Category: 1990

Italy. Fifth level of the vast Italian pyramid, named Campionato Interregionale. Only the final winners, promoted to IV Division or Serie C2: 12 teams in total.
Saronno

Formia
Imola. However, later Imola was not admitted to play in the upper level for financial reasons.
Sangiuseppese
Pievigina
Leffe
Vastese
Savoia
Enna
Astrea
Fiorenzuola, and
Viareggio.

The European Supercup. It was played in the fall of 1990 with huge gap between the first and second leg- the first match was on October 10th, the second on November 29th. No matter what, the ‘biggest’ trophy of the European pyramid never got the intended importance – it was difficult to find proper time for it, fans, observers, and clubs never warmed up to it, as attendance amply shows. It was the new season, domestic and international, on the mind of coaches, players, administration, fans. And since it was a new season already, the opponents featured slightly different squads than those which won the Champions Cup and the Cup Winners Cup back in the spring of 1990. Milan was apparently stronger and perhaps more motivated, but there was a problem, becoming increasingly bigger: the injuries of the flying Dutch. It has been Gullit more than an year ago, now van Basten was out. Unfortunately, there was no solution and it looked like that Milan was going always to miss some key player and as soon as he was back, the next one was out. One more problem was goalkeeping, which was always somewhat not at par with the rest of squad. But Sampdoria had similar problems – either that, or Vujadin Boskov preferred to keep his foreign players fresh and healthy for the Italian championship. Whatever the circumstances, neither team appeared to be in full strength. Yet, it was a trophy to be won…

Important, not important, Milan won.
Franco Baresi lifted the Supercup,
Everybody happy.
1st leg, Stadio Luigi Ferraris, Genoa, 10 Oct 1990, att 25000

UC Sampdoria (1) 1 AC Milan (1) 1
31′ 1-0 S: Mikhailitchenko
39′ 1-1 M: Evani

UC Sampdoria: Pagliuca; Mannini, Invernizzi, Pari, Lanna, Pellegrini, Mikhailitchenko,
Lombardo, Branca, Mancini, Dossena
AC Milan: Pazzagli; Tassoti, Costacurta, Guadenzi, Galli, F.Baresi, Donadoni (Rijkaard 59),
Ancelotti, Massaro, Gullit, Evani (Stroppa 70)
Referee: Rosa dos Santos (Portugal)

2nd leg, San Siro Stadium, Milan, 29 Nov 1990, att 25000

AC Milan (1) 2 UC Sampdoria (0) 0
44′ 1-0 M: Gullit
76′ 2-0 M: Rijkaard
Milan won 3-1 on aggregate

AC Milan: Pazzagli; Tassotti, Baresi, Costacurta (F.Galli 78), Maldini, Carbone, Ancelotti,
Rijkaard, Evani, Gullit (Donadoni 73), Agostini
UC Sampdoria: Pagliuca; Lanna, Pellegrini, Vierchowod, Bonetti, Pari, Mikhailitchenko
(Dossena 67), Katanec (Branca 73), Lombardo, Vialli, Mancini
Referee: Petrovic (Yugoslavia)
Milan with the Supercup – it was their year, so far they won the Champions Cup and the Supercup and by the end of the year will collect the Intercontinental Cup. All international trophies in their hands, a testimony of a great team. A testimony of great Italian football too – all European cups went to the Italians, two all-Italian finals. Let forget the World Cup fiasco.

