Dimayor Postpones Round 5 of Liga BetPlay After 7.4 Magnitude Earthquake in Colombia

A 7.4 magnitude earthquake on Monday, August 10 upended the plans of an entire country, and Colombian soccer was no exception. Dimayor confirmed this Thursday, August 13, through an official statement, the postponement of round 5 of the Liga BetPlay, the same fate that had befallen round 4 days earlier. The reason is the same in both cases: the earthquake that struck several cities across the country left dead and destruction in its wake, and search protocols are still active.

The impact even reached the international stage. CONMEBOL had already postponed the continental fixtures of Santa Fe and Tolima, and Dimayor decided to mirror that move domestically. Meanwhile, quite a few players joined relief efforts after the tragedy, a gesture that felt natural given how delicate this moment is for the country.

The question now on everyone's mind in Colombian soccer is a simple one: how do you make up for lost time without throwing the entire season into disarray? Dimayor president Carlos Mario Zuluaga addressed the issue on La FM de Colombia and laid out several alternatives currently under consideration.

We're thinking about how to fit everything in before December 13, which was the planned date to close out this part of the year. We considered invoking force majeure and setting aside FIFA statutes, which state that once a competition begins its conditions cannot be changed, but there is a case of force majeure we can invokeCarlos Mario Zuluaga

Playoffs, a suspended Cup, or single elimination games: the options on the table

Zuluaga made clear that nothing has been ruled out yet. He even raised the possibility that the tournament might not end with the traditional four team final round robin, but instead with a playoff format, something unusual in Colombian soccer. He also mentioned that the Copa Colombia could be affected, either by suspending it outright or by deciding some stage with a single match on neutral ground, or at the venue of the team with the lesser sporting advantage, in an effort to keep things fair among the clubs.

It could be that there are no four team final groups and instead playoffs, or maybe we suspend the Cup, or it gets decided in a single match at a neutral site or at the ground of whichever team has the smaller edge, which is part of being fair. We can explore all of thatCarlos Mario Zuluaga

The calendar has already shifted. Play was set to return on August 19, but it won't resume with the postponed dates, instead jumping straight to round 6. Rounds 4 and 5 have been pushed back to be rescheduled later on, as the tournament's own structure allows.

On the deadline, Zuluaga was candid: he doubts the season can wrap up on December 13 as originally planned, and he doesn't rule out the possibility that the finale could stretch to December 22. That's where the Copa Colombia comes back into play, a tournament that, as he explained, offers some flexibility to reorganize the rest of the calendar without squeezing the league too hard.

We're postponing rounds 4 and 5 and starting round 6. Then we'll begin fitting in the other matches however we can. We'll work out the Cup games as we go. One of the proposals was to think about what to do with the Cup, which buys us a bit more time. If we make changes there, it would give us a lot more room to fit in the leagueCarlos Mario Zuluaga

For now, nothing is set in stone. Dimayor is weighing different scenarios, and all signs point to a decision on the final format coming in the next few days, in step with how the humanitarian situation evolves in the areas hit by the earthquake.