# 2018 Categoría Primera B season

The 2018 Categoría Primera B season (officially known as the 2018 Torneo Águila season for sponsorship reasons) was the 29th season since its founding as Colombia's second division football league. The competition started on 10 February and concluded on 26 November. Cúcuta Deportivo were the champions by defeating Unión Magdalena 3–0 on aggregate score in the final. Both teams were also promoted to the Categoría Primera A.

## Format

For this season, the league returned to the 'one tournament per year' format. The season will consist of three stages. In the first stage, the 16 clubs played each other twice, once at home and once away. Similar to the 2018 Primera A season, the extra matches against a regional rival were not played. The top eight teams after the thirty rounds advanced to the semifinal round where they were sorted into two groups of four and played a double round-robin tournament group stage, with the top team of each group qualifying to the finals. The winner of the finals was crowned as the season champions and also earned promotion to the Categoría Primera A for the 2019 season. The season runner-up would have to play the best team in the aggregate table (other than the champion) on a home-and-away basis for the second promotion berth. In case the season runner-up also ended up as the best team in the aggregate table, it would also be promoted and the promotion play-off would not be played.

## Teams

16 teams took part, fourteen of them returning from last season plus Cortuluá and Tigres, who were relegated from the 2017 Primera A. The former will return to the second tier after 3 years while the latter returned after one season in the top flight. Both teams replaced Boyacá Chicó and Leones who earned promotion at the end of the last season.
| Club | Home city | Stadium | Capacity |
| Atlético | Cali | Pascual Guerrero | 33,130 |
| Barranquilla | Barranquilla | Romelio Martínez$^a$ | 20,000 |
| Bogotá | Bogotá | Metropolitano de Techo | 8,000 |
| Cortuluá | Tuluá | Doce de Octubre$^b$ | 16,000 |
| Cúcuta Deportivo | Cúcuta | General Santander | 42,901 |
| Deportes Quindío | Armenia | Centenario | 20,716 |
| Deportivo Pereira | Pereira | Hernán Ramírez Villegas | 30,297 |
| Fortaleza | Cota | Municipal de Cota | 4,000 |
| Llaneros | Villavicencio | Manuel Calle Lombana | 15,000 |
| Orsomarso | Palmira | Francisco Rivera Escobar | 9,000 |
| Real Cartagena | Cartagena | Jaime Morón León | 16,068 |
| Real Santander | Floridablanca | Álvaro Gómez Hurtado | 9,000 |
| Tigres | Bogotá | Metropolitano de Techo | 8,000 |
| Unión Magdalena | Santa Marta | Sierra Nevada | 16,000 |
| Universitario | Popayán | Ciro López | 5,000 |
| Valledupar | Valledupar | Armando Maestre Pavajeau | 11,000 |
a: Barranquilla used the Estadio Metropolitano Roberto Meléndez in Barranquilla as home stadium during the first half of the season. b: Cortuluá used the Estadio Pascual Guerrero in Cali instead of the Estadio Doce de Octubre in Tuluá as home stadium during the first half of the season.

## First stage
### Standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Cúcuta Deportivo | 30 | 21 | 8 | 1 | 52 | 17 | +35 | 71 | Advance to the semifinals |
| 2 | Unión Magdalena | 30 | 17 | 9 | 4 | 53 | 22 | +31 | 60 | Advance to the semifinals |
| 3 | Deportivo Pereira | 30 | 15 | 8 | 7 | 43 | 31 | +12 | 53 | Advance to the semifinals |
| 4 | Real Cartagena | 30 | 13 | 8 | 9 | 40 | 34 | +6 | 47 | Advance to the semifinals |
| 5 | Cortuluá | 30 | 11 | 11 | 8 | 40 | 41 | −1 | 44 | Advance to the semifinals |
| 6 | Deportes Quindío | 30 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 29 | 33 | −4 | 43 | Advance to the semifinals |
| 7 | Valledupar | 30 | 10 | 11 | 9 | 40 | 38 | +2 | 41 | Advance to the semifinals |
| 8 | Llaneros | 30 | 9 | 12 | 9 | 33 | 33 | 0 | 39 | Advance to the semifinals |
| 9 | Fortaleza | 30 | 9 | 11 | 10 | 39 | 38 | +1 | 38 | |
| 10 | Barranquilla | 30 | 8 | 11 | 11 | 36 | 45 | −9 | 35 | |
| 11 | Tigres | 30 | 7 | 13 | 10 | 30 | 35 | −5 | 34 | |
| 12 | Universitario | 30 | 8 | 9 | 13 | 36 | 46 | −10 | 33 | |
| 13 | Bogotá | 30 | 8 | 7 | 15 | 30 | 49 | −19 | 31 | |
| 14 | Atlético | 30 | 7 | 8 | 15 | 29 | 42 | −13 | 29 | |
| 15 | Orsomarso | 30 | 7 | 7 | 16 | 20 | 31 | −11 | 28 | |
| 16 | Real Santander | 30 | 3 | 9 | 18 | 27 | 42 | −15 | 18 | |