The UEFA Cup. And it was really an Italian year – at the final, two Italian teams, making 4 Italian clubs total at the European finals. Juventus vs Fiorentina. Both teams permitted to be beaten only once on the road to the final, but Juventus had it tougher, yet, seemingly stronger campaign – they eliminated Gornik Zabrze (Poland) 1-0 and 4-2, Paris SG (France) 1-0 and 2-1, Karl-Marx-Stadt (DDR) 2-1 and 1-0, Hamburger SV (West Germany) 2-0 (in Hamburg) and 1-2 (in Turin), and finally 1. FC Koln (West Germany) 3-2 and 0-0. Fiorentina was… economical: Atletico Madrid (Spain) 0-1, 1-0 and 3-1 in the penalty shoot-out, Sochaux (France) 0-0 and 1-1 (away), Dinamo Kiev (USSR) 1-0 and 0-0, Auxerre (France) 1-0 and 1-0, and in the ½ finals Werder (West Germany) 1-1 (away) and 0-0. Fiorentina never scored more than a single goal in a game, but in addition they were punished for fan violence by UEFA and had to play their home games in Peruggia all the way to the final, where they had to play home game at least 300 km from Florence, for the fans – and it seems also the club itself – did not take the punishment seriously. Yes, the English clubs were still banished from playing in the European tournaments, but violence already spread far and wide and was not only English problem anymore. The ½ finals, however, stated clearly who was on top of European football now: if 10 years ago West German clubs prevailed and reached finals, now the Italians eliminated the iron West Germans and made all-Italian final. The final, however, was unpredictable, but more for out of the field reasons – Juventus looked like having an advantage not only because Fiorentina was not able to play at home, but also because of rumors of Roberto Baggio going to Juventus (and he transferred shortly after the finals, to the great displeasure of Fiorentina’s fans). But on the other hand Dino Zoff was already informed that his coaching contract with Juventus was not going to be extended and the finals were his last games – hardly a motivation for both coach and team. Of course, Juventus was not in great shape recently and the transfers of Soviet stars Aleynikov and especially Zavarov were huge failure. Zavarov was no longer with Juventus, but the team did not improve much, even if winning the Italian Cup. Somewhat, pluses and minuses canceled each other and the there was no real favourite at the final.
As the games went… Juventus took full advantage from his home match and won it 3-1. Two early goals were seemingly crucial, but the game was ugly both on the pitch and on the stands. It was summed as ‘constant verbal and physical abuse’ and the press urged the Italian Federation to sanction all involved, that is both clubs, but… the Federation decided to postpone decision after the second leg of the final. Everybody will be sanctioned, especially 4 players of Fiorentina, but later. And the teams traveled to distant Avellino for the second leg. By now observers were pretty certain that Juventus already won the UEFA Cup – Fiorentina had to look for particular result: to score a minimum of 2 goals and permit nil, but since they never scored more than 1 goal on the road to the final, the task of scoring a minimum of 2 goals seems entirely fantastic. The second leg was as ugly as the first, despite the warnings and threats by official bodies: 7 yellow cards were shown and Bruno (Juventus) was expelled in the 58th minute. Juventus, as it turned out, played its record 200th game in the European tournaments and celebrated the occasion by playing deep defense. Moving across the central line into enemy half was not in their books and as a result there was a grand total of 5 shoots toward both nets – 3 times Fiorentina, twice Juventus. Only Roberto Baggio came close to actual scoring, but Tacconi saved. It was not a match to remember and ended 0-0. Juventus won the UEFA Cup.

Well, the pictures tell it all – a lot of kicking and battling, very little football.
Tacconi lifted the UEFA Cup,
Juventus celebrated their victory…
Final 1st Leg, Stadio Comunale, Turin, 2 May 1990, att 45000

Juventus (1) 3 AC Fiorentina (1) 1
3′ 1-0 J: Galia
10′ 1-1 F: Buso
59′ 2-1 J: Casiraghi
73′ 3-1 J: De Agostini

Juventus: Tacconi; Napoli, De Agostini, Galia, Bruno (Alessio 46); Bonetti, Aleinikov,
Barros, Marocchi; Casiraghi, Schillaci
AC Fiorentina: Landucci; Dell’Oglio, Volpecina, Pin, Battistini; Dunga, Nappi, Kubik (Malusci 87),
Baggio; Buso, Di Chiara
Referee: Aladren (Spain)

Final 2nd Leg, Stadio Partenio, Avellino, 16 May 1990, att 32000

AC Fiorentina (0) 0 Juventus (0) 0
Juventus won 3-1 on aggregate

AC Fiorentina: Landucci; Dell’Oglio, Volpecina, Pin, Battistini; Dunga, Nappi (Zironelli 71),
Kubik, Baggio; Buso, Di Chiara
Juventus: Tacconi; Napoli, De Agostini, Galia, Bruno; Alessio, Aleinikov, Barros
(Avallone 72), Marocchi; Casiraghi (Rosa 79), Schillaci
Referee: Schmidhuber (West Germany)
Fiorentina lost and under the circumstances… one can’t be really sorry for them. Not a bad squad, but not great either and Roberto Baggio leaving… sad to say, but the first winners of the Cup Winners Cup back in 1961 did not add a second European trophy.
Juventus won the UEFA Cup for 2nd time – 13 years passed from their first victory, which was the first European trophy the grand club won, but after that there was enough success and Juventus was the only club at the moment which won all European cups. It was good ending for 18 years of service as player and coach for Dino Zoff – with a victory. The team, however, was well bellow some vintages of which Zoff participated as player or coach. No wonder changes were in order and already started – Zoff was out, Roberto Baggio was coming.

