Author: Vesselin

Peruvian second level was still without a league, but ‘Copa Peru’ was played instead, as established in 1967. At first regional tournaments were played, consisting of provincial teams, which won the earlier departmental rounds, and the winners of the 8 regional groups (of 3 teams each) moved to the national stage. There they were joined by the winner of the 9th group, where Lima clubs played– just like everywhere else in South America, the capital city had not only too many clubs, but more professionally organized too and there was no way to ignore them: unilke the regional groups, the Lima group was made of 7 teams. Goal-difference did not play a role – when teams had equal points, a play-off was staged to determine the winner. To the second stage – Etapa Nacional – qualified: Los Aguerridos de Monsefú [Lambayeque] , Universidad Técnica de Cajamarca [Cajamarca] , Deportivo Aviación [Loreto], Octavio Espinosa [Ica], Juan Bielovucic [Huánuco], Pesca Perú [Arequipa], Deportivo Garcilaso [Cusco], Miguel Grau [Apurímac], Unión Gonzales Prada (Lima). Naturally, no famous clubs played that low, so most names hardly mean anything for anybody outside Peru.

The next stage was slightly different: still round-robin groups, three of them of 3 teams each, with the top 2 teams going to the finals. However, in case of equal points the winner was determined differently: instead of play-off, goals mattered – whoever scored more, finished higher. If this was unable to determine positions, then goal-difference was decided. As every tie-breaking rule, results were bordering to the ridiculous: in Group 1 U.T.C. (Cajamarca) finished last, despite the fact they were the only team with positive goal-difference in the group. But they scored one goal less than the Los Aguerridos and Deportivo Aviacion and since all teams ended with 4 points, U.T.C. was eliminated just because they scored one goal less. Deportivo Aviacion had negative goal-difference and Los Aguerridos, first at the end had 6-6 goal-difference.

Group 2 had 4 teams, not 3… because here Leon (Huanuco) was automatically included – they were relegated from First Division the previous season. Leon finished 2nd, behind Gonzales Prada, which scored one goal more then them. Did not matter much. For the record, Leon was the only teams ending this stage without a loss. For those more inquisitive a point of interest could be the last team in the group – Juan Bielovucic. A Croatian name of famous aviator.

Group 3. No trouble here – points decided everything. Miguel Grau finished last, the other two teams moved ahead to the final.

The final was again round-robin tournament, played entirely in Lima. The 6 teams qualified from Etapa Nacional played one-round mini-league, and the winner was promoted to the First division. Simple? Nothing is simple… there were 7 teams at the final stage, not 6. Aguas Verdes ( Zarumilla) was invited to the final. Why? Because they were the losing finalist of Copa Peru the previous year.

Comercial Aguas Verdes – straight to the final, because they were good one year earlier. Standing from left: Juan Girón, Walter Valladares, José Morán, Valqui, Edel García.

First row: Augusto Gemmell, Pedro Campaña, Rolando Vargas, José “Chimbote” Mendoza, Miguel Santín, Julio García Lapoublé.

Luckily, points decided the winner of the final. Cities and departments are given between brackets.

FINAL TABLE

Pts – P – W – D – L – GF – GA

1. León (Huanuco,Huanuco) 10 – 6 – 4 – 2 – 0 – 8 – 2 [Promoted]

2. Gonzales Prada (Lima, Lima) 8 – 6 – 3 – 2 – 1 – 6 – 4

3. Los Aguerridos (Monsefu, Lambayeque) 7 – 6 – 2 – 3 – 1 – 6 – 4

4. Pesca Perú (Mollendo, Arequipa) 5 – 6 – 1 – 3 – 2 – 5 – 6

5. Deportivo Aviación (Iquitos, Loreto) 5 – 6 – 2 – 1 – 3 – 5 – 9

6. Aguas Verdes (Zarumilla, Tumbes) 4 – 6 – 0 – 4 – 2 – 3 – 5

7. Garcilaso (Cusco, Cusco) 3 – 6 – 1 – 1 – 4 – 5 – 8

Since second level clubs are rarely seen, here is a picture of a modest team, which played well this year:

Los Aquerridos finished third in the final of Copa Peru. It was success for them. Standing from left: Cadenillas, Cañola, Cabrera, Elcolobarrutia, García, Mell.

First row: Camacho, Muñoz, Ramos, Celli, Samamé.

Leon (Huanuco) – proud winners of Copa Peru and returning to top flight after a single season in the second level purgatory.

This was not the end, however. The second placed in the Copa Peru final still had a chance for promotion – Gonzales Prada went to a play-off against the next to last finisher in the relegation group of 1st Division.

The Chilean First Division differed a bit from the Second Division’s formula of the Apertura – all league members played in the tournament. The groups were not even, for it was impossible to divide 18 teams fairly, so two groups had 4 teams and two groups – five. Group 4 was the toughest – the biggest clubs from Santiago were all there: Colo Colo, Universidad de Chile, Universidad Catolica, Oalestino, and Union Espanola. Not fair for them – three were going to be eliminated early – but never mind. The group winners were without real competition in every group, but even the 2nd placed teams were still ahead of the losers – except in Group 4, where Universidad de Chile and Universidad Catolica finished with 8 points each and better goal-difference qualified Universidad de Chile. The following teams moved to the ¼ finals: Cobreloa and Iquique (Group 1), Concepcion and Naval (Group 2), O’Higgins and Magallanes (Group 3), and Colo Colo and Universidad de Chile (Group 4).

The ¼ finals went without any trouble – with one exception, the winners won both legs. Only Colo Colo faltered in their home match against Concepcion – 1-1 – but not in the away match, which they won 4-0. In the other pairs Cobreloa won over Magallanes 1-0 and 2-0, Universidad de Chile – over Naval 1-0 and 2-1, and Iquique over O’Higgins 3-1 and 3-2. No extra time, no complications.

In the ½ finals Colo Colo eliminated Cobreloa 1-0 and Iquique – Universidad de Chile with same result. The losers got a bonus point each to carry to the real championship.

The final was predictable – big Colo Colo vs small Iquique, easy… but it was not easy. Iquique bravely won 2-1 and Copa Polla-Gol.

Standing from left: Luis Acao, Eddy Campodonico, Manuel Maluenda, Wilfredo Arriaza, Claudio Sanchez, Oscar Valenzuela.

