Primera División de Fútbol Profesional – Apertura 2012

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.

Primera División de Fútbol de El Salvador

Season	Apertura 2012
Champions	Isidro Metapán (7th Title)
Relegated	"None"
Champions League	Isidro Metapán
Matches played	90
Goals scored	270 (3 per match)
Top goalscorer	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]
Longest winning run	3 games by Águila, Alianza, Isidro Metapán, FAS, Santa Tecla and Atlético Marte[6]
Longest unbeaten run	10 games by FAS[7]
Longest winless run	9 games by Once Municipal[8]
Longest losing run	8 games by Once Municipal[9]
Total attendance	165,215[10]
Average attendance	1,835[11]
← Clausura 2012 Clausura 2013 →

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

Alianza

Atlético Marte

Águila

C.D. FAS

Isidro Metapán

Juventud Independiente

Luís Ángel Firpo

Once Municipal

Santa Tecla

UES

Location of teams in Apertura 2012/Clausura 2013

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	Guillermo Rivera	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	Replaced by	Date of appointment	Position in table
Once Municipal	Leonel Cárcamo	Fired	August 15, 2012[24]	Juan Andres Sarulyte	August 15, 2012[25]	10th (Clausura 2012)
Santa Tecla F.C.	Osvaldo Escudero "El Pichi"	Resigned	October 30, 2012[26]	Guillermo Rivera	October 31, 2012[27]	8th (Clausura 2012)
C.D. Universidad de El Salvador	Roberto Gamarra	Resigned	November 1, 2012[28]	Jorge Abrego	November 1, 2012[29]	9th (Clausura 2012)

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Isidro Metapán	18	11	3	4	37	25	+12	36	Qualification for playoffs
2	Alianza	18	10	4	4	36	19	+17	34
3	FAS	18	9	6	3	27	15	+12	33
4	Águila	18	9	4	5	29	19	+10	31
5	Luis Ángel Firpo	18	7	4	7	26	24	+2	25
6	Atlético Marte	18	7	2	9	28	25	+3	23
7	Santa Tecla	18	5	6	7	24	33	−9	21
8	UES	18	4	8	6	20	26	−6	20
9	Juventud Independiente	18	4	7	7	27	34	−7	19
10	Once Municipal	18	1	2	15	16	50	−34	5

Updated to match(es) played on 25 November 2012. Source: elgrafico.com soccerway.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

Results

Home \ Away	ÁGU	ALI	ATM	FAS	FIR	MET	JUV	OMU	STE	UES
Águila		0–3	1–3	1–1	3–2	1–2	3–0	3–0	0–0	2–1
Alianza	0–2		2–1	3–2	1–1	0–2	2–0	2–0	7–1	1–1
Atlético Marte	0–1	0–2		1–2	2–1	4–1	2–3	5–1	3–2	1–1
C.D. FAS	0–0	2–1	2–0		1–1	4–1	1–0	1–0	4–1	0–0
Luis Ángel Firpo	0–1	0–2	0–2	1–0		4–2	2–3	4–2	2–0	3–2
Isidro Metapán	3–2	1–0	1–0	2–1	1–0		1–1	5–0	1–1	1–2
Juventud Independiente	2–2	0–3	4–3	0–1	1–1	1–4		3–3	5–1	1–1
Once Municipal	0–4	1–2	0–1	1–3	1–3	1–3	1–1		1–2	3–2
Santa Tecla	1–3	2–2	0–0	2–2	0–1	2–2	1–0	4–0		3–0
C.D. Universidad de El Salvador	1–0	3–3	1–0	0–0	0–0	1–4	2–2	2–1	0–1

Updated to match(es) played on 25 November 2012. Source: elgrafico soccerway.com
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Playoffs

	Semifinals							Final
	1	Isidro Metapán	2	3	5
	4	Águila	1	2	3
								1	Isidro Metapán (P)	1 (5)
								2	Alianza	1 (4)
	2	Alianza	1	0	1
	3	FAS	1	0	1

Semi-finals

First leg

Águila	1–2	Isidro Metapán
Irza Santos 44'	Report	Nicolás Muñoz 36' Héctor Mejía 38'

1 December 2012

19:00 UTC−6

Estadio Juan Francisco Barraza, San Miguel

Attendance: 4,465

Referee: Kenso Araujo

---

FAS	1–1	Alianza
Ricardo Ulloa 75'	Report	Roberto Maradiaga 42'

1 December 2012

19:00 UTC−6

Estadio Óscar Quiteño, Santa Ana

Attendance: 12,544

Referee: Joel Aguilar

Second leg

Isidro Metapán	3–2	Águila
Paolo Suárez 52' Nicolás Muñoz 68' Alfredo Pacheco 72' (pen.)	Report	Darwin Bonilla 45', 57'

8 December 2012

19:00 UTC−6

Estadio Jorge Calero Suárez, Metapán

Referee: Marlon Mejía

Isidro Metapán won 5-3 on aggregate.

