Ecuador. The top division was going to extended to 16 teams in the next year, so three teams were promoted. In a nutshell – simple: going up were
Deportivo Cuenca,
Petrolero (Esmeraldas), and
Audaz Octubrino (Machala). Of the three, only Petrolero deserves a note: it was an young club, founded in 1977. This was – unlike the other two – their first promotion to the highest level. So, their biggest success so and quite impressive too – reaching top flight after only 7 years of existence.
The First Division had a particularly complicated formula: the 14-team league started in two separate groups. The top two teams of each group qualified directly for the final stage, the winners carrying 1 bonus point to the final stage – those were Barcelona (Guayaquil), Group 1, and El Nacional (Quito), Group 2. Second-placed teams got no bonus points: Tecnico Universitario (Ambato), Group 1, and Filanbanco (Guayaquil), Group 2. The last team in each group proceeded to relegation tournament, penalized by a point – that is, starting with negative record, not clean one. Aucas (Quito) ended last in Group 1 and Deportivo Quevedo (Quevedo) was last in Group 2.
The Second stage used the same formula as the first one, except one thing – if a last-placed in the first stage team won its group, they were saved from relegation. But such heroics were too much to ask for. 9 de Octubre (Milagro) was 1st in Group 1, followed by LDU (Quito). El Nacional was on top of Group 2, followed by Barcelona. As for the lowly teams, Deportivo Quevedo and Aucas were both in Group 1 now and competed for the last spot – Aucas ‘won’, Deportivo Quevedo finishing above them by a point. In Group 2 Filanbanco finished last – only on worse goal-difference, but last. This makes for a bit of confusion: Filanbanco played great in the first stage and earned a spot in the final run for the title; now they were last. The decision was swift – Filanbanco, penalized by a point, went to the relegation tournament. May be because they took 2nd place in the first stage, but one may wonder what would have been, if they were 1st in the opening stage – playing both for the title and for escaping relegation? Anyhow, weird and unhappy story.
Carrying penalty points, three teams moved to play the relegation tournament – Aucas had litle hope, for they started with minus 2 points.
Filanbanco was not in a mood for jokes and beat its opponents in every match – 4 0 0 8-1 7 (-1)
The relegated team was decided between the other two – they exchanged home victories and penatly points decided the matter. Deportivo Quevedo were lucky – 1 0 3 1-4 1 (-1).
Aucas was relegated and quite rightly so, for they were consistently last in the table in every stage. 1 0 3 3-7 0 (-2).
With the thorny question of relegation away, let’s go to the big championship race. One may question the decision to move Filanbanco from the championship final to the relegation tournament, but there was more: The original rule was seemingly simple and clear: the top 2 teams of each group in every stage go to the final, the group winner carrying bonus point. Since Barcelona and El Nacional were on top in both stages, the final group was supposed to be made of 6 teams. Then Filanbanco was excluded, reducing the finalists to 5. But the final tournament involved 8 teams! How and why 3 more clubs reached the final is unclear, but here they were. Most likely the method used was simple adding of the points from the initial stages and those with the least totals were out. Those not reaching the final, but not playing for survival either were:
America (Quito),
LDU (Portoviejo), and
Manta Sport (Manta) – a club usually known as Delfin, but renamed at this period of time.
The final tournament had no major surprises – it was played as every other stage of the championship: as a standard league championship.
Emelec (Guayaquil) had a miserable year and finished last with 8 points. Their best performance was in the first stage, where the finished 3rd – after that, steady downhill.
Deportivo Quito (Quito) was 7th with 11 points. Nothing strange – they were so-so the whole year. However, take a look at the numbers of players – years before it was obligatory rule big numbers were regularly used in South America: the team captain sports number 36.
Tecnico Universitario (Ambato) was 6th with 13 points – like Emelec, their top form came early in the first stage and steadily declined later.
Barcelona (Guayaquil) ended 5th with 14 points and that with the bonus point carried from the first stage. A big disappointment, for Barcelona was very strong until the finals, they lots only 3 matches, scored a lot and traditionally were title contenders. But something happened and they lost steam – if they lost only 3 games in the previous stages, now they lost 7! Half of the final matches.
Universidad Catolica (Quito) finished 4th with 15 points.
LDU (Quito) was 3rd with 17 points – steady performance, but not really a title contender.
9 de Octubre (Milagro) – 2nd with 18 points, one of them a bonus from the second stage. Perhaps the big surprise of the season and surely a delight to its fans. 9 de Octubre usually is not one of the favourites, so its a big step up. Also, they played with perfect timing – gradually improving from stage to stage until reaching top form. Alas, it was not good enough for a title.
No matter how good 9 de Octubre was this year, one of the usual favourites was stronger – El Nacional (Quito) was best from start to finish, winning every stage. At the final tournament they finished with 20 points and even if there were not bonus points they would have been first with their 8 wins, 2 ties, 4 losses, and 20-16 goal-difference. Naturally, the squad is not familiar outside Ecuador, including their Brazilian coach, but this matters not – champions are champions.