First row: Fidel Davila, Jaime Carreao, Omar Sauvageot, Gega, Juan Ponce de Ferrari.

Champions of Chile – this is usually the text for this photo, yet, one cannot see any official list of Chilean champions mentioning Iquique this year. And rightly so – the Apertura does not count. All it brought to the champions was 2 bonus points to start Campeonato Nacional with. But it was great for the boys and their fans. By the end of the year it was even better…

It was, because after the end of Campeonato Nacional Iquique was in the relegation zone. The bonus points helped them not – they were ahead of the real losers anyway and behind the the better teams bonus points or not. Because of the reduction of the league 4 teams were directly relegated – the last four. The quartet was made of true outsiders – the whole group finished far behind the rest of the league. The last two were fading clubs, once upon a time among the best of the country.

Green Cross (Temuco) was dead last with 18 points. Their downfall was long and painful – originally a Santiago club, they had to relocate to Temuco in 1965. Nothing good happened to them since then.

Santiago Wanderers (Valparaiso) suffered similar fate – like Green Cross, they were in long decline. They finished 5 points ahead of Green Cross, but there was no comfort in that: 17th they were and goind down to second division. A point ahead of them finished a club, usually ending in the relegation zone:

Lota Schwager (Coronel) – they did not play often first division football and when they did, they were expected to finish low. 16th place under normal circumstances would still keep their hopes, for this was a spot playing promotion-relegation tournament after the end of the season, but this year it was direct relegation.

And directly relegated were the 15th – Coquimbo Unido, which, Lota Schwager, was familiar outsider, expected to finish at the bottom. The only thing about Coquimbo Unido was their record of ties – 15, the highest number in the league.

Iquique, the winners of Apertura, finished 14th – not directly relegated, but still in grave danger, for they went to promotion-relegation tournament. Perhaps the most interesting thing about them was the sponsor: they advertised Pioneer, and Naval – Sony. The battle of the ghetto-blasters, one may say. There was more to rivalry, although not involving Iquique. Naval, representing the Navy, was traditionally a rival of Aviacion (Santiago), the Air Force team. A military rivalry, which Aviacion lost this year.

Club de Deportes Aviacion finished 15th , a point ahead of Iquique and 3 points behind Naval. One may think that military dictatorship would elevate military clubs to leading positions, but it was not so. Aviacion actually was dissolved in January 1982. For the moment, they were going to play in the promotion-relegation tournament.

With 34 points Naval (Talcahuano) escaped relegation and that was all they did. Better than the pilots.

Up the table.

Universidad Catolica had miserable season, finishing 10th.

O’Higgins (Rancagua) came close to medals, but only close – with 40 points they finished 5th. Concepcion bested then by a point and got the 4th place.

Colo Colo finished 3rd with 43 points. They scored the most goals by far – 76, 12 more than second best Concepcion.

Universidad de Chile got silver medals, happy to be ahead of Colo Colo perhaps, but still without a title.

The champions were a surprising news – Cobreloa (Calama). Not exactly impressive in neither attack, nor defense, the boys dressed in orange won most matches this season – 17 – and along with Universidad de Chile lost the least – only 4. 48 points – 1 of them a bonus carried over from the Apertura – gave them 3 points lead at the end. The bonus point was symbolic – without it, they were still first. Which was fantastic – the club arrived in the first division only 2 years ago and was little known even in Chile before that.

 

Standing from left: Juan Paez, Oscar Wirth, Mario Soto, Eduardo Jimenez, Enzo Escobar, Hugo Tabilo

First row: Oscar Muñoz, Victor Merello, Nelson Pedetti, Luis Ahumada, Paulo Veiga.

First ever title and as it turned out, not first and last either, but even if it was, it would have been amazing success. The rapid climb of the club to the the very top was a result of good deal of money invested, but compared to the squads of the previous two-three seasons, this one was a testimony not only of good investment, but of good work as well. Previously, Cobreloa succeeded thanks to imported aging stars like the great Uruguayan goalkeeper Mazurkiewicz. There were no such players this year – there were three little known foreigners instead: Paulo Sergio Veiga (Brazil), Oscar Roberto Munoz (Argentina), and Nelson Pedetti (Uruguay). Little known perhaps, but they did their job well enough – Pedetti in particular established himself as an important player in Chile, spending almost the whole of his career there. The local players were similarly little known – practically, the champions had only one noticeable player: their new goalkeeper Oscar Wirth, freshly obtained from Colo Colo. Both club and player benefited from the transfer – Cobreloa needed strong keeper and Wirth, although already considered for the national team, was more or less a back-up for Adolfo Nef, arguably the best Chilean keeper of the 1970s. (Curiously, Nef and Wirth were both of German descent – eventually, Wirth went to play in West Germany for a while). An almost anonymous squad meant strong collective approach to the game, hard work, and discipline – which boils down to the coaching authority. Perhaps the coach was the real hero of the champions: Vicente Cantatore. Few knew him as a player – the Argentine had a long career, but was never a star. His late playing year were in Chile, where he stopped playing in 1973 – at the age of 38! – and started his coaching career and taking Chilean citizenship too. Cobreloa was his 4th club and his first big success. And he built on this success, becoming highly respected coach, moving to Europe and working in Spain, where he finally retired in 2001, his last spell with Sporting (Gijon). In 1980 neither Cantatore, nor Wirth were internationally known and there was still little chance they would be: fantastic season for Cobreloa, well deserved title, but skepticism is strong in football – great as it was, the victory looked like one time wonder. Cobreloa was going to prove skeptics wrong.

The season was over as far as title was concerned. It was not over in two other aspects: the promotion-relegation tournament took place. The 3rd and 4th of the Second Division and the 13th and the 14th of the First Division. This was the beginning of the end of Aviacion – they finished 3rd in the mini-league and were relegated. 4th was Santiago Morning and they remained in Second Division. Iquique won the tournament with 2 wins and 1 tie and preserved its place in the top division. Second was La Serena – they tied all their matches, which was enough for promotion.

Lastly, there was another mini-league – the Liquilla, deciding the second Chilean representative in Copa Libertadores. The 4 teams immediately below the league champions played for the spot: Universidad de Chile, Colo Colo, Concepcion, and O’Higgins. The big Santiago clubs pulled themselves together and dominated, but neither prevailed – both finished with 8 points. Colo Colo had better goal-difference by far, but it did not count. A final play-off was played and Universidad de Chile won 2-1. They were declared champions of Liquilla and were going to play international football. Colo Colo was to stay home – a rare thing for them.

