Category: 1987

First Division. One team dominated the championship and won it in spectacular way.
San Luis – last with 14 points and relegated.
Rangers – 15th with 25 points and relegated.
Lota Schwager – 14th with 26 points. Twice unlucky – worse goal-difference forced to promotion/relegation play-offs against the second-placed teams in the Second Division and then worse goal-difference relegated them.
Deportes Concepcion – lucky 13th: equal points with Lota Schwager, but better goal-difference saved them. Actually, not even goal-difference, but more scored goals – they and Lota Schwager finished with -9, but Lota Schwager scored 24 goals and Deportes Concepcion 31.

Union Espanola – now, they survived on better goal-difference: 26 points too, but -5 goal-difference placed them 12th.
Deportes Iquique – 11th with 27 points.
Huachipato – the photo may be or may be not one from 1987, but they finished 10th for sure with 28 points.
Palestino – 9th with 29 points.
Fernandez Vial – 8th with 29 points.
Everton – 7th with 29 points.
Naval – 6th with 30 points.
Universidad de Chile – 5th with 31 points.
Cobresal – 4th with 34 points and young Ivan Zamorano getting noticed.
Cobreloa – 3rd with 38 points.
Colo-Colo – 2nd with 39 points.
Universidad Catolica – champions with 49 points.
What a season they had! 21 wins, 7 ties, and only twice left the field beaten. Scored 51 goals – the only team passing the 50-mark – and allowed only 16 in their net, almost 0.5 goals average and the only team which received less than 28 goals this season. Absolutely dominant. Won their 6th title.
The champions were rightly called ‘El Boom’ this season, but it would be well remembered for the next 10 years brought nothing.

South Zone.
Union Santa Cruz – last with 20 points and relegated.
Deportes Laja – unfortunate 13th with 21 points: relegated on worse goal-difference.
Magallanes – 12th with 21 points. Survived on better goal-difference.
General Velasquez – 11th with 23 points.
Deportes Linares – 10th with 24 points.
Provincial Osorno – 9th with 24 points.
Malleco Unido – 8th with 25 points.
Nublense – 7th with 26 points.
Iberia Biobio – 6th with 28 points.
Deportes Puerto Montt – 5th with 29 points.
Curico Unido – 4th with 29 points.
Deportes Temuco – 3rd with 30 points.
O’Higgins – 2nd with 32 points and going to promotion/relegation play-offs.
Deportes Valdivia – champions of the South Zone with 35 points from 11 wins, 13 ties, 2 lost games, and 30-15 goal-difference. Great success for the club – First Division was just a dream for them so far, but now they were going to rub shoulders with the best.

Promotion/relegation tournament after the regular season between the second-placed teams in the Second Division Zones and the 14th in the First Division: O’Higgins, Regional Atacama, and Lota Schwager. Regional Atacama lost both games and ended last with 0 points. Goal-difference decided the winners: O’Higgins and Lota Schwager won their matches against Regional Atacama and tied the game against each other, but the final table shows discrepancy, suggesting that may be something else was counted: O’Higgins finished with 3-1 goal-difference and Lota Schwager with 1-2 goal-difference. Such numbers are impossible given the record of win and tie. The goal records simply make no sense, for Regional Atacama ended with 0-3. But it was goal-difference counted at the end and according to it, impossible or not, O’Higgins came on top.
O’Higgins happily promoted to First Division. No matter the controversy, it was happy moment for them – return to First Division!

Chile. The First Division was reduced to 16 teams, three relegated – and three promoted from Second Division. The championship started in July 1987 and ended in January 1988, but but still counts as 1987 season. Second Division was divided into 2 zones of 14 teams each. The winners were directly promoted, the 2nd placed teams went to promotion/relegation play-offs with the 14th in First Division. The last two in each zone were relegated to third level. The only strange rule was that teams reaching semi-finals or finals in the Copa Polla Gol got bonus points included in their league records.
North Zone
Quintero Unido – last with 13 points and relegated.
Ivan Mayo – 13th with 18 points and relegated. Standing from left: Valencia, Agresta, Zavala, Díaz, Gatica, Kirk. First row: Longoni, López, Benzi, Verdejo. Puntarell.
Soinca Bata – 12th with 19 points.
Union La Calera – 11th with 21 points. Standing from left: Miranda, Ortega, Fernández, Jélvez, Figueroa, Sandoval. Crouching: Leiva, Valenzuela, Ríos, Rivera, Tapia.
Cobreandino – 10th with 23 points. Trasandino was renamed Cobreandino in 1985 and played under the new name until 1992.
Union San Felipe – 9th with 26 points.
Audax Italiano – 8th with 27 points.
Deportes Arica – 7th with 28 points.
Santiago Wanderers – 6th with 29 points.
Deportes Ovalle – 5th with 30 points.
Coquimbo Unido – 4th with 31 points.They had 1 bonus point added for reaching the semi-finals of Copa Polla Gol.
Antofagasta – 3rd with 32 points.

