Category: 1980

Going north to Mexico. The mixture of European and American regulations make difficult long-term following of the country’s championships,especially the Second Division ones: too many changes too often. Since the clubs were franchises, they moved from place to place, changing their names as well. This season the teams reaching the final of the Second Division championship were Osos Grises and Atletas Campesinos. Neither name makes sense today. Osos Grises was not even the real name of the club – it was Club Deportivo del Estedo de Mexico, founded in 1976 in the city of Toluca. Young club, surely, and seemingly not just a former club moved to Toluca. They climbed rapidly from the lower levels of Mexican football to the Second Division, aiming even higher. As for the name, they were quickly nicknamed ‘Osos Grises’, because of their gray jerseys. The nickname stuck and practically replaced the real name even in official records. In the first leg of the final the new club seemed ready to go further – they managed a 0-0 tie away and needed only a small victory at home. Easy… but it was not: Atletas Campesinos won in Toluca – 2-1 – and became not only champion of Second Division, but, more importantly, promoted to top level.

Osos Grises reached their highest success in their, as it turned out, very brief history: the club disappeared soon after that final.

Only one club was promoted to First Division and naturally it was the champions of Second Division: Atletas Campesinos were the lucky guys.

The club hailed from Queretaro, but it was neither new one, nor the first team representing the city. Yet, it was… for it was found in 1977. At that time a businessman, named Armando Presa, bought two local clubs – Estudiantes and Gallos Blancos (the White Roosters) – and amalgamated them into a club freshly named Atletas Campesinos. So, the birthdate of the club is 1977 and thus its climb to the top level of Mexican football was even quicker than the similar one of Osos Grises. But… at least Gallos Blancos was older club and a franchisee: to a point, Atletas Campesinos ride on the back of the Gallos Blancos franchise. Which at the end affects the later story of the club founded in 1977 – it had short existence, but not a final date. Eventually, as a franchise, it moved to another city under new name. Eventually, Gallos Blancos re-emerged and went through its newer transitions. Let it be like that: the club died as a club, but remained as a franchise. There was even one more problem: the logo. The tractor was seen as an hidden advertisement, prohibited by the rules of the Mexican Federation, although the picture does not represent neither manufacturer, nor model. In the later transformations of the club the colours were restored, at least for awhile, but the logo had to go. In 1979-80 problems did not cloud the horizon yet – it was happy time: the club won promotion and became popular, for it suddenly gave the city of Queretaro a first division team. People loved it – the reason that the club has something of a cult status today: people fondly remember the name.

Champions of Second Division – after stumbling at home, Atletas Campesinos won 2-1 away and got promoted. Sky was the limit – so far, money were not a problem and the success was due to a coach with a famous name.

None other but Antonio Carbajal lead Atletas Campesinos to victory – the man, whose record 5 World Cup finals was matched only by the end of the 20th century, but remains unbeaten. Unfortunately, winning Second Division was the best achievement – soon financial troubles emerged and although a great star was added to the team in 1981, Atletas Campesinos suffered in First Division – and in 1982 there was no more such club: the franchise was sold. Nothing terrible was detected in 1980, though: it was fantastic season of 3-years old club.

Venezuela – arguably, the least complicated South American championship: 11-team professional league. No relegation. The first 6 teams go to final tournament after the standard first phase. The bottom five go to vacation. Eventual promotion from the lower level – very likely depending on financial requirements. Something no other South American country had: a Cup tournament as played in Europe – a separate tournament, not attached in some way to the championship. Atletico Zamora and Valencia FC competed at the final – Zamora won.

Atletico Zamora – the 1980 Cup winners of Venezuela. Some unknown Brazilians helped the club to the trophy.

The Second Level championship opposed Union Deportiva Valera to Falcon FC (Coro). Falcon FC won. They won in 1979 as well, but this victory was different – they were promoted to First Division. Curiously, the other first division team from Coro was also Falcon – but Atletico Falcon. A derby between birds next year.

