Football Journey

The South American Player of the Year. A tough one – there were 2 separate awards, one organized by the Venezuelan newspaper ‘El Mundo’ and one organized by the Uruguayan ‘El Pais’. By Venezuelan rules any player was legible, no matter where playing. By Uruguayan rules – only those platying in South America. Since in both the winner was the same, no conflict this year, but let say that ‘El Pais’ had the upper hand in the long run and is more or less the recognized award. Let also add that the Venezuelan rules were somewhat ignored by the participating journalists: 12 players appeared in the top 10 and all of them played in South America – Maradona was doing great things in Europe, but… that was far away. Yubert Lemos of Nacional (Montevideo) was at hand and got votes unlike Maradona and other European-based stars. At the top was Ruben Paz, seconded by Hugo de Leon.
‘El Pais’ repeated the same order, but differed in number 3 – Brazilians Geovani (Vasco da Gama) and Taffarel (Inter Porto Alegre) shared 3rd place in ‘El Mundo’, but in ‘El Pais’ Jose Pinthos Saldanha (Nacional Montevideo) was 3rd – and he was not in the top 10 in ‘El Mundo’! Bias… in the Uruguayan classification three Uruguayans were the top 3. But may be not simply bias – South America was increasingly depleted from great stars, all of them moving to Europe. Add the other traditional destination – Mexico – and even second-raters were leaving South America in flocks. There were no longer great teams, where one can see 6-7 famous stars – now one could be lucky to see a team like Newell’s Old Boys with few young talents, who certainly will go to Europe before even becoming fully famous. Classifications were practically made from leftovers and it is interesting to see that no player of Newell’s Old Boys made the top 3 of ‘El Pais’ and even the top 10 of ‘El Mundo’. Such was the situation that one should take the awarded number one with a grain of salt.

Ruben Paz was voted number one in both ‘El Mundo’ and ‘El Pais’ voting. The attacking-playmaker Uruguayan was 29 years old, currently playing for Argentine Racing (Avellaneda). Famous player, no doubt, but consider his position – probably the most beloved and sacred number 10! Wonderful player, but not Maradona or Francescoli. Perhaps not close to Valderrama either. And even somewhat in decline – he came to Racing in 1986, practically dumped by the French Racing (Paris), for which he appeared only 6 times! His compatriot Francescoli moved to the same Racing (Paris) and immediately was a key mover and shaker star player in France – Paz meantime played back in South America.
He was no failure in Avellaneda – on the contrary, he immediately impressed and became perhaps the most important part of something looking like a revival of Racing after 20 years of painful struggle. But Racing did not win the Argentine championship and even did not play in the Copa Libertadores… such was the South American reality. The continental champions practically had only one great player, but Hugo de Leon played only half season because of his heavy injury. Newell’s Old Boys had only promising team in the eyes of the observers and their players were discounted. Other great South American clubs had a poor year and won nothing, so it was painful to select players from them – although it was may be reluctantly done. At the end Ruben Paz somewhat combined the traditional inclination of journalists to vote for strong players from currently successful clubs – Racing was relatively successful and Ruben Paz shined in it. Good for him, but perhaps Hugo de Leon deserved more to be voted Player of the Year – unfortunately, he was just a defender, not dazzling playmaker. And from the other side of spectrum – Romario also played only half the season in South America, moving to Holland in the summer and thus becoming illegible at least for ‘El Pais’. So Carlos Valderrama. So others. Nothing against Ruben Paz, but his major advantage seemingly was playing the whole season in South America.

Libertadores Cup. The draw did not play any tricks this year and consequently there were no surprises in the group stage. Chile and Venezuela were in Group 1 and the Chileans qualified: 1. Universidad Catolica, 2. Colo-Colo, 3. Sport Maritimo, 4. U. A . Tachira. Group 2 – Argentina and Ecuador: 1. Newell’s Old Boys, 2. San Lorenzo, 3. Barcelona, 4. Filanbanco. Group 3 – it was the toughest: Colombia and Uruguay.1. America, 2. Nacional,3. Millonarios, 4. Montevideo Wanderers. Group 4 – Bolivia and Paraguay. If there was a surprise, it was here – the Paraguayans failed. 1. Oriente Petrolero, 2. Bolivar, 3. Cerro Porteno, 4. Olimpia. Group 4 – Brazil and Peru. 1. Guarani, 2. Univeristario, 3. Sport Recife, 4. Alianza. Alianza (Lima) lost its team in an airplane catastrophe in December 1987 and had no time to recover – even Teofilo Cubillas came out of retirement to help, but miracle was not about to happen and it did not. For their last match Alianza did not have a coach – Moises Barack had resigned. In general, it was clear that South American football suffered by export to Europe – few great players stayed in South America and one painful result was the absence of great clubs – Penarol, River Plate, Boca Juniros, Flamengo, the other famous Brazilian clubs… As far as names were an issue, this Copa Libertadores vintage was almost anonymous.
In the second phase Universidad Catolica – Nacional 1-1 and 0-1, America – Universitario 1-0 and 2-2, Oriente Petrolero – Colo-Colo 2-1 and 0-0, San Lorenzo – Guarani 1-1 and 1-0. Bolivar and Newell’s Old Boys was most dramatic – the Bolivians won at home 1-0, but lost with the same result away and penalty shoot-out followed. In it Newell’s Old Boys prevailed 3-2.
Third phase: now the 1987 Cup holders – Penarol – entered. And were eliminated immediately by San Lorenzo 0-0 and 0-1. Newell’s Old Boys faced Nacional: the first leg ended 1-1, the second – 2-1 Nacional. America had little trouble against Oriente Petrolero – 1-1 and 2-0.
And now a curious thing happened – South America always had difficulties in structuring tournaments, for the countries on the continent are so few. A ‘normal’ formula was practically impossible and weird rules were frequently used. This year radical changes were made: for the first time a winner was decided by goal-difference. In case of a tie, extra-time was played and after that – a penalty shoot-out. There was no more third final match on neutral ground in case the normal legs were won by each opponent. The current Cup holder entered the third stage. Which meant only 3 teams were going directly to the semifinals… the old, old problem of odd numbers. It was not good, a 4th team had to be added – and it was Newell’s Old Boys. Why? Hard to tell… may be on combined record so far – better than the other eliminated in the Third phase teams.
In the semi-finals Newell’s Old Boys met the other Argentine team, San Lorenzo. And beat them twice 1-0 and 2-1. In the same time Nacional played against America (Cali) and managed to overcome them 1-0 and 1-1.
Strange it was, but Nacional was meeting the same enemies again and again – they played against America (Cali) in the group stage and then at the semi-finals. They faced Newell’s Old Bous in the Third stage and now were going to meet them again in the final. And it was highly possible that the team Nacional eliminated earlier would beat them and won the final, a South American irony. The only thing in favour of Nacional was that the second leg was in Montevideo. But much depended on the first leg, played in naturally hostile Rosario.
Substitute Jorge Gabrich scored for the hosts in the 60th minute.
Instant home hero, who replaced Sergio Almiron at half-time. He materialized the hopes of club and fans for winning Copa Libertadores for the first time. However, no other goals were scored in the first leg. Newell’s Old Boys was going with small advantage to Montevideo – but with advantage. Nacional’s coach was sent off in the 51st minute, but that meant nothing – he was not suspended for the second leg.
Newell’s Old Boys emerged on Centenario determined, but…
It was jumping in hell – the stadium was full and entirely against the Argentines. And Nacional did not disappoint its helpful and demanding fans – Ernesto Vargas gave them the lad in the 13th minute.
In the 30th minute Santiago Ostolaza made it 2-0.
Hugo de Leon made it 3-0 in the 80th minute, but… rules. At the end of the regular time it was technically 1-1, for at this point not goal-difference, but wins counted. Extra-time followed, which naturally exposed the ugly side of South American football – in the 115th minute Hector Moran (Nacional) and Jorge Pautasso (Newell’s Old Boys) were sent off. Nobody scored in extra-time and only now goal-difference became a factor. And Nacional won 3-1.
1st Leg [Rosario; att: 45,000] [Oct 19] Newell’s Old Boys Arg Nacional Uru 1-0 [Gabrich 60] [Newell’s: Scopini, Llop, Theiler, Pautasso, Sensini, Marino (Fullana 81), Franco, Alfaro, Rossi, Batistuta, Almiron (Gabrich 46);
Nacional: Sere, Pintos Saldanha, Revelez, De Leon, Soca, Lemos, Ostolaza, Cardaccio, Castro, Vargas (Carreno 89), De Lima.]
2nd Leg [Montevideo; att: 75,000] [Oct 26] Nacional Uru Newell’s Old Boys Arg 3-0 [Vargas 13, Ostolaza 36, De Leon 78] [red cards: Pautasso (Newell’s) 115, Moran (Nacional) 115] [Nacional: Sere, Pintos Saldanha, Revelez, De Leon, Soca, Lemos, Ostolaza, Cardaccio, Castro (Moran 11), Vargas (Carreno 54), De Lima; coach: Roberto Fleitas;
Newell’s: Scopini, Llop (Ramos), Theiler, Pautasso, Sensini, Marino, Franco, Alfaro (Almiron 46), Rossi, Gabrich, Batistuta; coach: Jose Yudica]