Regional Atacama – 2nd with 33 points. Going to promotion/relegation play-offs.
Deportes La Serena – champions of North Zone with 37 points. 12 wins, 11 ties, 3 losses, 45-22 goal-difference. Promoted to the top division, which was a return to top flight for the club.

Colombia. The usual 2-staged championship with bonus points awarded to the top teams carried to the third final stage.
Torneo “Héctor Mesa Gómez” [Apertura]
Group A Teams
Standing from left: Eduardo Pimentel, Miguel Prince, Gildardo Gómez, Hernando García, Cerveleón Cuesta, Fabio Calle. Firt row: Arnoldo Iguarán, Oscar Juárez, Jair Abonía, Juan Carlos Díaz y Rubén Darío Hernández.
1.Millonarios 14 6 7 1 27-17 19
2. Atlético Nacional 14 6 5 3 17-11 17
3. Deportivo Cali 14 5 5 4 21-16 15
4. Deportes Tolima 14 4 6 4 16-16 14
5. Once Caldas 14 3 6 5 22-24 12
6. Cúcuta Deportivo 14 4 2 8 10-22 10
7. Unión Magdalena 14 2 6 6 14-19 10

Group B Teams

1. América de Cali 14 7 5 2 29-14 19
2. Atlético Junior 14 6 6 2 22-18 18
3. Independ. Santa Fe 14 5 4 5 27-18 14
4. Deportivo Pereira 14 5 4 5 17-24 14
5. Atl. Bucaramanga 14 4 4 6 16-19 12
6. Deportes Quindío 14 2 8 4 15-20 12
7. Indep. Medellín 14 4 2 8 17-30 10

Extra Series Teams
Standing from left: Carlos Enrique “Gambeta “Estrada, Luis Norberto Gil, Miguel Augusto Prince, Hernando “Mico” García, Gildardo Gómez, Fabio “La Gallina” Calle
Crouching: Gabriel Jaime “Barrabás” Gómez, Arnoldo “Guajiro” Iguarán, Eduardo Pimentel, Rubén Darío Hernández y Juan Carlos “Nene “Díaz
1. Millonarios 2 1 1 0 3- 1 3
2. América de Cali 2 0 1 1 1- 3 1
3. Atlético Nacional 2 1 0 1 4- 2 2
4. Atlético Junior 2 1 0 1 2- 4 2
Torneo “Carlos Arturo Mejía” [Clausura]
Standing from left: Wilman Conde, Osvaldo Cousillas, Miguel Prince, Germán Gutiérrez, Mario Vanemerak, Hernando “Mico” García. Crouching: Gabriel Jaime “Barrabás” Gómez, Eduardo Pimentel, Arnoldo Iguarán, Oscar “Pajaro” Juárez, Mario Hernán Videla
1. Millonarios 26 17 6 3 47-29 40
2. Atlético Nacional 26 15 6 5 37-22 36
3. América de Cali 26 11 8 7 32-17 30
4. Independ. Santa Fe 26 11 8 7 41-29 30
5. Deportivo Cali 26 10 9 7 44-31 29
6. Deportivo Pereira 26 9 11 6 31-26 29
7. Independ. Medellín 26 10 8 8 28-29 28
8. Atletico Junior 26 9 10 7 38-29 28
9. Atl. Bucaramanga 26 8 10 8 22-25 26
10. Deportes Quindío 26 8 9 9 33-37 25
Standing from left: Carlos Mario Estrada, Américo Quiñones, Miguel Angel Wirst, Danilo Robledo, Castillo Valencia, Garcés.
First row: Guillermo ‘el tanque’ La Rosa (Perú), Juán Bautista Sanclemente, Roberto Mosquera, Leonel Tello, Cesar Cueto (Perú).
11. Cúcuta Deportivo 26 6 5 15 25-38 17
12. Unión Magdalena 26 6 5 15 18-36 17
13. Deportes Tolima 26 4 8 14 22-44 16
Standing from left: : Mina Camacho, Betancur, NN, Rincon, NN, Marin. Front row: Vizcaino, Suarez, Rada, NN, Gutierrez.
14. Once Caldas 26 4 5 17 19-45 13