The first phase of the first division championship was only important for deciding the 6 teams going to the final tournament. Deportivo Portugues was the hopeless outsider – they got only 9 points and scored 8 goals in 20 championship matches. But nothing to fear – no team faced relegation. Deportivo Galicia made another record – they tied 12 games, a league record. However, only Deportivo Portigues won less matches than them and Deportivo Galicia did not reach the final stage: they finished 8.

Deportivo Galicia – masters of ties.

The unlucky club was Deportivo Tachira – they finished 7th with 21 points: if they had one point more, they were to play the final tournament, for they had better goal-difference than 2 of the finalists.

But they lacked that one point and exited the championship with only one thing worth notice: lovely kit.

The lucky 6 were equal at this stage: 4 teams ended with 22 points – Deportivo Lara, Estudiantes de Merida, ULA Merida, and Atletico Zamora. Above them were Valencia FC with 25 points and Portuguesa FC with 29. Everything the top clubs got from the first stage was bonus points – Valencia 1 point for finishing 2nd, and Portuguesa – 2 points for finishing first. At this time Portuguesa appeared head and shoulders above the competition and the likeliest champion: they lost just a single match, they won most games, and received only 9 goals. But 2-staged championships are tricky: there are always teams playing just enough to qualified for the finals, preserving their strength for what really matters.

The final stage had one and only favourite and it was not Portuguesa. Atletico Zamora seemingly did not care much at this stage – they did not win even one match, finishing last with 5 ties and 5 losses. Like the first stage, 4 teams were more or less equal, but there was interesting development: except the champions, only one team finished with positive goal-difference. And it was not a medalist:

ULA – Universidad Los Andes (Merida) – finished with 12:11 goal-difference, but with 9 points, they were 4th in the final table.

Valencia FC was 3rd with 11 points – they would have been at the same place even without their bonus point, carried from the opening stage.

Portuguesa FC (Acarigua) was nothing much at this stage – they finished 2nd and like Valencia FC the 2 bonus points from the first stage did not matter, but they were not contenders. Supreme in the opening stage of the championship, now they were only distant second – 3 wins, 5 ties, 2 losses, and 9:10 goal-difference. Valencia finished with 9:11 goal-difference – medalists with negative goal-difference occurred now and then in football history, but it was just one such anomaly in a final table: here 2 of the three top teams finished with negative goal-difference. Perhaps unique event.

Which, of course, did not bother the strongest team at the slightest – Estudiantes de Merida soared at the final stage, leaving the rest far behind. 8 wins, 1 tie, 1 loss, 19:7 goal-difference. Hard to believe when looking at the final table of the first stage – and perhaps that was the trick: Estudiantes saved their strength for the final, fooling the competition with their originally mediocre performance. When it mattered, they were just too strong.

Champions in a grand way. Historic victory too – the first title for the club.

Estudiantes were formed in 1971 and 10 years later celebrated their first title – wonderful achievement for a young club, which was not even the number one club in their home town: ULA was. There was even a connection between the two clubs – it seemed that Estudiantes was something like farm-club to ULA, at least if one considers the people involved with organizing and running the clubs, and the obvious relation with the University Los Andes. Anyhow, ULA finished 4th and Estudiantes were the new champions of Venezuela.

 

The Ecuadorian championship needs its own note on the formula – like most South American countries, it had two stages. The 10-team league played twice identical standard league championship – the top three teams of each one qualified to the finals. But the bottom two teams were relegated and replaced with the corresponding winners of the Second Division. Thus, the country effectively had two championships in a year as far as relegation-promotion was concerned. Similarly to many countries around the world, the strongest football was concentrated in few cities: the 1980 season started with 4 teams from the capital, Quito, 3 from Guayaquil, and Manta, Cuenca, and Ambato completed the league. La primera etapa was won by Universidad Catolica (Quito) with 21 points. One point below finished Tecnico Universitario (Ambato), 2nd, and Barcelona (Guayaquil), 3rd, both with 20 points. These three qualified to the final stage, awarded with bonus points – 3 for the first, 2 for the second, and 1 for the third. If anything, La primera etapa did not have a team above the rest: all top three teams lost 5 out of the total 18 matches they played. 4 clubs finished with 17 points – the unfortunate 9th finisher had only 4 points less the the winners. Deportivo Cuenca (Cuenca) was the outsider – they earned only 14 points and were relegated. Manta (Manta) was relegated because of worse goal-difference, but they won 8 of their 18 championship matches – the only other team with the same number was Universidad Catolica, the stage winners. Meantime LDU (Cuenca) and Deportivo Quito (Quito) won the first stage of the Second Division and were promoted.

