Bolivia. From the second level emerged the single promoted team:
Chaco Petrolero (La Paz). They were going to take the place of another club from the capital in the 1982 championship:
Always Ready (La Paz) finished last in the first phase of the top league and were relegated. Always Ready were the weakest by far this year – they finished with 12 points, 5 less than the teams just above them in the table.
The Bolivian championship was simpler than most in South America, yet, still two-phased. At first standard league format was played and it was important for relegation and qualification to the next round. The last went down and the top 8 proceeded to cup format of direct eliminations.
The Strongest (La Paz) was confident winner of the first phase – after 26 rounds, they finished first with 38 points, scoring 71 goals. At this stage, three clubs were clearly above the rest of 14-team strong league: Bolivar (La Paz) and Oriente Petrolero ( Santa Cruz) finished 2nd and 3rd with 37 points each.
Bolivar took the 2nd place thanks to better goal-difference.
The 4th in the table, Petrolero (Cochabamba), lagged behind by 4 points. Superiority in normal league championship hardly means the same team would be unbeatable in cup format – direct elimination emphasizes on single-game concentration, not on steady performance. And the best clubs during the first phase went down – the semi-finals featured those, who finished from 5th to 8th place. Blooming (Santa Cruz, 5th in the first phase) and Jorge Wilstermann (Cochabamba, 6th in the first phase) reached the final, determined to get the title. After two legs there was no winner – 0-0 and 1-1. A third match was played in La Paz and only here Jorge Wilstermann clinched 1-0 victory.
Familiar champions and no objection to their performance, but… it was odd: the best teams in the first phase were better after playing full-league championship – 26 games. JorgeWilstermann simply eliminated two teams to reach the final. Anyhow, that was the formula and they won one more title. Not without the help of one big name: Jairzinho. He was 37-years old, technically retired since 1977 – at least according to some statisticians – but he did not even arrived from the club he ‘retired’ with, Portuguesa (Venezuela), but from Brazilian small club: Fast Club. And Jorge Wilstermann was not his last team either. One more trophy for the old star, mostly remembered for his performance at the 1970 World Cup. His career generally went downhill after 1970, but… trophies were added. One more for him, 8th title for Jorge Wilstermann. Everything looked great, nobody imagined that Jorge Wilstermann’s ‘third golden era’ just ended.