Bonus Table Team “Héctor Mesa” “Carlos Mejía” Total
1. Millonarios 1.00 1.00 2.00
2. Atlético Nacional 0.50 0.75 1.25
2. América de Cali 0.75 0.50 1.25
3. Atlético Junior 0.25 0 0.25
4. Independiente Santa Fe 0 0.25 0.25
Octagonal Final Teams
1. Millonarios 14 7 6 1 24- 8 2.00 22 Libertadores Cup
2. América de Cali 14 6 7 1 12- 6 1.25 20.25 Libertadores Cup
3. Independiente Santa Fe 14 7 4 3 15-11 0.25 18.25
4. Atlético Nacional 14 6 5 3 26- 9 1.25 18.25
Standing from left: Lorenzo Carrabs (Uru), Pedro Blanco, Carlos Ischia (Arg), Francisco Castell, Alexis Mendoza, Gabriel Martínez.
Crouching: William Nigth, Carlos Araujo, José María Vieta (Arg), Jose Daniel Ponce (Arg), Juan Carlos Abello.
5. Atlético Junior 14 5 6 3 13-10 0.25 16.25
6. Deportivo Cali 14 3 6 5 12-16 0 12
7. Deportivo Pereira 14 1 3 10 6-26 0 5
8. Independiente Medellín 14 1 3 10 6-28 0 5
That was it – with all principle stars of the great generation which made Colombian football more than respected around the world (Valderama, Huquita, Perea, Rincon, etc) in place, the champions were new and relatively unusual: Millonarios broke America’s supremacy in most convincing manner.
Third row from left: Cerveleón Cuesta, José Antonio Díaz, Eduardo Pimentel, Wilman Conde, Omar Franco, Rubén Osvaldo Cousillas, Fabio Calle, Miguel Augusto Prince, Alirio Girón, Germán Gutiérrez de Piñeres, Eduardo Oscar Juárez.
Middle row: Mario Hernán Videla, Carlos Enrique Estrada, Eduardo Porras (U), Gonzalo Guzmán (AT), Darío Vélez (PF), Luis Augusto García (DT), Rafael Baracaldo (PF), César Rubens (K), Mario Vanemerak, Wilfredo Rincón.
Sitting in front: Hernando García, Juan Carlos Díaz, Jair Abonía, Hugo Galeano, Arnoldo Iguarán, Gabriel Quimbaya, Daniel Segura, Jorge Raigoza, Rubén Darío Hernández, Carlos Meza.
Millonarios won its 12th title. It was their firstr since 1978, but more sugnificantly was that they stopped long America’s dominance – 6 title after 1978, 5 in a row already. It is this string of consecutive titles which Millonarios stopped most convincingly by winning every stage of the 1987 championship. And it was done without help from the greatest Colombian stars at the time, all of whom played for other clubs.

First Division. 13 teams, one relegated. The system seemingly was like the Argentine – with separate relegation table, keeping track of the few recent season and the the team with lowest percent average was going down, but this year there was a need of additional play-off between Rampla Juniors (last in the championship) and Miramar Misiones (11th). Miramar Misiones eventually prevailed 1-2, 1-0, and 2-1.
Rampla Junjors – 13th with 17 points. Relegated after losing the relegation play-off.
Huracan Buceo – 12th with 18 points.
Miramar Misiones – 11th with 18 points. Escaped relegation by winning the relegation play-off.
Central Espanol – 10th with 19 points.
Cerro – 9th with 21 points.
Penarol – 8th with 23 points. May be too involved in international football to concentrate in the championship – terrible season, really.
Progreso – 7th with 25 points.
Danubio – 6th with 25 points.
Wanderers – 5th with 27 points.
River Plate – 4th with 28 points.
Bella Vista – 3rd with 28 points.
Nacional – 2nd with 30 points.
Defensor – 1st with 33 points. 14 wins, 5 ties, 5 losses, 32-18. Clearly a team based on strong defense – they were outscored by 4 teams, but allowed the least goals in the league – less than one par game, average. The squad does not ring any bells, but since Nacional and Penarol had rather lean and anonymous teams, Defensor was equal and with ambition, discipline, and motivation won the championship.

Defensor won its 2nd title, which was great success and in country dominated forever by two clubs, such victory was instantly historic and well remembered. Their success also continued the tendency of breaking the dominance of Nacional and Penarol, characteristic of the 1980s. Well deserved title, excellent season, and brave success of the underdog.

Uruguay. The only straightfoward championship on the continent. Second Division – 10 teams. The top 4 continued additional tournament after the regular season, carrying the points they already had, and the winner was promoted.
Oriental (La Paz) – last with 4 points. The first team outside Montevideo to reach second level, but relegated immediately.

Rentistas – 9th with 11 points.
El Tanque Sisley – 8th with 14 points.
Villa Teresa – 7th with 16 points.
Italiano – or Deportivo Italiano, or Sportivo Italiano. 6th with 17 points. Unsure about the photo – may be not from this season, but at least from the period.
Liverpool – 5th with 23 points.
Cerrito – 4th with 23 points. Cerrito, however, did not go to the promotion stage – additional play-off against Liverpool may have been played and they lost, or something else was a factor for their exclusion.
Fenix – 3rd with 23 points.
Racing – 2nd with 24 points.
Sud America – 1st with 25 points. 10 wins, 5 ties, 3 losses, 36-16 goal-difference. Cliched the league top place, but rules were against them.