Glory to the champions of South America!
This was the best season in the history of Newell’s Old Boys (Rosario) to date – champions of Argentina and vice-champions of South America. Looking at the squad today, one would wonder how come they lost with Batistuta and Sensini, not to mention others, in the line-up – especially losing to almost anonymous Uruguayan squad. But there was nothing irregular in the loss – in fact, it was fair, considering that Nacional already prevailed over the Argentines in earlier stage. The world-famous stars were not world-famous stars yet, but a bunch of bright up and coming youngsters, still lacking experience. They were lucky to reach the final, but were not to be dismissed as just lucky – the success of 1988 was the result of a program started in 1972 by Bernardo Griffa: it was classic and simple program – develop your own talent. The club system was constructed with this aim in mind, taking care of the youth, paying close attention to the kids and introduced every talented one to the first team. The concept paid off in 1988 – it was home-grown team, full of bright youngsters bound to become great stars. As for losing Copa Libertadores – it was sad, of course, but still the biggest achievement of the club to this moment. The only trouble was objective problem: Newell’s Old Boys, as every South American club at that time, had no way of keeping its talent. So, there was no way to stay consistently strong… whatever Europe did not tale, Buenos Aires clubs did.
On the surface – nothing unusual, nothing strange: Nacional is one of the greatest South American clubs. This was their 6th Copa Libertadores final and their 3rd win. Familiar story… Uruguayans were traditionally successful. History and tradition were on their side. Yet, it was brave and unconventional victory, even miraculous – first of all, Uruguayan football was in decline, lacking both money and great talent. By the standards of the club, this vintage was quite plain. The player most praised in 1988 was their goalkeeper Jorge Sere – any bells ringing? No? Of course not and that sums it all. The miracle was Hugo de Leon, practically the only famous player in the team. In his own words, he came back from Spain heavily injured and thinking his career ended. Nacional did not think of hiring him, but he started training and cautiously the club offered him a contract. He was able to play again in the second half of the year and came back with a vengeance: what de Leon gave to the team was leadership, confidence and inspiration. And his ambition boosted the team too – he already won Copa Libertadores twice with Nacional in 1980 and Gremio (Porto Alegre) in 1983. He also felt he had a debt to pay to Nacional, thinking they lost the Intercontinental Cup in 1980 because of his absence (he was already sold to Gremio when they played againt Nottingham Forest). Loyalty made him even more ambitious, including that he was not forgetting Nacional gave him a chance a few months earlier when even he was thinking he was finished. To bring Nacional to victory was not easy at all – again according to de Leon, the situation was very different than in 1980: back then the club had money and a well made experienced team. In 1988 it was pretty modest team, which was largely made a great effort, putting everything aside just to play football. And may be because of that, it was rather unusual Uruguayan team – they played attacking football, constantly pushing ahead. Did not work in the domestic championship, but worked at international level. Hence, the 3rd Libertadores, but de Leon still had a debt to pay: the Intercontinental Cup was missing. He won it once, but not with his beloved Nacional.

First Division. 20 teams – 2 relegated not by final position, but on worst point average in the accumulated relegation table. 14 teams were from Greater Buenos Aires (including La Plata and Avellaneda) – such is the weight of the city: so many great clubs, impossible to ignore. The rest were also concentrated in the traditional big-club cities – Rosario and Cordoba plus one from Santa Fe.
Let start with the relegated on point average: they were Union (Santa Fe) – 18th in the championship, and Banfield – 19th in the season.
The final table was:
Talleres (Cordoba) last with 27 points.
Banfield – 19th with 28 points. Relegated. Standing from left: Solari, C.Díaz, D’Angelo, Vittor, Pogany, E. Vázquez. First row: Orte, Garcia, Aquino, Molina, Andrada.