Happy winners – Universidad de Chile saved the season by qualifying for Copa Libertadores. Not a title, but still good enough.

 

Chile had both peculiar championship formula and seasonal changes, needing few notes. The First Division was going to be reduced to 16 teams, so the last 4 teams were relegated. The two above them played promotion-relegation tournament with the 3rd and 4th in the Second Division. One practical reason for the reduction was Campeonato de Apertura – the formula of it was cup-like: at first the first division clubs were divided into 4 groups and 18 teams made strange numbers: 2 groups of 5 teams and 2 of four teams. As for this championship, played in both top divisions, it was a curiosity: the clubs gained little from it. It was nice to win a trophy, but the official champion, the second represent in the Copa Libertadores, and the unfortunate relegated teams were all decided in the second championship. The only thing Campeonato de Apertura gave was a few bonus points to the top teams, carried to the second championship: 2 points for the winner and 1 point for the losing finalist and semi-finalists. Not much to really fight for – as the second championship amply proved this very year. Rules also differed: the second championship had traditional ones – 2 points for a win and 1 point for a tie. Perhaps aiming to stir the teams into more attacking football, in Campeonato de Apertura a scoreless tie brought no points, but bonus point was given for wins in which the winner scored 4 or more goals. Such experiments did not bring results in other countries and the pattern was repeated in Chile: those few teams, which got extra points were top in their groups anyway, without exception. With or without the extra points, they were first. In both division there was not a single club qualifying to the ¼ finals because of extra points. Finally, not a single club benefited from the points carried from Apertura to the second championship. Lastly, Ferroviarios relocated to Talagante and the name was changed as a result – now it was Talagante Ferro.

The Second Division had one more anomaly: 22 teams in the normal championship, but only 20 in the Apertura: Cobresal and Atacama for some reason did not play. Eight teams qualified to the second stage: Arica, La Serena (Group 1), Union San Felipe, San Luis (Group 2), Rangers, Curico Unido (Group 3), and Malleco Unido, Huachipato (Group 4). The ¼ finals produced the next strange thing – at least to the eyes of non-Chileans: goal-difference did not count. Or may be it counted, but in peculiar way. Half of the quarter-finals were not a problem: San Luis won twice against Arica – 4-0 and 2-1, and La Serena against Union San Felipe – 2-0 and 1-0. The other pairs were different… Huachipato won at home 1-0, but lost the second match 0-2 to Curico Unido. Goal did not count, only wins – so extra time was played as a tiebreaker. Nobody scored and the match went into penalty shoot-out. At last Huachipato prevailed. But the last pair did not reach this stage: Rangers lost their home leg against Malleco Unido 0-1. Then they beat Malleco Unido in front of their home crowd. By how much? No matter – extra time was to be played anyway. Huachipato prevailed here, but the record – since with or without extra time this is one match – stays 4-2. Which makes Rangers a winner on goal-difference… the same should have been the case in the clash between Huachipato and Malleco Unido: the record gives advantage to Malleco Unido after extra time: 2-1. Complicated rule… apparently, the extra time was counted separately as a tiebreaker. Go figure by mere numbers.

No such problems in the one-legged ½ finals: San Luis won against La Serena 2-0 and Rangers beat Huachipato 3-1. The losers got one extra point to carry to the second championship.

San Luis won the final 2-1. Rangers got a bonus point for the second championship. San Luis got 2 points and the trophy: ‘Copa Polla-Gol’.

Fine champions, but was it worth the effort? All this games for 2 points…

The second championship started all anew and for real – not for nothing its name was Campeonato Oficial. Standard league format, the last two relegated to the lower levels of Chilean football, the top two promoted to first division, and the 3rd and the 4th having one more chance for promotion in a mini-tournament against the 13th and the 14th in the First Division. Long championship – every team played 42 matches. As it turned out, the bonus points from the Apertura had no effect on anything.

Curico Unido (Curico) finished last with 31 points and said good-bye to Second Division.

Goal-difference decided the second unlucky team: Ovalle (Ovalle), Trasandino (Los Andes), and Independiente (Cauquenes) ended with 34 points.

Independiente had the worst goal-difference of the three and took the 21st place in the final table. Too bad – they were newcomers to the league, the highest achievement of the modest, usually amateur club. They fought bravely, but luck was not on their side.

Luck was not on the side of the clubs, which did not play in the Apertura either:

Regional Atacama (Copiapo) finished 16th.

Cobresal (El Salvador) was 14th, one point better than Atacama. Having to play fewer games than any other club in the league apparently was not a bonus to both clubs.

One more club should be mentioned: Union Calera (La Calera).

The only second division club with world-class star: Elias Figueroa played for them this season. Yet, Union Calera finished only 10th . Figueroa was aging and the immediate impression is that he was no longer at his best – but he was still going to play in the American NASL and at the next World Cup finals. Even so, he was unable to elevate his current club this year.

But what mattered was only at the top of the league. A small difference eventually built up and two teams reached the relegation-promotion stage.

With 50 points La Serena finished 4th – 2 points ahead of Huachipato. The bonus point made no difference at all. So far – good enough.

Santiago Morning, the only club from the capital playing in Second Division this season, finished 3rd with 51 points. Good for keeping hopes for promotion, but the team was not good enough to fight for direct promotion.

Two teams more or less dominated the league and quite easily got promoted.

Nublense (Chillan) finished 2nd with 55 points, leaving Santiago Morning 4 points behind, but they were also 4 points behind the champions. Still, well done – Nublense was directly promoted and that was more than enough.

The champions were the truly superior club this year: first they won the Apertura and continued their triumphal march in the grueling championship of the league. 21 wins, 15 ties, and 6 losses. 72-41 goal-difference. 59 points – 2 of them were bonus, carried from the Apertura, but even without them they were first. First in everything: most wins, least losses, most goals scored, least received.

A second trophy for San Luis (Quillota), but this title really mattered – up they went to first division football. An excellent season for relatively small club.

First Division at a glance promoted attacking football – almost 2.5 goals per game were scored. Ties were not in favour – only 3 clubs finished with 10 or more ties, but none tied half of their championship matches, unlike other countries. Looked like a triumph of attacking football, but such conclusion could be wrong: it was not that much attacking approach, but inequality of the opponents, producing goals and reducing the number of ties. The outsider of the league was Rentistas – they finished 14th. Last with 12 points – the nearest opponent ended 5 points ahead. Rentistas was relegated and no surprise here: traditionally, they were third rank club and hardly able to stay in the First Division for long.

