The 2023 Liga Panameña de Fútbol or 2023 Liga LPF (known as the Liga LPF Tigo for sponsorship reasons) was the 36th season of the Liga Panameña de Fútbol (LPF), the top-flight football league in Panama, and the fourth under the management of the Liga Panameña de Fútbol. The season began on 13 January 2023, when the Apertura tournament started,[1] and ended on 12 November 2023 with the Clausura tournament Final.
Same as previous years, the season was divided into two championships: Torneo Apertura and Torneo Clausura. Both Apertura and Clausura were played under the same format which consisted in a Classification stage, where the 12 teams were geographically divided into the Eastern and Western Conferences (6 teams per conference); Play-offs, Semifinals and Final.[2]
Within each conference, teams played each other twice on a double round-robin format (home and away). In addition, each team played one game against all the 6 teams in the opposite conference for a total of 16 games per team in the classification stage. Winners of each conference qualified directly to the semi-finals, whilst the second and third placed teams advanced to the play-offs stage.
The Play-offs stage was played on a single-leg format between the second placed team of each conference against the third placed team of the opposite conference, with the second placed teams hosting the matches. Winners of play-offs advanced to semi-finals to play against the first placed team of each conference on a home-and-away two-legged basis. Winners of the semifinals played the final on a single-leg match at a venue and date determined by the LFP, with highest team ranked in the classification stage acting as the "home" team for administrative purposes.
A total of 12 teams took part in this season; the top eleven teams from the aggregate table of the 2022 season as well as UMECIT,[2] who were promoted from the 2022 Liga Prom after being champions of both Apertura and Clausura tournaments of the 2022 Liga Prom season.[3] They replaced and took the place in the Western Conference of Veraguas United, the bottom team in the aggregate table of the 2022 season, who were relegated to Liga Prom.
| Team | City | Stadium | Capacity | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eastern Conference | |||||
| Alianza | Panama City | Javier Cruz | align=center | 700 | |
| Árabe Unido | Colón | Armando Dely Valdés | align=center | 4,000 | |
| Plaza Amador | Panama City | Rommel Fernandez | align=center | 32,000 | |
| Javier Cruz | align=center | 700 | |||
| Potros del Este | Panama City | Javier Cruz | align=center | 700 | |
| Sporting San Miguelito | San Miguelito | Los Andes | align=center | 1,450 | |
| Tauro | Panama City | Rommel Fernandez | align=center | 32,000 | |
| Western Conference | |||||
| Atlético Chiriquí | David | San Cristóbal | align=center | 2,890 | |
| Independiente | La Chorrera | Agustín Sánchez | align=center | 3,040 | |
| Herrera | Chitré | Los Milagros | align=center | 1,000 | |
| San Francisco | La Chorrera | Agustín Sánchez | align=center | 3,040 | |
| UMECIT | Atalaya | Atalaya | align=center | 500 | |
| Universitario | Penonomé | Universidad Latina | align=center | 3,500 | |
| Team | Head Coach | Captain | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alianza |  Jair Palacios |  Kevin Melgar | Keuka | ShowTime, Clinilab Panamá | |
| Árabe Unido |  Alberto Valencia | Harold Cummings | Kelme | Kendall Motor Oil, AguAseo | |
| Atlético Chiriquí | Herney Duque | Miguel Saavedra | Transporte Rivera Hermanos S.A., Hotel Ciudad de David | ||
| Herrera |  Miguel Corral | Juan González | Adidas | Varela Hermanos S.A., Betcris | |
| Independiente | Franklin Narváez | Rafael Águila | Everlast | Altos De La Pradera, Eco Moda, Powerade | |
| Plaza Amador | Ameth de León | Ricardo Buitrago | Puma | Sportium, SPARK | |
| Potros del Este | Ángel Sánchez | Edgar Góndola | Luanvi | Bridgestone | |
| San Francisco | Gary Stempel | Francisco Palacios | Valor | TicketMore | |
| Sporting San Miguelito | David Dóniga | Pedro Jeanine | Spirits | Sparkle Power S.A. | |
| Tauro | Felipe Baloy | Jan Carlos Vargas | Patrick | Terpel, Universidad del Istmo, KFC | |
| Universitario | Julio Infante | Manuel Torres | Sheffy | Latin University of Panama, Learding Vila, Banco LAFISE | |
| UMECIT | Javier Torres (interim) | Jacinto Fuentes | Adidas | UMECIT |
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Torneo Apertura | |||||||
| Plaza Amador | Jorge Dely Valdés | Resigned | 31 October 2022[4] | Pre-season | Saúl Maldonado | 2 December 2022[5] | |
| Herrera | Alberto Valencia | Mutual agreement[6] | December 2022 | Miguel Corral | 21 December 2022[7] [8] | ||
| Plaza Amador | Saúl Maldonado | Resigned | 16 April 2023[9] | 6th, | Ameth de León | 17 April 2023[10] | |
| Tauro | Francisco Perlo | Sacked | 23 April 2023[11] | 4th, | Diego Gutierre | 23 April 2023 | |
| Atlético Chiriquí | Dayron Pérez | Resigned | 29 April 2023 | 6th, | Jonathan Parra | July 2023 | |
| UMECIT | Fredy Romero | Mutual agreement | 30 April 2023[12] | 4th, | Francisco Perlo | 15 May 2023[13] | |
| Potros del Este | Daniel Blanco | End of contract[14] | 9 May 2023[15] | 4th, | Ángel Sánchez | 1 June 2023[16] | |
| Torneo Clausura | |||||||
| Tauro | Diego Gutierre | End of caretaker spell | 27 May 2023[17] | Pre-tournament | Felipe Baloy | 11 June 2023[18] | |
| Sporting San Miguelito | Felipe Borowsky | Sacked | 31 May 2023[19] | David Dóniga | 12 June 2023[20] | ||
| Árabe Unido | Julio Dely Valdés | Resigned[21] | 15 August 2023[22] | 6th, | Alberto Valencia | 16 August 2023[23] | |
| Atlético Chiriquí | Jonathan Parra | Resigned | 11 September 2023[24] | 6th, | Herney Duque | September 2023 | |
| UMECIT | Francisco Perlo | Mutual agreement | 12 September 2023[25] | 5th, | Javier Torres | 12 September 2023 | |
The Torneo Apertura began on 13 January and ended on 27 May with the final.[26] Independiente were the defending champions, having won the Clausura 2022 tournament at the previous season.