Liguilla Final – a round-robin tournament in which the contenders played once against the others.
Fenix – 4th with 24 points. (23+1). Standing from left: Daniel Arias, Nelson Peña, Julio Acuña, José Aguiar, Nelson Acosta, ?
Crouching: Fabiano Pereyra, José Chileli, Jorge Bertolio, Daniel Malceñido, ?.
Sud America – or IASA – 3rd with 26 points (25+1)
Racing – 2nd with 28 points (24+4). Standing from left: José Fleitas, Fernando Santos, Luis Dagnino, Orlando Carballo, Laones Galli, Rafael Bonavía.
Front row: Luis Miraglia, Ayala, Fernando Vilar, Gustavo Acosta, Leonardo García.
Liverpool – 1st with 29 points (23+6). Perfect final stage – they won all their games, 3 of 3, scoring 12 goals and allowing only 3. So, Liverpool was Second Division champion and promoted back to First Division.

Green Module – or COPA UNIÃO. Or I COPA UNIÃO – 1st COPA UNIÃO. The bottom line was that the big Brazilian clubs were never happy with the National championship for all kinds of right and wrong reason. That led to constant compromises to somewhat accommodate them, but now a pretext for breakaway was found: it was petty, but depending to whom – Botafogo and Coritiba were left out of the originally formulated national championship of 28 teams. Roughly, the exclusion was based on weak performance, a relegation of a kind. But big clubs cannot be relegated… Botafogo and Coritiba went to the courts and won their case. Back in the top level… which immediately led to many other clubs making the same claim for inclusion. As a result of the mess, “Clube dos Treze” (Club of Thirteen – the 13 biggest clubs) organized their own championship outside the CBF authority. They invited Coritiba, Goias, and Santa Cruz – PE to their championship, making it a league of 16. Note that America-RJ was not invited, but as soon as CBF attempted new compromise, amalgamating the break-away league with their own Yellow Module championship, America blamed CBF for ‘relegating’ them to second tier and refused to participate. Anyhow, the break-away championship was called Copa Uniao – and became the Green Module. There was bitter irony in the name – the ‘unification’ Cup was the tournament of run-aways, who played outside official authority. An illegal championship, technically. But quickly legalized somewhat, only the method of legalizing was found inadequate by the rebels and they boycotted it.
The Green Module was similar to the formula of the CBF’s Yellow Module (or may be it was the other way around – CBF mirroring the rebels in order to bring them back by legalization).
Two groups of 8 teams. In the first stage, Group A teams played against Group B teams.
In the second stage, teams played the other teams inside their groups. Winners of the
groups from both stages qualified to the semifinals.
FINAL TABLE – FIRST STAGE
GROUP A
TEAM Pts P W D L GF GA DIF
1. Clube ATLÉTICO Mineiro (Belo Horizonte-MG)14 8 6 2 0 14 3 11 Qualified
2. GRÊMIO de Football Portoalegrense (Porto Alegre-RS) 12 8 5 2 1 8 1 7
3. Sociedade Esportiva PALMEIRAS (São Paulo-SP) 9 8 4 1 3 6 7 -1
4.BOTAFOGO de Futebol e Regatas (Rio de Janeiro-RJ) 9 8 2 5 1 6 4 2
5.Esporte Clube BAHIA (Salvador-BA) 7 8 3 1 4 6 10 -4
6.Clube de Regatas FLAMENGO (Rio de Janeiro-RJ) 7 8 2 3 3 6 8 -2
7.SANTA CRUZ Futebol Clube (Recife-PE) 6 8 1 4 3 4 10 -6
8.Sport Club CORINTHIANS Paulista (São Paulo-SP) 5 8 1 3 4 4 9 -5