---

Alianza	0–0	FAS
	Report

9 December 2012

15:15 UTC−6

Estadio Cuscatlán, San Salvador

Attendance: 19,710

Referee: Jaime Carpio

1-1 on aggregate. Alianza advanced due it to better position on the table.

Final

Isidro Metapán	1–1 (a.e.t.)	Alianza
Nicolás Muñoz 106'	Report	Sean Fraser 110'
Penalties
Alfredo Pacheco Julio Martínez Ramón Sánchez Nicolás Muñoz Eliseo Quintanilla Milton Molina	5–4	Christian Castillo Arturo Albarrán Danny Torres Emerson Véliz Odir Flores Miguel Montes

16 December 2012

15:00 UTC−6

Estadio Cuscatlán, San Salvador

Attendance: 20,359

Referee: Joel Aguilar

Isidro Metapán: GK 24 Fidel Mondragón DF 8 Luis Perla  13'  90' DF 2 Milton Molina DF 5 Ernesto Aquino DF 15 Alfredo Pacheco MF 10 Paolo Suárez  69' MF 20 Héctor Mejía  90' MF 16 Ramón Sánchez  56' MF 41 José Peraza  46' FW 11 Christian Bautista  73' FW 22 Nicolás Muñoz 106' Substitutes: MF 14 Eliseo Quintanilla  46' FW 9 Jorge Ramírez  73' FW 6 Julio Martínez  90' Manager: Edwin Portillo

Alianza: GK 1 Miguel Montes DF 15 Danny Torres  38' DF 21 Jonathan Barrios  66'  90' DF 6 Ramón Martínez DF 4 Carlos Arévalo MF 7 Rudy Valencia MF 16 Roberto Maradiaga  21' MF 13 Elman Rivas  39'  72' MF 12 Christian Castillo FW 22 Rodolfo Zelaya  97' FW 9 Sean Fraser  32' 110' Substitutes: MF 20 Arturo Albarrán  21' MF 26 Emerson Véliz  72' MF 10 Josué Flores  97'  105' Manager: Ramiro Cepeda

Apertura 2012 champions
Isidro Metapán 7th title

Player statistics

Top scorers

Rank Scorer Club Goals 1 Nicolás Muñoz Isidro Metapán 12 Sean Fraser Alianza 12 3 César Larios UES 9 4 Nelson Bonilla Alianza 7 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			Total
1	L.Á. Firpo	42	2	44
	Once Municipal	41	3	44
3	FAS	45	3	48
	Alianza	45	3	48
5	Águila	48	1	49
	Santa Tecla	45	4	49
7	Isidro Metapán	48	4	52
8	Juventud Independiente	47	9	56
	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

Individual awards

Hombre GOL	Best Coach Award	Best Goalkeeper Award	Fair Player Award	Rookie Player Award
Nicolás Muñoz Isidro Metapán Sean Fraser Alianza	Edwin Portillo Isidro Metapán	Luis Contreras FAS	César Larios Atlético Marte	Melvin Orantes Once Municipal

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:

1. have played at least one apertura game for the respective club.
2. 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 Yaikel Pérez Ricardo de Lima Alianza F.C. Sean Fraser Diego Passarelli Christian Vaquero Atlético Marte Daniel Ruiz Garrick Gordon Cristian Gil Mosquera Juventud Independiente Juan Carlos Reyes Maximiliano Alexis Villega Jeremy Araya C.D. FAS Alejandro Bentos Emerson Reis Luiz Mario Alberto Abadía (player released mid season)

C.D. Luis Ángel Firpo Anel Canales Luis Torres James Owusu-Ansah A.D. Isidro Metapán Ernesto Aquino Jorge Ramírez Once Municipal Juan Camilo Mejía Lucas Marcal Glauber Da Silva Daniel Cruz Santa Tecla F.C. Carlos Escudero Lucas Rocco Facundo Nicolás Simioli UES Gustavo Peña Allan Duarte