The classification phase of the Apertura tournament ran from 13 January to 29 April 2023.
The match schedule was announced on 9 January 2023.[26] [27]
The play-offs, semi-finals and final were scheduled to be played between 6 and 27 May 2023.[26]
----
Tauro won 4–2 on aggregate and advanced to the final.----Independiente won 3–1 on aggregate and advanced to the final.
Players sorted first by goals scored, then by last name. The list includes goals scored in play-offs, semi-finals and final.
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ronaldo Córdoba | Herrera | 16 | ||
| 2 | Breidy Golúz | Tauro | 8 | ||
| align=center rowspan=2 | 3 | Alessandro Canales | Potros del Este | align=center rowspan=2 | 6 |
| José Murillo | Plaza Amador | ||||
| align=center rowspan=4 | 5 | Ronaldo Dinolis | Plaza Amador | align=center rowspan=4 | 5 |
| Darwin Pinzón | UMECIT | ||||
| Carlos Small | Independiente | ||||
| César Yanis | Potros del Este | ||||
| align=center rowspan=7 | 9 | Rafael Águila | Independiente | align=center rowspan=7 | 4 |
| Víctor Ávila | Independiente | ||||
| Omar Browne | Tauro | ||||
| Valentín Pimentel | Sporting San Miguelito | ||||
| Miguel Saavedra | Atlético Chiriquí | ||||
| Jorge Serrano | Independiente | ||||
| Anthony Stewart | Independiente |
The aggregate table of the Clausura 2022 and Apertura 2023 tournaments was used to determine the Panamanian teams qualified for the 2023 CONCACAF Central American Cup. As Independiente were the champions in both Clausura 2022 and Apertura 2023 tournaments, the remaining two qualified teams were the next two better placed teams in the aggregate table.[28]
The Torneo Clausura began on 21 July and ended on 2 December with the final.[29] Independiente were the two-time defending champions, having won the previous Clausura 2022 and Apertura 2023 tournaments.
The classification phase of the Clausura tournament ran from 21 July to 7 November 2023 (originally 1 November 2023).
The match schedule was announced on 10 July 2023.[29] [30]
The play-offs, semi-finals and final were originally scheduled to be played between 11 November and 1 December,[29] however, the dates were pushed back in order to facilitate the call-up of players from the Liga Panameña de Fútbol to the Panama national football team during the November FIFA window.[31] [32]
----
Tauro won 3–1 on aggregate and advanced to the final.----Independiente won 4–3 on aggregate and advanced to the final.
The final was scheduled to be played on 9 December 2023 at Estadio Universidad Latina in Penonomé.[33] The team with the best performance in the classification phase (Independiente) acted as the "home" team for administrative purposes.[2]
Players sorted first by goals scored, then by last name. The list includes goals scored in play-offs, semi-finals and final.
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Víctor Ávila | Independiente | 12 | ||
| 2 | Carlos Small | Independiente | 11 | ||
| 3 | Rolando Blackburn | Tauro | 9 | ||
| 4 | Ronni Villarreal | Herrera | 8 | ||
| align=center rowspan=3 | 5 | Breidy Golúz | Tauro | align=center rowspan=3 | 6 |
| Juan González | Herrera | ||||
| Valentín Pimentel | Sporting San Miguelito | ||||
| align=center rowspan=9 | 8 | Ricardo Ávila | Universitario | align=center rowspan=9 | 5 |
| Ronaldo Dinolis | Plaza Amador | ||||
| Ansony Frías | Árabe Unido | ||||
| Ovidio López | Plaza Amador | ||||
| Kevin Meneses | Independiente | ||||
| Darwin Pinzón | UMECIT | ||||
| Richard Rodríguez | Alianza | ||||
| Alberto Saldaña | Atlético Chiriquí | ||||
| Gabriel Torres | Sporting San Miguelito |
The aggregate table of the 2023 season was used to determine the team relegated to the 2024 Liga Prom.