Brazil. first national championship.The 1971 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (officially the Primeiro Campeonato Nacional de Clubes, “First National Championship of Clubs”) was the 16th edition of the Brazilian Championship. However, from 1976 until 2010 (when CBF unified the Brazilian titles prior to 1971, considering the 1959 Taça Brasil as the first edition of the championship) this tournament was considered by the highest entity of national football as the first edition of the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A.The competition was won by Atlético Mineiro, thus winning its second Brazilian title.
While the tournament represented the top tier of Brazilian football, its name was “Division Extra”, with “First Division” instead used by the second-tier tournament (since known as Campeonato Brasileiro Série B). During the 1960s, two tournaments were used to pick Brazil’s representative at the Copa Libertadores: Taça Brasil (1959-1968), a single-elimination tournament between the state champions; and Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa (1967-1970), divided in two separate group phases with teams mostly from the states of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Both tournaments had a format that barely covered the entire country and had regional phases that diminished fan support, leading to dissatisfaction from both the team owners and the Brazilian Confederation of Sports (CBD), who organized the championship. In 1970, the Brazil national football team won the 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, becoming the first three-time world champion. Seeing the valorization of Brazilian football, president Emílio Médici and the Brazilian media pushed CBD towards a true national tournament. With a format inspired by the European tournaments, the tournament would feature 20 teams.[3] The format of the national tournament was still close to the 1970 Torneio Roberto Gomes Pedrosa, with the state of Ceará being the only addition to the seven featured in the Robertão’s final edition. Some of the shunned federation states, led by Goiás, even created their own parallel national tournament, the Torneio Integração da CBD.
The season was divided into three phases:
The First Phase saw the twenty teams divided into two groups of ten. Despite being divided into groups, the phase was contested in a single round-robin format, with each team playing the others once. The top six teams in each group advanced to the Second Phase.
The Second Phase saw the twelve qualified teams divided into three groups of four. The teams within each group played each other in a double round-robin format. The top team from each group advanced to the Final Phase.
The Final Phase saw the three team play each other team once. The team with the most points at the end of the round was declared the champion.
There was no relegation to and no promotion from the second tier (Serie B), which rendered it entirely meaningless and opened the door for constant compaints, political machinations, and bowing to demands of the big clubs.
Participants
América FC (Belo Horizonte-MG) Fluminense FC (Rio de Janeiro-GB)
América FC (Rio de Janeiro-GB) Grêmio FBPA (Porto Alegre-RS)
C Atlético Mineiro (Belo Horizonte-MG) SC Internacional (Porto Alegre-RS)
EC Bahia (Salvador-BA) SE Palmeiras (São Paulo-SP)
Botafogo FR (Rio de Janeiro-GB) A Portuguesa de Desportos (São Paulo-SP)
Ceará SC (Fortaleza-CE) Santa Cruz FC (Recife-PE)
SC Corinthians Paulista (São Paulo-SP) Santos FC (SP)
Coritiba FC (Curitba-PR) São Paulo FC (SP)
Cruzeiro EC (Belo Horizonte-MG) Sport Clube do Recife (PE)
CR Flamengo (Rio de Janeiro-GB) CR Vasco da Gama (Rio de Janeiro-GB)
First Phase
Tables
Group A
1.Corinthians 19 10 6 3 29-16 26 Qualified
2.Cruzeiro 19 7 9 3 26-12 23 Qualified
3.Internacional 19 7 9 3 21-16 23 Qualified
4.Coritiba 19 10 2 7 21-18 22 Qualified
5.Palmeiras 19 8 6 5 20-14 22 Qualified
6.Vasco da Gama 19 6 7 6 11-12 19 Qualified
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7.Santa Cruz 19 3 11 5 17-23 17
8.Fluminense 19 5 6 8 12-13 16
Standing from left: Luís Américo, Fogueira, Ulisses, Marinho Peres, Orlando, Arengui. Crouching: Xaxá, Lorico, Cabinho, Tatá, Piau.
