Primera División de Fútbol Profesional – Apertura 2012 explained

Season:	Apertura 2012
Winners:	Isidro Metapán (7th Title)
Relegated:	"None"
League Topscorer:	Nicolás Muñoz (12) Sean Fraser (12)
Biggest Home Win:	Alianza 7-1 Santa Tecla (July 22, 2012)^[1]
Biggest Away Win:	UES 1-4 Isidro Metapán (August 29, 2012)^[2] Once Municipal 0-4 Águila (October 21, 2012)^[3] Independiente 1-4 Isidro Metapán (11 November 2012)^[4]
Highest Scoring:	Alianza 7-1 Santa Tecla (July 22, 2012)^[5]
Total Goals:	270
Matches:	90
Longest Wins:	3 games by Águila, Alianza, Isidro Metapán, FAS, Santa Tecla and Atlético Marte^[6]
Longest Unbeaten:	10 games by FAS^[7]
Longest Winless:	9 games by Once Municipal^[8]
Longest Losses:	8 games by Once Municipal^[9]
Average Attendance:	1,835^[10]
Attendance:	165,215^[11]
Nextseason:	Clausura 2013

The Apertura 2012 season (officially known as Torneo Apertura 2012 or also known as the Copa Capri for sponsoring reasons) was the 29th edition of El Salvador's Primera División since its establishment of an Apertura and Clausura format. C.D. Águila headed into this tournament as the defending champions. The season began on 14 July 2012 and concluded in the end of the year.^[12] Like previous years, the league consisted of 10 teams, each playing a home and away game against the other clubs for a total of 18 games, respectively. The top four teams by the end of the regular season took part in the playoffs.

Team information

A total of 10 teams will contest the league, including 9 sides from Apertura 2011 and Clausura 2012 and one promoted from the 2011–12 Segunda División.

Vista Hermosa were relegated to 2012–13 Segunda División the previous season.

The relegated team were replaced by 2011–12 Segunda División Playoffs promotion. Santa Tecla won the Clausura 2012 title, this led to take part of the promotion playoffs alone the Apertura 2011 champions side Titán. Santa Tecla won the playoffs by the score of 2–1 .

Promotion and relegation

Promoted from Segunda División de Fútbol Salvadoreño as of June 6, 2012.

Champions: Santa Tecla F.C.^[13]

Relegated to Segunda División de Fútbol Salvadoreño as of June 6, 2012.

Last Place: Vista Hermosa^[14]

Stadia and locations

Team	Home city	Stadium	Capacity
Águila	San Miguel	Juan Francisco Barraza	10,000
Alianza	San Salvador	Estadio Cuscatlán	45,925
Atlético Marte	San Salvador	Estadio Cuscatlán	45,925
FAS	Santa Ana	Estadio Óscar Quiteño	15,000
Isidro Metapán	Metapán	Estadio Jorge Calero Suárez	8,000
Juventud Independiente	San Juan Opico	Complejo Municipal	5,000
Luís Ángel Firpo	Usulután	Estadio Sergio Torres	5,000
Once Municipal	Ahuachapán	Estadio Simeón Magaña	5,000
Santa Tecla	Santa Tecla	Estadio Las Delicias	10,000
UES	San Salvador	Estadio Universitario UES	10,000