Huracan Buceo – like Rentistas, a third rank club – finished safely 13th, but they were not really in danger of relegation for the most of the season. Weaker then most of the league, they were much stronger than Rentistas and that was most important.

Danubio, a typical representative of the second rank clubs, finished 8th. Like most clubs, mid-table position was their usual dwelling – a bit up or a bit down the table, depending on the year. And no wonder why – no noticeable players. Standing from left: Carlos Berrueta, Jorge Seré,Tomás Lima , Sergio Santin, Cesar Vega.

First row: Néstor Silva, Luis Malvarez, Ricardo Cuayatto ,Julio Noble, Eliseo Rivero. One player’s name is missing, but whose?

Danubio distinguished itself, however, by beating the champions twice – 2-0 and 3-2. The only club in the league to do so

The season was good for small Bella Vista.

Without well known players, Bella Vista not only finished 4th, but they were the 2nd highest scoring team this year with 43 goals. Not bad at all, but there was even bigger good news coming.

Weak season for Penarol – they finished 3rd, a point above Bella Vista.

The reason may have been the absence of Fernando Morena, but in any case Penarol underperformed and were not at all competing for the title.

The silver medalists were a surprise, yet, they deserved their medals.Wanderers.

Standing from left: Raul Esnal , Nestor Montelongo , Julio Acuña , Ariel Krasouski , Gualberto De los Santos, Luis Fleitas .

First row: Juan Jose Cabrera , Jorge Barrios ,Jorge Yanes ,Enzo Francescoli, Luis Acosta .

A good team, but not really able to run for the title. Second place, however, was a high achievement. They finished with the best defensive record in the championship, allowing only 16 goals. Naturally, collective effort brought success, but two players deserve mentioning: Ariel Krasouski and Enzo Francescoli, both very young and bursting with talent. For the moment, Krasouski was the bright rising star – Francescoli was still unknown. Unfortunately, the season really finished on sour note.

Their was no real competition for the title this year – one team was high above the league, leading comfortably and almost effortlessly winning the title. Nacional had a fantastic year – they won the Uruguayan championship, then they won Copa Libertadores and finally capped everything by winning the Intercontinental Cup. Reigning supreme and collecting their 33rd title – actually, with so many titles, it is a bit pointless to mention the number: one more championship won and certainly not the last victory, at least on domestic front.

Looking casual, may be even dour, on picture, but the cups in front of them speak of themselves. Excellent season indeed – Nacional conquered the world. This photo was taken when trophies piled up, so one key player was missing: Hugo de Leon moved to play for Gremio in Brazil after the championship of Uruguay finished. Yet, even without him half of the Uruguayan national team is here, plus some interesting veterans – because of them, this vintage is considered ‘veteranos’, and they were certainly essential for the victory. However, again because of them this squad is judged not particularly great, but rather the swan song of the old stars, therefore, without much future. Also, there were other curiosities: Nacional started the championship with heavy loss – 0-3 against Bella Vista. After that, they lost just three more matches – two of them against Danubio, and their 4th loss – against Sud America. However, they were strong when mattered most, beating Wanderers twice and keeping Penarol at bay with a win and a tie. It was additional drop of sweetness, for no matter how the season went, the derby with Penarol was the most important. At then end Nacional finished 6 points ahead of Wanderers and had 9 more than Penarol, having the best goalscoring record in the league by far – the champions scored 53 goals in 26 games. The next best scorers, Bella Vista, managed just 43. Such a record suggests attacking football, and this is the other interesting point about the champions: attacking-minded they were not:

Their tactical scheme was unusual for the time, but certainly with strong defensive emphasis – 5-2-3 – with Blanco playing a sweeper. The midfield was apparently changeable, which means they had no outstanding playmaker. The three veterans – Blanco, Esparrago, and Milar – enjoyed one last trimphal run, and they needed that badly at the end of their careers. Hugo de Leon was excellent, but perhaps the most important player was Victorino – the goal-scoring machine, perhaps having his best season. Almost all starters were current or former national team players, but the squad was considered a bit old and without much future in it -especially after de Leon, one of the younger stars, left. No matter – old or young, this players just rolled over everybody.

Since Nacional was both domestic champions and Copa Libertadores winners, Uruguay had 2 spots in the next Copa Libertadores tournament – the usual ‘Liquilla’ took place to determine who will represent the country internationally and here something surprising happened. Penarol won the first spot, apparently ambitious to save the season – nothing strange in that – but the second spot was clinched by Bella Vista. Wanderers, the second best team in the championship and certainly having better players than Bella Vista lost. Krasouski and Francescoli probably were still too young and inexperienced to prevail and go to international football.

The 1980 Uruguayan season ended positively: it looked like the national football was improving and restoring its faded glory. It was good year, indeed – but not for all. The championship was orderly as ever – compared to other South American countries. Club Social y Deportivo Villa Espanola won the Third Division and was promoted to the Second. The Second Division had more familiar champion, but the promoted clubs were two – First Division was expanding again from 14 to 15 teams.

Liverpool won the second promotional spot. The club experienced ups and downs frequently, like most smaller clubs, but its more natural place was first division, so fans were more than glad to see their team going up.

But Liverpool did not win the Second Division – Rampla Juniors did.

Posing in grand style, but one can understand it: Nacional and Penarol ruled Uruguayan football, leaving nothing for the other clubs. Any trophy was cherished, therefore – and Rampla Juniors were fresh champions, if only of the Second Division.

Happy winners, but, understandably, having no familiar names in their squad.