9.Portuguesa 19 6 3 10 16-24 15
10.Ceará 19 2 5 12 5-25 9
Group B
1.Grêmio 19 8 7 4 18-11 23
2.Atlético-MG 19 7 9 3 27-16 23
3.América-GB 19 7 7 5 23-17 21
4.Santos 19 7 7 5 17-11 21
5.Botafogo 19 5 10 4 15-16 20
6.São Paulo 19 6 7 6 16-19 19
—————————————–
7.Bahia 19 5 8 6 14-16 18
Second row from left: Ubirajara – Aloisío – Fred – Reyes – Liminha – Paulo Henrique
Front: Rogério – Samarone – Zé Eduardo – Zico – Rodrigues Neto
8.Flamengo 19 4 10 5 13-17 18
9.América-MG 19 2 9 8 11-19 13
10.Sport 19 4 4 11 10-27 12
Second Phase
Group A
Table
1.São Paulo 6 3 3 0 6- 2 9 Qualified
—————————————–
2.Corinthians 6 2 1 3 4- 5 5
3.América-GB 6 1 3 2 4- 4 5
4.Cruzeiro 6 1 3 2 2- 5 5
Group B
Table
1.Atlético-MG 6 3 1 2 10- 6 7 Qualified
Standing from left: Gainete. Denes. Henrique. Jorge Andrade. Carbono, Edson Madureira.
Front: Valdomiro. Sergio. Claudiomiro. Paulo Cesar Carpegiani, Beni.
2.Internacional 6 3 1 2 7- 7 7
3.Santos 6 2 2 2 7- 5 6
4.Vasco da Gama 6 1 2 3 4-10 4
Group C
Table
1.Botafogo 6 3 2 1 11- 6 8 Qualified
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2.Grêmio 6 2 2 2 6- 7 6
3.Palmeiras 6 1 4 1 7- 6 4
Back row from left: Pescuma. Hermes. Hidalgo. Célio. Cláudio Marques, Nilo.
Front: Leocidio. Negreiros. Paquito. Tião Abaeté, Rinaldo.
4.Coritiba 6 1 2 3 2- 7 4
Final Playoff
[Dec 12]
Atlético-MG 1-0 São Paulo
[Oldair]
[Dec 15]
São Paulo 4-1 Botafogo
[Terto (2), Forlan, Toninho; Nei Oliveira]
[Dec 19]
Botafogo 0-1 Atlético-MG
[Dario]
Table
1.Atlético-MG 2 2 0 0 2- 0 4 Champions
2.São Paulo 2 1 0 1 4- 2 2
3.Botafogo 2 0 0 2 1- 5 0
Final Table – it had no practical meaning whatsoever.
1.Atlético-MG 27 12 10 5 39-22 34
2.São Paulo 27 10 10 7 26-23 30
3.Botafogo 27 8 12 7 27-27 28
4.Corinthians 25 12 7 6 33-21 31
5.Internacional 25 10 10 5 28-23 30
6.Grêmio 25 10 9 6 24-18 29
7.Palmeiras 25 9 10 6 27-20 28
8.Cruzeiro 25 8 12 5 28-17 28
9.Santos 25 9 9 7 24-16 27
10.Coritiba 25 11 4 10 23-25 26
11.América-GB 25 8 10 7 27-21 26
12.Vasco da Gama 25 7 9 9 15-22 23
13.Bahia 19 5 8 6 14-16 18
14.Flamengo 19 4 10 5 13-17 18
15.Santa Cruz 19 3 11 5 17-23 17
16.Fluminense 19 5 6 8 12-13 16
17.Portuguesa 19 6 3 10 16-24 15
18.América-MG 19 2 9 8 11-19 13
19.Sport 19 4 4 11 10-27 12
20.Ceará 19 2 5 12 5-25 9
Atletico Mineiro (Belo Horizonte) won the first official championship of Brazil – historic success, although diminished with time. Yet, it was a big surprise at the time, especially in Europe – Atletico Mineiro was relatively unknown club, almost without stars – compared to any other world-famous club. Their 30-year old coach was also unknown rookie in its second year as a coach – a former second-rank player named Tele Santana.
Luis Ubina received Libertadores Cup.