GROUP B
TEAM Pts P W D L GF GA DIF
1. Sport Club INTERNACIONAL (Porto Alegre-RS) 10 8 4 2 2 10 2 8 Qualified
2. FLUMINENSE Futebol Clube (Rio de Janeiro-RJ) 9 8 3 3 2 7 6 1
3. CRUZEIRO Esporte Clube (Belo Horizonte-MG) 8 8 1 6 1 4 5 -1
4. Clube de Regatas VASCO DA GAMA (Rio de Janeiro-RJ) 7 8 3 1 4 10 7 3
5. GOIÁS Esporte Clube (Goiânia-GO) 7 8 3 1 4 5 8 -3
6. SÃO PAULO Futebol Clube (São Paulo-SP) 6 8 2 2 4 7 7 0
7. CORITIBA Football Club (Curitiba-PR) 6 8 2 2 4 6 10 -4
8. SANTOS Futebol Clube (Santos-SP) 6 8 1 4 3 3 9 -6
FINAL TABLE – SECOND STAGE
GROUP A
TEAM Pts P W D L GF GA DIF
1-ATLÉTICO-MG 11 7 4 3 0 7 2 5
2-FLAMENGO 10 7 4 2 1 10 4 6 Qualified
3-PALMEIRAS 7 7 3 1 3 5 6 -1
4-BOTAFOGO 6 7 2 2 3 5 5 0
5-GRÊMIO 6 7 2 2 3 6 7 -1
6-BAHIA 6 7 1 4 2 5 8 -3
7-SANTA CRUZ 5 7 2 1 4 6 10 -4
8-CORINTHIANS 5 7 1 3 3 5 7 -2

GROUP B
TEAM Pts P W D L GF GA DIF
1-CRUZEIRO 12 7 5 2 0 12 1 11 Qualified
2-SÃO PAULO 11 7 5 1 1 14 5 9
3-FLUMINENSE 8 7 3 2 2 7 6 1
4-CORITIBA 6 7 2 2 3 9 12 -3
5-VASCO 6 7 2 2 3 7 11 -4
6-SANTOS 5 7 1 3 3 4 8 -4
7-INTERNACIONAL 4 7 1 2 4 2 8 -6
8-GOIÁS 4 7 0 4 3 3 7 -4
Since Atlético-MG had already won the first stage, the second stage runner-up,
Flamengo, qualified for the semifinal. For winning both stages, Atlético earned an
extra point in the semifinals. Once again one may wonder what that extra point was suppose to mean when the next stage is direct elimination.
Semi-finals
Flamengo 1-0 Atletico MG 3-2
Internacional 0-0 Cruzeiro 0-0 1-0 (overtime)
Final
Internacional 1-1 Flamengo 0-1
Bebeto scored both goals for Flamengo at the final.
Flamengo won Copa Uniao – that is certain. The rest… depends on what one ‘considers’. Again: Flamengo and Internacional did not enter the next stage organized by CBF and technically the new champion of Brazil was Sport (Recife). Which was already technically a Second level team, not even a sole champion of the Yellow Module, but only shared the title and that not because CBF ruled it, by because of private agreement between the Yellow Module finalists. In the eyes of the South American Federation Sport was Brazilian champions, for the Green Module was a run-away championship and also because Flamengo and Internacional forfeited CBF’s affort to amalgamate the rebels championship with the official one. On the other hand: the Green Module was ‘normalized’ and recognized as First Level by CBF. So, Flamengo should have been Brazil’s champion – pretty much the argument for refusing to play some final stage against Second Level clubs. The safest and solid thing to say is that Flamengo won Copa Uniao.
The final table makes only statistical sense and nothing else. There was no relegation, so the table speaks only for the future – this were the 16 teams which were entering the next year’s top level championship plus 8 promoted teams from the Yellow Module. By hook or crook, the championship was normalized.
BRAZILIAN CHAMPIONSHIP 1987 – FINAL TABLE
TEAM Pts P W D L GF GA DIF
1-FLAMENGO 24 19 9 6 4 22 15 7
2-INTERNACIONAL 18 19 6 6 7 14 12 2
3-ATLÉTICO-MG 25 17 10 5 2 23 9 14
4-CRUZEIRO 21 17 6 9 2 16 7 9
5-GRÊMIO 18 15 7 4 4 14 8 6
6-SÃO PAULO 17 15 7 3 5 21 12 9
7-FLUMINENSE 17 15 6 5 4 14 12 2
8-PALMEIRAS 16 15 7 2 6 11 13 -2
9-BOTAFOGO 15 15 4 7 4 11 9 2
10-VASCO 13 15 5 3 7 17 18 -1
11-BAHIA 13 15 4 5 6 11 18 -7
12-CORITIBA 12 15 4 4 7 15 22 -7
13-GOIÁS 11 15 3 5 7 8 15 -7
14-SANTA CRUZ 11 15 3 5 7 10 20 -10
15-SANTOS 11 15 2 7 6 7 17 -10
16-CORINTHIANS 10 15 2 6 7 9 16 -7
And that was all… ‘consider’ Flamengo new champions of Brazil – at the poster says.