 

 

Why not, indeed? River Plate, the supreme champions of Metropolitano, must have been the big favourite for winning Nacional as well. However, running simultaneiusly two championshps was a challenge. Campeonato Nacional General Don Jose de San Martin had different formula – a cup format really, but with direct elimination only in the last stages. To a point, it was a dilemma – concentrating for Metropolitano or for Nacional? Metropolitano had higher value, at least for the clubs from Buenos Aires. Nacional went through provincial stages and eventually reached the 1/8 finals stage – 4 groups of 7 teams each, which played twice against each other, and the top 2 teams quilifying for the ¼ finals. Here some teams not playing in the Metropolitano league tried their best. So did some teams underperforming in Metropolitano and trying to compensate. At the end, mostly familiar names qualified, but also two surprise names: Rosario Central and Atletico Racing (Cordoba) from Group A. Estudiantes (La Plata) unfortunately finished 3rd. Atletico Racing not only did not play in First Division, but had no chance of even dreaming of first division football – Campeonato Nacional was their chance to prove their worth. They did – Estudiantes, Velez Sarsfield, and Racing finished behind them. Argentinos Juniors and Union (Santa Fe) qualified from Group B – both teams obviously in good form and repeating their strong performance from Campeonato Metropolitano. Talleres (Cordoba) was unlucky 3rd. Newell’s Old Boys and Independiente topped Group C – both teams determined to compensate for weak Metropolitano season, and taking advantage of relatively weak opponents. Group 4 finished with a surprise – Insituto (Cordoba), not playing in the first division, finished first. River Plate, the strongest team in Argentina, clinched second place only because of better goal-difference – Platense (Florida) was the unlucky loser.

It may have been just a little slip of River Plate, not paying enough attention at first, and wanting only to qualify as easy as possible. But it was not so… in the ¼ finals mighty River Plate was eliminated by Newell’s Old Boys.

Newell’s Old Boys forgetting how mighty River Plate was and eliminating them: standing from left: Gallego, Simón, Demagistris, Daniel Killer, Piazza , Civarelli.

Front row: Víctor R. Ramos, Juan A. Acosta, Yazalde, Santamaría, Talavera.

Independiente certainly tried to save the season and having relatively easy opponent – Instituto (Cordoba) – qualified for the ½ finals. Atletico Racing continued to play well and eliminated non other but Argentinos Juniors. Maradona’s team was unable even to beat the lowly opponent – one tie and one loss. Rosario Central eliminated Union.

There was no Buenos Aires representative at the semi-finals: one pair was Rosario derby in which Rosario Central eliminated Newell’s Old Boys. In the other semi-final the ambitions of Independiente were cut short by Atletico Racing.

Provincial final – Rosario vs Cordoba. First division vs non-leaguer. Rosario Central vs Atletico Racing. Each team won their home leg and goal-difference decided the winner: Rosario Central.

Atletico Racing (Cordoba) – what fantastic run they had! It is not a club heard of often – even at home they are dwarfed by Instituto and Talleres. Too bad they lost at the end – would have been wonderful victory of the underdog – but enthusiasm eventually bowed down to class and experience. Atletico Racing was unable to top Rosario Central in the 1/8 final Group A and the final was no different – second twice. But never mind – it was excellent season and fantastic achievement. Higher than Maradona!

Rosario Central on top again! Well done! If nothing else, the club continued its strong presence in Argentinian football. To the world, it was best known for Mario Kempes – it was his performance at the 1974 World Cup making the club a familiar name outside Argentina.

There was no young exciting player among the champions – there were two fading veterans instead: standing from left: Bauza, Sperandío, Santecchia, Marchetti, Craiyacich, Carnevali,Chazarreta. Crouching: Jorge A. García, Orte, Gaitán, Ghielmetti, Trama, Bacas, Giuliano, Teglia, Palma, Espinoza.

Carnevali and Chazarreta – stars at the beginning of the 1970s, unfortunately, tainted by the weak Argentine performance at the 1974 World Cup. Forgotten names by now… so it was great they won a title. Rosario Central got the second Argentine spot for the 1981 Copa Libertadores. The other spot went to River Plate as Metropolitano champions.

The last note on Campeonato Nacional is about the second promotion to First Division – it was a curious one, escaping logic. Since most teams were first division members anyway, it looked like the best non-league club should have been promoted. That was the losing finalist Atletico Racing (Cordoba). Cordoba got promotion allright – but it was another club.

Instituto (Cordoba) got the second promotion to First Division. Why? Guessing does not help. Certainly Instituto ranked higher than Atletico Racing – historically. It may have been more successful this year provincially. But Instituto was eliminated at the ¼ finals – Atletico Racing reached the final of Campeonato Nacional. If this championship counted for promotion, the only possible reason could be the 1/8 groups: Instituto won theirs and Atletico Racing finished second. Guessing or no guessing, Instituto moved up to play Metropolitano First Division the next season.

 

The problems of Argentine football were chronic and there is no point repeating them year after year. Perhaps one result from them was the increase of ties – 1980 was a season of ties for sure. Only one team – Union (Santa Fe) – finished with less then 10 ties. Even with Maradona Argentinos Juniors tied 16 games, winning only 13. The record belonged to Quilmes and Racing – both finished with 18 ties, exactly half of the total matches of the season. Racing had almost ‘perfect’ final record: 9 wins, 18 ties, 9 losses, 35-34 goal-difference. Almost a goal-per-match scored and received. Quilmes outscored Racing by 2 goals – like almost everybody else in the league (only three teams scored same or less goals then Racing. However, defensively Racing finished second – only River Plate received less goals). Just one club scored more then 60 goals this season – River Plate (64). Some clubs failed, particularly Independiente (14th) and Estudiantes (12th). At the end of the table were clubs from Greater Buenos Aires – the last three were relegated.

Tigre (Victoria) ended dead last after terrible season – they finished with 21 points.

All Boys (Buenos Aires) was 18th with 23 points. Like Tigre, they were clear outsiders, well weaker than the rest of the league. All Boys distinguished themselves with the worst strikers this year (29 goals) and won the least number of matches – only 3.

Quilmes finished 17th – the memories of their great victory were still very fresh, yet, the club plummeted so quickly to relegation.

Standing from left: Fanesi, Palacios, Milozzi, Moralejo, Zárate, Bourgeois.

First row: Godoy, Bianchini, Andreuchi, Gáspari, Salguero.

Unlike All Boys and Tigre, Quilmes fought and had a chance to survive, but eventually was outpaced by San Lorenzo de Almagro, which finished 3 points ahead of poor Quilmes.

San Lorenzo survived, but hey had very poor season indeed – to see them that low in the table was unusual. But this was nothing compared to the disastrous season the most successful Argentinian club of the 1970s had:

With 35 points, Independiente came close to the unthinkable – relegation. True, they were more successful internationally than domestically, but to see them finishing 14th… a crisis was looming at last. Few other traditionally strong clubs had weak season as well: Velez Sarsfield finished 15th, Estudiantes (La Plata) – 12th, and Boca Juniors – 7th. Mighty Boca even ended with negative goal-difference: 43-47.

