Colombia. The champion came out of complicated formula – first was the Apertura or Copa de la Paz championship. It was followed by Clausura or Torneo Nacional. Then a bonus table was made – the top teams in each championship got bonus points – which were very strange: from 1 whole point down to 0.25 point. And after that the top 8 teams played a final championship – Octagonal Final, where the bonus points were counted and the end of this smaller championship was effectively the final table and the winner in it – the champion of Colombia. As in many similarly complicated championships, there were teams strong in the first half of the year and others preferring to reach top from late in the year, when it was truly important.
Apertura had no true final, but ‘extra series’, where the top teams of the original two groups in which the league was split, played 2 more games – it was odd: not a full round-robin tournament, but the after the two extra games there was final mini-table.
Atletico Junior got 1 point in the extra series, DIM Medellin – 2,
Millonarios – 2 points, and Once Caldas – 3. This extra points made Once Caldas the winner.
Once Caldas – the winner of Apertura/ Copa de la Paz.
The final four also got bonus points, according to their final place – Once Caldas – 1 point, Atletico Junior – 0.75, DIM – 0.50, and Millonarios – 0.25 points.
Campeonato Nacional promptly followed and it final table in way was important only for the bottom 6 places this year – the top 8 still had to play.
Deportes Quindio finished last with 13 points.
Cucuta Deportivo – 13th with 14 points.
Atletico Bucaramanga – 12th with 18 points. Dark period for the club, which fans prefer not to remember.
Deportes Tolima – 11th with 19 points. A big drop from the succesfful previous season to insignificance.
Once Caldas – 10th with 24 points. Apparently, everything was spent in the Apertura and the second half of the year was just woolgathering.
Union Magdalena – 9th with 24 points. ‘Didi’ Alex Valderama was still more famous than young boom Carlos ‘Pibe’ Valderama, but no matter – the team was weak this year.
That was final for the above teams – the top 8 were going to the final championship, so only the winner of Clausura should be mentioned now:
Atletico Nacional, 1st with 37 points. Standing from left: Jorge Lagomarcino (preparador físico-q.e.p.d), José Luis Brown, Hugo Lorenzo Carrabs Finno, Sergio”Bocha” Santín Spinelli, Luis Fernando Suárez Guzmán, Santiago”Sachi” Escobar Saldarriaga, Luis Fernando López Yépes, Guillermo Claudio”Tanque” La Rosa Laguna, Víctor Emilio Luna Gómez, Jaime Night Agamez, Fabio Alberto”Gallina” Calle González, Anibal”Maño” Ruíz (asistente técnico) Luis Alberto Cubilla Almeida (director técnico-q.e.p.d).
Middle row: Víctor Jaramillo, Carlos Alberto Aristizábal Correa, Silvio”Chino” Padilla, Juan Jairo”Andino”Galeano Restrepo, Pedro Enrique Sarmiento Solís, Álvaro “Polo” Mondragón, José Ignacio Maya Peña, Ricardo Amado”Gandhy” Rodríguez Asprilla, Jhon Jairo López Yépez.
Sitting in front:Carlos Alberto Maya Peña, César Augusto”Cucharita” Cueto Villa, Carlos Alberto”Ilustre” Ricaurte Daza, Gabriel Jaime “Barrabas” Gómez Jaramillo, Aparecido Donizette Oliveira “Sapuca”, Carlos Mario Vanegas, Javier “Pillo” Cardona, Hernán Darío”Bolillo” Gómez Jaramillo, Manuel Asisclo”Triciclo” Córdoba Aguilar.
Since Colombian players were not familiar names back then, only their coach deserves a note – the great Uruguayan star Luis Cubilla made rarely successful transition from player to coach – he practically ended his playing career with success and immediately won a title as a debutant coach. And continued to win – now he was in Colombia and led Atletico Nacional to first place in Torneo Nacional.
Now the bonus table was completed – Atletico Nacional got 1 bonus point, Amercia – 0.75, Millonarios – 0.50, and Atletico Junior – 0.25 points. That is, the top 4 teams according to the final table of Clausura/Torneo Nacional. Two teams got bonus points from both Apertura and Clausura – Millonarios and Atletico Junior, but it was hard to tell how strong they really were – true strength was to be displayed in the Octagonal Final and something in the vicinity of 1 extra point did not matter all that much. What mattered was to play really strong in the last 14 games of the year.
DIM – Deportivo Independiente Medellin – did not play very well the whole year and finished 8th with 7.50 points.
Deportivo Cali – 7th with 9 points.
Independiente Santa Fe – 6th with 12 points.
Once Caldas… should not be here, but it was. Who knows why.
Deportes Pereira was 7th in Torneo Nacional and they should have been playing in the Octagonal. Unless Once Caldas was allowed as champions of Apertura – any other explanation would be fishy. Anyhow, Once Caldas was entirely unimpressive – 5th with 14 points.
Millonarios was steady through the whole year, but no more than steady… 4th with 16.75 points. Standing from left: Moises Pachón, José Daniel Van Tuyne, Alcides Savedra, Nolberto Molina, Arnoldo Iguaran, Wilmer Cabrera.
Front row: Norberto Peluffo, Alejandro Esteban Barberón, José “Cheché” Hernández, Carlos Ángel López, Alonso “Pocillo” López.
The big name here was the Argentine Jose Daniel Van Tuyne, but he was hardly enough for success.
Atletico Nacional managed just 3rd place – not bad, but unable to keep up with their earlier success. Unlucky too – they lost 2nd place on worse goal-difference.
Atletico Junior (Baranquilla) ended 2nd with 19 points, but better goal-difference placed them above Atletico Nacional. By now, Europeans hardly remembered the Argentine stars of the first half of the 1970s, but aged Daniel Carnevalli and Carlos Babington were still good enough to keep their current club strong.
When it came to playing just when it mattered most, nobody knew it better than America (Cali). For the most of the year they kept themselves among the favourites, but did not do more. But when the Octagonal started they pushed up. And won. The final table does not show it well – America was 1st with 19.75 points, less than a point ahead of the competition. But remember that the top three teams all carried bonus points. America was not overwhelming champion, but if bonus points are voided, they were still first, for they won most points in the final tournament.
Since winning was already just routine for America, better take another look at the victorious squad and say no more.