Cup Winners Cup. One old winner of the trophy against the losing finalist of 1989. Anderlecht, well respected and constantly strong, was looking for its 3rd Cup Winners Cup. Sampdoria reached the final for a second consecutive year and was eager to win this time. The road to the final of both teams was impressive – collectively, they lost just a single game. Both finalists had their tougher opposition in the 1/8 finals: Sampdoria eliminated Borussia Dortmund (West Germany) 1-1 and 2-0 and Anderlecht prevailed over Barcelona 2-0 and 1-2 in extra time. That was the only match which either finalist lost on their way to the final. The rest was relatively easy: Sampdoria rolled ever Brann (Norway) 2-0 and 1-0, then came Borussia Dortmund, followed by Grasshopper (Switzerland) 2-0 and 2-1, and in the ½ finals Monaco (France) 2-2 and 2-0. Anderlecht: Ballymena United (Northern Ireland) 6-0 and 4-0, Barcelona, Admira-Wacker (Austria) 2-0 and 1-1, and Dinamo Bucharest (Romania) in the ½ finals 1-0 and 1-0. So, no favorite at the final even if Sampdoria had more famous stars: Katanec (Yugoslavia) and especially the lethal strikers Vialli and Mancini. Like the Champions Cup final, here was a clash of great coaches too: Yugoslavian Vujadin Boskov (Sampdoria) and Dutch Aad de Mos (Anderlecht).

A match between equals, so regular time ended scoreless.

Things changed in the extra time, Sampdoria getting the upper hand.

Vialli scored twice. And that was it.

Final, Nya Ullevi Stadium, Gothenburg, 9 May 1990, att 20103

UC Sampdoria (0) 2 RSC Anderlecht (0) 0 aet
105′ 1-0 S: Vialli
107′ 2-0 S: Vialli

UC Sampdoria: Pagliuca; L.Pellegrini, Mannini, Vierchowod, Carboni; Pari, Katanec (Salsano 93),
Invernizzi (Lombardo 53), Dossena; Vialli, Mancini
RSC Anderlecht: De Wilde; Grün, Marchoul, Keshi, Kooiman; Vervoort, Musonda, Gudjohnson,
Jankovic (Oliveira 112); Degryse (Nilis 103), Van der Linden
Referee: Galler (Switzerland)
Sampdoria happily got the Cup.

Then it was just the see of blue on the pitch and on the stands.

Anderlecht was unable to win 3rd Cup Winners Cup and it was just right under the circumstances: no matter how good and steady the club was, money talked more than ever before by the end of the 1980s. And the Italian clubs had the money… Yes, Anderlecht had top coach and impressive squad, but Keshi, Grun, Vervoort, Jankovic, de Wilde, Degryse, and Gudjohnsen were bellow the level of Sampdoria’a leading players. Luc Nilis was still too young to be a big factor and Oliveira was beyond his prime. Anderlecht was strong, well balanced, but… not at Sampdoria level, not even on the level of its own earlier vintages. Small difference, but crucial in matters of life and death. And the Africans were not yet prime stars of world football…

Sampdoria won its first European trophy. Of course, the team was going up for some time, but they lost the same Cup final the previous year and now did better, adding one more name to the list of Cup winners. Not only the city of Genoa equalized itself to Milano and Torino, bypassing Rome, but the success of Samdoria also firmly established the leading position of Italian club football in Europe. Vujadin Boskov knew his job very well indeed and he made impressive blend of young and experienced stars – Katanec (Yugoslavia), Dossena and Mannini at their prime, Vialli and Mancini, still young, but experienced and top talent, old, but very impressive Vierchowod, and young talented Pagliuca. The rest were well respected players, if not first class stars. Well rounded team, combining fresh talent and experience, as every great team does. Thus, success came and it did not look that Sampdoria was one-time wonder, but a team going to stay for awhile and do even better things. Well deserved victory.

European Champions Cup. Two well known teams met at the final – the current Cup holder AC Milan and Benfica, which was hoping once again to restore the glory of the 1960s. Benfica reached the final after impressive run of 7 wins and only 1 lost match, but they had lucky draws too: Derry City (Ireland) 2-1 and 4-0, Honved (Hungary) 2-0 and 7-0, Dnepr (USSR) 1-0 and 3-0, and in the ½ finals Olympique Marseille (France) 1-2 and 1-0. Milan had it tougher: HJK Helsinki (Finland) 4-0 and 1-0, Real Madrid (Spain) 2-0 and 0-1, KV Mechelen (Belgium) 0-0 and 2-0 after extra time, and finally Bayern (West Germany) 1-0 and 1-2 after extra time. At the end, away goals brought both opponents to the big final in Vienna (Austria). Both teams in full strength and equally ambitious made for rather tough final in which Frank Rijkard shined.

He was everywhere
Defending, organizing, and attacking, outshining his equally famed teammates Gullit and van Basten.
And in the 68th minute Rijkard crowned his performance by scoring the goal, which happened to be the whole difference at the final whistle between winners and losers.
AC Milan (0) 1 SL Benfica (0) 0
68′ 1-0 M: Rijkaard

AC Milan (trainer Sacchi): G.Galli; Tassotti, Costacurta, Baresi, Maldini; Colombo (F.Galli 89),
Rijkaard, Ancelotti (Massaro 72), Evani; Gullit, Van Basten
SL Benfica (trainer Eriksson): Silvino; Jose Carlos, Aldair, Ricardo, Samuel; Vitor Paneira (Vata 76),
Valdo, Thern, Hernani; Magnusson, Pacheco (Brito 66)
Referee: Kohl (Austria)
Thanks to Rijkard, Franco Baresi received the European Champions Cup

One more triumph for the best team in the world.
European champions two years in a row!

