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.