Personnel and sponsoring

Team	Chairman	Head Coach	Kitmaker	Shirt sponsor
Águila	Julio Sosa	Victor Coreas	Diadora	Mister Donut, Volkswagen, Impressa Repuestos, Soccerway
Alianza	Lisandro Pohl	Ramiro Cepeda	Lotto	Tigo, SINAI, Maseca
Atlético Marte	Hugo Carrillo	Jorge Alberto García	Galaxia	Rosvill, Foskrol, La Curaçao, UFG, Vive
FAS	Rafael Villacorta	Agustín Castillo	Mitre	Pepsi, Farmacia San Lorenzo, Alba Petróleos, Continental Motor
Isidro Metapán	Rafael Morataya	Edwin Portillo	Milán (Jaguar Sportic)	Grupo Bimbo, Tigo, Arroz San Pedro, Holan
Juventud Independiente	Romeo Barillas	Juan Ramón Sánchez	Milán (Jaguar Sportic)	Alcaldía Municipal de San Juan Opico, Ria, CP Portillo
Luis Ángel Firpo	Enrique Escobar	Edgar Henriquez "Kiko"	Joma	Pilsener, Volkswagen, Diana, Tigo
Once Municipal	Oswaldo Magaña	Juan Andres Sarulyte	Milan (Jaguar Sportic)	LA GEO, Milan (Jaguar Sportic), Tropigas
Santa Tecla	Óscar Ortiz		Galaxia	Mister Donut
UES	Rufino Quesada	Jorge Abrego	Galaxia	Alba Petróleos

Managerial changes

Before the start of the season

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment	Position in table
Alianza F.C.	Juan Ramón Paredes	Sacked	14 April 2012^[15]	Ramiro Cepeda	4 May 2012^[16]	9th (Clausura 2012)
Once Municipal	Juan Andrés Sarulyte	Resigned to become assistant coach of the national team	23 April 2012^[17] ^[18]	Leonel Cárcamo	4 June 2012^[19]	4th (Clausura 2012)
Luis Ángel Firpo	Nelso Ancheta	Sacked	14 May 2012^[20]	Edgar Henriquez "Kiko"	4 June 2012^[21]	3rd (Clausura 2012)
Santa Tecla F.C.	Edgar Henriquez "Kiko"	Resigned to be coach of Firpo	4 June 2012^[22]	Osvaldo Escudero "El Pichi"	7 June 2012^[23]	Promoted from the second division

During the regular season

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Date of appointment	Position in table
Once Municipal	Leonel Cárcamo	Fired	August 15, 2012^[24]	August 15, 2012^[25]	10th (Clausura 2012)
Santa Tecla F.C.	Osvaldo Escudero "El Pichi"	Resigned	October 30, 2012^[26]	October 31, 2012^[27]	8th (Clausura 2012)
C.D. Universidad de El Salvador	Roberto Gamarra	Resigned	November 1, 2012^[28]	November 1, 2012^[29]	9th (Clausura 2012)

Playoffs

Semi-finals

First leg

----

Second leg

Isidro Metapán won 5-3 on aggregate.----1-1 on aggregate. Alianza advanced due it to better position on the table.

Final


Isidro Metapán:
GK	24	Fidel Mondragón
DF	8	Luis Perla
DF	2	Milton Molina
DF	5
DF	15	Alfredo Pacheco
MF	10
MF	20	Héctor Mejía
MF	16
MF	41
FW	11
FW	22
Substitutes:
MF	14
FW	9	Jorge Ramírez
FW	6
Manager:
Edwin Portillo


Alianza:
GK	1	Miguel Montes
DF	15
DF	21
DF	6	Ramón Martínez
DF	4	Carlos Arévalo
MF	7	Rudy Valencia
MF	16	Roberto Maradiaga
MF	13	Elman Rivas
MF	12	Christian Castillo
FW	22
FW	9
Substitutes:
MF	20
MF	26	Emerson Véliz
MF	10
Manager:
Ramiro Cepeda

Player statistics

Top scorers

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals
1	Nicolás Muñoz	Isidro Metapán	12
1	Sean Fraser	Alianza	12
3	César Larios	UES	9
4	Nelson Bonilla	Alianza	7
4	Anel Canales	Luis Ángel Firpo	7
6	Juan Carlos Reyes	Juventud Independiente	6
	Osael Romero	Águila	6
	Ricardo Ulloa	FAS	6
	Jorge Ramírez	Isidro Metapán	6
	Jonathan Águila	FAS	6

Updated to games played on 25 November 2012.
Post-season goals are not included, only regular season goals.