Union (Santa Fe) – 18th with 28 points. Relegated. Standing from left: Humoller, Altamirano, Mauri, Passet, Jorge García, Cárdenas. Crouching: Armando, Toresani, Marcelo López, Alí, De Avila.
Racing (Cordoba) – 17th with 31 points. Standing from left: Luis Escobedo, Pascual Noriega, Marcelo D. Quiñones, Héctor Chazarreta, José T. Serrizuela, Juan M. Ramos.
Front: Luis Amuchástegui, Eusebio J. Roldán, José M. Bianco, Raúl de la Cruz Chaparro, Víctor H. Ferreyra.
Estudiantes (La Plata) – 16th with 32 points.
Instituto – 15th with 33 points. Standing from left: Renato Corsi (USA), Jorge F. Reinoso, Ricardo Kuzemka, Ramón Alvarez, Dalcio Giovagnoli, Enrique Nieto.
Crouching: Héctor Silva, Osvaldo Márquez, Ariel Cozzoni, Ricardo Rentera, Armando Dely Valdés (Panama).
Ferro Carril Oeste – 14th with 33 points. Second row from left: Claudio Cristofanelli, José Fantaguzzi, Oscar Garré, Héctor Cúper, Víctor Marchesini, Fabián Cancelarich.
Fornt row: Oscar R. Acosta, Oscar Agonil, Héctor D. Miranda, Daniel O. Fernández, Luis Fabián Artime.
Deportivo Armenio – 13th with 34 points.
Boca Juniors – 12th with 35 points. Terrible season for mighty Boca – just a point ahead of modest debutantes Deportivo Armenio. Standing from left: Hrabina, Carrizo, Cuciuffo, Gatti, Abramovich, Tavares. First row: Graciani, Melgar, Humberto Gutiérrez, Stafuza, J. L. Villarreal.. Well… take away old Gatti and Cuciuffo and there is practically nothing.
Independiente – another great nothing… 11th with 37 points.
Platense – 10th with 38 points. Standing from left: Aponte, Capozucchi, Juan A. Sánchez, Jones, Guillermo Rodríguez, Fortunato, Bellini. Front: Ivanovic, Boldrini, Espina, Alfaro Moreno.
Deportivo Espanol – 9th with 40 points. Worse goal-difference depraved them from a chance to compete for a spot in the Libertadores Cup – teams placed 2nd to 8th qualified to the tournament for that spot.
Argentinos Juniors – 8th with 40 points. Great days were over, but they still had a chance to appear again in Libertadores. At least at the end of the championship.
Rosario Central – 7th with 40 points.

Velez Sarsfield – 6th with 41 points. Standing from left: Simeone, Sandoval, Rojo, Navarro Montoya, Meza, Lucca. First row: Cardozo, Adrián Bianchi, Zalazar, Claudio García, Macat. One guy will become world-famous in a little while.
Gimnasia y Esgrima (La Plata) – 5th with 43 points. Standing from left: Carlos G. Russo, Gustavo Moriconi, Oscar A. Olivera, Claudio Galvagni, Daniel Pighín, Osvaldo Tempesta, Ricardo Kuzemka.
Crouching: Gabriel Pedrazzi, Carlos A. García, Carlos Carrió, Gerardo M. González.
River Plate – 4th with 46 points. May be preoccupied with something else, may be not great enough to compete successfully on two fronts, may be the competition was too tough. Should have been title contenders, but at the end – 4th.
Racing (Avellaneda) – 3rd with 48 points. May be a revival at last? Let’s wait… Standing from left: Asteggiano, Lamadrid, Berón, Balerio, Perico Pérez, Fabio Costas. Front: Szulz, Decoud, Zaccanti, Medina Bello, Rabuñal.
San Lorenzo – 2nd with 49 points. Strong, but the title was not up to them. Standing from left: Zacarías, Bernuncio, Moner, Giunta, Chilavert, Larraquy. Crouching: Malvárez, Nannini, Perazzo, Ortega Sánchez, Barrera.
Newell’s Old Boys – champions with 55 points from 21 wins, 13 ties, and 4 losses. 68-22 goal-difference. They showed their aim from before the championship and had no real rival this season – finished 6 points ahead of San Lorenzo.
Newell’s Old Boys really deserved to win, if players are any real indication – their squad, with Sensini, Basualdo, Balbo, ‘Tata’ Martino, Dezotti, Scoponi, was way above any other squad by names. Shall we add one Gabriel Batistuta just in case? And this time names translated into class.
Give credit to their coach Josa Judica too. Great, popular, well known club, but provincial… so, it was their only 2nd title – the first was in 1974, when the won the old Metropolitan League. This time – no ifs and buts, a total success.
One last time – the champions!

Second Promotion Play-off. 12 teams in it – 9 from Second Division plus the champion of Primera B Metropolitana – Talleres (RE) – and the top teams from Torneo del Interior – San Martin and Estacion Quequen. The formula of the tournament was cup-format – direct elimination in two legs. The and 3rd from Second Division started at the second round – the ¼ finals and the 2nd – in the ½ finals.
Douglas Haig lost to Huracan 0-3 and 2-2.
Talleres (Remedios de Escalada) was eliminated by Belgrano 0-0 and 1-4.
Atletico Tucuman lost to Colon 1-0 and 0-1 – possibly, losing a penalty shoot-out. Standing from left:Carlos Suárez, Miguel Gerez, Carlos Munutti, Miguel Diamante, Ramón Villafañe, Julio C. Lencina.
Front: Miguel Rearte, Luis Fabián García, Raúl Aredes, Luis C. Reartez, Antonio Apud.
Tigre lost to San Martin 0-1 and 0-1.
Estacion Quequen was eliminated by Chaco For Ever 1-3 and 1-1. Second row from left: Jorge D. Casaprima (PF), Claudio Mainardi, Carlos Viel, Sergio Mainardi, Luis Sánchez, Horacio Stelle, Ricardo Erasún.
Crouching: Roberto Crausaz, Ricardo Guerrero, Mario Márquez, Carlos Beguiristain, Luis Pekel.
¼ finals.
Belgrano was eliminated by Huracan 1-3 and 1-1. Standing from left: Lucio Del Mul – Juan C. Reyna – Alejandro Chiera – José Céliz – Daniel Sperandío – Gustavo Tognarelli.
Front: Rubén Rodríguez – Osvaldo Strecchia(Uruguay) – Edgardo Parmigiani – Mauro Pazzarelli – Omar Da Fonseca.
Cipolletti lost to San Martin 2-5 and 1-1.
Colon lost to Chaco For Ever 1-0 and 1-2. It was unclear how they eliminated Atletico Tucuman in the previous round and it is unclear how they lost here – surely, not on away goal rule.
½ finals.
End of the road for Huracan – eliminated by Chaco For Ever 1-0 and 0-1. Once again, unclear on what rule… Standing from left: Guillermo Nicosia, Hebert Birriel (Uruguayan), Eduardo Quinto Pagés, Pedro Fóppoli, Eugenio Gentile, Carlos Torino.
First row: Ariel Paolorossi, Daniel Messina, Héctor Herrero, Marcelo Bachino, Atilio Oyola.
No luck for Quilmes too – they lost to San Martin 0-0 ans 1-2. They lost the home leg… Standing from left: O. Aguilar, C. Jeannoteguy, J. Orengo, G. Puentedura, G. Escalante, E. Kalugerovich. First row: R. Kergaravat, O. Gómez, D. Leani, A. Llane, Juan Sotelo.
Final – Chaco For Ever vs San Martin. Provincial final opposing a team from Second Division to one technically from Third level. And the team from the lower level won both legs – 1-0 and 2-0. If anything, this was the justification of the complicated second promotion tournament.