### Results

| Home \ Away | ATL | BAR | BOG | COR | CUC | QUI | PER | FOR | LLA | ORS | RCA | RSA | TIG | MAG | UPO | VAL |
| Atlético | — | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–3 | 3–3 | 2–3 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 0–3 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 1–1 |
| Barranquilla | 1–1 | — | 3–3 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 1–4 | 3–2 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–1 |
| Bogotá | 1–2 | 4–0 | — | 2–0 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–3 | 1–3 | 0–3 |
| Cortuluá | 1–1 | 1–2 | 3–2 | — | 1–2 | 2–1 | 3–2 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 4–2 | 2–1 |
| Cúcuta Deportivo | 3–1 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 3–0 | — | 3–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 4–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 |
| Deportes Quindío | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | — | 0–2 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 |
| Deportivo Pereira | 1–0 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 3–0 | — | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 |
| Fortaleza | 0–0 | 3–3 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–2 | — | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 3–2 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 2–2 |
| Llaneros | 2–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 2–1 | — | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 3–1 |
| Orsomarso | 0–1 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 4–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | — | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 |
| Real Cartagena | 3–1 | 2–1 | 4–0 | 4–2 | 0–2 | 3–3 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 1–0 | — | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 3–2 | 1–0 |
| Real Santander | 0–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 4–1 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 0–1 | — | 1–1 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 1–2 |
| Tigres | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | — | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–2 |
| Unión Magdalena | 2–1 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 5–0 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 3–1 | — | 5–2 | 4–0 |
| Universitario | 3–2 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 0–3 | — | 2–2 |
| Valledupar | 2–0 | 4–1 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 2–3 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 3–3 | 1–0 | 3–3 | — |

## Semifinals

The eight teams that advanced to the Semifinals were drawn into two groups of four teams. The winners of each group advanced to the finals.

### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | CUC | COR | LLA | RCA |
| 1 | Cúcuta Deportivo | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 3 | +6 | 13 | Advance to Finals | — | 1–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 |
| 2 | Cortuluá | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 9 | −1 | 9 | | 1–0 | — | 3–0 | 3–0 |
| 3 | Llaneros | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 9 | −2 | 7 | | 1–1 | 5–0 | — | 1–0 |
| 4 | Real Cartagena | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 10 | −3 | 6 | | 1–2 | 3–1 | 3–0 | — |

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | MAG | QUI | PER | VAL |
| 1 | Unión Magdalena | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 4 | +9 | 16 | Advance to Finals | — | 2–1 | 3–0 | 2–0 |
| 2 | Deportes Quindío | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 7 | +3 | 10 | | 1–1 | — | 1–2 | 1–0 |
| 3 | Deportivo Pereira | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 9 | | 2–3 | 1–3 | — | 4–0 |
| 4 | Valledupar | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 13 | −12 | 0 | | 0–2 | 1–3 | 0–1 | — |

## Finals

Cúcuta Deportivo won 3–0 on aggregate.
* Torneo Águila 2018 champions
* Cúcuta Deportivo 3rd title

## Aggregate table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Cúcuta Deportivo (C, P) | 38 | 27 | 9 | 2 | 64 | 20 | +44 | 90 | Promotion to Categoría Primera A |
| 2 | Unión Magdalena (P) | 38 | 22 | 10 | 6 | 66 | 29 | +37 | 76 | Promotion to Categoría Primera A |
| 3 | Deportivo Pereira | 36 | 18 | 8 | 10 | 53 | 41 | +12 | 62 | |
| 4 | Real Cartagena | 36 | 15 | 8 | 13 | 47 | 44 | +3 | 53 | |
| 5 | Deportes Quindío | 36 | 14 | 11 | 11 | 39 | 40 | −1 | 53 | |
| 6 | Cortuluá | 36 | 14 | 11 | 11 | 48 | 50 | −2 | 53 | |
| 7 | Llaneros | 36 | 11 | 13 | 12 | 40 | 42 | −2 | 46 | |
| 8 | Valledupar | 36 | 10 | 11 | 15 | 41 | 51 | −10 | 41 | |
| 9 | Fortaleza | 30 | 9 | 11 | 10 | 39 | 38 | +1 | 38 | |
| 10 | Barranquilla | 30 | 8 | 11 | 11 | 36 | 45 | −9 | 35 | |
| 11 | Tigres | 30 | 7 | 13 | 10 | 30 | 35 | −5 | 34 | |
| 12 | Universitario | 30 | 8 | 9 | 13 | 36 | 46 | −10 | 33 | |
| 13 | Bogotá | 30 | 8 | 7 | 15 | 30 | 49 | −19 | 31 | |
| 14 | Atlético | 30 | 7 | 8 | 15 | 29 | 42 | −13 | 29 | |
| 15 | Orsomarso | 30 | 7 | 7 | 16 | 20 | 31 | −11 | 28 | |
| 16 | Real Santander | 30 | 3 | 9 | 18 | 27 | 42 | −15 | 18 | |

## Promotion play-off

Since the season runners-up Unión Magdalena also ended up as the best team in the aggregate table (other than the champions), they earned automatic promotion to the Categoría Primera A and the promotion play-off was not played.

## Top goalscorers

| Rank | Name | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Feiver Mercado | Cortuluá | 27 |
| 2 | Ricardo Márquez | Unión Magdalena | 20 |
| 3 | Jonathan Agudelo | Cúcuta Deportivo | 17 |
| 4 | Diego Herazo | Valledupar | 16 |
| 5 | Wilson España | Universitario | 12 |
| 6 | Diego Echeverri | Deportivo Pereira | 11 |
| 7 | Néstor Arenas | Real Santander | 10 |
| 7 | Henry Castillo | Bogotá | 10 |
| 7 | Yorleys Mena | Deportivo Pereira | 10 |
| 7 | Jorge Obregón | Real Cartagena | 10 |
| 7 | Juan José Salcedo | Real Cartagena | 10 |
| 7 | Jhonier Viveros | Unión Magdalena | 10 |
Source: Soccerway