On the positive side were few provincial clubs, which may not had been stronger than the big clubs, but at least took advantage of the weak performance of the biggies. Union (Santa Fe) was 5th, the only club with less than 10 ties this season, and a team obviously dedicated to attacking football – they finished with 16 wins, the second highest number in the league. Unfortunately, they lost too many matches – 13. Two points better than Union were Platense (Florida, Greater Buenos Aires) and Talleres (Cordoba). Not bad for both teams, but with 41 points they really fought only for the silver medals and lost.

Thanks to better goal-difference, Talleres clinched the bronze medals. Well done, overall – those were good years for Talleres, having a strong by their standards.

Argentinos Juniors finished 2nd with 42 points – one better than Talleres. Excellent season, one might say. Captained by Diego Maradona, already a superstar, the team soared. Unfortunately, Argentinos Juniors were essentially one-man team – surely Maradona was magical, but still one man was unable to win the championship. Maradona was the top scorer of the season – with 25 goals, he practically had no rival (Dante Sanabria of Huracan was second with 22 goals), but his goals were only good enough for second place. Defensively, the team was a disaster – 12 teams had better defensive record than them, including the relegated Quilmes. Finishing second was great, no doubt, but Argentinos Juniors was not even for a moment competing for the title. And Maradona was leaving… so the future was shaky already.

There was no competition for the top place in the league – River Plate comfortably won one more title 9 points ahead of Argentinos Juniors.

‘One great team’, they were called – and what else, after so confident victory – but there is a ‘but’. Passarella, Fillol, Luque, Alonso, Tarantini, just coming back from England: half team current World champions. Add Lopez, Commisso, Pavoni… and keep in mind Saporiti and Gonzalez. Strong, but just a bit short from excellent. However, much better composed team than any other and clearly superior squad, compared to the rest of the league. One more title, why not two titles?

Argentina – the usual 2 championships, of which Metropolitano was getting the upper hand in people’s minds, for it was what amounted to top division. It had the familiar around the world structure of leagues, relegations and promotions, and had the typical formula – every team played against all ohers twice. The name was somewhat pompous this year: “Cuarto Centenario de la Segunda Fundación de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires” (Fourth Centenary of the Second Foundation of Buenos Aires city), giving it a flavour of a special cup tournament, but apart from the name everything was as it was ever before. The league was going through reduction of size – it had 19 teams this season. The bottom three were relegated and two teams were promoted, to make 18-team league the next year. Relegation was clear, but promotion – not so. One promotional spot was seemingly reserved for the winner of the Second Division. Promotion was part of the problem Metropolitano was facing for some time – originally, it was the Buenos Aires championship and the league structure evolved in accord. That is, the lower divisions were entirely Buenos Aires leagues. But Metropolitano already was the national league and there had to be a way the rest of the country to play for promotion in the top division. So, the second promoted team came not from the usual league structure of Metropolitano, but the second Argentinian championship, Nacional. It was not a perfect solution, since most participants in it were the same as in Metropolitano and usually they were going to the final stages of the other championship. Promotion was reserved for the highest placed provincial non-Metropolitano team playing in Nacional – something like that. Hardly the optimal solution of the problem, for the top provincial club could be some weakling, eliminated early from the Nacional. Confusing matter too: only one promoted club will appear here, the ‘normally’ promoted one. The second team will be introduced in the review of the Nacional.

Club Atletico Sarmiento (Junin) won the Second Division and was promoted. A little known club, usually called just Sarmiento, it was found in 1911 and never played top level football. Winning the Second Division was their biggest success so far.

New champions: standing from left: Glaría, Peremateu, Hernandorena, Romero, Polo, Espósito.

First row: Iglesias, Lorant, Fischer, Ortega, Peracca.

Unknown players of unknown team. Not a Greater Buenos Aires club either – their home city, Junin, belongs to the Province Buenos Aires. Thus, for a change, no team from the dominant megapolis moved up – the second division winners were provincial, but in the same time not fully provincial, for Second Division did not include clubs from the whole country, but from Greater Buenos Aires, Province Buenos Aires, La Plata, and may be one more province. It was refreshing to see newcomers to top league too. And this photo of Sarmiento also is a testament of the times – field players dressed with Puma kit, but the goalkeeper wears Adidas. It was common ‘blunder’ back then – the clubs had their last word, not the kit makers. It was not the biggest blunder either:

This very season Platense managed to dress its players with unmatching jerseys for a championship game. But let stay with Sarmiento: no famous players here and perhaps little chances for survival among the best, but it was wonderful season for the boys and their fans. May be even for the whole town, for Junin had no first division team at the moment.

Atlanta finished 2nd in Primera B, and Nueva Chicago – 3rd. At the other side of the table Chacarita Juniors ended last and was relegated.

 

The VI Copa Brasil was easier to comprehend because the size was cut in half and the formula somewhat simplified. In the First Phase 40 teams were divided into 4 groups, where one-leg round robin was played. The first 7 teams of each group qualified to the Second Phase. No surprises here – it could be said that the current formula favoured the big clubs: after 9 matches against mostly weaker clubs, early elimination of a big club was almost impossible.

The Second Phase divided the qualified teams into 8 groups of 4 teams each. Which makes 32 and only 28 qualified. Four teams from the Second Level were included at this stage of the championship – America FC (Sao Joao do Rio Preto), Americano FC (Campos), Bangu (Rio de Janeiro), and Sport (Recife). Unless these clubs qualified to move from Level 2 to Level 1 the previous year, there was no particular reason for their inclusion. As it turned out, their presence was just making the numbers right. Sport (Recife) finished best of the newcomers – 3rd, but not really close to qualifying 2nd place. Every group played 2-legged round robin tournament, the top two teams qualifying for the Third Phase. No surprises at this stage either – in most groups the big clubs left their modest opponents far behind. The only problem was Group I, where two teams finished with identical records: 2 2 2 5-6 6 points each. Guarani (Campinas) and America (Rio de Janeiro) had to play a tiebreaker for the 2nd place – Guarani prevailed 3-2 and qualified for the next stage.

The Third Phase had 16 teams, divided into 4 groups, where one-legged round robin was played and the group winner moved to the semi-finals. Only one unknown club reached this stage of the championship:

Associação DESPORTIVA Ferroviária (Cariacica). Their run ended at this stage – they finished 3rd in their group.