Lady Luck abandoned Chaco For Ever at the very end – just a prove that one can run all the way on sheer luck… Yet, Chaco For Ever did very well – they were not a factor in the Second Division championship, finishing 4th 7 points behind the winners, but had strong second run in the promotion play-off, coming from behind and thus playing all stages. But they were not good enough to earn promotion… Standing from left: Raúl Valdez, Celso Freyre, Felipe Di Marco, Daniel Sperandío, Gustavo Ferlatti, Hugo Parrado.
Crouching: Luis E. Sosa (Uruguayan), Juan Argüello, Daniel Cravero, Carlos Rosas, Juan M. Sotelo.
San Martin (Tucuman) won the second promotion to top flight – thus, skipping Second Division. A club which should not be playing Third Level really, for traditionally they were among the strongest clubs outside greater Buenos Aires. But had the hard luck to be out of the new divisional system of the country. And they proved they belonged to the best – not to second and even less to third rate teams. 6 wins and 2 ties in the promotion campaign – they did not lose at all, really, the best team. Top row from left: Guillén, Belardi (PF), Daza, A. Juárez, Monteros, Solbes, Chabay (DT), Haymal, Unali, L. Moreno, J. C. Roldán (AC). Middle row: Rutar, Noriega, Troitiño, Ibáñez, R. Robles, Campos, Chazarreta, Medina, J. López. Sitting: Romano, R. Torres, Galván, Dilascio, R. Roldán, R. Martínez, Villafañe, Giménez, Benítez.
Well done, San Martin! Both promotions went to provincial clubs this year – a prove that the provinces did not deserve to be put down by supposedly deeply embedded Buenos Aires superiority.

Second Division. 22 teams in it, the winner promoted to First Division. Three teams relegated – by the means of combined relegation table, those with the worst point average. Those placed from 2nd to 10th position went to the Second Promotion Play-off.
Gimnasia y Esgrima (Jujuy) finished last with 14 points.
Ferro Carril Oeste (General Pico) – 21st with 25 points.

Los Andes – 20th with 33 points.
Lanus – 19th with 35 points.
Temperley – 18th with 38 points.
Guarani Antonio Franco – 17th with 38 points.
Defensa y Justicia – 16th with 38 points.
Deportivo Maipu – 15th with 40 points.
Almirante Brown – 14th with 40 points. Standing from left: Hugo Molteni, Sergio Seguel, Ricardo Johansen, José L. Carrizo, Nelson Iturrieta.
First row: Sergio A. Sánchez, Jorge Quiróz, Roberto Coelli, Marcelo Reggiardo, Antonio Labonia, Néstor Ferraresi.
Sportivo Italiano – 13th with 41 points. Standing from left: Esteban Koleff, Daniel Díaz, Abel Alves, José A. Putero, Gustavo Maciel, Pablo Giofreé.
Crouching: Lorenzo Román, Marcos Capocetti, Víctor H. Crema, Nobrberto Toledo, Miguel H. Robles.
Central Cordoba (S d E) – 12th with 42 points.
Chacarita Juniors – 11th with 43 points.
Douglas Haig – 10th with 43 points. Better goal-difference placed them above Chacarita Juniors and qualified them to the Second Promotion Play-off.
Atletico Tucuman – 9th with 45 points.
Colon – 8th with 48 points.
Huracan – 7th with 48 points. Standing from left: Rescaldani, Tanucci, Urquiza, Quiroz, Luque, Britez Front: Mohamed, Marioni, Borzillo, De Felippe, Rey.
Belgrano – 6th with 49 points.
Tigre – 5th with 49 points.
Chaco For Ever – 4th with 51 points. Standing from left: Raúl Oyola, Juan Argüello, Jorge Benítez, José Vilche, Felipe Di Marco, Hugo Parrado.
First row: Luis E. Sosa (Uruguayan), Celso Freyre, José Villareal, Luis Díaz, Juan M. Sotelo.
Cipolletti – 3rd with 52 points.
Quilmes – 2nd with 54 points.
Deportivo Mandiyu – champions of Second Division with 58 points. 20 wins, 18 ties, 4 losses. 54-24 goal-difference. Great season for them and promoted to First Division.
One more look at the champions – they deserve that. Standing from left: Quiroga, Daniel Rodríguez, Barrios, Cáceres, Manis, Daniel Martínez. Front: Urbina, Basualdo, Oddine, Cañete, Attadía.
Relegation – the 3 teams with the worst accumulated point average: Guarani Antonio Franco, Ferro Carril Oeste (GP), and Gimnasia y Esgrima (J).

Argentina. The system: on the top – First Division, two teams relegated on the old criteria – a few years combined relegation table from which those with the worst point average went down. Second Division, however, had only the winner directly promoted. The second promotion came from another tournament – it included those finishing from 2nd to 10th place, 9 teams in total, plus the winner of Primera B Metropolitana (Buenos Aires, Third Level), and the 2 teams qualifying from Torneo Interior (Provincial champiuonship, Third Level). The confusion remains, of course – the Buenos Aires league system conflicts with the championships of the provinces, culminating with the final interprovincial championship, but in the grand scheme they all were de facto Third Level – Second Division, Primera B, muddles the water largely because it more or less the old Metropolitan Primera B, but elevated on national scale. In the same time the provinces were seemingly lowered, so as compensation it was decided to have these parallel championship for one promotion – still it was largely made of Second Division teams.
Such complications emerged largely by the obvious discrepancy between names and strength: on one hand quite respectful clubs from greater Buenos Aires were down in Third Level, but weaker provincial clubs either on the same or higher level. On the other hand the nation-wide interprovincial championship would not be degraded to mere Third Level affair – Argentina was too big to allow football to be concentrated only around Buenos Aires. A quick sample of teams outside the two top division should suffice for the point made:
All Boys (Buenos Aires)
Almagro (Buenos Aires)
Sarmiento (Junin)
Defensores de Belgrano.
Central Cordoba (Rosario). Standing from left: Jorge Ciancaglini, Víctor Longo, Claudio Ubeda, José Minielo, Pedro Rossini, Marcelo D’Angelo. Crouching: José Luis Orellano, Norberto Ricci, Jorge Forgues, Alberto Gómez, Daniel Núñez.
Surely, not famous clubs, but popular and hardly third level… but there they were and remained.

