Football Journey

Ecuador. 18-teams top league, going though three stages. In every stage the number of teams decreased . The last in the opening stage was relegated. The top teams in every stage carried bonus points to the next stage.
Second Division left little information: only the winner.
It was Juventus (Esmeraldas). Full name: Club Social y Deportivo Juventus, sometimes written C.S.D. Juventus, more often just Juventus. Little known club – this championship was the their highest achievement, never to be repeated: champions of Second Division. Promotion came along with the title and they were going to experience top level football for the first time on their history in 1988.
First Division, First Stage – standard league championship. The top 12 teams qualified to the Second Stage, the winner got 2 bonus points and the second best – 1 bonus point. The last team in the final table was relegated. Five teams ended their season with the end of this stage – those placed from 13th to 17th plus the relegated 18th.
Deportivo Cotopaxi (Latacunga) was last and relegated with 12 points. Hopeless outsiders, really.
River Plate (Riobamba) – 17th with 24 points.
Esmeraldas Petrolero (Esmeraldas) – 16th with 25 points.
Universidad Capolica (Quito) – 15th with 25 points. Standing from left: Eloy Jarrín, Patiño, De Souza, Amarilla, Francisco Reinoso, Juan C. Jácome.
First row: Antonio Arias, Patricio Corella, Mario Raffart, Víctor Chiliquinga, Toledo.
Deportivo Quevedo (Quevedo) – 14th with 28 points.
America (Quito) – 13th with 30 points.
The top 12 qualified to Second Stage: Macara – 12th with 34 points, Tecnico Universitario – 11th with 34 points, Emelec – 10th with 34 points, LDU de Portoviejo – 9th with 36 points, Audaz Octobrino – 8th with 37 points, Aucas – 7th with 37 points, Deportivo Quito – 6th with 37 points, Filanbanco – 5th with 42 points, Deportivo Cuenca – 4th with 43 points, LDU de Quito – 3rd with 43 points, El Nacional – 2nd with 44 points, and
Barcelona (Guayaquil) – first with 47 points. As stage winners, they got 2 bonus points.
Standing from left: Fausto Klinger, Holger Quinones, Toninho Vieira, Morales, Lorenzo Klinger, Vasconcelos.
Crouching: Lupo Quinones, Alfredo De Los Santos, Flavio Perlaza, Mauricio Arguello, Galo Vasquez.
With frequent South American squad changes… this team spreads from 1985 to at least first half of 1987.
Second Stage – the qualified 12 teams were divided into 2 groups and the top 2 teams in each group qualified to the Liguilla Final, the third and last stage. The group winners got 1 bonus point. Bonus points will be given in brackets.
Group 1.
Tecnico Universitario (Ambato) – 6th with 5 points. Standing from left: Oscar Achilier, Arias, Julio Lasalvia, Villegas, Fabián Burbano, Juan F. Muhlethaler.
Front: Martín Caballero, Raúl A. Murillo, Fausto Delgado, Cristóbal Nazareno, Luis Chérrez.
Two Uruguyans here: Julio Lasalvia and Juan F. Muhlethaler.
LDU (Portoviejo) – 5th with 10 points.
Aucas (Quito) – 4th with 10 points.
LDU (Quito) – 3rd with 10 points.
Filanbanco – 2nd with 13 points – and Barcelona – 1st with 14 points (2 of them carried bonus) – qualified to the final stage. Barcelona got 1 bonus point for finishing first.
Group 2.
Deportivo Cuenca (Cuenca) – 6th with 4 points.
El Nacional (Quito) – 5th with 10 points (1 of them carried bonus point).
Emelec (Guayaquil) – 4th with 10 points.
Macara (Ambato) – 3rd with 11 points.
Audaz Octubrino – 2nd with 12 points – and Deportivo Quito – 1st with 14 points – qualified to the final stage. As group winners, Deportivo Quito got 1 bonus point.
Third stage – Liguilla Final. Four teams played round-robin tournament, meeting twice the others.
Deportivo Quito (Quito) – 4th with 4 points (1 of them bonus).
Audaz Octubrino (Machala) – 3rd with 8 points.
Filanbanco (Milagro) – 2nd with 8 points. Their finest season, finishing unbeaten the final stage and with better goal-difference than Barcelona. But… the opposition carried bonus point.

