The top league was divided into two groups from start – the top three qualified to the third stage and got bonus points, the last in each group was ‘penalized’ – that is, they were going to the relegation pool after the second stage with minus record: -0.5 point. The last were America (Quito) from Group 1 and 9 de Octubre (Milagro) from Group 2. On top and getting corresponding bonus points were: Deportivo Quito (+1.5), Emelec (+1), and Barcelona (+0.5) from Group 1. From Group 2: El Nacional (+1.5), Filanbnaco (+1), and LDU (Quito) (+0.5). The second stage was the same as the first one: 2 groups of 8 teams each, playing against each other. The last ‘penalized’ and going to the relegation stage and the top three – getting bonus points for the next stage. Universidad Catolica finished last in Group 1 and LDU Portoviejo in Group 2, both getting -0.5 point. On top in Group 1: Filanbanco (+1.5), Deportivo Quito (+1), and Barcelona (+0.5). In Group B: Tecnico Universitario (+1.5), El Nacional (+1), and Audaz Octubrino (+0.5).
So far so good, but it was not so simple… The third stage practically split the league in two: the relegation group of 4 teams and everybody else. Thus, the two opening stages had little importance – a double winner could have a maximum of 3 bonus points, which is negligible advantage… a team just avoiding last place and saving its strength in the earlier stages could easily overcome previous stage winners and go ahead… as it happened. The 12 remaining teams were again divided into 2 groups. The top 2 proceeded to the final stage. There were teams just happy avoiding relegation danger, which seemingly did not offer much at this stage:
Deportivo Quevedo finished last in Group 1 with 5 points. They did not win a single match…
LDU (Quito) was also disinterested – 5th with 9.5 points.
Emelec (Guayaquil) was 4th with 10 points. They seemingly exhausted themselves in the first stage and it was downhill after that.
Deportivo Quito was another casualty of early success: they finished 3rd with 13.5 points. And if not for their 2.5 bonus points, they would have been even more obviously out of the game by now.
Tecnico Universitario finished 2nd with 14.5 points and qualified to the final.
Deportivo Cuenca – surprise, surprise! – won the group with 15 points. A team with no bonus points, which best place so far was 4th place in the second stage – in the first stage they were 6th of 8! The championship formula made such surprises possible and a wise team could do just that: save itself for the third stage and reach the final without playing much in more than half of the season.
No surprises in Group2. Esmeraldas Petrolero (Milagro) ended last with 5 points.
Audaz Octubrino (Machala) – 5th with 5.5 points.
Macara (Ambato) – 4th with 8 points.
Filanbanco (Guayaquil) – 3rd with 14.5 points. Like Deportivo Quito, they seemingly fell victims of their earlier strong performance. True, they fought and the competition was very tough, but it was not enough – they lost only once at this stage, but tied more than half of their games: 6 out of 10.
Barcelona ended 2nd with 16 points and El Nacional – 1st with 17.5 points.
The group winners carried 1 bonus point to the final.
The relegation tournament took place around that time. The final table is confusing, because seemingly the rules stipulated -0.5 point penalty for finishing last in a group earlier. But… only Universidad Catolica and 9 de Octubre have such record in the final table. LDU Portoviejo is listed with -1.5 and America with -2.5! Which does not compute with their final record: they won 3 games, tied 1, and lost 2 – that is 7 points. In the final table they have 6.5. Well, 7 minus 2.5 makes 4.5… LDU’s record is also wrong, so very likely there is some typing mistakes in the final standings and actually everybody had -0.5 point deduced, as it should. Anyhow, Universidad Catolica (Quito) won the relegation group with 7.5 points.
LDU Portoviejo (Quevedo) was 2nd also with 7.5 points.
America (Quito) also survived – 3rd with 6.5 points.
9 de Octubre (Milagro) was entirely out of the fight – they managed to tie only one match and lost all the others, finishing at the end with the fantastic record of 0.5 point. Relegated.
The championship final – another round-robin stage between 4 teams. Here class triumphed.
Deportivo Cuenca surprised everybody in the third stage, but that was all – now they were last with 3 points, 1 of them carried over bonus. They won one match and lost all others.
Tecnico Universitario (Quito) was also unable to keep up with the best – they had even final of 2 wins, 2 ties, and 2 losses, which was good for 3rd place, but was not a run for the title.
Barcelona (Guayaquil) ended 2nd with 7 points – 3 wins, 1 tie, 2 losses, but they were not quit at the level of the winners. Unfortunately for them, especially because they had rather impressive squad: two Brazilians – Toninho Vieira and Severino Vasconcelos, one Uruguayan – Alfredo de los Santos, and the Chilean great star Carlos Caczely. Caczely was old, but this was the Ecuadorian league…
At the end El Nacional (Quito) triumphed. 4 wins 1 tie, and only one lost match made even their bonus point unnecessary. This was the most deserving team anyway – their worst performance was in the second stage, when they finished 2nd the their group. Apart from that, they won every other stage and consistency made then more than convincing champion. This was their 9th title, having particularly strong run at that time – champions in 1982, 1983, 1984, and 1986.