Yellow Module – or Taça Roberto Gomes Pedrosa. Organized by CBF in response to the run-away championship of the big clubs – which looks like rival and somewhat legitimate national championship, but further negotiations made it something impossible to make sense of: after the big clubs run away, it was obvious that the teams playing in the Yellow Module were second tier. The effort of CBF to restore its authority on the national championship also made the Yellow Module something like Second Division – teams were going to be promoted to the run-away league and not the other way. But CBF scheduled a final phase for contesting the title between the best 2 teams of the Yellow Module against the best 2 of the Green Module – that equalized the rival championship on the same footing. And when the Green Module teams refused to play such ‘big final’… the winner of the Yellow Module technically became the champion of Brazil – on one hand, the Greens abandoned official stage and there was no other way by to declare Yellow champion. On the other hand, Yellow teams had to play in the Copa Libertadores because the Green Module legally was outside the official members of the South American Football Federation, but CBF was. However, circumstances once again put an obstacle and at the end the Yellow Module had 2 winners, not one. Of course, the Green Module had it own champion and thus the big clubs did not recognize the CBF champions. To say that Yellow Module was the real top Brazilian championship could be rested on the fact that in the official records now stays only a note regarding 1987 Second Level championship ‘not played’ and the same list of Brazilian champions the winners of the Yellow Module are listed. Against that is another fact: 8 teams from the Yellow Module were promoted to the Green Module – going up, effectively, to higher league. ‘Consider’ this championship as you like… at the end.
First Phase. Two groups of 8 teams. In the first stage, Group A teams played against Group B teams. In the second stage, teams played the other teams inside their groups. Winners of the groups from both stages qualified to the semifinals. Trouble started before any matches were played… América-RJ was invited by CBF to join Group B. But the team protested for being relegated to the Yellow Module and withdrew from the competition. Thus, 15 instead of 16 teams participated – but at the very end once again there were 16 teams…
FINAL TABLE – 1st Stage
GROUP A
TEAM Pts P W D L GF GA DIF
1. Clube ATLÉTICO Paranaense (Curitiba-PR) 9 7 3 3 1 8 5 3 Qualified
2. GUARANI Futebol Clube (Campinas-SP) 9 7 4 1 2 9 6 3
3. CRICIÚMA Esporte Clube (Criciúma-SC) 8 7 4 0 3 9 9 0
4. Associação PORTUGUESA de Desportos (São Paulo-SP) 8 7 3 2 2 10 6 4
5. ATLÉTICO Club Goianiense (Goiânia-GO) 8 7 3 2 2 7 6 1
6. Associação Atlética INTERNACIONAL (Limeira-SP) 7 7 3 1 3 5 7 -2
7. RIO BRANCO Atlético Clube (Cariacica-ES) 6 7 2 2 3 4 5 -1
8. JOINVILLE Esporte Clube (Joinville-SC) 4 7 1 2 4 6 10 -4
Tie-braking match for 1st place: Guarani 0-2 Atletico-PR. Atletico-PR qualified to the finals.
GROUP B
TEAM Pts P W D L GF GA DIF
1. SPORT Club do Recife (Recife-PE) 13 8 5 3 0 13 2 11 Qualified
2. Esporte Clube VITÓRIA (Salvador-BA) 9 8 3 3 2 8 6 2
3. BANGU Atlético Clube (Rio de Janeiro-RJ) 8 8 3 2 3 5 5 0
4. Clube NÁUTICO Capibaribe (Recife-PE) 6 8 3 0 5 8 13 -5
5. TREZE Futebol Clube (Campina Grande-PB) 6 8 2 2 4 8 10 -2
6. CEARÁ Sporting Club (Fortaleza-CE) 6 8 2 2 4 5 7 -2
7. Centro Sportivo Alagoano – CSA (Maceió-AL) 5 8 2 1 5 7 15 -8

FINAL TABLE – 2nd Stage

GROUP A
TEAM Pts P W D L GF GA DIF
1-Guarani 10 7 4 2 1 9 3 6 Qualified
2-Criciúma 9 7 3 3 1 8 3 5
3-Atlético-PR 8 7 2 4 1 8 5 3
4-Portuguesa 7 7 3 1 3 3 4 -1
5-Internacional 7 7 1 5 1 2 2 0
6-Rio Branco 6 7 2 2 3 4 7 -3
7-Joinville 5 7 1 3 3 2 6 -4
8-Atlético-GO 4 7 1 2 4 1 7 -6