Barcelona (Guayaquil) finished first with 9 points. 3 wins, 2 ties, and one lost game gave them 8 points. Their goal-difference 5-2 was second-best – Filanbanco had 6-2. It was the bonus point carried from Second Stage making them champions – sheer luck, one may say. But Barcelona won both First and Second Stage, were consistent all the way and thus the more deserving team. Too bad the underdog was unable to win, but in all fairness Barcelona had very strong season and after playing grueling 50 championship games they triumphed with their 8th title. Along with the local stars like Lorenzo Klinger, foreign talent helped – the Uruguayans Walkir Silva and Alfredo de los Santos and Brazilians Toninho Vieira and Vasconcelos.

Peru. A monster championship rivaling Brazil in its complications. The 1987 Torneo Descentralizado, the top category of Peruvian football, was played by 30 teams. The season started in 1987 but ended in early 1988. The national champion was Universitario.
The national championship was divided into two tournaments, the Regional Tournament and the Descentralized Tournament. The winners of each tournament faced off in the final and received the berths for the Copa Libertadores 1988. The Regional Tournament divided the teams into four groups; Metropolitan, North, Central, and South. Each group had its teams qualify for the Regional Finals, the Descentralized Tournament and the Intermediary Division. The Regional Finals determined the Regional Champion. The Descentralized Tournament divided the teams in three groups and had its teams qualify for the Descentralized Liguilla which decided the Descentralized Champion. The Intermediary Division was a promotion/relegation tournament between first and second division teams. Depending on performance, bonus points were awarded to the top teams before the last stage – Liguilla . At the end a final between the winners of Liguilla Regional and Liguilla decided the champion of Peru. However, there was a kind of second level championship, for there is also second level champion of the country.
AELU Guardia Repiblicana won it. It is unclear what exactly they played for – may be second level victory gave promotion to the first level national championship.
As for the top level, unfortunately, it must be shown stage by stage.
Torneo Regional. Four groups, but with different number of participants.
Metropolitan – 12 teams. Top 3 qualified to both Liquilla Regional and Torneo Descentralizado. The next 4 were going to Torneo Descentralizado and last 5 – to promotion/relegation tournament Intermedia.
Octavio Espinoza (the picture may not be from this year) was last with 9 points.
Juventud La Palma – 11th with 14 points.
Sport Boys – 10th with 15 points. Standing from left: Cárdenas, Salas, Dámaso, León, Castillo, Puntriano. First row: Cavero, Balán Gonzáles, Rivera, Muchotrigo, Munayco.
Internazionale – 9th with 16 points.
Juventud La Joya – or La Joya-Iqueno – 8th with 20 points.
Those 5 went to Intermedia.
Deportivo Municipal – 7th with 22 points, Alianza Lima – 6th with 25 points, CNI – 5th with 25 points, and Sporting Cristal – 4th with 26 points qualified to Torneo Descentralizado.
San Agustin – or Collegio San Agustin, or Deportivo San Agustin – 3rd with 28 points. They qualified to both Torneo Descentralizado and Liguilla Regional.
Union Huaral and Universitario finished with 32 points each and Union Huaral had 2 goals better goal-difference, but it did not matter: a final play-off was staged to decide the Zone winner.
Universitario won 1-0.
They, along with Union Huaral and San Agustin qualified to both Liguilla Regional and Torneo Descentralizado. The teams played 3 times againts each other.
North. 6 teams played – the winner going to both Liguilla Regional and Torneo Descentralizado, the next 2 qualified to Torneo Descentralizado, and the last 3 – to Intermedia.
Deportivo Canana – last with 10 points.
Atletico Torino – 5th with 13 points. Standing from left: ITALO ESPINOZA, PAY PEÑA, WALTER PEJERREY, BOLITAS SANJINEZ,POCHO AGUIRRE, CARLOS REINA, PEYO SANJINEZ, EL CHINO SALSA. First row: PANCHITO CASTRO, CANTHY TAVARA, LORENZO MENA, CESAR MANRIQUE, PACO MONTERO, PATERRANA ZAPATA, EL MUDO ANTOLIN.
Atletico Grau – 4th with 14 points.
Hungaritos Agustinos – 3rd with 16 points and UTC – 2nd with 18 points, qualified to Torneo Descentralizado.