La segunda etapa produced different winner – El Nacional (Quito) with 24 points. They finished 7th in the first stage, so it was quite an improvement. Barcelona was second thanks to better goal-difference and America (Quito) was 3rd. Both teams finished with 22 points. The newcomer LDU (Cuenca) finished last with 13 points. The second relegated team was again decided by goal-difference, but it was interesting outsider: Deportivo Quito survived at the expense of Emelec ( Guayaquil).

Emelec, one of the best known Ecuadorian clubs, one of the most successful, the traditional powerhouse, suddenly had a weak season and instead of going up, plummeted down to second division football. They and LDU (Cuenca) were to be replaced in the next year by the winners of the second division second stage – LDU (Portoviejo) and Deportivo Cuenca (Cuenca).

Deportivo Cuenca started the 1980 season in First Division and was going to start 1981 again in First Division.

So much about the bottom – the top still had to play. The final stage consisted of the top three teams of each preliminary championships. Every team carried bonus points, depending on their position in the preliminary tables. Since Barcelona finished 3rd and 2nd in the two earlier championships, they started the final stage with 3 points – like the winners. They were the only club finishing among the top three in the both stages, thus reducing the ideal number of the finalists from 6 to 5. Once again the final tournament was played as standard league: every team played twice against all others. El Nacional was the weakest finalist – they did not win even one match. Three ties and 3 bonus points placed them 5th , 3 points behind the 4th. America ended next to last with 9 points – they were the 3rd strongest team at the final, earning 8 points, but had only 1 bonus point, and that decided their final position. Universidad Catolica apparently exhausted their strength in the opening stage – they won 2 matches, lost 2, and tied 4 at the final tournament – way too little for anything but 3rd place and that thanks to their 3 bonus points. Bonus points decided the championship: Tecnico Universitario was the strongest among the finalists – 5 wins, 1 tie, and 2 losses. But their 11 points, plus 2 bonus points, equaled the record of Barcelona, which earned 10 points at the final stage and had 3 bonus points. Goal-difference favoured no club – both leaders finished with +3. The title was decided by more goals scored… Tecnico Universitario scored 11 at the final stage – Barcelona scored 12 and grabbed the title.

Tecnico Universitario (Ambato) had both great and unfortunate season – they lost the title because of one goal they did not score, yet, they got the second Ecuadorian spot in Copa Libertadores.

May be lucky at the end, but Barcelona was most deserving, if one looks at the whole season – they were consistently strong, finishing gradually higher at every next stage – 3rd, 2nd, and when it mattered most – 1st. The squad was nothing much by international standards and could not be, considering the level of Ecuadorian football at the time. As in all smaller South American countries, foreigners were the main force – but they were not famous stars. Brazilians were the imports here – nobody heard of two of them, Nei ( or Ney – real name: Dirnei Celestino, a prolific scorer) and Escurinho, but the third one must be pointed out: the veteran goalkeeper Manga. Despite the stigma of having been a member of the 1966 World Cup Brazilian squad – ‘the worst of all time’ – he was always a winner. After conquering the world with Nacional (Montevideo) at the beginning of the 1970s, winning the Brazilian title with Internacional (Porto Alegre) in the mid-70s, now he was starting a new decade with a title. Manga was 43 years old! He arrived from Gremio (Porto Alegre). Years back he played with much younger Escurinho (b. 1950) for Inter (Porto Alegre). Like Manga, Escurinho was new recruit, coming from Coritiba (Curitiba). The 4th Brazilian was illustrious striker, who arrived from Colombian Independiente Medellin earlier than Manga and Escurinho – in 1977. His name is… tough.