First Level – II Copa Uniao. 24 teams played in it – the 16 ‘rebel’ clubs, which organized the original outlaw Copa Uniao in 1987 plus 8 teams, which were ‘promoted’ from the ‘legal’ championship, when the Federation and the rebels reached agreement. This was the most orderly championship in 1988 and the structure of it, although still complex, was simplified. Confusion was still embedded in the rules, though – the biggest one is difficulty to distinguish this championship from the next: Brazil still recorded single year championship. But the 1988 championship finished on February 19, 1989. Meantime printed materials for the next season came out and they were titled 1988-89 season – the issue of ‘Placar’ dedicated to the new championship, for instance. To stay on track, one has to pay attention to the number of participants: there were 24 teams in the 1988 championship and 22 in the 1989 championship. In fact, the First Level had to be of 22 teams by the agreement between the Federation and the rebels from 1987, but back than protests lead to further compromise and artificially the number was increased to 24 – and now had to go down to the initial size. So, 4 teams were relegated this championship and 2 promoted from Second Level. The championship itself followed pretty much the formula of 1987: first phase, itself made of 2 stages, and second phase, played cup-formal, starting with ¼ finals to the final. Therefore, the first phase served for qualification of 8 teams to the ¼ finals and also ended with ‘final table’ – the bottom 4 teams were relegated.
The first phase was played in 2 groups of 12 teams each – in the first stage the teams from group 1 played only against the teams in group 2. In the second stage the teams played only against the other teams on their own group. Not very clear, but looked like the top 2 teams in the groups in every stage qualified to the ¼ finals. After that the ‘final’ table was made, combining the records of first and second stages, so in it every team had its full record of 23 games. Apart from decisive for relegation, the ‘final’ table served only one other purpose: in case some teams ended in the qualifying zone in both stages, the required number of 8 teams for the ¼ finals was made by teams with higher records – points – in this table. Just like in the Second Level, there were no ties, but penalty shoot-outs after a match ending in a draw. Thus, 3 points for straight win, 2 points for penalty shootout win, 1 points for penalty shootout loss, 0 points for straight loss. But after the first phase of the championship this rule did not apply, changing back to the classic system on win, tie, loss. Luckily, no major scandal erupted, but the strange rules affected the end of the championship – especially when one looks at the so-called ‘final’ table made after the first stage of the championship. Because of the complexity of the championship, here only this ‘final’ table and the next stage will be given:
Final Table – First Phase
1-Vasco da Gama 23 13 7/ 1 2 34-14 54 Qualified
2-Internacional 23 10 6/ 4 3 35-23 46 Qualified
3-Bahia 23 11 4/ 3 5 28-20 44 Qualified*
4-Portuguesa 23 12 2/ 3 6 28-21 43
5-Flamengo 23 11 3/ 4 5 32-19 43 Qualified
6-Sport 23 9 6/ 2 6 20-20 41 Qualified
7-Atlético-MG 23 8 6/ 4 5 22-22 40
8-São Paulo 23 9 4/ 4 6 21-18 39
9-Fluminense 23 9 3/ 5 6 24-17 38 Qualified
10-Grêmio 23 9 2/ 5 7 25-22 36 Qualified
11-Coritiba 23 8 5/ 2 8 20-17 36
12-Cruzeiro 23 8 1/ 8 7 26-21 34 Qualified
13-Goiás 23 5 8/ 3 7 21-21 34
Standing from left: Valter Nascimento, Jorge Batata, Uidemar, Eduardo, Néo, Ronaldo Castro. Crouching: Formiga, Fagundes, Sabará, Tiãozinho e Péricles.
14-Guarani 23 7 2/ 7 7 20-22 32
The photo may or may be not from 1988…
15-Corinthians 23 6 5/ 4 8 21-22 32
16-Palmeiras 23 7 3/ 4 9 21-22 31
17-Botafogo 23 7 3/ 4 9 17-22 31
18-Santos 23 7 3/ 4 9 19-25 18
19-Atlético-PR 23 5 5/ 6 7 18-17 31
20-Vitória 23 7 3/ 3 10 21-30 30
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
21-Bangu 23 4 6/ 4 9 15-22 28 Relegated
Standing from left: Gilmar, Oliveira, Joel, Macula, Toby, Márcio Nunes
First row: Gilson, Arturzinho, Gil, Israel, Pedrinho Vicençote.
22-Santa Cruz 23 5 5/ 2 11 19-28 27 Relegated
23-Criciúma 23 1 3/ 5 14 12-34 14 Relegated
24-América-RJ 23 2 1/ 5 15 11-31 13 Relegated

* – Since Vasco da Gama had already won the first stage, the final berth was
awarded to Bahia who had the better first phase record among the other 17
teams.
Here it is – rather strange, but such were the rules. Sao Paulo was technically the winner of the First stage. Their strong performance in both phases of it opened a spot for ¼ finals – and it went to Bahia, because of their best overall record (not counting the already qualified teams). Of course, one may wonder why the 4th overall team – Portuguesa – did not qualify, by the 12th in the ‘final’ table did, but such were the rules. At least relegation was clear: the last 4 in the ‘final’ table. Bangu (Rio de Janeiro), Santa Cruz (Recife), Criciuma (Criciuma), and America (Rio de Janeiro) went down to Second Level.
The next phase was classic cup format – direct elimination in 2 legs. No more penalty-shoot outs – ties counted as ties. And it was entirely played in early 1989…
¼ finals
Flamengo was eliminated by Gremio 0-0 and 0-1.
Sport (Recife) lost to Bahia on the away-goal rule: 1-1 at home and 0-0 away. The away-goal rule was applied only after extra time, however – it ended also scoreless.

Vasco da Gama lost to Fluminense: 1-0, then 1-2. In extra time Fluminense scored 2 goals and eliminated the strongest team in the first phase of the championship.
Cruzeiro was eliminated by Inter 0-0 and 0-2.
½ finals.
End of the road for Gremio, beaten by Inter 0-0 and 1-2.

