The 2026 Chilean soccer season is taking shape, with clear and defined dates for a year that will be full of games. Deportivo had access to the calendar prepared by the ANFP, which sets the development of all the tournaments between January 19 and December 13. There will be 47 uninterrupted weeks of football, if all professional competitions are considered.
The beginning of the football year will be marked by the Super Cup, which will debut its new format Final Four. The schedule establishes that the semifinals and final will be played between January 19 and 25, in Viña del Mar. Coquimbo Unidos (champion of the First League) will face Deportes Limache (finalist of the Chile Cup) and Huachipato (monarch of the Chile Cup) against Universidad Católica (runner-up of the National Tournament). The winners will define the title in a single match.
The First Division starts the week of January 26 and Promotion starts on February 16. Both competitions maintain the two-wheeled format, with 30 dates. It is also confirmed that there will be football during the 12 months of the year. Although four of them (January, June, July and December) only contemplate one First Division date, the activity will not stop. This design directly benefits TNT Sportswhich seeks to ensure subscribers and, in this way, reduces the leakage that historically occurred in periods without competition.
The Chile Cup It is also incorporated into the calendar from the start of the year. The start of the group stage is scheduled between January 26 and February 8. The matches between the Ascenso teams will be played first. After that stage, there is a break in the development of the tournament until the middle of the year. The group stage, already with the presence of the First Division clubs, resumes on June 15.
From that point progress is projected towards the final roundswhich will coexist with the resumption of the National Championship after the World Cup.
New tournament: the League Cup
The calendar includes the incorporation of a new contest: the League Cup, which will have the 16 First Division teams grouped into four groups. Your dispute will extend from March 16 to July 19. The format considers a group stage, followed by semifinals and final. Its development coincides with the World Cup period in the decisive rounds.
In addition, this tournament acquires relevance in the international classification system, since the champion will be Chile 3 in the Copa Libertadores 2027.
Copa Libertadores, Copa Sudamericana and windows
The qualifying phases of the Conmebol tournaments begin in February. Stages 1, 2 and 3 are distributed between February and March. The Copa Libertadores and Sudamericana draws are scheduled for March 18.
The group stage will take place between April and May. The playoffs and round of 16 will be played between July and August. The quarterfinals are scheduled for September and the semifinals for October. The Libertadores final is scheduled for November 28, while the Sudamericana final is scheduled for Saturday the 21st of that same month.
The calendar considers FIFA dates in March, June, September, October and November. The 2026 World Cup will be held between June 11 and July 19. This competition has a direct impact on local competition.
Weeks 24 to 28 are reserved for the World Cup, with partial suspension of Chilean football in that period. There will be no First League during that month. Only matches corresponding to the League Cup and the Chile Cup will be played.
Return after the World Cup
The First League resumes its course with date 16 in the week of July 13 to 19after the closing of the World Cup. In the Ascenso, the second semester will be marked by the closing of the regular phase and the dispute of the league for the second place in the First Division.
The definitions of the season are concentrated between November and December. The thirtieth date of the First Division tournament is scheduled for the week of November 30 to December 6.
In the following week, the definition of the Chile 4 quota for the Copa Libertadores is scheduled.through a match between the third place in the annual table and the champion of the Chile Cup, in accordance with the scheme proposed in the 2026 rules. In the event of a match between teams, the corresponding regulatory criteria will be applied.
The planning document states that all dates are referential. They can be modified due to contingencies. Although for the coming year, it is already clear that the ANFP and TNT Sports will seek to reduce the number of reschedulingswhich has been a headache for Chilean football in recent years.
The 2026 structure is organized in defined blocks: Super Cup in January, League tournaments from the end of January and February, international competitions from February and March, League Cup in the first semester, partial suspension for the World Cup and the Chile Cup extended throughout the year. With this, the season extends for 47 weeks and the idea of football 12 months of the year is definitively established.
| Competence | Start week |
|---|---|
| First Division | January 26 – December 6 |
| First B (Regular phase) | February 16 – November 1 |
| First B (Promotion League) | November 2 – November 29 |
| Chile Cup (Promotion Group Stage) | January 26 – February 8 |
| Chile Cup (Group Stage) | June 15 – August 30 |
| Chile Cup (Final Phases) | September 21 – November 1 |
| Super Cup | January 19 – January 25 |
| League Cup (Group stage) | March 16 – June 7 |
| League Cup (Final Phases) | June 6 – June 19 |
| Definition Chile 4 to the Copa Libertadores | December 13 |