Vitor Epanor da Costa Filho was born in 1949 and played a bit at home, but really made his name abroad – mostly playing in Colombia. There his name was slightly changed and never really stabilized: he was called Victor Ephanor or Victor Epanhor. Never mind, he scored goals and plenty of them.

Some of Ephanor’s goals were spectacular – no wonder he became a legend in Colombia and Ecuador. Misterious name, yet Ephanor is less of a mystery than his new teammates – usually Manga and Escurinho are listed as Barcelona players from 1981 and 1980 is given as the year they played fro their former Brazilian clubs – but Ecuadorian statistics list them as Barcelona players for 1980 season. May be they started the year in Brazil and finished in Ecuador? Who knows.

Four good Brazilians plus few Ecuadorians, the best of whom perhaps was Juan Madrunero.

Juan Madrunero – arguably, the best Ecuadorian midfielder of the 1970s.

By all accounts – strong squad. At least by Ecuadorian measures – hence, the great season and the 6th title for Barcelona. Their first since 1971 – excellent beginning of new decade.

Bolivia. The only country with regular, uncomplicated championship in South America this year. The 14-team league had representatives of only 6 cities – La Paz and Santa Cruz had 4 teams each, Cochabamba – 3, and Oruro, Potosi, and Sucre – 1 each. Below them was a wider tournament was played – a second level championship, which winner was promoted to the top professional league. As for the first league, perhaps the most impressive thing was high scoring: at that time scoring rapidly declined everywhere, so to have 3.79 goal-average was nice. The numbers, however, were not because fantastic football was played in Bolivia, but because most clubs were weak.

Independiente Petrolero (Sucre) won the second level championship and was promoted. For the first time in their history they were going to play first division football – naturally, wonderful achievement, especially because Independiente Petrolero did better than their city rivals Stormers. As it happened, they were taking their place.

Stormers, an old and occasionally successful club, had very bad season – and not only season: it was more or less the end of them. The club never really recovered, no doubt the key reason was lack of money.

Stormers – or Stormer’s Sporting Club, as it is the full name, corrupted with time to Stormers – were pathetic outsiders this season. They won 2 matches, tied 2 , and lost 22. Their defense was really nothing – in 26 championship matches they received 103 goals. Memorable… on the negative side of records. Stormers were so bad, no other club of top flight had to fear relegation. But with Stormers down, Sucre suddenly was coming to the sad moment of not having first division team… luckily, Independiente Petrolero won promotion.

Even with an outsider, the first division was divided in three different groups: lowly teams at the bottom, quite below the rest – Independiente Unificada ( Potosi) – 13th, Always Ready (La Paz) – 12th, and Aurora (Cochabamba) – 11th. Above them was slightly better group – Real (Santa Cruz), San Jose (Oruro), Guabira (Santa Cruz), and Municipal (La Paz).

Guabira (Santa Cruz) – a typical smallish Bolivian club. 8th this year. More then half of the league was quite weak, but even those above them were not particularly great. Oriente Petrolero (Santa Cruz), Blooming (Santa Cruz), and Bolivar (La Paz) were clearly stronger than most of the league, but not for a minute they challenged the top league spots.

Bolivar – 4th this year, which amounted to very weak season for them. Bronze medals were way out of their reach – 4 points away at the end. Bolivar had the second best scoring record, though – 68 goals.

Two clubs fought for 2nd and 3rd place – an important battle, because the 2nd in the final table was getting the second Bolivian spot in Copa Libertadores. One point decided the lucky team.

Petrolero (Cochabamba) lost the battle and finished with bronze, but they had curious season: apparently, their approach was defensive. They lost only one match – no other club matched their record – but tied also a record number of games: 12.