Fluminense lost to Bahia 0-0 and 1-2.
The final – also played in 2 legs and well attended: the leg in Porto Alegre attracted nearly 80 000 spectators, for instance. But the home crowd was disappointed – the match ended 0-0 and Inter lost. The first leg was already played in it Bahia extracted 2-1 victory at home – Bobo scored twice for them and Inter managed to return only one goal, thanks to Leomir. It was very hopeful result, but Bahia kept its fragile advance in Porto Alegre and won the Brazilian championship.
Internacional (Porto Alegre) – the 1988 vice-champions of Brazil. Standing from left: Helder, Luiz Carlos Winck, Taffarel, Luis Fernando, Aloisio, Amarildo. Crouching: Norton, Norberto, Gilberto Costa, Laercio, Paulo Mattos. This is the squad in the first phase of the season – a different team played the final against Bahia, in which half of the players here did not appear. Compared to the great teams winning national titles in the 1970s, this team is somewhat weaker – but compared to Bahia… they looked stronger on paper. Also stronger by initial performance. Yet, they lost the final and that in front of their own fans.
Bahia (Salvador) prevailed in the final and won the Brazilian title for the first time. Glory to the champions! Champions, who were quite lucky… if not for double victory of Vasco da Gama in the First phase, they were not going to play in the ¼ finals – after all, by the rules, they failed to qualify directly. Playing good, no doubt – 3rd in the combined First phase final table – but… not qualifying directly. If Flamengo got one point more or Portuguese a point or two points more, Bahia would have ended its season after the First phase. But they were lucky to go ahead. And lucky in the ¼ finals, when they prevailed on away-goal rule, unable to beat Sport. Lady Luck was on their side, but who can blame them – the team fought to the end and prevailed. Not a squad full of famous players – which makes their victory both surprising and admirable. In any case it was victory of the underdog – always sweet. Of course, great historic moment for the club, its supporters, and the city of Salvador too. A glorious moment to be cherished, remembered and celebrated.

Second Level. 24 teams played in it and the formula was three stages, all played in groups. There were no ties – tied matches were followed by penalty shoot-outs. 3 points were given for straight win, 2 points for winning by penalty shoot-out, 1 point for losing by penalty shoot-out. Two teams were promoted to First Level – the top 2 in the final stage, After it the same two top teams played a final for the Second Level title. Relegation was unclear… at the end, it did not matter were there rules for relegation or not, because in the 1989 Third Level was abandoned and Second Level increased to 96 teams. At a glance – second rate teams played at this level, which looked fair deal, but there was at least one anomaly: Valeriodoce Esporte Clube (Itabira, Minas Gerais) popped in. Obscure club, never playing in the Brazilian championship before. How and why they suddenly appeared in the Second Level? Because the states had a number of assigned lots and teams qualified from the local championship. Yet, it was difficult to follow the rules for participation and relegation/promotion rules hardly made sense in championships seemingly using two different criteria in the same time. The championship was greatly simplified and at least it was easy to understand and follow, but… the championship ended with a scandal anyway. At the first stage the last teams in every group were decided relegated. It did not really match anything, for only 2 teams from Third Level were going to be promoted. Were they really relegated after the elimination of Third Level? May be a look at the 1989 season is in order…
Here are the teams playing in the 1989 Second Level championship and since there was no final table, the whole season will be shown after that:
1-Associação Esportiva Catuense (Alagoinhas-BA)
2-Fluminense Futebol Clube (Feira de Santana-BA)
3-Ceará Sporting Club (Fortaleza-CE)
4-Rio Branco Atlético Clube (Vitória-ES)
5-Atlético Club Goianiense (Goiânia-GO)
6-Operário Futebol Clube (Campo Grande-MS)
7-América Futebol Clube (Belo Horizonte-MG)
8-Uberlândia Esporte Clube (Uberlândia-MG)
9-Valeriodoce Esporte Clube (Itabira-MG)
10-Treze Futebol Clube (Campina Grande-PB)
11-Grêmio de Esportes Maringá (Maringá-PR)
12-Londrina Esporte Clube (Londrina-PR)
13-Central Sport Club (Caruaru-PE)
14-Clube Náutico Capibaribe (Recife-PE)
15-Americano Futebol Clube (Campos-RJ)
16-Sociedade Esportiva e Recreativa Caxias do Sul (Caxias do Sul-RS)
17-Esporte Clube Juventude (Caxias do Sul-RS)
18-Esporte Clube Pelotas (Pelotas-RS)
19-Avaí Futebol Clube (Florianópolis-SC)
20-Joinville Esporte Clube (Joinville-SC)
21-Associação Atlética Internacional (Limeira-SP)
22-Associação Atlética Ponte Preta (Campinas-SP)
23-Botafogo Futebol Clube (Ribeirão Preto-SP)
24-Clube Atlético Juventus (São Paulo-SP)
First stage.
Group C
Table
1-Náutico 10 6 1/ 1 2 11- 5 21 Qualified
2-Fluminense-BA 10 4 3/ 3 0 10- 4 21 Qualified
3-Catuense 10 4 2/ 2 2 15-12 18 Qualified
4-Ceará 10 2 2/ 1 5 6-11 11 Qualified ———————————————–
5-Central 10 1 3/ 2 4 3- 8 11 – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
6-Treze 10 1 1/ 3 5 7-12 8 Relegated

Group D
1-Ponte Preta 10 4 2/ 2 2 13- 7 18 Qualified
2-Americano 10 4 1/ 4 1 14- 9 18 Qualified
3-América-MG 10 4 2/ 2 2 10- 6 18 Qualified
4-Valeriodoce 10 4 2/ 1 3 12-10 17 Qualified ———————————————–
5-Juventus 10 2 2/ 2 4 9- 9 12 – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
6-Rio Branco-ES 10 1 2/ 0 7 6-23 7 Relegated

Group E
1-Internacional-SP 10 5 3/ 1 1 11- 6 22 Qualified
2-Botafogo-SP 10 4 1/ 2 3 10- 8 16 Qualified
3-Atlético-GO 10 4 0/ 3 3 17-13 15 Qualified
4-Operário-MS 10 3 2/ 2 3 14-13 15 Qualified ———————————————–
5-Grêmio Maringá 10 3 2/ 1 4 7-13 14 – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
6-Uberlândia 10 1 2/ 1 6 9-15 8 Relegated

Group F
1-Joinville 10 4 4/ 2 0 16- 9 22 Qualified
2-Caxias 10 4 2/ 2 2 13-11 18 Qualified
3-Avaí 10 3 1/ 4 2 10- 6 15 Qualified
4-Juventude 10 3 2/ 0 5 6-10 13 Qualified ———————————————–
5-Londrina 10 3 1/ 1 5 8-13 12 – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
6-Pelotas 10 2 1/ 2 5 8-12 10 Relegated

Second stage.
Group G
1-Operário-MS 6 5 0/ 0 1 9- 4 15 Qualified
2-Caxias 6 4 0/ 1 1 10- 4 13 Qualified ———————————————–
3-Botafogo-SP 6 1 1/ 1 3 5- 7 6
4-Juventude 6 0 1/ 0 5 2-11 2

Group H
1-Internacional-SP 6 4 1/ 0 1 11- 6 14 Qualified
2-Joinville 6 3 0/ 1 2 5- 4 10 Qualified ———————————————–
3-Atlético-GO 6 2 0/ 0 4 6- 6 6
4-Avaí 6 2 0/ 0 4 8- 6 6

Group I
1-Ponte Preta 4 3 0/ 0 1 5- 3 9 Qualified
2-Americano 4 2 0/ 0 2 3- 3 6 Qualified ———————————————–
3-Fluminense-BA 4 1 0/ 0 3 2- 4 3

Obs.: Alleging financial problems, Ceará abandoned the competition.

