Hernán Rengifo | Sporting Cristal | 16 |
| Carlos Orejuela | Sport Boys | 16 | ||
| Junior Ross | Sporting Cristal | 17 | ||
| align=center rowspan=2 | 5 |  Luis Tejada | Juan Aurich | 15 |
| Irven Ávila | Sporting Cristal | 15 | ||