One can be sorry for Benfica – once again they came close to triumph and once again they were beaten. Great coach – Sven Goran Eriksson (Sweden) – and impressive squad featuring along with Portuguese top players Brazilian stars Ricardo, Aldair, and Valdo, plus Swedish best Thern and Magnusson. Yet, Benfica permitted a goal in its net and failed to score… There was no consolation, only grieve and cursing the ‘Bela Gutmann curse’.
Hardly a need to introduce the winners – Arrigo Sacchi made excellent team, led by the great Dutch trio Gullit-van Basten-Rijkard. Compared to Benfica, Milan had more class and was a team at its peak. So much talent provided for different players taking a key role in particular games – this time, it was Frank Rijkard and Milan repeated its success of 1989. Not only that, but Milan climbed to number 2 most successful European club, collecting their 4th European Champions Cup. Now they shared second place with Liverpool, but looked like the Italians not only will come ahead of the English, but will challenge and perhaps overcome the great record of Real Madrid.

Intercontinental Cup. On December 9, 1990 the top clubs of Europe and South America met in Tokyo in front of 60 000 fans.
Arrigo Sachi’s team was expected to win – Milan was already hailed as the best team in the world and their Paraguayan opponents were little known outside South America, hence, seen as an outsider.
Of course, European teams were terribly surprised many a time, but contrary to the photo, not this time.
Rijkard opened for Milan near the end of the first half and after that it was just adding more goals.
Stroppa made it 2-0 in the 62nd minute.
Three minutes later Rijkard scored his second goal and Olimpia was finished.
Milan was classier for sure and dominated the match.
Olimpia simply had no answer to Baresi and company.
Tokyo, National Stadium
December 9, 1990 Att: 60.228 Ref: Wright (BRA)

Milan AC (ITA) 3-0 (1-0) Olimpia (PAR)
1-0 43′ Rijkaard
2-0 62′ Stroppa
3-0 65′ Rijkaard

Milan AC: Pazzagli – Baresi, Tassotti, Costacurta, Maldini (Galli 22), Carbone, Donadoni (Gaudenzi 82), Rijkaard, Stroppa, Gullit, Van Basten
Olimpia: Almeida – Fernández, Cáceres, Guasch, R. Ramírez (Chamac 48), Suárez, Hoyn (Cubilla 68), Balbuena, Monzón, Amarilla, Samaniego.
After the last whistle – smiles and pretty pictures of the winners.
At the top of the world, trophies and all.
Olimpia made their pretty picture, but no trophy… As good as the team was, it was no match to Milan – and the Paraguayans modestly recognized that by expressing pride to be second-best. One may be sorry for the veteran goalkeeper Almeida, who retired soon after the final. Olimpia did what they could, unfortunately Milan was too strong.
Milan was the club champion of the world. Hardly a need to list the stars here – it will be enough just to say that Carlo Ancelotti and Aberigo Evani missed the match and Milan did not suffer from their absence. Could be said that this was the finest year of the ‘Dutch’ Milan – they won second Intercontinental Cup in a row and their 3rd altogether.

Player of the Year. Two rankings existed and they vastly differed from each other – the one run by Venezuelan newspaper permitted players based in Europe and in it the big stars dominated – Maradona was number 1. However, the ranking run by the Uruguayan newspaper El Pais had real recognition and it was the official ranking somewhat. In it only those playing in South America were included and because of that only one player appeared among the top three in both rankings: Rene Higuita (Colombia and Atletico Nacional) was 3rd both times. In El Pais classification he shared third position with his compatriot and teammate Leonel Alvarez, both having 25 points. Second was Ruben da Silva (Uruguay and River Plate, Argentina) with 32 points and number one – Raul Vicente Amarilla (Paraguay and Olimpia) with 57 points.
Thus, he was proclaimed the South American player of 1990 – perhaps the least known outside the continent player to win the honour. It came to that because by now practically all great South American stars played in Europe and their absence made at the end a player from the top club side the winner – it was Olimpia (Asuncion), hence, the number one player was Paraguayan.
Strange enough, Amarilla was not new name at all – he was already 30-years old and had very impressive career already: he debuted for Sportivo Luqueno in his native city at 17, made impression and soon was signed by Real Zaragoza in Spain. Then he was loaned to Racing Santander for the 1980-81 season, again made good impression and next season he was full fledged Real Zaragoza player and become the second-best scorer of Spain in 1982-83. At that time perhaps he made a crucial mistake, leaving him to relative obscurity: he was invited to play for the Under-21 National team of Spain and accepted – and that is why he never played for Paraguay and as it turned out, not for the first team of Spain either. But he was still impressive and Barcelona hired him in 1985.
He played for Barcelona between 1985 and 1988 and then returned to Paraguay and signed with Olimpia (Asuncion), becoming not only a key player of the new and successful squad winning Copa Libertadores in 1990, but also one of the most beloved players by the fans. So, it was the success of Olimpia which brought him to international recognition at last. As a whole, so far he won the Spanish title with Barcelona (1984-85), the Spanish Cup with Barcelona (1987-88), was Paraguayan champion with Olimpia (1988), won Copa Libertadores, Supercopa Sudamericna, and Recopa Sudamericana in 1990 with Olimpia and those three last trophies propelled him to number one player of South America. Well deserved recognition.