Group J
1-Náutico 6 4 0/ 1 1 9- 7 13 Qualified
2-Valeriodoce 6 3 2/ 0 1 7- 5 13 Qualified ———————————————–
3-América-MG 6 3 0/ 0 3 7- 4 9
4-Catuense 6 0 0/ 1 5 4-11 1

Third stage
Group K
1-Internacional-SP 6 4 1/ 1 0 15- 6 15 Qualified
2-Náutico 6 3 1/ 1 1 11- 8 12 Qualified ———————————————–
3-Operário-MS 6 0 2/ 1 3 3-11 5
4-Valeriodoce 6 1 0/ 1 4 9-13 4

Group L
1-Americano 6 3 0/ 2 1 6- 6 11 Qualified
2-Ponte Preta 6 2 2/ 0 2 8- 6 10 Qualified ———————————————–
3-Joinville 6 2 1/ 1 2 6- 7 9
4-Caxias 6 2 0/ 0 4 8- 9 6

Final phase
1-Internacional-SP 6 2 3/ 0 1 7- 6 12 Promoted, Qualified
2-Náutico 6 2 2/ 1 1 6- 5 11 Promoted, Qualified ———————————————–
3-Ponte Preta 6 3 0/ 2 1 10- 6 11
4-Americano 6 0 0/ 2 4 2- 8 2
So far, so good, but…. At first, Ponte Preta was declared promoted. However, as usual, the tiebreaking criteria of the tournament was unclear. Náutico contested Ponte Preta’s promotion, alleging that the first tiebreaking criterion was the number of wins in the whole tournament and not the number of wins in the final phase. CBF decided to award the promotion to Náutico. Back to the old chaos of protesting, contesting…
Anyhow, Inter and Nautico were promoted, but still had to play a final for the Second Level title. The final was played in February 1989 in Limeria and the host team won 2-1.
Nautico – Clube Náutico Capibaribe (Recife-PE) – ended 2nd and perhaps that was fair, considering that they reached the final only after contesting the rules. But they were promoted to First Level and that was what mattered most – back among the big boys!
Internacional – Associação Atlética Internacional (Limeira-SP) – won the Second Level title for 1988. Of course, wonderful achievement of one of the smaller clubs from Sao Paulo state. Going up to play First Level football was also wonderful.

Third Level. The formula was entirely in groups: in the first phase the 49 groups were divided into 12 groups of 4 teams and the the top 2 teams moved to second phase. Now there were 6 groups of 4 teams each and the group winners qualified to the third phase – 2 groups of 3 teams each. The group winners were promoted to Second Level for 1989. Lastly, the group winners played a championship final. Since all teams played only against the other teams in their group, there were not all that many games: the contenders of the title played a total of 20 games. Those eliminated in the first phase – only 6 games. No trouble was envisioned – at least not in the formula of the championship, but there apparently was… a few teams forfeited the championship, most likely for financial reasons. The championship was completed without major problems, but it turned out to be useless championship – the Federation extinguished it in 1989 and enlarged the Second Level. Since the criteria for participation was not very clear, 1988 performance did not matter. Besides, some quite strange teams appeared in the 1988 championship along with clubs which played even First Level football in the last few years. Generally, all states were represented – very likely by teams playing relatively well in the state championships in 1987. Or because of previous participation in the national championship.
First phase:
Group 1.
1.ABC (natal – RN) 6 5 0/ 0 1 9- 5 15 Qualified
2.Campinense (Campina Grande – PB)6 3 0/ 1 2 7- 5 10 Qualified ————————————————–
3.Ferroviário-(Fortaleza-CE) 6 2 0/ 0 4 6- 9 6
4.América-(Natal – RN) RN 6 1 1/ 0 4 7-10 5
Group 2.
1.Botafogo-(Joao Pessoa-PB) 6 4 1/ 1 0 10- 4 15 Qualified
2.Paulistano (Paulista-PE)6 2 1/ 0 3 5- 5 8 Qualified ————————————————–
3.Auto Esporte-(Joao Pessoa-PB) 6 2 1/ 0 3 5- 9 8
4.Alecrim (Natal-RN) 6 0 1/ 3 2 2- 4 5
Group 3
1.Confiança (Aracaju-SE)4 1 2/ 1 0 5- 4 8 Qualified
2.Sergipe (Aracaju-SE)4 1 1/ 1 1 7- 5 6 Qualified ————————————————–
3.Capelense (Capela-AL)4 1 0/ 1 2 1- 4 4
Comercial FC (Viçosa-AL) – forfeited the tournament

Group 4
1.Lagarto (SE)2 1 1/ 0 0 2- 1 5 Qualified
2.Alagoinhas Atlético Clube-BA 2 0 0/ 1 1 1- 2 1 Qualified
Serrano SC (Vitória da Conquista-BA) – forfeited the tournament

Group 5
1.Tiradentes-(Brasilia-DF) 6 4 1/ 1 0 10- 4 15 Qualified
2.Anápolis GO 6 1 2/ 2 1 6- 6 9 Qualified ————————————————– 3.Taguatinga (Barsilia-DF)6 1 1/ 1 3 3- 5 6
4.Mixto (Cuiaba-MT) 6 1 1/ 1 3 4- 8 6

Group 6
1.Comercial-(Campo Grande-MS) 4 1 2/ 1 0 3- 1 8 Qualified
2.Novorizontino (Novo Horizonte-SP) 4 1 1/ 1 1 3- 2 6 Qualified ————————————————–
3.Douradense (Dourados-MS) 4 1 0/ 1 2 3- 6 4
América FC (São José do Rio Preto-SP) – forfeited the tournament

Group 7
1.Ferroviária (Araraquara-SP) 4 2 1/ 0 1 4- 3 8 Qualified
2.Ubiratan (Dourados-MS) 4 1 1/ 1 1 3- 3 6 Qualified ————————————————–
3.XV de Novembro (Jaú-SP) 4 0 1/ 2 1 4- 5 4

Group 8
1.Porto Alegre (Iteparuna-RJ) 6 1 4/ 1 0 7- 6 12 Qualified
2.Desportiva FVRD (Cariacica-ES) 6 2 1/ 2 1 10- 7 10 Qualified ————————————————–
3.Tupi (Juiz de Fora-MG) 6 1 2/ 2 1 7- 9 9
4.AA Cabofriense (Cabo Frio-RJ) 6 0 1/ 3 2 4- 6 5

Group 9
1.União São João (Araras-SP) 6 4 0/ 1 1 7- 2 13 Qualified
2.Esportivo Passense (Passos-MG) 6 2 1/ 1 2 3- 3 9 Qualified ————————————————–
3.Fabril (Lavras-MG) 6 2 0/ 1 3 5- 7 7
4.Mogi-Mirim (SP) 6 1 1/ 1 3 4- 7 7