Estudiantes was unable to win 4th consecutive Libertadores Cup. They were still had the record – shared with Penarol – with 3 Cups, but their glorious days were over and had to wait until 2009 for not only another continental trophy, but just to reach a final.
Historic success for Nacional – so far they reached the final once, in 1969, and lost it to the same opponent. Taking revenge on Estudiantes was great, but their was more to their difficult victory in the third match on neutral field: finally they came out from Penarol’s shadow and achieved international success.
This squad deserved it – it was full of well known names not just in Uruguay, national team regulars, participants in 1966 and 1970 World Cup finals.
Glory!
1st. leg: Athens. Field: Karaiskakis. December 15, 1971 Panathinakos (Greece) 1-1 Nacional (Uruguay) Goals: Filakouris / Luis Artime. Panathinaikos: Ekonomopoulos – Tomaras (Vlachos), Kapsis, Sourpis, Athanassopoulos, Eleftherakis, Filakouris, Dimitriou, Kouvas, Antoniadis, Domazos. Nacional: Manga – Masnik, Brunel, Ubiñas, Montero Castillo, Blanco, Luis Cubilla, Maneiro, Espárrago (Duarte), Luis Artime, Morales (sent off).
Panathinaikos. Standing from left: Eleftherakis, Tomaras, Economopoulos, Dimitriou, Sourpis, Kapsis, Front: Filakouris, Antoniadis, Domazos, Kouvas, Athanassopoulos.
2nd. leg: Montevideo. Field: Centenario. December 29, 1971 Nacional (Uruguay) 2-1 Panathinaikos (Greece) Goals: Luis Artime (2) / Filakouris. Nacional: Manga – Masnik, Brunel, Ubiñas, Montero Castillo, Blanco, Luis Cubilla (Mujica), Maneiro, Espárrago, Luis Artime, Mamelli (Bareño). Coach: Washington Echamendi. Panathinaikos: Ekonomopoulos – Mitropoulos, Kapsis, Sourpis, Athanassopoulos, Kamaras (Filakouris), Domazos, Eleftherakis, Dimitriou, Antoniadis, Kouvas. Coach: Ferenc Puskas.
Nacional in the second leg and winning.
Panathinaikos lost by single goal, but to a point it was only fair to lose – after all, they were not European Champions Cup holders.
Not the team which won the Intercontinental Cup, but 1971 was great year for Nacional – first time they won Libertadores and right after that – the Intercontinental Cup, also first time. Impressive squad coached by Washington Etchamendi.
The greatest international season of Panathinaikos. They were bigger surprise than Ajax, but were no match for Flying Dutchmen.
In 1969 Ajax was destroyed at the Champions Cup final by Milan, but this time the victory was theirs.
And the world learned the names of players deifining the 1970s and beyond.
Curiously, the best year of the team will be 1972 – with some changes, including the coach, who made them world-class stars.
The golden years of Real were over. The team tried hard, but no luck.
Golden boys.
For many, many years this was the only European success. Took them 2 games to overcome Real Madrid.
Slightly different squad from the winning one in the spring of 1971, but the trophy was not for them
Barcelona, coach by Rinus Michels now, prevailed and kept the Fairs Cup.
Crouching: Zaniboni Savoldi II Montorsi Novellini Anastasi Danova Furino Causio Capello.
Lucky winners without winning. Last winners of the Fairs Cup, as it hapenned.
2. Digenis Akritas Morphou 22 9 9 4 21 15 27 [1971/72 UEFA Cup]
4. Omonia Nicosia 22 11 3 8 33 20 25 60,6
5. Pezoporikos Larnaca 22 9 7 6 26 17 25 65,4
7. Enosi Neon Paralimniou 22 8 8 6 24 18 24 75
8. Anorthosis Famagusta 22 7 6 9 23 31 20
9. Alki Larnaca 22 4 11 7 25 29 19 116
10. Nea Salamina Famagusta 22 7 5 10 24 36 19 150
5. Evagoras Paphos 22 10 6 6 28 20 8 26
Note: Because of constant difficulties with proper dating of Cypriot team photos, the following teams are approximately from the period: Anorthosis (in white), Olympiakos, EN Paralimni, Alki.