The Strongest (La Paz) prevailed in the battle with Petrolero thanks to winning – they won 17 matches and eventually ended one point better than their rivals. However, 2nd place was hardly a success for a club used to trophies and this year they never came near the leaders. There was a single club dominating the championship: Jorge Wilstermann. Usual suspects, of course, but they were overwhelmingly strong. 22 wins, 2 ties, and 2 losses. 75-14 goal-difference – best strikers and best defenders. The Strongest finished 7 points behind – Jorge Wilstermann had no rival at all.

Solid champions, one more title going to Cochabamba. 7th title and a period called by the club ‘the third golden era’. A short ‘era’ it may have been, but success is success and this was the first title Jorge Wilstermann won since the Bolivian league became fully professional.

Colombia with her own strangely twisted championship – two-phased, like in most of South America, but unlike almost any championship in the world. Torneo Apertura was played as normal league championship. The final table, however informed the second phase. The top two teams qualified to the final round. The rest, depending on their final standing in the Apertura moved to either Group A – the top 7 teams, or Group B – the bottom 7 teams, of Torneo Finalizacion. Deportivo (Cali) and Atletico Junior (Baranquilla) finished with equal points at the top – 35 each – and goal-difference decided the winner of Apertura:

Atletico Junior bested Deportivo Cali with +20 goals vs +17. Both teams moved to the semi-final round of the championship, yet, still had to play Torneo Finalizacion. Goal difference was also the dividing point for 4 clubs in the middle of the table – 2 stayed among the top 7, Millonarios and America, and two moved to the lower placed teams in Group B – Atletico Nacional and Independiente Santa Fe.

Torneo Finalizacion is a bit puzzling: every team played 21 matches – a number making no sense. Perhaps some results and points were carried from Apertura, but even that does not fit well. Anyhow, one thing was sure: that at least two teams of Group A had nothing to play for, since they already qualified to the next stage. And Atletico Junior did not play seriously – they finished last in Group A with 10 points, 4 less than the tema immediately above them. Deportivo Cali acted differently – they played seriously and finished first in the group. Once again goal-difference decided the first and second, but this time Deportivo prevailed – Millonarios had worse record. But Millonarios had nothing to worry about – they qualified to the semi-final round too.

Group B was not as easy as Group A.

With 28 points Cucuta Deportivo won the group and moved to the semi-finals. The second spot had to be determined by extra play-off: Atletico Nacional and Deportes Tolima finished not only with equal points, but with the same goal-difference as well.

Deportes Tolima lost the first play-off match 0-4 and was unable to recover at the home leg – they won, but only 1-0 and Atletico Nacional went to the semi-finals.

Eight teams divided again into 2 round-robin groups played the semi-finals. The top two teams of each group moved to the final tournament. A quick look at the participants… and one is puzzled. Atletico Junior and Deportivo Cali qualified from Torneo Apertura. Millonarios qualified from Group A of Torneo Finalizacion. Cucuta Deportivo and Atletico Nacional qualified from Group B of Torneo Finalizacion. That makes 5 teams… America (Cali) classified as well, but why? They finished 7th in the Apertura and 3rd in Group A of Finalizacion – unless they were allowed to go ahead because the winner of Group A was already qualified to play from the Apertura. The last 2 teams were Once Caldas and Deportivo Pereira. Why? They were 4th and 5th in Group A of Finalizacion. Third and 4th and the Apertura. At least looking at the final tables, that seems to be reason: they were the teams just below those leading both tournaments and getting qualification spots from either the one or the other championship. But if one is just below the best, the trend continues – Once Caldas and Deportivo Pereira finished 3rd and 4th in semi-final Group B. Normal round-robin was played, no points were carried from earlier stages, and after 6 games Atletico Junior and Atletico Nacional ended at the top of Group B, going to the final stage. Atletico Junior were curious winners of the group – they finished with negative goal-difference – 8-10. Champions, allowing more goals than they scored. On the other hand Once Caldas scored the most goals at this stage – 17. The next high scorers finished with 11, but unlike Once Caldas, they both qualified to the final.