Carlos A. Mannucci won the championship with 20 points and qualified to both Liguilla Regional and Torneo Descentralizado.
Central – 6 teams, the same formula as the other provincial zones. One game apparently was not played and the last two teams finished with 14 games instead of 15.
Mina San Vicente – or Club San Vivente – from equally mysterious city of San Ramon or San Roman, was last with 5 points. Standing from left: Esteban Falla, Ernesto Herrera, Luis Duarte, Matias, Luis Soucon, Rojas. Crouching: Alegria, Patillo, Cáceres, Luis Casso, Quijandria.
Defensor ANDA – or Deportivo ANDA – 5th with 15 points.
ADT – 4th with with 15 points.
Deportivo Pucallpa – 3rd with 16 points, and Union Minas – 2nd with 19 points, qualified to Torneo Descentralizado.
Deportivo Junin won the Zone with 20 points and qualified to both Liguilla Regional and Torneo Descentralizado.
South. 6 teams and 3 games of each team against all others.
Juvenil Los Angeles – last with 9 points.

Huracan – 5th with 12 points.
FBC Melgar – 4th with 13 points.
Cienciano – 3rd with 16 points, and Alfonso Ugarte – 2nd with 18 points, qualified to Torneo Descentralizado.
Coronel Bolognesi won the Zone with 22 points and qualified to both Liguilla Regional and Torneo Descentralizado.
Liguilla Regional – 6 teams played once against each other. The winner qualified to the national final and also qualified to 1988 Copa Libertadores.
Deportivo Junin – last with 0 points, Carlos A. Mannucci – 5th with 5 points, Coronel Bolognesi – 4th with 5 points, San Agustin – 3rd with 6 points, and on top – Union Huaral and Universitario again with equal points and this time also with equal goal-difference. But no play-off was staged…
Universitario was declared champion and qualified to both Copa Libertadores and the national final. Standing from left: Leo Rojas, Javier Chirinos, Pedro Requena, Leoncio Cervera, Hugo Gastulo, César Chávéz-Riva. First row: Juvenal Briceño, Eduardo Rey Muñoz, Eduardo Malásquez, Jesús Torrealva, José Luis Carranza.
Torneo Descentralizado – 16 teams played standard league championship. Just note that teams from Metropolitano Zone, even not playing in the Liguallia Regional, ended the season with 52 games – 22 in the Metropolitano and 30 in Torneo Descentralizado! Those qualifying to both Liguillas added another 10 games. Anyhow, the top 2 teams in this stage earned bonus points to carry to Liguilla – 2 points for the winner and 1 point for the second best. The top 6 teams qualified to the Liguilla.
Union Minas – last with 19 points.
Hungaritos Agustinos – 15th with 21 points.
Deportivo Pucallpa – 14th with 22 points.
San Agustin – 13th with 22 points.
Carlos A. Mannucci – 12th with 23 points.
Deportivo Junin – 11th with 24 points.
UTC – 10th with 25 points.
Cienciano – 9th with 27 points.
Deportivo Municipal – 8th with 31 points.
CNI – 7th with 31 points.
The top 6 teams qualified to the Liguilla: Alfonso Ugarte – 6th with 32 points, Coronel Bolgnesi – 5th with 36 points, Union Huaral – 4th with 39 points, Universitario – 3rd with 41 points,
Alianza (Lima) – 2nd with 43 points. They got 1 bonus point.
Sporting Cristal – 1st with 44 points. Got 2 bonus points.
Liguilla – the 6 qualified teams played once against each other. The winner qualified to the national final and to the second Peruvian spot in the 1988 Copa Libertadores.
Alfonso Ugarte – 6th with 1 point.
Coronel Bolognesi – 5th with 3 points.
Sporting Cristal – 4th with 6 points. (That’s with the 2 bonus points)
Universitario – 3rd with 6 points. Standing from left: Leonardo Rojas, Javier Chirinos, Pedro Requena, José A. Trece, Samuel Eugenio, César Chávez-Riva.
First row: Juvenal Briceño, José Carranza, Fidel Suárez, Eduardo Malásquez, Eduardo Rey Muñoz.
Union Huaral – 2nd with 8 points. Standing from left: Roberto Vega, Pedro Paredes, Quinto, Jorge Cordero, Hilario Bernaola.
