First Division – one of the least complicated championships in South America. The league was going to be reduced again from 17 to 16 teams, so 2 teams were relegated. This was decided by the final table of the first stage of the championship – the Decentralised Tournament. After every team played 32 games there was final table – the lowest 2 were relegated, the top 6 proceeded to play the title decisive Championship Group tournament.
Leon De Huanuco was last with 20 points and relegated.
Juan Aurich was 16th with 22 points and also relegated.
Alfonso Ugarte survived – 15th with 23 points.
Huancayo FC – 14th with 24 points. Standing from left: Carlos Castro, Cisterna, Ernesto Herrera, Raul Torres, Orlando Mendoza, Arturo Garcia.
Crouching: José Pajuelo, Morales, Luis Servat, Jose Ocampo, Jorge Burger.
Union Huaral – 13th with 25 points. Standing from left: Cesar Carrillo, Adán Ciurlizza, Pedro Paredes, Hilario Bernaola, Victor Espinoza, Juan Caceres
Front row: Sergio Silva, Eloy Ortiz, Humberto Rey Muñoz, Luis Rehder, Enrique Camacho.
Coronel Bolognesi – 12th with 27 points.
Atletico Chalaco – 11th with 28 points. Standing from left: Carlos “Sérpico” Rivas, Alberto Eugenio, Goyzueta, Eder Ríos, Aldo Dueñas, Oscar Peralta.
Front row: Alejandro Pozú, Percy Gómez, José Lavalle, Adhemir Arroé, Jesús Sabastizaga.
A. D. T. – 10th with 29 points. Standing from left: Rowland Chumpitaz, Rinaldo Quesada, Lizandro Navarro, Armando Carrizales, Alejandro Mujica, Roger Valdivia.
Front row: Víctor Barzola, César Aguilar, Peña, Rolando Echegara, Kiko Bendezú.
Terrible season for Alianza (Lima) – 9th with 31 points. Standing from left: Jaime Duarte, Pedro Belber, Tomás Farfán, Juan Illescas, Simón Olea, José Velásquez, José Gonzáles Ganoza.
Front row: William Huapaya, Jorge Olaechea, Guillermo La Rosa, Freddy Ravello.
U.T.C. – 8th with 33 points.
Sport Boys – 7th with 28 points. Standing from left: Carlos Carbonell, Luis Cárdenas, Eusebio Salazar, César Guerrero, César Espino, Darío Herrera.
First row: Juan José Muñante, David Zuluaga, Héctor La Torre, Víctor Hurtado, Nalvarte.
And the top 6, qualifying to the final tournament: Atletico Torino – 6th with 39 points, Deportivo Municipal – 5th with 40 points, C.N.I. – 4th with 40 points, Universitario – 3rd with 40 points, Sporting Cristal – 2nd with 41 points, and FBC Melgar – first with 44 points.
The Championship Group was round-robin tournament, opponents meeting once. The teams started clean, no points were carried over from the Decentralised Tournament. And whoever managed to preserve strength earlier and to reach top form at this stage had the advantage.
Atletico Torino was the weakest and finished last with 1 point.
C.N.I. – 5th with 2 points. Standing from left: Víctor Vargas, Israel Quijandría, Freddy Cañamero, Florentino Bernaola, Mikel Ramírez Púa, César “Huevo” Adriazola, Oscar Vera.
Crouching: Roberto Arrelucea, Martín Gago, Mario Gutiérrez, Juan Rivero, Ernesto Guillén, Ernesto “Chivo” Neyra, Wilson “Calamina” Ramírez, Nehemías Mera, Ricardo Vinatea.
Deportivo Municipal – 4rd with 5 points. Standing from left: Gamarra, Malásquez, Mendoza, Garrido, Quintana, Manzo.
Front row: Zorrilla, Navarro, Gonzáles, Bonelli, Camacho.
Universitario – 3rd with 7 points. Back row from left: Hugo Gastulo, Juan Carlos Jaime, Germán Leguía, Eduardo Aguilar, Raúl Garcia, Luis Gardella.
Front row: Carlos Espósito, Eduardo Rey Muñoz, Bira, Samuel Eugenio, José Cañamero.
FBC Melgar – 2nd with 9 points. Unable to continue the strong performance in the first part of the championship, but still stronger than most, finishing second best and getting the second Peruvian spot in the Libertadores Cup. Standing from left: Jorge Ramirez, Jesús Oviedo, Julio Ramirez, Raúl Obando, Freddy Bustamante, Angel Gutiérrez.
Crouching: José Aguayo, Víctor Concha, Reynaldo Jaime, Genaro Neyra, Víctor Gutiérrez.
Not only familiar, but truly supreme champions – Sporting Cristal (Lima) won every match they played in the Championship Group – a perfect record of 5 of 5, scoring 13 goals and receiving just 4. Nothing to compare with the second best – FBC Melgar ended with 11-11 goal difference. Sporting Cristal were the highest scorers all year long – they outscored FBC Melgar by 22 goals in the Decentralised Tournament. They lost only 5 games during the whole year – Universitario lost 6, FBC Melgar – 8. Only FBC Melgar won more games than them – 21; Sporting Cristal won 19. More than well done! And one more title. Here are the heroes: standing from left: Pedro Ruíz, Miguel Gutiérrez, Héctor Chumpitaz, Uculmana, César “Chalaca” Gonzáles, Humberto Valdettaro.
First row: Luis Reyna, Enrique Boné, Juan Caballero, Jorge Hirano,Julio Aliaga.
One must admire the seemingly eternal Hector Chumpitaz – still the champion, a guarantee for success.