No anomalies in Group A – America, having weak season so far, finally found their form and finished first. Deportivo Cali got the second qualification and Millonarios and Cucuta Deportivo were eliminated.

Once Caldas, the best scorers by far at the semi-finals, but unable to reach the final stage.

And the Final Quadrangle at last – again a round-robin group, every team playing twice against the rest, no points carried from earlier stages. The winner is the new Colombian champion and second placed team goes to Copa Libertadores as the second Colombian representative. No surprising heroics from the teams, which stayed in the shadows during the year: Atletico Nacional did not win a single match and finished last with 4 ties and 2 losses.

America (Cali) got bronze with 1 win, 2 ties, and 3 losses.

Strong season for Deportivo Cali (Cali) – they finished 2nd with 2 wins, 3 ties, and 1 loss. Scored most goal in the final tournament, but also had leaky defense, so they were not exactly a contender – they were second best from start to finish this year. They got the second Colombian spot for Copa Libertadores, so, overall, it was excellent season.

Standing from left: Dulio Miranda, Gabriel Berdugo, Omar Alfredo Galván, Jesús “Toto” Rubio, Rafael Reyes, Juan Carlos Angel Delménico.

First row: Fernando Fiorillo, Oscar Bolaño, Juan Miguel Tutino, Miguel Angel Converti, Bonifacio Martínez.

Atletico Junior (Barranquilla) deservingly triumphed – perhaps their tactic helped: they slowed down at the beginning of Torneo Finalizacion. It was meaningless stage for them, since they already qualified to the semi-finals by winning Torneo Apertura, and very likely saved strength for the final effort. There they made no mistake. At the final, they did not lose at all – 3 wins and 3 ties. Los Tiburones (The Sharks) won their second title. This was a period when Argentine coaches were at the helm of the club, but the current one was the oldest and most famous:

Jose Varacka coached Atletico Junior to their first title in 1977, and now, in his second spell, won again. He was yet to coach Atletico Junior in the 1980s – twice. As a general note, the club had the habit of hiring same coach again and again – Varacka was not exception: Brazilian coach Othon Dacunha coached Junior in 1969, 1982, and 2003; the great Uruguayan Luis Alberto Miloc – 1967-68, 1969-71, 1975; the Colombian Marcos Coll – 1973, 1975, 1981, 1982. So far, the record holds Julio Avelino Comesana – he coached Atletico Junior on six occasions (the latest was very short spell in the spring of 2014). But Varacka made them champions twice in his first spells.

Paraguay – nothing special, apparently.

Resistencia SC won the Second Division for a third time – after they did so in 1966 and 1975. One of the many clubs located in Asuncion, but deserving a note. Resistencia was found in 1917, but was hardly heard of. The reason is their location: Resistencia hails from barrio Ricardo Brugada, one of the poorest parts not only of Asuncion, but of the entire country. Money was scarce, indeed, but also there was local competition – three more clubs are situated in the neighbourhood: Oriental, San Felipe, and 3 de Febrero. Too many clubs in such an area mean none had money or chance for having any. Winning Second Division was heroic success therefore.

Predictable First Division…

Cerro Porteno finished 2nd. Not much for them, since only titles count, but those years belonged to their rivals.

Olimpia dominated Paraguayan football – they won their 3rd consecutive championship and this victory was not at all the end of their run. It was practically the same team, which conquered the world the previous year – one of the best formations in the history of Paraguayan football. Alas, such a team automatically makes championships boring: the winner is known in advance.

The Peruvian First Division had less complicated formula than most South American championship: a standard league format was played at first and after it the top 4 teams moved to play a final tournament, deciding the title and the second Copa Libertadores participant. The bottom 4 played relegation tournament – the last in it was directly relegated and the 3rd finisher – a promotion-relegation play-off against the losing finalist of the Copa Peru. All teams carried their records from the first stage – a rule, which, at least theoretically, could make the final stage meaningless. Half the league – those between 5th and 12th place in the opening stage – had a vacation after the first stage. So, two of the best Peruvian clubs finished early – Alianza and Universitario had a weak season. Alianza finished 5th and Universitario – 9th. Add Deportivo Municipal (Lima).

