Colombia. Back to playing after the cancellation of 1989 championship. Still the complicated 3-staged formula, so confusing to outside eye – Apertura, in which the 15 participants played 12 games each (!), followed by Finalizacion – which was played as a normal league championship. That is every team played twice the others to the total of 28 games. After that an Overall table was made including all games played so far – that is 40 games total – and the top 8 teams in it went to third stage or final round. Top-4 of Apertura and Finalizacion obtain bonus points for final rounds:
1 for the winners, 0.75 for 2nd place, 0.50 for 3rd placed, 0.25 for 4th
placed teams. The complicated formula is the reason the first 2 stages are omitted here, starting with the overall table.
America (Cali) won the Apertura with 19 points, followed by Independiente Santa Fe, Atletico Nacional and Millonarios – these 4 teams got bonus points, according to their final positions.
America won Finalizacion as well – with 40 points – followed by Deportivo Independiente, Bucaramanga, and Cali. These four got bonus points according to their positions.
And the combined Overall table was made, which for the bottom 7 teams was the final table and the top 8 going to the final stage.
Sporting Barranquilla (Barranquilla) – last with 22 points. Although Colombia was moving to introduce Second Division and promotion/relegation between the two top national leagues, it was not effective yet and Sporting Barranquilla remained top tier club. To row from left: Fabián Lara, Harold Freyle, Alex de Alba, Carlos Arroyo, Amado “El Gandhi” Rodríguez, Miguel Calero. Crouching: Chedy Devenich, Edison Domínguez, Adolfo Prescott, Yosvida Fuentes, Roberto Vizcaíno.
Cucuta Deprotivo (Cucuta) – 14th with 24 points. Top row from left: Luis C, Sánchez, Arsecio Correa, William Mosquera, Asdrúbal Álzate, José F. Salazar, Pedro Barbosa. First row: Francisco Cassiani, Héctor Ruiz, Carlos Guerrero, Juan Carlos Gutiérrez, Carlos Mario Molina.
Union Magdalena (Santa Marta) – 13th with 27 points.
Atletico Junior (Barranquilla) – 12th with 31 points.
Deportivo Tolima (Tolima) – 11th with 33 points.
Deportivo Pereira (Pereira) – 10th with 39 points.
Millonarios (Bogota) – 9th with 41 points. Standing from left: Sergio Goycochea,?, Cerveleón Cuesta, Wilman Conde, Eduardo Pimentel. Front: Carlos Enrique Estrada, ?, Oscar “Pájaro” Juárez, Hugo Galeano, Alberto Gamero, Freddy León.
Nothing achieved this season, but their Argentine goalkeeper suddenly became famous at the World Cup.
Cristal Caldas – or Once Caldas – was 8th with 43 points, Deportes Quindio – 7th with 44 points, Independiente Santa Fe – 6th with 45 points, Deportivo Cali – 5th with 46 points, Atletico Nacional – 4th with 47 points, Atletico Bucaramanga – 3rd with 49 points, Deportivo Independiente – 2nd with 50 points, and America, naturally, was on top with 59 points. These teams moved to the final stage.
Final stage. Here the teams with bonus points earned earlier started with them. The 8 teams were divided into 2 groups, playing twice against their group opponents. The top 2 teams in each group qualified to the Final Group, in which bonus points were carried on and after every team played against the others the group winner was declared champion of Colombia.
Semifinals:
Group A:
Deportes Quindio (Quindio) – last with 5 points.
Deportivo Cali (Cali) – 3rd with 6.25 points.
Atletico Bucaramanga – 2nd with 6.50 points and America – 1st with 9 points qualified to the final round.
Group B:
Deportivo Independiente – or DIM (Medellin) – 4th with 5.75 points.
Cristal Caldas (Manizales) – 3rd with 6 points.
Independiente Santa Fe – 2nd with 6.75 points and Atletico Nacional – 1st with 7.50 points qualified to the final.
Final Group: bonus points from the first 2 stages of the season carried on.
Independiente Santa Fe (Bogota) – 4th with 3.75 points.
Atletico Bucaramanga (Bucaramanga) – 3rd with 5.50 points.
Atletico Nacional (Medellin) – 2nd with 7.50 points.
America (Cali) – first with 11 points. They did not lose a single game at this round: 3 wins and 3 ties. Scored 12 goals, permitting only 3 in their own net. 9 points from the final round were enough for the title, but since America carried 2 bonus points from the earlier stages, they finished with total of 11 points.
Brilliant season for America – they won every stage from start to finish and were particularly strong at the very end. Interestingly, the squad was not so well known as the team their closest rival Atletico Nacional had and even compared with some earlier squads of America they lacked well-known abroad players, but these boys played stronger than star-studded formations. Perhaps their best known player was the 29-years old Uruguayan midfielder Jorge Da Silva, a newcomer, coming from Palestino (Chile). The other 2 foreigners were both hardly known Argentines: the 28-years old striker Pedro Olalla and newcomer Jorge Balbis, 29-years old defender, arriving from Rosario Central (Argentina). Famous or not, newcomers or old hands, the players blended well together, delivered strong football during the whole season and brought back to Cali the title for the first time since 1986. It was the 7th title for America and becoming second all-time best club in Colombia – they pushed Independiente Santa Fe to 3rd position (6 titles), but were still far behind Millonarios (12 titles).