GROUP B
TEAM Pts P W D L GF GA DIF
1-Sport 6 9 4 1 1 6 4 2
2-Bangu 6 8 3 2 1 8 3 5 Qualified
3-Vitória 6 8 2 4 0 7 4 3
4-Treze 6 6 2 2 2 7 6 1
5-Náutico 6 4 1 2 3 5 9 -4
6-Ceará 6 4 2 0 4 4 7 -3
7-CSA 6 3 0 3 3 2 6 -4
Tie-braking match for 2nd place: Bangu 1 – 1 Vitoria 0-0 overtime, 4-3 penalty shoot-out.
Since Sport had already won the first stage, the second stage runner-up,
Bangu, qualified for the semifinal. For winning both stages, Sport earned an
extra point in the semifinals. And that was another confusion – what ‘extra point’ since the next stage was direct elimination?
Semi-finals:
Atletico-PR – Guarani 0-0 0-0 1-0 in extra time
Bangu – Sport 3-2 1-3
Final:
Guarani – Sport 2-0 0-3. Goals scored did not count, so it was a win vs a win – the second leg went into extra time, which ended 0-0. Penalty shoot-out – and now the the big drama, or the big laugh, but in any case affecting the championship in weird way: when the penalty shoot-out reached result of 11-11, the management of the teams got together and decided to end the penalties and split the title… once again, the clubs had the upper hand over CBF. At first – no big deal: there were still finals to be played against the 2 best from the Green Module and Guarani and Sport already qualified to that grand phase. When the Green teams (Flameng and Internacional Porto Alegre) refused to participate, the question of who should be the 1987 champion in the eyes of CBF loomed again – and hastily another final between Guarani and Sport was scheduled. Again 2 legs, but somehow this final remains a mystery to this very day: apparently, Sport won by aggregate 1-0 – and speculatively, it is considered that ‘probably’ the first leg hosted by Guarani ended 0-0 and the second Sport at home 1-0. Probably. May be.
And on the strength of those last games Sport (Recife) was considered both champions of the Yellow Module and Brazil.
But then promotions had to arranged and that led to a ‘final table’.
FINAL TABLE (doesn’t include the tie-breaking games)
TEAM Pts P W D L GF GA DIF

1-Sport Recife 26 18 11 4 3 27 12 15 Promoted

2-Guarani 24 18 10 4 4 21 12 9 Promoted
3-Bangu 18 16 7 4 5 17 13 4 Promoted
4-Atlético-PR 18 16 5 8 3 16 11 5 Promoted
5-Criciúma 17 14 7 3 4 17 12 5 Promoted
6-Vitória 17 14 5 7 2 15 10 5 Promoted
7-Portuguesa 15 14 6 3 5 13 10 3 Promoted
8-Internacional 14 14 4 6 4 7 9 -2
9-Treze 12 14 4 4 6 15 16 -1
10-Rio Branco 12 14 4 4 6 8 12 -4
11-Atlético-GO 12 14 4 4 6 8 13 -5
12-Ceará 10 14 4 2 8 9 14 -5
13-Náutico 10 14 4 2 8 13 22 -9
14-Joinville 9 14 2 5 7 8 16 -8
15-CSA 8 14 2 4 8 9 21 -12
The next bitter pill to swallow…
America (Rio de Janeiro), which refused to play in the Yellow Module, protesting such ‘diminishing’, was the 8th promoted club. Inyternacional (Limeira) protested in vain… by right, they should have been promoted, but CBF chose otherwise. Again, it was weird – the run-aways did not invite America to their own championship, yet, America blamed the CBF for ‘diminishing’ them by inclusion in the Yellow Module. As a result, they were promoted without playing even a single match – more, they refused to participate, abandoned an official championship. Their position won somewhat, at the expense of innocent Internacional Limeira. The wrong were right and the right were wrong…
And somewhat Brazil had a national champion – or may be two? Since both Sport and Guarani agreed on their own to split the Yellow Module title and that was at the end the only CBF completed championship, perhaps they should have been national champions together… but no. Not in the eyes of the big clubs, playing their own Green Module championship, not in the eyes of CBF, which had to recognize the crooked ‘finals’ as a national title finals…

Consider Sport (Recife) national champions of Brazil in 1987. As you can see by the wording on the picture, for many they were not Second level winners, but champions of First level. Then again… for many they were not and for statisticians the season remains one huge mess.

Third level – Blue Module.
Group A
1. FC Santa Cruz (Santa Cruz do Sul, RS) 8 points
2. Associação Chapecoense de Futebol (Chapecó, SC) 8 points
3. EC Pinheiros (Curitiba, PR) 4 points.
4. Clube Esportivo BG (Bento Gonçalves, RS) 2 points.
Group B
1. SER Caxias (Caxias do Sul, RS) 7 points.
2. EC Juventude (Caxias do Sul, RS) 7 points.
3. Avaí FC (Florianópolis, SC) 7 points.
4. Londrina EC (Londrina, PR) 3 points.
Group C
1. CA Juventus (São Paulo, SP) 8 points.
2. Americano FC (Campos, RJ) 7 points.
3. Associação Desportiva FVRD (Vitória, ES) 5 points.
4. Estrela do Norte FC (Cachoeiro do Itapemirim, ES) 4 points.
Group D
1. Tupi FC (Juiz de Fora, MG) 8 points.
2. Botafogo FC (Ribeirão Preto, SP) 7 points.
3. América FC (Belo Horizonte, MG) 5 points.