Standing from left: Raúl Obando, Franco Navarro, Rodolfo Quijaite, Duilio Poggi, Avila, Humberto Ballesteros,

First row: Pedro Bonelli, Eduardo Malásquez,  Adhemir Arroé, Hugo Sotil, Roberto “Titín” Drago. Having Hugo Sotil did not help Deportivo Municipal – they finished 6th.

At the bottom of the table were Sport Boys (Callao) – 13th with 25 points, Melgar F.B.C. (Arequipa) – 14th with 25 points, Coronel Bolognesi (Tacna) – 15th with 24 points, and Juventud La Palma (Huacho) – last with 21 points. They made the relegation group, with Juventud La Palma obviously weaker than the rest. After 6 more matches between themselves, the clubs finished as they started: Melgar got the most points and exchanged places with Sport Boys, but the the other two maintained their starting positions.

Juventud La Palma added just 2 points in the last stage, unable to beat anybody – 2 ties – and ended last and relegated with 23 points. Nothing surprising, really. Coronel Bolognesi was also weak – 1 win, 3 ties, and 2 losses in the final stage kept them well ahead of Juventud La Palma, but also well below Sport Boys and Melgar F.B.C. They finished next to last and went to play relegation-promotion play-off against Gonzales Prada (Lima), the losing finalist of the Copa Peru. At last the boys from Tacna prevailed – they won both legs 2-0.

Standing from left: Héctor Revoredo, José Zevallos, Luis Advíncula, Amado Tejada, Reynaldo Bernaola.

First row: Américo Nieri, Victorino Vicente, Moisés Chumpitaz, Luis Gil, Enrique Boné, Roberto Zevallos.

A weak season, although not exactly a surprise, Coronel Bolognesi managed to keep their place in the First Division.

Most important was the final top group: Asociacion Deportiva (Tarma) – 4th with 36 points, Alfonso Ugarte (Puno) – 3rd with 36 points, Atletico Torino (Talara) – 2nd with 38 points, and Sporting Cristal (Lima) – 1st with 41 points. Looked like a provincial challenge to Lima dominance, but only at a glance. The stronger and more realistic impression was that Sporting Cristal had no real opponent – and this was right: in the final stage they only increased the distance between themselves and the rest. Alfonso Ugarte dropped to 4th place with final 40 points. Asociacion Deprotiva moved to 3rd place with 42 points – not bad for them, ending the season with bronze medals. Atletico Torino kept second position with 44 points.

Standing from left: Don Ítalo Espinoza, Percy Maldonado, Fernando Guerrero, Julio Núñez del Prado, Jaime Delly, Manuel Carrizales.

First row: Percy Gómez, Lucho Vitonera, José Zapata, Paco Montero, Jorge Jaramillo y Humberto Correa.

Unable to really win the championship, but wonderful season for Atletico Torino – they qualified to play in the Copa Libertadores.

Familiar new champions – standing from left: Carlos Carbonel, José Navarro, Juan Carlos Oblitas, Ruben Díaz, Hector Chumpitaz, Ramón Quiroga.

First row: Roberto Mosquera, Alfredo Quezada, Oswaldo Ramirez, Julio Cesar Uribe, Julio Aparicio.

Sporting Cristal had easy sailing to another victory – at least by looking at dry numbers. Looking at their squad, it also made sense – compared to the competition, Sporting Cristal had superior team: Chumpitaz, Oblitas, Uribe, Quiroga. Tradition was also on their side – who else, if not Alianza, Universitario, or them. Since the chief adversaries were weak this year, it was only logical Sporting Cristal to be the winner.

Second title in a row, their 7th all together – Sporting Cristal really established itself during the 1970s. Not bad for a club named after beer brand.

 

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.