2017–18 Liga Panameña de Fútbol season

The 2017–18 Liga Panameña de Fútbol season (also known as the Liga Cable Onda) was the 28th season of top-flight football in Panama. The season began on 17 July 2017 and was scheduled to end in May 2018. Ten teams competed throughout the entire season.

Liga Panameña de Fútbol

Season	2017–18
Champions	Apertura: Chorrillo (3rd title) Clausura: Independiente (1st title)
Champions League	Independiente
CONCACAF League	Chorrillo Árabe Unido Tauro
Matches played	65
Goals scored	134 (2.06 per match)
Biggest home win	Plaza Amador 3-0 Chorrillo Chorrillo 3-0 Atletico Veraguense
Highest scoring	San Francisco 2-3 Atletico Veraguense
← 2016–17 2018–19 →

Teams

Atlético Nacional finished in 10th place in the overall table last season and were relegated to the Liga Nacional de Ascenso. Taking their place for this season are the overall champions of last season's Liga Nacional de Ascenso, Independiente.

Club	Home city	Stadium
Alianza	Panama City	Cancha de Entranamiento Luis Tapia
Árabe Unido	Colón	Armando Dely Valdes
Atletico Veraguense	Santiago de Veraguas	Aristocles "Toco" Castillo
Chorrillo	Panama City	Estadio Maracaná
Independiente	La Chorrera	Estadio Maracaná
Plaza Amador	Panama City	Estadio Maracaná
San Francisco	La Chorrera	Estadio Agustín Sánchez
Santa Gema	Arraiján	Estadio Agustín Sánchez
Sporting San Miguelito	San Miguelito	Cancha de Entrenamiento Luis Tapia
Tauro	Panama City	Estadio Rommel Fernandez

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
TBD	TBD	Sacked	May 2017	TBD	May 2017	th (TBD)
Alianza	Mario Anthony Torres	Sacked	May 2017	Juan Carlos Cubilla	May 2017	th (TBD)
Atletico Veraguense	Andres Dominguez	Resigned	June 2017	Edgar Ramos	June 2017	th (TBD)
Santa Gema	Leopoldo Lee	Sacked	June 2017	José Mario Anthony Torres	June 2017	th (TBD)
Independiente		Sacked	May 2017	Jorge Dely Valdés	May 2017	th (TBD)
San Francisco	Pascual Moreno	Interimship moved to full time coach	May 2017	Pascual Moreno	May 2017	th (TBD)

During the Apertura season

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment	Position in table
San Francisco	Pascual Moreno	Sacked	August 2017	Andres Dominguez	August 2017	10th (Apertura 2017)
Alianza	Juan Carlos Cubilla	Sacked	August 2017	Daniel Valencia	August 2017	10th (Apertura 2017)
Sporting San Miguelito	Javier Miller	Sacked	August 2017	Víctor René Mendieta	August 2017	10th (Apertura 2017)

Between Apertura and Clausura seasons

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment	Position in table
Plaza Amador	Jair Palcios	Contract finished	November 2017	Juan Carlos García	December 2017	12th (Apertura 2017)
Alianza	Daniel Valencia	Moved back to Assistant coach	November 2017	Jair Palacios	November 2017	12th (Apertura 2017)
Atletico Veraguense	Edgar Ramos	Moved back to Assistant coach	November 2017	Marcos Pimentel	November 2017	12th (Apertura 2017)
Independiente	Jorge Dely Valdés	Sacked	November 2017	Donaldo Gonzales	November 2017	12th (Apertura 2017)
Arabe Unidos	Sergio Guzman	Sacked	December 2017	Carlos Ruiz	January 2018	12th (Apertura 2017)

During the Clausura season

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Replaced by	Date of appointment	Position in table
Atletico Veraguense	Marcos Pimentel	Sacked	February 2018	Javier Reales	February 2018	10th (Clausura 2018)
Sporting San Miguelito	Victor Rene Mendieta	Sacked	February 2018	Noel Guiterrez	February 2018	10th (Clausura 2018)
Chorillo	Richard	Resigned	March 2018	Óscar Upegui	March 2018	10th (Clausura 2018)

2017 Apertura

Personnel and sponsoring (2017 Apertura)