Group 10

1.Volta Redonda (RJ) 6 2 3/ 1 0 6- 4 13 Qualified
2.Santo André (SP) 6 3 1/ 1 1 6- 2 11 Qualified ————————————————–

3. XV de Novembro (Piracicaba-SP) 6 1 1/ 3 1 5- 4 9
4.Colorado (Curitiba-PR) 6 0 1/ 1 4 4-11 3

Group 11
1.Brusque (SC) 6 2 2/ 1 1 4- 2 11 Qualified
2.Figueirense (Florianopolis-SC) 6 2 2/ 0 2 6- 6 10 Qualified ————————————————–
3.Esportivo-(Bento Gonsalves-RS) 6 2 1/ 1 2 6- 8 9
4.Internacional/(Santa Maria-RS) 6 1 0/ 3 2 4- 4 6

Group 12
1.Marcílio Dias (Itajai-SC) 6 4 1/ 0 1 7- 4 14 Qualified
2.Blumenau (SC) 6 4 0/ 1 1 11- 5 13 Qualified ————————————————–
3.Iguaçu (Uniao da Vitoria – PR) 6 2 1/ 0 3 8- 8 8
4.Guarany (Cruz Alta-RS) 6 0 0/ 1 5 5-14 1
Second phase
Group 13
1.Botafogo-PB 6 4 0/ 1 1 8- 5 13 Qualified ——————————————– 2.Campinense 6 3 0/ 0 3 14-11 9
3.ABC 6 2 1/ 0 3 5- 8 8
4.Paulistano 6 2 0/ 0 4 6- 9 6

Group 14
1.Lagarto 6 2 3/ 0 1 6- 5 12 Qualified ————————————————– 2.Atlético-BA 6 3 0/ 2 1 6- 4 11
3.Sergipe 6 2 0/ 2 2 5- 4 8
4.Confiança 6 1 1/ 0 4 3- 7 5

Group 15
1.Tiradentes-DF 6 4 0/ 0 2 12- 9 12 Qualified ————————————————–
2.Anápolis 6 2 2/ 0 2 5- 7 10
3.Comercial-MS 6 2 0/ 1 3 7- 5 7
4.Ubiratan 6 2 0/ 1 3 5- 8 7

Group 16
1.Esportivo-MG 6 3 0/ 3 0 9- 3 12 Qualified ————————————————–
2.Volta Redonda 6 2 1/ 1 2 6- 7 9
3.Porto Alegre 6 2 1/ 0 3 6- 7 8
4.Desportiva 6 1 2/ 0 3 4- 8 7

Group 17
1.União São João 6 3 1/ 0 2 8- 5 11 [1 1 1/0 0 2- 1 5] Qualified ————————————————–
2.Santo André 6 3 0/ 2 1 8- 5 11 [1 0 0/1 1 1- 2 1]
3.Blumenau 6 1 3/ 0 2 5- 6 9
4.Brusque 6 1 0/ 2 3 4- 9 5

Group 18
1.Marcílio Dias 6 3 1/ 1 1 8- 6 12 Qualified ————————————————–
2.Ferroviária 6 2 1/ 1 2 5- 4 9
3.Novorizontino 6 2 1/ 0 3 5- 6 8
4.Figueirense 6 2 0/ 1 3 3- 5 7
Third phase
Group 19
1.Esportivo-MG 4 2 1/ 0 1 9- 2 8 Qualified, promoted ————————————————–
2.Botafogo-PB 4 2 0/ 0 2 5- 7 6
3.Lagarto 4 1 0/ 1 2 2- 7 4

Group 20
1.União São João 4 2 0/ 1 1 5- 3 7 Qualified, promoted ————————————————–
2.Marcílio Dias 4 2 0/ 0 2 4- 4 6
3.Tiradentes-DF 4 1 1/ 0 2 3- 5 5
Final [Dec 16 and 18]
Esportivo-MG 1-1 2-2 União São João
So far, so good… the finalists already won their Third phase groups and thus earned promotion to Second Level by the 1988 rules. The title, however was decided by the questionable rule Brazil employed for years: in case of a tie, whoever had better season record won. Thus, the title went to Uniao Sao Joao.
Esportivo Passense from the state of Minas Gerais ended vise-champion, but it was unbeaten at the final and promoted to Second Level. Altogether, great season for this quite anonymous club. Standing from left: Roberto Costa, Fronteira, Luis Carlos Bahia, Timoura, Ivanildo, Edson Shel.
First row: Zé Vitor, Marcos Ferrugem, Carlos Roberto, Telo, Helder.
Uniao Sao Joao won the Third Level championship and promotion to Second Level. Fine, but still let see if promotion was honoured in 1989…

Brazil. Looked like Brazilian football hit rock bottom in 1987 and there was no other way, but going back to sanity from there. But once chaos takes roots it is difficult to erase it and convulsions continued. Efforts were made to organize a stable system and simplify the fantastic championship formula, but still chaos was strong enemy. Three levels again in the national championship system – 24 teams in the First Level, 24 in the Second Level, 48 in the Third Level. First Level was to be reduced to 22 teams in 1989, so 4 teams were relegated from there and 2 promoted from Second Level. Two teams (most likely) were to relegated from Second Level and 2 promoted from Third Level. The championship formulas were simplified, but apart from First Level there were still too many group stages and especially in the direct elimination phases rules were muddy – to some point of the championships ties were broken by penalty shoot-outs, but in the last stages there were no shoot-outs, but in a case of a tie records of previous stages were used to declare a winner. And if First Level went through the season more or less smoothly, in the lower levels were teams forfeiting the championship altogether or going to the courts to get what they thought to be right. At the end the system collapsed when in early 1989 the Brazilian Federation suddenly decided to extinguish Third Level, thus voiding promotion/relegation between Second and Third Level – and effectively making a mockery of the 1988 season of Third Level, for now the whole effort to win meant absolutely nothing. No more Third Level, but new humongous Second Level was established for 1989 – made of 96 teams! Chaos was back in full force… once again the participants in the national championship were getting more and more, which in turn called for complicated labyrinthine formula – back to grand insanity of the earlier years of the decade, which lead to the revolt of the big clubs in 1987.
First, the usual peek at Brazilian teams which did not make any level of the national championship – some well known, some obscure, some successful on state level, some not.
Fortaleza.
Bragantino
Flamengo (Teresina)
Flamengo (Varginha)
Maranhao
Sampao Correa
Jundiai
Itumbiara
CSA
Cascavel
Campinense
Catanduvense
Vila Nova
Ibiracu
Noroeste
Rio Negro
Pitangui
Quixada