Venezuela. Simple league championship – a refreshing formula in South America – and dramatic battle for the title between 3 teams. From the Second Division Valencia and Anzoategui were promoted.
First Division.
Deportivo Galicia had very weak season, finished last with 14 points and was relegated.
Internacional lost the battle for survival – 15th with 21 points and relegated.
Union Deportiva survived – 14th with 22 points.
Estudiantes – 13th with 24 points.
Maracaibo – 12th with 24 points.
Trujillanos – 11th with 26 points.
Portuguesa – 10th with 28 points.
Deportivo Italia – 9th with 28 points.
Zamora – 8th with 28 points.
Mineros – 7th with 32 points.
Pepeganga Margarita – 6th with 33 points.
Pepeganga Margarita deserves one more picture, because this was their last season of existence – the club popped up just recently in the top league and did very well, but… different name and different city appeared in the next season.
Caracas FC – 5th with 36 points.
Universidad de Los Andes – 4th with 36 points.
Minerven, Maritimo and Deportivo Tachira were entangled in the battle for the title and at the end not only 1 point separated first from third, but the regular championship ended undecided.
Minerven finished 3rd with 42 points.
The other 2 teams had 43 points each after the 30 rounds of the championship. Maritimo was 2nd because of 2-goal worse goal-difference. The best Venezuelan team in the recent years, Deportivo Tachira, finished 1st. Minerven played collected and careful football – they lost only twice and permitted just 18 goals in their own net. Deportivo Tachira preferred attacking football and finished slightly better than Maritimo thanks to that: 17 wins and 59 goals scored. Only Minerven won more games than them – 18. Defense was secondary for Tachira and they allowed the ball to end in their net 32 times. Yet, they were number 1 in the final table… but got no title. Since goal-difference counted only to make the table comprehensive, in case of teams finishing with equal points a final play-off followed. In it Maritimo got the upper hand, winning 2-0.
Thus, Deportivo Tachira won the regular season, but lost the title.
Maritimo won the title – it was their 3rd. A great season. 15 wins, 13 ties, and only 2 losses in the regular season, 43-18 goal-difference. And after that they won the championship play-off, cool and collected.
Once again, the Venezuelan champions for 1989-90. No famous players here – outside Venezuelan context, of course – but champions. This was the strongest period of the club, which was not finished yet.