Assists table

Rank	Player	Club	Assists
1	Ramón Sánchez	Isidro Metapán	5
	Osael Romero	Águila	5
	Ramiro Carballo	UES	5
	Cristian Castillo	Alianza	5
	Eliseo Quintanilla	Isidro Metapán	5
6	Sean Fraser	Alianza	4
	Odir Flores	Alianza	4
	Camilo Mejia	Once Municipal	4
	William Maldonado	Santa Tecla	4
	Ramón Flores	FAS	4
	Isidro Gutiérrez	Águila	4
	Darwin Bonilla	Águila	4
	Víctor Merino	Atlético Marte	4
	Alexander Larín	FAS	4

Goalkeepers

Goalkeeper	Goals	Matches	Average	Team
Luis Contreras	10	14	0.71	FAS
Miguel Montes	16	17	0.94	Alianza
Benji Villalobos	16	15	1.07	Águila
Javier Gómez	19	14	1.36	Atlético Marte
Fidel Mondragón	25	17	1.47	Isidro Metapán
Derby Carrillo	23	15	1.53	Santa Tecla
Dagoberto Portillo	19	12	1.58	Luis Ángel Firpo
Juan José Gómez	19	12	1.58	UES
Jassir Deras	19	12	1.58	Juventud Independiente
Julio Martínez	27	10	2.70	Once Municipal

Bookings

Rank	Team	width=20 style="background: #FFEE99"		width=20 style="background: #FF8888"	Total
1	L.Á. Firpo	42	2	44
1	Once Municipal	41	3	44
3	FAS	45	3	48
3	Alianza	45	3	48
5	Águila	48	1	49
5	Santa Tecla	45	4	49
7	Isidro Metapán	48	4	52
8	Juventud Independiente	47	9	56
8	UES	55	1	56
10	Atlético Marte	64	4	68
	Total	480	33	513

Hat-tricks

Player	For !	Against	Result	Date
Anel Canales	Luis Ángel Firpo	Once Municipal	1–3^[30]	November 12, 2012

Season statistics

Scoring

First goal of the season: William Bonilla for Santa Tecla against Isidro Metapán, 2 minutes (14 July 2012)^[31]
Fastest goal in a match: 25 seconds – Hugo Montes for Atlético Marte against Once Municipal (7 November 2012)^[32]
Goal scored at the latest point in a match: 90+4, Benji Villalobos for Águila against Isidro Metapán (15 September 2012)^[33]
First penalty Kick of the season: Carlos Escudero for Santa Tecla against Isidro Metapán, 74 minutes (14 July 2012)^[34]
Widest winning margin: 6 goals
- Alianza 7–1 Santa Tecla (22 July 2012)^[35]
First hat-trick of the season: Anel Canales for Luis Ángel Firpo against Once Municipal (12 November 2012)^[36]
First own goal of the season: Juan Granados (Independiente) for FAS (21 October 2012)^[37]
Most goals by one team in a match: 7 Goals
- Alianza 7–1 Santa Tecla (22 July 2012)^[38]
Most goals in one half by one team: 5 Goals
- Alianza 7–1 Santa Tecla (22 July 2012)^[39]
Most goals scored by losing team: 3 Goals
- Juventud Independiente 4–3 Atlético Marte (5 August 2012)^[40]
Most goals by one player in a single match: 3 Goals
- Anel Canales for Luis Ángel Firpo against Once Municipal (12 November 2012)^[41]

Discipline

First yellow card of the season: Fabricio Alfaro for Santa Tecla against Isidro Metapán, 37 minutes (14 July 2012)^[42]
First red card of the season: José Alvarado for Isidro Metapán against Santa Tecla, 72 minutes (14 July 2012)^[43]
Card given at latest point in a game:Yellow Dennis Alas for Luis Ángel Firpo against Isidro Metapán, 90+4 minutes (4 August 2012)^[44]

List of foreign players in the league

This is a list of foreign players in Apertura 2012. The following players:

have played at least one apertura game for the respective club.
have not been capped for the El Salvador national football team on any level, independently from the birthplace

A new rule was introduced a few season ago, that clubs can only have three foreign players per club and can only add a new player if there is an injury or player/s is released.

C.D. Águila