Team	Chairman	Head Coach	Kitmaker	Shirt sponsor
Alianza	TBD	Daniel Valencia x	keuka	Balboa
Árabe Unido	TBD	Juan Sergio Guzmán x	kelme	Pizza Hut
Atletico Veraguense	TBD	Edgar Ramos x	keuka	EGS, NCO
Chorrillo		Richard Parra x	adidas	McDonald's, Cremoso
Independiente		Jorge Dely Valdés x	adidas
Plaza Amador	TBD	Jair Palacios x	umbro	Páguela Facil, Frosquito, Mercana
Santa Gema		Jose Mario Torres x	kelme	ShowPro
San Francisco	Julio Quijano	Andres Dominguez x	puma	KFC, Canon, Banco General
Sporting San Miguelito	TBD	Javier Miller x	keuka	Kenwood, Hyundai
Tauro	TBD	Rolando Palma x	Patrick	Publica Amarias, Dominos, Estrella Azul, Argos, Capital Bank

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Tauro	18	9	7	2	25	13	+12	34	Qualified to the Final Round
2	Plaza Amador	18	9	6	3	22	12	+10	33
3	Árabe Unido	18	8	9	1	21	11	+10	33
4	Chorrillo	18	6	8	4	21	17	+4	26
5	Atletico Veraguense	18	7	4	7	22	27	−5	25
6	Independiente	18	6	4	8	11	18	−7	22
7	San Francisco	18	5	5	8	23	24	−1	20
8	Sporting San Miguelito	18	3	8	7	17	22	−5	17
9	Santa Gema	18	3	6	9	14	21	−7	15
10	Alianza	18	3	5	10	12	23	−11	14

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

Results

Home \ Away	ALI	ÁRU	ATV	CHO	IND	PA	SAN	SF	SSM	TAU
Alianza		0–1	2–0	0–0	0–0	1–2	0–0	0–2	2–2	0–0
Árabe Unido	2–1		4–1	1–1	2–1	1–1	2–1	0–0	1–1	0–0
Atletico Veraguense	3–1	2–1		1–1	0–1	0–0	2–1	2–2	1–0	1–2
Chorrillo	2–1	1–1	3–0		1–0	1–1	1–0	1–1	2–1	2–0
Independiente	1–0	0–1	0–2	1–0		1–3	1–0	2–1	0–0	0–2
Plaza Amador	0–1	0–1	1–0	3–0	2–0		1–0	1–1	1–1	1–0
Santa Gema	2–0	1–1	0–1	2–1	1–1	0–1		0–2	2–3	0–0
San Francisco	3–0	0–2	2–3	1–1	0–1	2–1	2–3		1–0	1–2
Sporting San Miguelito	1–3	0–0	2–2	0–2	2–0	1–2	0–0	1–0		2–2
Tauro	2–0	0–0	4–1	2–1	1–1	1–1	2–0	4–3	1–0

Updated to match(es) played on 1 October 2017. Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second stage

	Semifinals							Final
	1	Tauro	0	1	1
	4	Chorrillo	0	2	2
								Chorrillo		5
								Árabe Unido		1
	2	Plaza Amador	1	0	1(4)
	3	Árabe Unido	0	1	1(5)

Semifinals

First legs

Chorrillo	0 – 0	Tauro
None		None

18 November 2017

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Tauro	1 – 2	Chorrillo
Jose Gomez 58'		Roberto Blackburn 28' 45'

25 November 2017

8:00 pm

Second legs

Árabe Unido	0 – 1	Plaza Amador
None		Ernesto Sinclair 60'

19 November 2017

6:00 pm

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Plaza Amador	(4)0 – 1(5)	Árabe Unido
None		Nelson Barahona 46'

25 November 2017

5:00 pm

Finals

Grand Final

Chorrillo	5 – 1	Árabe Unido
Alfredo Stephens 7' 27' Samir Ramirez 63' Rolando Blackburn 82' Luis Hurtado 87'		Enrico Small pen.' (73)

3 December 2017

Estadio Rommel Fernández Gutiérrez

Referee: Ameth Sanchez

Apertura 2017 champions
Chorrillo 3rd title

2018 Clausura

Personnel and sponsoring (2018 Clausura)

Team	Chairman	Head Coach	Kitmaker	Shirt sponsor
Alianza	TBD	Jair Palacios x	Lotto	Balboa
Árabe Unido	TBD	Carlos Ruiz Velásquez x	Puma	Pizza Hut
Independiente F.C.		Donaldo Gonzalez x	Lotto	Subway
Atletico Veraguense	TBD	Javier Reales x	GEMS	EGS, NCO
Chorrillo		Óscar Upegui x	Lotto	McDonald's, Cremoso
Plaza Amador	TBD	Juan Carlos García x	Diadora	Páguela Facil, Frosquito, Mercana
Santa Gema		José Mario Anthony "Chalate" Torres x	Mitre	ShowPro
San Francisco	Julio Quijano	Andrés Domínguez x	Lotto	KFC, Canon, Banco General
Sporting San Miguelito	TBD	Noel Guiterrez x	Joma	Kenwood, Hyundai
Tauro	TBD	Sergio Angulo x	Patrick	Publicar Páginas Amarillas