Bolivia. A nightmarish championship impossible to grasp. 13 teams played in the top league, but only 11 played in the first half of it, or Apertura. Why? A question without answer. As few other things. Two teams were relegated – how it was decided who to go out is a mystery, but at least the unfortunates are known: San Pedro (Cochabamba) and Litoral (La Paz). From the lower level 3 teams were promoted somehow – apparently, the top league was going to be 14 teams next season. The lucky ones were:
Chaco Petrolero (La Paz)
Petrolero (Cochabamba), and
Orcobol (Cochabamba). This may be a photo of happily promoted Orcobol, but one cannot be sure.
In any case, the Bolivian championship was mainly a battle between the cities of La Paz, Santa Cruz de la Sierra and Cochabamba – next year in the top league would play 4 teams from La Paz, 4 from Santa Cruz de la Sierra and 3 from Cochabamba.
So, 11 teams in the Apertura, which went through 3 stages. In the first stage the 11 teams were divided into 2 groups and the top 4 teams in each group qualified to the second stage. For reason unknown, but surely wise one, Litoral (La Paz) and Always Ready (La Paz) did not participate. The number of games each team played in the first stage makes no sense: Serie B had teams and they played 12 games each. Three times against each other, it seems. Serie A had 6 teams, but 4 of them played 14 games and 2 teams played 12 games. Bolivar and San Jose (Oruro) played fewer games for ‘not having an inter-series rival’ and for that privilege they received 2 points each. The second stage was smooth affair: two groups of 4 teams, round-robin tournament, every team played twice against the rest of the group. The top 2 teams in each group sailed to the semifinals, played in two legs and the winners played a two-leg final. Which was undecided, for goals did not count and final play-off followed. Oriente Petrolero and Bolivar met at the final. At home, Oriente Petrolero won 2-1, then lost 0-2 in La Paz. The third match was played in neutral Cochabamba and Oriente Petrolero won 1-0.
Bolivar finished 2nd.
Oriente Petrolero won the Apertura. Thus, Oriente Petrolero qualified to the grand final for the title.
The Clausura followed. This time all teams played, divided in 3 groups. Teams had bonus points unclear from where and for what, but started the Clausura with them. Serie A was made from the teams of Santa Cruz de la Sierra and played in the city. 3 teams qualified from this group the second stage. Serie B was played in La Paz and was made of local teams only – 2 teams qualified to the next stage. Serie C was made of the rest – 2 teams from Cochabamba plus the representatives of Oruro, Tarija, and Sucre – it was not played in one city, like the other groups, and 3 teams qualified to the next stage.
This was the end of season for Destroyers (Santa Cruz de la Sierra) – they finished last in Serie A.
Litoral (La Paz) and Always Ready (La Paz) ended the season after finisheing 3rd and 4th in Serie B. For Litoral it was amazingly short season: since they did not play in the Apertura, their whole season was made of the first stage of Clausura – a grand total of 6 games of which they lost 4 and won only one.
In Serie C Jorge Wilstermann was 4th and San Pedro 5th – the season ended for them, leaving Cochabamba without a team going ahead and thus making this season terrible as a whole. San Pedro was last in its group in the Apertura and last again in the Clausura.
The second stage was a copy of second stage Apertura: 8 teams divided into 2 groups, the top 2 going to the Clausura semifinals. This stage ended the season for Independiente Petrolero (Sucre), Ciclon (Tarija), Real Santa Cruz (Santa Cruz de la Sierra), and
Blooming (Santa Cruz de la Sierra).
Clausura semifinals:
The Strongest (La Paz) lost to Bolivar 1-2 and 3-4.
San Jose (Oruro) was eliminated by Oriente Petrolero, although it is unclear why: the results were 0-3 and 3-0. May be a penalty shoot-out? No record… Standing from left: Arnaldo Mansilla, José Daniel Valencia (Argentine), Marcos Francisquine, Freddy Cossio, Roberto Pérez, Luís Esteban Galarza. First row: Luis E. Padilla, Dionisio N. Gutiérrez, Juan C. Sánchez, José Luis Valverde, Silvio Rojas.
Thus, the Clausura final repeated the Apertura final: Oriente Petrolero against Bolivar. And it was full repetition… at home, Bolivar won 4-1, then lost 1-2 away, and third match was scheduled, like in the Apertura, in Cochabamba. It ended 1-1 and in the following penalty shoot-out Oriente Petrolero prevailed 4-3.
Bolivar (La Paz) was second again and, thus, overall second, which was not what club and fans expected, but at least the team qualified to the Copa Libertadores.

Oriente Petrolero (Santa Cruz de la Sierra) won both Aperura and Clausura and that canceled grand final between the winners of the two parts of the championship: the team was the champion of Bolivia. Great success, no doubt – this was their 3rd title, but they had to wait a whole decade for it, after winning their 2nd in 1979. Not an easy success, but leaving no doubts – Oriente Petrolero won both the Apertura and the Clausura.

