First Level – II Copa Uniao. 24 teams played in it – the 16 ‘rebel’ clubs, which organized the original outlaw Copa Uniao in 1987 plus 8 teams, which were ‘promoted’ from the ‘legal’ championship, when the Federation and the rebels reached agreement. This was the most orderly championship in 1988 and the structure of it, although still complex, was simplified. Confusion was still embedded in the rules, though – the biggest one is difficulty to distinguish this championship from the next: Brazil still recorded single year championship. But the 1988 championship finished on February 19, 1989. Meantime printed materials for the next season came out and they were titled 1988-89 season – the issue of ‘Placar’ dedicated to the new championship, for instance. To stay on track, one has to pay attention to the number of participants: there were 24 teams in the 1988 championship and 22 in the 1989 championship. In fact, the First Level had to be of 22 teams by the agreement between the Federation and the rebels from 1987, but back than protests lead to further compromise and artificially the number was increased to 24 – and now had to go down to the initial size. So, 4 teams were relegated this championship and 2 promoted from Second Level. The championship itself followed pretty much the formula of 1987: first phase, itself made of 2 stages, and second phase, played cup-formal, starting with ¼ finals to the final. Therefore, the first phase served for qualification of 8 teams to the ¼ finals and also ended with ‘final table’ – the bottom 4 teams were relegated.
The first phase was played in 2 groups of 12 teams each – in the first stage the teams from group 1 played only against the teams in group 2. In the second stage the teams played only against the other teams on their own group. Not very clear, but looked like the top 2 teams in the groups in every stage qualified to the ¼ finals. After that the ‘final’ table was made, combining the records of first and second stages, so in it every team had its full record of 23 games. Apart from decisive for relegation, the ‘final’ table served only one other purpose: in case some teams ended in the qualifying zone in both stages, the required number of 8 teams for the ¼ finals was made by teams with higher records – points – in this table. Just like in the Second Level, there were no ties, but penalty shoot-outs after a match ending in a draw. Thus, 3 points for straight win, 2 points for penalty shootout win, 1 points for penalty shootout loss, 0 points for straight loss. But after the first phase of the championship this rule did not apply, changing back to the classic system on win, tie, loss. Luckily, no major scandal erupted, but the strange rules affected the end of the championship – especially when one looks at the so-called ‘final’ table made after the first stage of the championship. Because of the complexity of the championship, here only this ‘final’ table and the next stage will be given:
Final Table – First Phase
1-Vasco da Gama 23 13 7/ 1 2 34-14 54 Qualified
2-Internacional 23 10 6/ 4 3 35-23 46 Qualified
3-Bahia 23 11 4/ 3 5 28-20 44 Qualified*
4-Portuguesa 23 12 2/ 3 6 28-21 43
5-Flamengo 23 11 3/ 4 5 32-19 43 Qualified
6-Sport 23 9 6/ 2 6 20-20 41 Qualified
7-Atlético-MG 23 8 6/ 4 5 22-22 40
8-São Paulo 23 9 4/ 4 6 21-18 39
9-Fluminense 23 9 3/ 5 6 24-17 38 Qualified
10-Grêmio 23 9 2/ 5 7 25-22 36 Qualified
11-Coritiba 23 8 5/ 2 8 20-17 36
12-Cruzeiro 23 8 1/ 8 7 26-21 34 Qualified
13-Goiás 23 5 8/ 3 7 21-21 34
Standing from left: Valter Nascimento, Jorge Batata, Uidemar, Eduardo, Néo, Ronaldo Castro. Crouching: Formiga, Fagundes, Sabará, Tiãozinho e Péricles.
14-Guarani 23 7 2/ 7 7 20-22 32
The photo may or may be not from 1988…
15-Corinthians 23 6 5/ 4 8 21-22 32
16-Palmeiras 23 7 3/ 4 9 21-22 31
17-Botafogo 23 7 3/ 4 9 17-22 31
18-Santos 23 7 3/ 4 9 19-25 18
19-Atlético-PR 23 5 5/ 6 7 18-17 31
20-Vitória 23 7 3/ 3 10 21-30 30
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
21-Bangu 23 4 6/ 4 9 15-22 28 Relegated
Standing from left: Gilmar, Oliveira, Joel, Macula, Toby, Márcio Nunes
First row: Gilson, Arturzinho, Gil, Israel, Pedrinho Vicençote.
