Ecuador. The specific rules of the championship must be reminded: three-phased championship. The first two were played in standard league format and the last two in the league were relegated. The top three teams were promoted to the final stage with bonus points. The important and confusing element of the championship was relegation-promotion: the winners of the second phase second division in the previous year moved up to top flight. The last two in the first phase of first division were relegated and replaced by the winners of the first phase of 1981 second division championship. Thus, in a single year divisional movements happened twice. The first stage of 1981 Serie B was won by:
Emelec (Guayaquil) – curiously relegated in 1980. One of the strongest Ecuadorian clubs suddenly found itself in Serie B, but not for long.
9 de Octubre (Milagro) also was recently relegated and climbed back quickly, but unlike Emelec they were no strangers to the lower levels of Ecuadorian football.
At the time Emelec and 9 de Octubre were fighting to return to first division, the top league played the first stage of the championship. Barcelona and LDU (Quito) finished well above the rest of the small league with 25 each – Barcelona ended first on better goal-difference, getting 3 bonus points for the final stage. LDU got 2 points and the third finisher, El Nacional, got 1 point. At the opposite end of the table Tecnico Universitario (Ambato) edged LDU (Portoviejo) on goal-difference, but it was unimportant – both teams were relegated.
In the second stage the relegated teams dominated Serie B and, as it usually the case, they won the second level. Both teams relegated in the first stage of the 1981 championship returned to play again first division football in 1982.
Tecnico Universitario (Ambato) – winners of Segunda Etapa of Serie B and promoted back to first division – they started 1981 in first division and were going to play in it at 1982 as well.
LDU (Portoviejo) did not win Serie B. but it did not matter, because, like Tecnico Universitario, returned to top flight.
Segunda Etapa of First Division was dramatic – most teams were fairly equal, which mostly concerned the battle for survival. Five points were he whole difference between the first and last teal in the league. Only 2 points divided the 3rd placed team from the last – to the end of the tournament every club on edge, equally having a chance to play at the final or to be relegated. Three teams finished with 17 points, but one ended with 16. America (Quito) finished last. Goal-difference decided the second relegation: Deportivo Cuenca had the worst and took the dreadful 9th place.
Emelec was lucky – they finished 8th and kept their place in first division. Not a good time for one of the best known Ecuadorian clubs. Even having a player named after Stalin did not help.
The top 3 clubs were the same as in the first stage: Barcelona 1st, LDU (Quito) 2nd, and El Nacional 3rd. They got the bonus points and moved to the final tournament to compete for the title: round-robin Liguilla, where the bonus points counted and Barcelona had the edge before the start with 6 points. There was discrepancy with the other two teams, however: LDU started with 2 bonus points and El Nacional with 4. Somewhere there was a mistake… LDU finished 2nd twice, meaning they earned 4 bonus points and El Nacional only 2 points from their 2 third places. In final tournament LDU played best, earning 5 points from 2 wins 1 tie, and 1 loss. Barcelona was 50/50 – 2 wins and 2 losses, and El Nacional was just a bit weaker and unluckier than its opponents – 1 win, 1 tie, and 2 losses.
1.Barcelona 4 2 0 2 6- 6 10 [6]
2.LDU de Quito 4 2 1 1 9- 6 7 [2]
3.El Nacional 4 1 1 2 8-11 7 [4]
[bonus points between square brackets]
El Nacional (Quito) finished with bronze medals – they would have been third even if bonus points were counted right. The confusion of the bonus points did not affect the final standings at all.
LDU (Quito) was 2nd this year – they were consistently 2nd during the earlier stages and their final foray was not strong enough to propel them to the title.
The new champions were familiar and just collected one more title – Barcelona (Guayaquil). Outside the country, the players meant practically nothing, but they were the strongest all year long: Barcelona won both earlier stages and played just good enough to stay on top at the end. Their bonus points helped, no doubt, but in any case Barcelona was not weaker at the end of the championship than earlier.