Peru. By now, the largest championship in the world – 44 teams played the top tier season. The aim was largely full representation of the country, which naturally complicated the championship formula. Torneo Descentralizado had 2 parts, played the same way and the winners of Regional I and Regional II met at the end to decide the title. Regional I was a bit shorter, it seems. It seems, because early stage results are still not available – only final tables. The participants were geographically divided into 5 leagues at first – the largest and strongest was the Metropolitan, from which the 4 top teams qualified to the next stage, the Octagonal. The winners of the other 4 leagues qualified to the Octagonal too. The Octagonal was practically a knockout stage similar to ¼ finals in cup tournaments. The winners went to the final stage, the Liquilla, a round-robin format, in which the finalist played once against the rest of the group. The winner was the champion of Regional I or Regional II, for both parts had the same formula. The winner of Regional I also qualified to Copa Libertadores. At last the winners of both parts met to contest the title in one match – that is, if the winners of Regional I and Regional II were different teams. Seven teams were relegated down to the second tier – Copa Peru – at the end of the season, but the relegation rules are not clear: apart from the Metropolitan league, where clearly the last placed went down, it is a mystery why the other 6 teams were relegated, for they were not last in the their leagues. It is also unclear why 2 teams were relegated from the Central and Oriental leagues, but from the other leagues only 1 team went down. Because of the size and the formula of the championship, it will be abbreviated here only to second stage of first part and final positions in the second part. The first stage leagues were: Metropolitan – 12 teams, Central – 8 teams, North – 10 teams, Oriental – 6 teams, and South – 8 teams.
Since it is not clear why most relegated teams went down, let just mention them now:
Meteor – true to its name, this club is difficult to find today, if it exists at all. Possibly from Lima, they played in the Metropolitan league, finishing last in both Regional I and Regional II. Naturally, relegated and disappeared from sight and mind.
Defensor ANDA (Aucayacu) and Alipio Ponce (Mazamari) were relegated from Central league – impossible to tell why.
This may be a photo of Alipio Ponce from the season.
15 de Septiembre (Trujillo) was relegated from North.
Chacarita Versalles (Iquitos) and
Atletico Belen (Moyobamba) were relegated from Oriental. Again, a mystery… why 2 teams were relegated from the smallest regional league?
Atletico Huracan (Moquegua) was relegated from South. The photo may be from this season.
Regional I.
The top 4 teams from Metropolitan qualified to Octagonal – Universitario, 1st, Alianza (Lima) – 2nd, Union Huaral – 3rd, and Sport Boys – 4t. Deportivo Junin won Central and qualified. Deportivo Pacifico won North and qualified. Deportivo Hospital won Oriental and FBC Melgar won South.
In the Octagonal FBC Melgar eliminated Alianza (Lima) 2-0, 1-3 and 5-4 in the penalty shoot-out. Deportivo Junin lost to Universitario 1-0 and 1-6. Deportivo Hospital was eliminated by Union Huaral 1-1 and 1-5. Sport Boys eliminated Deportivo Pacifico not on the pitch – the first in Callao ended 0-0 and seemingly Deportivo Pacifico withdrew after that and Sport Boys qualified to the final without playing.
Liguilla Final:
FBC Melgar – last with 1 points, Union Huaral – 3rd with 2 points, Universitario – 2nd with 4 points, Sport Boys – 1st with 5 points.
Sport Boys (Callao) won Regional I – may be a bit lucky, but winners. So far, they qualified to the next Copa Libertadores and had a good chance to be Peruvian champions too.
Regional II.
Metropolitan.
Meteor – last with 11 points. They were last in the Regional I and now again.
Deportivo AELU (Lima) – 11th with 14 points. Standing from left: Pedro Bonelli, Luis García, Gabriel Kanashiro, Robert Yamamoto, Willy Uehara, Juan Mármol. First row: Carlos Takeuchi, Edwin Uehara, Juan José Oré, Luis Chiaveri, Alberto Akatsuka.
This club deserves a note: ethnic clubs exist everywhere in the world and some are even traditionally strong, but most of them have European roots. To have Asian community club was quite unusual at the time – there was at least one Chinese club in Peru, Lau Chun, but not at top level. Deportivo AELU belonged to the Japanese community of Lima and did quite well playing top tier football. And true to its roots, it had many players of Japanese descend, which makes it even more remarkable than most ethnic clubs in South America, which for a long time already had professional players having nothing to do with the ethnic banner.
Internazionale (San Borja) – 10th with 16 points.
Octavio Espinoza (Ica) – 9th with 18 points. May be a photo from this season.
San Agustin (Lima) – 8th with 18 points.
Sporting Cristal (Lima) – 7th with 21 points. Standing from left: Percy Olivares, Luis Avila, Jorge Arteaga, Jorge Olaechea, Miguel Miranda. Crouching: Francesco Manassero, Pablo Zegarra, Pedro Novella, Julio César Antón, Oscar Calvo, Luis Redher.
Miserable season, which perhaps still disgusts the club and its fans – it is hard to find a team photo of 1990: this one is labeled 1989-90. Could be 1989, could be 1990 – the squad is practically the same.
Defensor (Lima) – 6th with 24 points. Standing from left: Manuel Earl, Lucio Del Mul,
Roberto Aguillar, Julio Colina, Enrique Peña. First row: Mario Aceval, Roberto Lanatta, Ricardo Zegarra, Edgar Agui, Pedro Meza, Christian Luna.