22-Santa Cruz 23 5 5/ 2 11 19-28 27 Relegated
23-Criciúma 23 1 3/ 5 14 12-34 14 Relegated
24-América-RJ 23 2 1/ 5 15 11-31 13 Relegated
* – Since Vasco da Gama had already won the first stage, the final berth was
awarded to Bahia who had the better first phase record among the other 17
teams.
Here it is – rather strange, but such were the rules. Sao Paulo was technically the winner of the First stage. Their strong performance in both phases of it opened a spot for ¼ finals – and it went to Bahia, because of their best overall record (not counting the already qualified teams). Of course, one may wonder why the 4th overall team – Portuguesa – did not qualify, by the 12th in the ‘final’ table did, but such were the rules. At least relegation was clear: the last 4 in the ‘final’ table. Bangu (Rio de Janeiro), Santa Cruz (Recife), Criciuma (Criciuma), and America (Rio de Janeiro) went down to Second Level.
The next phase was classic cup format – direct elimination in 2 legs. No more penalty-shoot outs – ties counted as ties. And it was entirely played in early 1989…
¼ finals
Flamengo was eliminated by Gremio 0-0 and 0-1.
Sport (Recife) lost to Bahia on the away-goal rule: 1-1 at home and 0-0 away. The away-goal rule was applied only after extra time, however – it ended also scoreless.
Vasco da Gama lost to Fluminense: 1-0, then 1-2. In extra time Fluminense scored 2 goals and eliminated the strongest team in the first phase of the championship.
Cruzeiro was eliminated by Inter 0-0 and 0-2.
½ finals.
End of the road for Gremio, beaten by Inter 0-0 and 1-2.
Fluminense lost to Bahia 0-0 and 1-2.
The final – also played in 2 legs and well attended: the leg in Porto Alegre attracted nearly 80 000 spectators, for instance. But the home crowd was disappointed – the match ended 0-0 and Inter lost. The first leg was already played in it Bahia extracted 2-1 victory at home – Bobo scored twice for them and Inter managed to return only one goal, thanks to Leomir. It was very hopeful result, but Bahia kept its fragile advance in Porto Alegre and won the Brazilian championship.
Internacional (Porto Alegre) – the 1988 vice-champions of Brazil. Standing from left: Helder, Luiz Carlos Winck, Taffarel, Luis Fernando, Aloisio, Amarildo. Crouching: Norton, Norberto, Gilberto Costa, Laercio, Paulo Mattos. This is the squad in the first phase of the season – a different team played the final against Bahia, in which half of the players here did not appear. Compared to the great teams winning national titles in the 1970s, this team is somewhat weaker – but compared to Bahia… they looked stronger on paper. Also stronger by initial performance. Yet, they lost the final and that in front of their own fans.
Bahia (Salvador) prevailed in the final and won the Brazilian title for the first time. Glory to the champions! Champions, who were quite lucky… if not for double victory of Vasco da Gama in the First phase, they were not going to play in the ¼ finals – after all, by the rules, they failed to qualify directly. Playing good, no doubt – 3rd in the combined First phase final table – but… not qualifying directly. If Flamengo got one point more or Portuguese a point or two points more, Bahia would have ended its season after the First phase. But they were lucky to go ahead. And lucky in the ¼ finals, when they prevailed on away-goal rule, unable to beat Sport. Lady Luck was on their side, but who can blame them – the team fought to the end and prevailed. Not a squad full of famous players – which makes their victory both surprising and admirable. In any case it was victory of the underdog – always sweet. Of course, great historic moment for the club, its supporters, and the city of Salvador too. A glorious moment to be cherished, remembered and celebrated.