2026 Liga de Ascenso
| Season | 2026 |
|---|---|
| Dates | 20 February – December 2026 |
← 2025 2027 → | |
The 2026 Primera B de Chile, officially known as Liga de Ascenso Caixun 2026 for sponsorship reasons, is the 72nd season of the second-tier football league in Chile. The season, which will be the second edition under the Liga de Ascenso branding, will begin on 20 February 2026.[1][2]
Format
For the 2026 season, the competition kept the format used in its most recent editions, comprising a regular season and a promotion play-off tournament (Liguilla). The regular season will be a double round-robin tournament consisting of 30 matchdays, where each team plays all other teams twice (once at home and once away). The team finishing first at the end of the regular season will be crowned champion and will be directly promoted to the 2027 Liga de Primera, while the teams finishing from 2nd to 8th place will qualify for the promotion play-offs, where they will compete in home-and-away knockout rounds to determine the second promoted team. The regular season's runner-up will receive a bye to the semi-finals, while the remaining six teams will enter in the first round. The team finishing bottom of the table at the end of the regular season will be relegated to the Segunda División Profesional for the 2027 season.[2][3]
Teams
Sixteen teams will contest the competition, thirteen of them returning from the previous season. Following the conclusion of the 2025 season, Universidad de Concepción and Deportes Concepción were promoted to the top flight, being replaced in the second tier competition by Unión Española (relegated to the second tier for the first time since 1999) and Deportes Iquique (returning after two years), who were relegated from the 2025 Liga de Primera.[4][5]
Joining the league from the lower tier is the 2025 Segunda División Profesional champion Deportes Puerto Montt, who returned after a two-year absence.[6] They replaced Santiago Morning, who were relegated to the third tier for the first time after finishing last in the 2025 campaign.[2]
Stadiums and locations
| Club | City | Stadium | Capacity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cobreloa | Calama | Zorros del Desierto | 12,102 |
| Curicó Unido | Curicó | La Granja | 12,000 |
| Deportes Antofagasta | Antofagasta | Calvo y Bascuñán[i] | 21,178 |
| Deportes Copiapó | Copiapó | Luis Valenzuela Hermosilla | 8,600 |
| Deportes Iquique | Iquique | Tierra de Campeones | 14,430 |
| Deportes Puerto Montt | Puerto Montt | Regional de Chinquihue | 10,000 |
| Deportes Recoleta | Santiago (Recoleta) | Municipal Leonel Sánchez Lineros | 2,000 |
| Deportes Santa Cruz | Santa Cruz | Joaquín Muñoz García | 4,500 |
| Deportes Temuco | Temuco | Municipal Germán Becker | 18,000 |
| Magallanes | Santiago (San Bernardo) | Municipal Luis Navarro Avilés | 3,516 |
| Rangers | Talca | Fiscal de Talca | 16,070 |
| San Luis | Quillota | Municipal Lucio Fariña Fernández | 7,700 |
| San Marcos de Arica | Arica | Carlos Dittborn | 10,000 |
| Santiago Wanderers | Valparaíso | Elías Figueroa Brander | 25,500 |
| Unión Española | Santiago (Independencia) | Santa Laura-Universidad SEK | 19,887 |
| Unión San Felipe | San Felipe | Municipal de San Felipe | 10,000 |
Standings
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cobreloa | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Promotion to Liga de Primera |
| 2 | Curicó Unido | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Advance to Promotion play-off semi-finals |
| 3 | Deportes Antofagasta | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Advance to Promotion play-off quarter-finals |
| 4 | Deportes Copiapó | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 5 | Deportes Iquique | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 6 | Deportes Puerto Montt | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 7 | Deportes Recoleta | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 8 | Deportes Santa Cruz | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 9 | Deportes Temuco | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 10 | Magallanes | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 11 | Rangers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 12 | San Luis | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 13 | San Marcos de Arica | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 14 | Santiago Wanderers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 15 | Unión Española | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 16 | Unión San Felipe | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Relegation to Segunda División Profesional |
Rules for classification: 1) Points, 2) Goal difference, 3) Matches won, 4) Goals for, 5) Away goals for, 6) Red cards, 7) Yellow cards, 8) Drawing of lots, 9) Play-off game (only if needed to decide championship).
If needed to decide championship between two teams: 2) Play-off game.
Results
See also
Notes
- ^ Deportes Antofagasta will use Estadio Zorros del Desierto in Calama and Estadio Parque Juan López in Antofagasta as home stadiums during the first half of 2026 due to modernization works at Estadio Calvo y Bascuñán.[7]
References
- ^ "La nueva cara del fútbol chileno" [The new face of Chilean football] (in Spanish). TNT Sports. 4 February 2025. Retrieved 24 January 2026.
- ^ a b c Bernucci, Carla (27 January 2026). "Fixture Primera B 2026: cuándo empieza la Liga de Ascenso, calendario, fechas, equipos y formato" [2026 Primera B fixture: when does the Liga de Ascenso start, schedule, dates, teams and format] (in Spanish). Al Aire Libre. Retrieved 12 February 2026.
- ^ "Bases de Campeonato Primera B Temporada 2026" [Primera B Championship Regulations – 2026 Season] (in Spanish). ANFP. Retrieved 24 January 2026.
- ^ "Tras 28 años de su último descenso: Unión Española perdió duelo clave ante O'Higgins y condenó su caída a la Liga de Ascenso 2026" [After 28 years since their last relegation: Unión Española lost a key match against O'Higgins and sealed their fall to the 2026 Liga de Ascenso] (in Spanish). Onefootball. 1 December 2025. Retrieved 3 December 2025.
- ^ Bastidas, Juan Miguel (6 December 2025). "Everton se salva en la última jornada y Deportes Iquique desciende sin obrar el milagro" [Everton avoid relegation on the final day and Deportes Iquique are relegated without pulling off a miracle] (in Spanish). TNT Sports. Retrieved 6 December 2025.
- ^ "Deportes Puerto Montt se coronó campeón de la Segunda División y logró el ascenso a Primera B" [Deportes Puerto Montt crowned themselves Segunda División champions and achieved promotion to Primera B] (in Spanish). Radio Cooperativa. 8 November 2025. Retrieved 12 February 2026.
- ^ García, Javier (2 January 2026). "Equipo de Primera B obligado a cambiar su localía: podría terminar en Mejillones" [Primera B team forced to change their home stadium: they could end up in Mejillones] (in Spanish). En Cancha. Retrieved 24 January 2026.