Deportivo Municipal (Lima) – 5th with 25 points.
Union Huaral – 4th with 27 points and qualified to Octagonal.
Universitario – 3rd with 29 points and qualified to Octagonal.
Sport Boys – 2nd with 30 points and qualified to Octagonal. Remarkably, they did not lose even one match at this stage: 8 wins and 14 ties.
Alianza – 1st with 31 points and qualified to Octagonal.
Central: no results and very likely no real final table are preserved, so apart from the winner, the rest is approximate.
Union (Huayllaspanca) – may be a photo of the season, may be 8th… One thing is sure: not only Sport Boys used pink.
Union Minas (Cerro de Pasca) – may be 7th.
Alipio Ponce (Mazamari) – may be 6th, but relegated.
Defensor ANDA (Aucayacu) – may be 5th. Relegated.
Leon (Huanuco) – may be 4th.
Mina San Vicente (Junin) – often given as Minas San Vicente. May be 3rd.
Deportivo (Junin) – may be 2nd.
ADT (Tarma) – 1st and qualified to Octagonal.
North: same as Central and the rest of provincial leagues – no information.
Atletico Grau (Piura) – may be 10th.
Deportivo Canana (Lambayeque) – may be 9th.
15 de Septiembre (Trujillo) may be 8th and relegated.
Deportivo Morba (La Esperanza) – may be 7th.
Libertad (Trujillo) – may be 6th.
Atletico Torino (Talara) – may be 5th.
UTC – Universidad Tecnica (Cajamarca) – may be 4th.
Carlos A. Mannucci (Trujillo) – may be 3rd.
Deportivo Pacifico (Tumbes) – may be 2nd, may be a photo of this season.
Alianza Atletico (Sullana) – 1st and qualified to Octagonal.
Oriental – the smallest league.
San Martin (Porres) – may be 6th.
Atletico Belen (Moyobamba) – may be 5th but relegated.
Chacarita Versalles (Iquitos) – may be 4th and relegated.
Deportivo Hospital (Pucallpa) – may be 3rd, may be a photo of the season. They had their day in the first part of the championship, but could not repeat it.
Deportivo Bancos (Pucallpa) – may be 2nd.
Union (Tarapoto) – 1st and qualified to Octagonal.
South.
Atletico Huracan (Moquegua) – may be 8th and relegated.
Juvenil Los Angeles (Moquegua) – may be 7th.
Cienciano (Cuzco) – may be 6th.
Coronel Bolognesi (Tacna) – may be 5th.
Alfonso Ugarte (Puno) – may be 4th.
Diablos Rojos (Juliaca) – may be 3rd.
Aurora (Arequipa) – may be 2nd.
FBC Melgar – 1st and qualified to Octagonal.
Octagonal:
Union (Tarapoto) was eliminated by Universitario 0-5 and 1-1. All depends on size… small and little known Union had a season to remember: they reached Octagonal stage, a big achievement for almost anonymous club.
ADT (Tarma) was destroyed by Alianza: 0-1 and 0-6. May be a photo of this season.
FBC Melgar had no luck – and Sport Boys again had luck on their side: 2-1, 0-1, and finally Melgar went down in the penalty shoot-out 4-5.
Union (Huaral) lost to Alianza Atletico 1-1 and 0-1.
Liquilla Final: the last four created a drama –Alianza and Universitario battled for top place and ended with equal points. Goal-difference did not count, so an extra play-off was staged.
Alianza Atletico (Sullana) finished last with 2 points.
Sport Boys was 3rd with 2 points.
Alianza (Lima) -2nd with 4 points and 4-2 goal-difference.
Universitario – 1st with 4 points, but 6-1 goal-difference. This mattered not and the rivals met again on January 30th, 1991, the 1990 season already spilled over the next year. Universitario prevailed 1-0 and thus won Regional II, which propelled them to the championship final.
And after all that, the big final on February 3rd, 1991: Universitario – Sport Boys, the winners of the first and second part of the long season. And Sport Boys run out of luck this time – they lost 2-4 and the title.
Callao lost the rivalry with Lima – Sport Boys had wonderful season, yet, one cannot help but notice that they were lucky of few crucial occasions. But good luck does not run forever – Sport Boys was seemingly weaker at the Liguilla Final of Regional II. Out of steam, they lost the title. Still, very strong season. Only players, standing from left: Roberto Arrelucea, Leoncio Cervera,Martín Duffo, Ochandarte, Quiroz, César Chavez Riva. Front: Abel Lobatón, NN, Atoche, Oswaldo Flores, Ramón Anchisi.
Universitario (Lima) won the final and its 19th title. Strong season – they won the Metropolitan league in the first part of the championship and ended 2nd in Regional I. They were 3rd in the Metropolitan league in the second part and battled hard to win Regional II against the arch-enemy Alianza and prevailed. At the championship final they were clearly much stronger than Sport Boys – well deserved title! All together, the champions played 45 games – 2 more than Sport Boys – of which they 26, tied 12, and lost 7. Scored 87 goals, received 29. Sport Boys had considerably weaker record – they did not win neither Metropolitan championship, played 2 games less than Universitario and won 17, tied 20, and lost 6. Scored 64 goals, received 41. Most of all, Universitario was evenly strong during the whole season – Sport Boys looked like running out of steam near the end. As for the squad… it is hard to tell: Peruvian football was not at its best at this time and no outstanding players were around. This applies, inevitably, to the champions too. Perhaps not a great team, but champions are champions.