Goal difference decided the winners of two groups: Atletico Mineiro had better one than Vasco da Gama in Group M. One goal better. Group P ended curiously – Coritiba and Gremio were on top with 4 points each, but Gremio had negative goal-difference: 2-5. Cortiba was easily first with their minimal, yet positive record 2-1. The highest scorers – Corinthians with Socrates – had excellent goal-difference – 6-2 – but only 3 points and ended 3rd.

Gremio – to say they were unlucky would be too much: they received much more goals than they scored. Quite surprising underperformance from a team made of Leao, nelinho, Dirceu, Paulo Isidoro, and Baltazar.

Inter (Porto Alegre) was the strongest at this stage – they were the only team winning all their matches. There was little to complain at this point: since only 4 teams were going ahead, it was normal that most big clubs would be eliminated by their peers. Coritiba was the only ‘lesser’ club reaching the semi-finals.

Coritiba lost both legs against Flamengo – 0-2 at home and 3-4 in Rio. Zico scored both goals in the first match and Nunes, the other current star of Flamengo, scored 2 goals in the second leg.

Coritiba – the weakest ½ finalist. Otherwise great run this season.

The other semifinal was more dramatic – after the first leg Inter was the likelier winner: they managed 1-1 tie away. But Atletico Mineiro came strong in Porto Alegre and destroyed Inter in front of its home crowd 3-0. Reinaldo and Eder scored all goals for Atletico – Reinaldo scored a goal in both matches, Eder scored twice in Porto Alegre. Cleo scored the single goal for Inter.

One version of 1980 Inter – Cleo is missing here. A team just a bit short of winners – semifinalists in the Brazilian championship and losing finalist in Copa Libertadores.

And the big final was between Atletico Mineiro and Flamengo. The first official champion of Brazil vs the most popular, but empty-handed on national scale, club. A battle between Reinaldo and Zico. Perhaps the final was more important for the White Pele, who was playing since 1970 – the beginning of the national Brazilian championship – but never winning the title. Reinaldo was newer and lesser star than Zico, but he was the current leader of Atletico Mineiro and was worth his status: he scored in the opening leg the single, but winning, goal for his team. Atletico Mineiro went to Rio with small advantage, but advantage – goals counted less in South America than in Europe. As it turned out, they counted for almost nothing. Reinaldo scored 2 more goals in the second match, but Nunes also scored twice and Zico delivered a third goal for the home team. 3-2. By the away goals rule Atletico should have been champion. By the usual South American rules, counting only victories, a third match should have been staged. But there was a champion declared right away and it Flamengo. Why? Because they had better semi-final record… So, Coritiba made Flamengo champions… one could wonder what would have been, if Atletico Mineiro also won twice in the semis.

One of the worthless – as it turned out – goal Reinaldo scored.

Nunes scores.

One more for Flamengo – devastated vertical stripes and triumphal horizontal stripes.

Great joy – a goal that counts. Flamengo won a difficult victory and the championship along with it.

Champions at last! First title for Flamengo, received in front of their delirious supporters. Hardly fair victory, but let Atletico Mineiro sulk – it was Flamengo’s night.

Ten years earlier, Atletico Mineiro was new and surprising name to the Europeans – in 1980 it was familiar, although still a bit mysterious. Those, who followed the development of the team since 1970 knew that Atletico Mineiro always managed to keep strong team with few stars for good measure. In 1980 the big name was Reinaldo – so big, observers still call the match Flamengo vs Reinaldo. But he was not alone: there were Joao Leite, Vantuir, and Valdemir, the second layer of Brazilian stars, who hardly ever made the national team because of fierce competition, but had great reputations nevertheless. Palhinha (not on the photo) was also there, plus Paulo Isidoro. And two bright youngsters, rapidly climbing up the football ladder – Toninho Cerezo and Eder (not on the photo). Both will be known around the world very soon and will be two of the most influential players of the 1980s. Judging by the names, Atletico Mineiro perhaps had stronger squad than Flamengo. But they lost. It was unjust decision, but rules are rules… the fact remains: Atletico Mineiro lost the title because of stronger semi-final opponent.

Champions at last: standing from left: Andrade, Marinho, Raul, Rondinelli, Carlos Alberto, Junior.

Crouching: Tita, Adilio, Nunes, Zico, Julio Cesar.

Coached by Coutinho, Flamengo had strong season indeed and perhaps deserved to win its first title. But their triumph was a bit tainted by the rule applied – to a point, the title was given ,not actually earned. And perhaps their squad was a bit weaker than Atletico Mineiro’s – good players, no doubt, but the real strength of the team was its attacking line – Zico, Nunes, and Tita. A good keeper by Brazilian standards – Raul. A bright young star, pushing his way up and up – Junior. Hardly a great squad, but that was the reality of Brazilian football – even the biggest clubs were unable to afford 11-12 great players on their payroll. Yet, Flamengo had a player making a difference, no matter the shortcomings of his teammates: Zico. He was no longer a promising youngster, but a true superstar at his prime. The victory of Flamengo was great mostly because of him – the greatest current Brazilian player had to wait almost 10 years until winning the title. To a point, it was the final recognition of his greatness: after all, a true star wins and so far he did not. Zico won at last, helped by a forward, who looked like the next big thing in Brazilian football – Nunes. His goals at the final were instrumental for the title and he was nicknamed ‘Artilheiro das Decisoes’. The Brazilian title rarely came to Rio de Janeiro so far, but victory of Flamengo hardly made the whole city proud. However, it made Flamengo’s long suffering fans proud at last – and they are the biggest number of fans in Brazil. Fair, unfair, at the end, it was victory for Zico and Brazil – can’t beat that.

The aftermath of the championship was the final table – unlike any other in the world, of course. Teams played different number of games, so naturally those with more matches earned more points and ended up higher. But four teams played fewer matches than anybody else and earned the least points – yet, they were ranked higher than 12 other clubs. Those were the newcomers from Level 2, which started – and finished – at the Second Phase of the championship. Because they started at higher phase, they were ranked higher than those eliminated in the First Phase, although they earned fewer points and played only 6 games. At he bottom finished Maranhao.