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Árabe Unido	18	8	6	4	23	16	+7	30	Qualified to the Final Round
2	Independiente	18	8	5	5	28	21	+7	29
3	San Francisco	18	7	8	3	19	12	+7	29
4	Tauro	18	7	7	4	25	21	+4	28
5	Alianza	18	7	6	5	21	13	+8	27
6	Chorrillo	18	5	8	5	15	17	−2	23
7	Sporting San Miguelito	18	5	7	6	22	26	−4	22
8	Santa Gema	18	4	9	5	11	13	−2	21
9	Plaza Amador	18	5	4	9	16	20	−4	19
10	Atletico Veraguense	18	2	4	12	13	34	−21	10

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

Results

Home \ Away	ALI	ÁRU	ATV	CHO	IND	PA	SAN	SF	SSM	TAU
Alianza								2–1
Árabe Unido			2–0
Atletico Veraguense
Chorrillo						1–0
Independiente
Plaza Amador
Santa Gema									1–1
San Francisco
Sporting San Miguelito
Tauro

Updated to match(es) played on season start. Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Second stage

	Semifinals							Final
	1	Árabe Unido	0	2	2
	4	Tauro	2	2	4
								Tauro		0
								Independiente		1
	2	Independiente	0	3	3
	3	San Francisco	1	1	2

Semifinals

First legs

Tauro	2 – 0	Árabe Unido
Marcos Sanchez 24' Adalberto Carrasquilla 90'		None

5 May 2018

7:00 pm

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Árabe Unido	2 – 2	Tauro
Carlos Small 15' Joseph Cox 80'		Enrico Small 103' 106'

11 May 2018

9:00 pm

Second legs

San Francisco	1 – 0	Independiente
Cristian Zuniga 39'		None

4 May 2018

9:00 pm

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Independiente	3 – 1	San Francisco
Jose Fajardo 56' 66' Eric Vasquez (o.g.)		Julian Verlarde 24'

12 May 2018

8:00 pm

Finals

Grand Final

Tauro	0 – 1	Independiente
None		Omar Browne pen.' (39)

19 May 2018

Clausura 2018 champions
Independiente 1st title

List of foreign players in the league

This is a list of foreign players for the 2017-2018. The following players:

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

Alianza Robyn Pertuz x Edwin Grueso x Mauricio Castaño x Arabe Unido Miguel Lloyd x Johnatan Mosquera x Atlético Veraguense Carlos Gallego x Humberto Mendoza x Yonaider Ortega x Jonathan Villa x Jesus Lopez x Chorillo Ariel Bonilla x Andres Escobar x David Loaiza x Julian Munoz x Independiente David Uribe x Gerardo Negrete x Arichel Hernandez x Michel Salgado x Abel Marcovecchio x

Plaza Amador Lid Carabali x Jose Murillo x Daniel Blanco x Santa Gema Juan Cano x Jhoan Romero x Milton Segura x San Francisco FC Caio x Damaso Pichon x Juan Esteban Ospina x Thomas Sierra x Cristian Zuniga x Sporting San Miguelito Wilmer Largacha x Jorge Sandoval x Tauro FC Gustavo Chara x Juan Tamburelli x

(player released mid season)

Aggregate table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Árabe Unido	36	16	15	5	44	27	+17	63	2018 CONCACAF League
2	Tauro	36	16	14	6	51	34	+17	62
3	Plaza Amador	36	14	10	12	38	32	+6	52
4	Independiente	36	14	9	13	39	39	0	51	2019 CONCACAF Champions League
5	San Francisco	36	12	13	11	42	36	+6	49
6	Chorrillo	36	11	16	9	37	35	+2	49	2018 CONCACAF League
7	Alianza	36	10	11	15	33	36	−3	41
8	Sporting San Miguelito	36	8	15	13	39	49	−10	39
9	Santa Gema	36	7	15	14	25	34	−9	36
10	Atletico Veraguense	36	9	8	19	35	61	−26	35	Relegation to 2018–19 Liga de Ascenso

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.