Argentina. The big news for the season were Diego Maradona and Mario Kempes. Maradona joined Boca Juniors, it was expected transfer, yet, it was the biggest news. Perhaps as a counter-measure, River Plate bought Mario Kempes from Valencia (Spain). It was a dubious news: yes, River got the superstar, ‘the Matador’, the hero of 1978, but he was not fit after a heavy injury and the club had no money. The lack of money was nothing new in Argentina, but it was still reckless to spend when in heavy debt. And to spend on player who was 70% fit at the best estimate. Other things were less noticeable – for instance, Carlos Bianchi returned to Velez Sarsfield in 1979 and immediately started scoring goals. Other veterans were also returning – Daniel Carnevali was in Rosario Central and Carlos Babington back in Huracan since 1979, for instance – but the focus was largely on Maradona, who delivered, and Kempes, who did not. Apart from that, it was ‘business as usual’, which means painfully familiar scandals and troubles:
River Plate going to jail… well, may be going to jail. The rest was football.
Two championships as usual – the league-format Metropolitano and the cup-format Nacional. The champions of each were going to represent Argentina in the 1982 Copa Libertadores. Metropolitano, somewhat with more weight than Nacional, involved promotions and relegation, so let start with a brief look down: Third Division.
Lanus won Primera C. Standing from left: Acuña, Perassi, De Freitas, Cerdán, Lodico, Enrique,
First row: Héctor Enrique, Nigretti, Ramón Enrique, Crespín, Attadía.
Chacarita Juniors were runner-ups. Both teams were promoted to Second Division – well done for both clubs.
They were going to replace Almagro, directly relegated, for they finished last – 22nd – in Second Division, and Villa Dalmine, 21st. Villa Dalmine was not directly relegated – they lost the relegation play-off with El Porvenir, 20th in the final table. The play-off ended scoreless – El Porvenir won the penalty shoot-out.
Up the table nothing really important – a bunch of more or less equal clubs, some fading for years, like Los Andes.
Los Andes finished 5th with 47 points – 2 less than third placed Banfield.
Banfield finished 3rd with 49 points, but promotion was out of their reach and may be even from their dreams: they were distant third finishers. The battle for the title, if not for promotion, was between two teams.
Quilmes finished 2nd. Standing from left: Fanesi, Tocalli, Milozzi, Gáspari, Fertonani, Lupo.
First row: Pavón, Bianchini, Batalla, Úbeda, Lacava Schell. Unable to win the championship, but comfortably winning promotion – they finished 6 points ahead of Banfield. This was still the quite strong team, which was successful only a few years back, so the quick return to First Division was great and may be expected.
The winners were a bit of a surprise.
Nueva Chicago played first division before, but they were one of the smaller Buenos Aires clubs and not really a club expected to be among the best. But strong they were this year and won the Second Division championship 3 points ahead of Quilmes. Standing from right: Abdala, Pedraza, Assan, Larramendi, Traverso, Cvitkovic.
First row: Armani, Loyarte, Franceschini, Carrizo, Erba.
For a modest club like Nueva Chicago trophies are rare thing, so winning the Second Division was a big success – champions deserve one more look:
Here is the full squad of the year well remembered by the fans – it is not every day Nueva Chicago ends as champions.
Nueva Chicago and Quilmes were promoted to First Division.