4. Goytacaz FC (Campos, RJ) 4 points.
Group E.
1. Uberlândia EC (Uberlândia, MG) 8 points.
2. Uberaba SC (Uberaba, MG) 7 points
3. EC Santo André (Santo André, SP) 6 points.
4. Itumbiara EC (Itumbiara, GO) 3 points.
Group F
1. AA Ponte Preta (Campinas, SP) 10 points
2.Corumbaense FC (Corumbá, MS) 5 points.
3. AA Anapolina (Anápolis, GO) 5 points.
4. Brasília EC (Brasília, DF) 4 points.
Second phase.
Chapecoense (SC) eliminated by Juventude (RS) 1-2 and 1-1.
Santa Cruz (RS) eliminated by Caxias (RS) 1-1 and 0-1.
Juventus (SP) eliminated by Botafogo (SP) 0-1, 1-0, 0-0 extra time, 4-5 penalty shoot-out.
Corumbaense (MS) eliminated by Uberlandia (MG) 1-0, 1-2, 0-3 extra time.
Uberaba (MG) eliminated by Ponte Preta (SP) 2-0 0-3
Tupi eliminated by Americano 0-1 0-1.
Third phase.

Ponte Preta eliminated by Uberlandia 0-5 3-0.
Botafogo (Ribeirao Preto) eliminated by Americano 1-3 and 1-0.
Caxias eliminated by Juventude 0-1 and 1-1.
Final phase.
Juventude (Caxias do Sul) – 3rd with 1 point.
Uberlandia (Uberlandia) – 2nd with 2 points.
Americano (Campos) – 1st with 3 points. Module champions and promoted to Yellow Module for the next season.

Third level – organized by CBF in two ‘Modules’. The country was divided in two – Northern and Southern halves and 24 teams played in each group. It was familiarly complicated championship – at first there were 6 groups of 4 teams and the top 2 teams of each group went to the next phases of direct eliminations, but the final phase was again round-robin group. The winner in it was the champion of the Module and promoted to the Yellow Module.
White Module – considered third level.
Group A
1. Mixto EC (Cuiabá, MT) 9 points
2.Operário FC (Campo Grande, MS) 8 points

3. CE Operário Varzeagrandense (Várzea Grande, MT) 4 points
4. Sobradinho EC (Sobradinho, DF) 1 point.
Group B
1. AE Catuense (Alagoinhas, BA) 10 points
2. Auto Esporte Clube (João Pessoa, PB) 7 points
3. CRB (Maceió, AL) 5 points
4. Central SC (Caruaru, PE) 2 points
Group C
1. Botafogo FC (João Pessoa, PB) 7 points
2. América FC (Natal, RN) 7 points
3. Fortaleza EC (Fortaleza, CE) 6 points
4. ABC FC (Natal, RN) 4 points.
Group D.
EC Flamengo (Teresina, PI) abandoned and was replaced by Serrano SC from Vitória da Conquista (BA).
1. Ferroviário AC (Fortaleza, CE) 7 points

2. Serrano SC (Vitória da Conquista, BA) 6 points. However, they did not qualified to the next stage for some reason – Sampaio Correa did instead.
3. Sampaio Corrêa FC (São Luís) 6 points
4. Maranhão AC (São Luís, MA)
Group E
1. Moto Clube (São Luís, MA) 8 points
2. Piauí EC (Teresina, PI) 7 points
3. SA Imperatriz (Imperatriz, MA) 6 points
4. Ríver AC (Teresina, PI) 3 points
Group F
1. Paysandú SC (Belém, PA) 9 points
2. Tuna Luso Brasileira (Belém, PA) 7 points
3. Nacional FC (Manaus, AM) 5 points
4. Atlético Rio Negro Clube (Manaus, AM) 3 points
Second phase
Auto Esporte (PB) eliminated by Mixto 0-1 and 0-3
Caruense (BA) eliminated by Operario (MS) 0-2 and 2-2
Sampaio Correa (MA) eliminated by Botafogo (PB) 1-1 0-0, 0-0 in extra time, 2-3 penalty shoot-out.

Ferroviario (CE) eliminated by America (RN) 0-1 and 0-2
Moto Clube (MA) eliminated by Tuna Luso (PA) 0-2 2-0 and 0-3 in extra time.
Piaui (PI) eliminated by Paysandu (PA) 1-1 and 0-2.
Third phase.
Tuna Luso eliminated by Paysandu 2-2 and 0-1.
Mixto eliminated by Operario 0-2 and 2-2.
America eliminated by Botafogo 1-0 and 0-2.
Final phase.
Botafogo (Joao Pessoa) finished last with 1 point.
Paysandu – 2nd with 2 points.
Operario (Campo Grande) – 1st with 3 points. They were champions of the Module and promoted to the Yellow Module for the next season.