Not a club worth mentioning, really. They won zero matches, tied 4, and lost 5 in the First Phase. Their worse goal-difference placed them last – Flamengo PI had the same points, but slightly better goal-difference. At the top of the table were the finalists – nothing surprising: they went to the end, played the most games, earned the most points. The semifinalists all were placed at the top 4 places – thanks to their progression, because when it came to points Coritiba had a point less than Corinthians (5th). Corinthians had the same points as Internacional – 27 – and better goal-difference too, but Inter and Coritiba stepped down at the semifinals, reaching higher stage than Corinthians, thus, ended placed above. As a whole, it was a championship suspiciously designed for the big clubs – they all finished high in the final table. Which meant guaranteed participation in the next championship. But what meant to be at the bottom? Level 2 played for two promotional spots – yet, the promoted from the previous season were not originally included in the Level 1 participants: they still played Level 2. However, they were included in the Second Phase of Level 1 championship as well – thus, playing in two different championships in the same year. What about the next season, then? Were the bottom placed teams relegated? Level 1 formula and number of participating teams changed every year. Most likley the final table meant absolutely nothing, except providing some statistical order of the seasonal performance of Level 1 clubs. It was even a bit of a joke: if Flamengo’s title gave a bitter taste to many, look again at the so-called final table – in it Atletico Mineiro finishes with better record than Flamengo. Both teams had equal points, but Atletico Mineiro had more wins and better goal-difference. And as a final weirdness, one match was not even included in the final record – the tiebreaker between Guarani and America (Rio de Janeiro) was excluded. In reality it did not matter either… since it ended in a tie, goal-difference was the tiebreaker after all. Only in Brazil… try telling that to the happy fans of Flamengo.

The 1980 championship of Brazil was still the biggest mess in the world, although there was an effort to put some order in it. It was still named Copa Brasil, the 6th issue of the tournament – this was the top level, Level 1. Level 2 was named Taca de Prata, and Level 3 – Taca de Bronze. The three levels theoretically corresponded to three normal divisions in other countries. In reality it was the usual gigantic meandering Brazilian championship, slowly going from one stage to another, somewhat making it sure that no big club will be eliminated early, let alone going down to lower level. 44 clubs participated in Copa Brasil, 64 in Taca de Prata,and 24 in Taca de Bronze. It was not very clear what role the third level played in the general scheme and why the participants were much fewer than in the higher levels – normal logic told the opposite, but in Brazil everything was different. The role of the second level was more understandable – the 2 finalists of the championship were promoted to Level 1. As for Level 1, the numbers were reduced for the first time and, on a glance, drastically: 94 teams played in the V Copa Brasil – only 44 in VI Copa Brasil. 50% less – in another country is should have been a huge news. In Brazil, it was the usual back-room compromise between the clout big clubs had, the interests of sober members in the Federation, and the push of all members of the states making Brazil. So the names of the teams were still curious – some fairly known clubs were now in Level 2, but many little known clubs in Level 1. Perhaps no fairly known club was left outside the three top levels, but how exactly the lower two levels were made is a mystery. The top level was clear: teams were selected based on previous state championship, but depending on the lots every individual state was given. Sao Paulo had 7 berths, Rio de Janeiro – 5, Rio Grande do Sol – 3, Bahia, Ceara, Goias, Minas Gerais, Parana, and Pernambuco -2, and the rest – 1. Sounds simple, but it was not really – Brazil produced a general final table of the top level, but it was also arbitrary, for the lowest clubs played much fewer matches than those above. If all states had to be represented, relegation was a puzzle – the so-called final table would not do. And if not, what could be the criteria then? At the end, it was not even important for every year the format was different. Of course, the individual state championships remained with their better organized leagues and the competition between local championships and the national one remained as well. Financially, the clubs were chronically in a bad shape, which also increased tensions: on one hand, the clubs needed more games to get money. On the other, playing around the vast country meant losing money. The big clubs still preferred to play between themselves and in the local state league. The smaller states and their clubs argued that the national championship was the most important, partly in the hope that visiting big name would attract interest of paying public. Between the rock and the hard place the championship started and eventually finished. Level 3 was apparently of no interest. The clubs were never heard of outside Brazil – may be some of them were unheard of in Brazil too. The best known names were second raters from Rio de Janeiro – Madureira and Olaria. Those, who followed closely Brazilian football found Dom Bosco, which had great run a few years back in the top level, in Level 3. Sao Paulo had no representative.

Level 2 had some better known clubs playing in it – those, who for one or another reason were unable to make the quota of their states for Level 1. Vitoria (Vitoria), Sport (Recife), Paysandu (Belem), Goias (Goiania), Fortaleza (Fortaleza), Juventude (Caxias), Criciuma (Criciuma), Atletico Paranaense (Curitiba), Bonsucesso (Rio de Janiero), Bangu (Rio de Janeiro), Americano (Campos), America (Belo Horizonte), ABC (Natal) – in another country this group would be sufficient for a thorough second division, but in Brazil this group was just a small part of the huge Level 2 and hardly favourites.

Sport (Recife) – if they were not from the state of Pernambuco, they would have been in Level 1.

Campinense – champions of Paraiba two years in a row, but playing in Level 2 nationally.

Of course, not all states were equal in terms of football – River were champions of Piaui, but the state was nothing in football terms and the champions were only Level 2 nationally.

Stage by stage, the tournament distilled 4 teams reaching the semi-finals: Botafogo (Ribeirao Preto), CSA (Maceio), Londrina (Londrina), and Ferroviaria (Araraquara). Londrina eliminated Botafogo after winning both legs – 2-1 and 1-0, and CSA was the other finalist, also beating Ferroviaria twice – 1-0 both legs. The winners were promoted to Level 1 and had to play only for the Level 2 title – the final was also two legged, matches played in May. Londrina kept CSA at 1-1 tie in Maceio and then destroyed them at home 4-0. Londrina Esporte Clube were the 1980 champions of Taca de Prata.

CSA – Centro Sportivo Alagoano – were traditionally one the strongest clubs in the state of Alagoa. Nationally, they never ranked very high, but the boys from Maceio were still better then most and won promotion to Level 1. They were unable to win Taca do Prata, though, and had to be satisfied only with winning their state championship one more time. Yet, CSA was perhaps one of the closest approximation of what in most countries is a typical second division club – good enough to reach promotion now and then, unable to stay for long among the best, but sturdy enough not to sink bellow second level.

Londrina Esporte Clube – champions of Level 2 and promoted to Level 1. Great season overall and arguably one of the best in the club’s history.