Colombia. 15 teams in the First Division, no direct relegation or promotion. What happened bellow the top league was apparently of little importance. Typically complicated championship formula, going through 4 stages, but seemingly the main objective was to organize as long as possible season – for years England was thought the longest and toughest place to play the game with its 42 rounds of the championship plus other competitions, but the top clubs of Colombia had to play 50 games just for the championship. How many were really important was another matter – teams carried bonus points to the final stage, but how were they achieved? The first two stages seemingly had little relation to the last two stages – in the first, the Pentagonals, the league was divided into 3 groups of 5 teams which played among themselves. In the second stage, the Triangulars, the league was divided into 5 groups of 3 teams, also playing between themselves only. After the group rounds there was nothing more – only group winners. The third stage was familiar league format and every team played twice against the others, a total of 28 rounds. It was also the end of season for the bottom 7 teams in the third stage table – the top 8 went to the final stages. 6 teams got bonus points to carry to the final, coming from the previous 3 stages, but the criteria was unclear: seemingly, the group winners of the first stage and the top 3 teams in the third stage got bonus points, but not the group winners of the second stage – or at least not all of them. In any case Millonarios, America, Independiente Santa Fe, Atletico Nacional, Atletico Junior, and Deportivo Cali got bonus points from different stages and ranging from 1 to 0.25 points. For purpose of economy only the last two stages will be placed here. The final table of the third stage was as follows:
Union Magdalena – last with 12 points.
Once Caldas – 14th with 15 points.
Atletico Bucaramanga – 13th with 20 points.
Sporting Barranquilla – 12th with 21 points.
Deportivo Cali – 11th with 22 points. They got 0.25 bonus points, but good for nothing. Having Carlos Valderamma in the squad did not help either – this was the end of the season for them.
Deportes Tolima – 10th with 26 points.
Cucuta Deportivo – 9th with 27 points. Standing from left: Pedro Blanco, Miguel González Palacios, David Grueso, Alexander Churio, José Alfredo Turci, Francisco Castell.
Crouching: Luis Murillo, Oscar Duque, Felipe Nery Franco, Néstor Nacho Saavedra, Juán Bautista Sanclemente.
Hm… they were 9th, yet qualified to the final stage. Why?
Deportivo Pereira – 8th with 30 points.
Independiente Medellin – or Deportivo Independiente, or most often DIM – 7th with 30 points. Standing from left: Sergio Díaz (Arg), José Luis García, Oscar Wirth (Chi), Héctor Cortina, Carlos Álvarez, Diego Osorio.
Crouching: Carlos “panelo” Valencia, Juan Carlos Letelier (Chi), William Nigth, Huberto “beto” Sierra, Gabriel Jaime “barrabás” Gómez.
A second ‘hmm’… they did not go to the final. Why?
Deportes Quidio – 6th with 31 points.
America – 5th with 31 points.
Atletico Junior – 4th with 33 points.
Atletico Nacional – 3rd with 33 points.
Independiente Santa Fe – 2nd with 41 points.
Millonarios – 1st with 42 points. 19 wins,4 ties, 5 losses, 49-21. Millonarios also won its group in the first stage, but finished 2nd in the second stage group. Nevertheless, they were steadily strong so far and got 1.5 bonus points as a result.
The final stage was a tough battle between Atletico Nacional and Millonarios, which was resolved only by goal difference. Both teams ended with 10 wins, 3 ties, and single lost match and had 1.5 bonus points. Millonarios had better goal-difference – 32-10 – to Atletico Nacional’s 23-5.
Cucuta Deportivo was last in the final stage with 4 points. Standing from left: Luis Murillo, Miguel González Palacios, Alexander Churio, Pedro Nel Barbosa, José Alfredo Turci.
First row: Danilo Robledo, Winston Girón, Nestor Saavedra, Juan Bautista Sanclemente, Francisco Castell.
Deportes Quindio – 7th with 6 points. Standing from left: Norberto “chomo” Cadavid, Carlos Enrique Prono (arg), Luis NorbertoGil, Edgar Téllez, Jairo “plástico” Torres, Norberto Peluffo.
First row: Augusto Vargas Cortés, Carlos Peláez, Henry Otero, Luis Erramuspe, Gilmar Aponzá.
Deportivo Pereira – or Deportes Pereira – 6th with 7 points.
Atletico Junior – 5th with 14.25 points.
Independiente Santa Fe – 4th with17.75 points.
America – 3rd with 18.75 points.
Atletico Nacional – 2nd with 24.50 points.
Millonarios – 1st with 24.50 points. Lucky win, one may argue, but they played well enough and had very tough rival. Second consecutive title and 13th altogether. Millonarios remained the most successful club in Colombia. Curiously, as good as this vintage was, the most famous Colombian stars – Valderamma and Hiquita – did not play in it by names only America still had stronger squad on paper. Somehow Millonarios did not have the greatest stars, either domestic or foreign, yet, they were the best team two years in a row.