Crouching: Ángel ´El Diablo´ Fuentes, Pedro Ruíz, Domingo Farfán, Miguel Elguera, Humberto Rey Muñoz, Eusebio Acasuzo.
The picture is suspect – although dated 1987, this looks like the team in 1992. However, Union Huaral had strong, but rather unfortunate season – beaten in play-off at Metropolitan Zone, placed 2nd in the Liguilla Regional for unknown reason, and now – beaten only because of bonus point carried by their rival.
Thanks to their bonus point earned in Torneo Descentralizado Alianza finished ahead of Union Huaral with 9 points. Strange campaign – unless it was well thought of in advance: so far, Alianza was not exactly a leader. In the early stages of the championship they were quite weak and did not even qualified to the Liguilla Regional. But they did well when mattered most – won, chancy as it was, the Liguilla and with that reached the national final and took the second Peruvian spot in the 1988 Copa Libertadores. Standing from left: César Espino, Gino Peña, William León, Juan Reynoso,  José Gonzáles Ganoza, Tomás Farfán.
Front row: Luis Escobar, Juan Illescas, José Casanova, Alfredo Tomassini, Benjamín Rodríguez.
Finally to the final. The whole complicated championship took time and the 1987 title was decided on March 26, 1988! A grand Lima derby: Universitario vs Alianza. What is there to say… Universitario played 63 games before the final, Alianza – 57! Only speculatively Alianza seemed to have the edge – less tired and also getting stronger at the last stages of the season. On the field, it was tough as ever and Universitario prevailed 1-0.
Alianza lost the most important match of the long season. It is hard to see them as victims, though… most of the team died in air crush, a huge disaster. They had to come back from very traumatic experience plus creating a new team in a rush. Under such circumstances, it was a miracle Alianza reached the championship final at all.
Universitario (Lima) triumphed at the end. Hardly a great team, but hats down to these boys: they played 64 championship games! Just for that they deserved to win – it was long grueling championship in which they tried their best at every stage. May be lucky a bit in the beginning, but consistently strong to the end. Champions at last and that was the 17th title for Universitario.

Paraguay. The championship had rather simple formula: three round-robin stages with separate tables. Since one team won them all, there was no final of a kind – only a tournament between the next 6 teams for the second Paraguayan spot in Copa Libertadores.
Little evident from the second level.
2 de Febrero most likely played in the Second Division, but
San Lorenzo won the championship and was promoted to the top league.
River Plate was the second promoted team.
First Division. Too much to list tables for practically 4 separate tournaments, so only winners of each will be mentioned and in the third-stage table places in the previous tables will be given in brackets.
Cerro Porteno won the opening stage with 13 points: 5 wins, 3 ties, 1 lost match, 15-5 goal-difference.
Standing from left: Fernandez, Rivarola, Zavala, Jacquet, Garay, Barrios. Crouching: Struway, Riveros, Rashle, Retamoso, Britez Roman.
Second stage:
Cerro Porteno won a second time, this time with point more: 6 wins, 2 ties, again only 1 lost game, 10-4, 14 points.
Nothing new in the third stage:
Cerro Porteno again and with its best performance too: 6 wins, 2 ties, 1 loss, 11-3, 14 points. Second row: Ovelar, ?, Ramos, Zabala, Florentin, Arce. First row: Tarciso, Sotelo, Joaozinho, Paniagua, Zarate.
Libertad was 2nd at this pahse. (7th and 8th)
Guarani – 3rd (6th and 10th)
General Caballero – 4th (5th and 6th)
Sol de America – 5th (4th and 5th)
Olimpia – 6th (9th and 2nd)
Sport Colombia – 7th (4th and 3rd).
Colegiales – 8th (3rd and 4th).
Sportivo Luqueno – 9th (10th and 7th).
Nacional – 10th (2nd and 9th).

Since there is no something like combined table, it is difficult to guess how relegation was determined and also on what base the teams playing the Copa Libertadores tournament qualified. Nor it is understandable how this final tournament was played. Anyhow, Nacional ended 6th in it, General Caballero was 5th, Colegiales – or Atletico Colegiales – 4th, Libertad – 3rd, Sol de America – 2nd.
Olimpia won the tournament and the second Copa Libertadores spot – which may have been the reason to consider them vice-champions of the country.
But there was no uncertainty about the champions: Cerro Porteno won every phase. 21st title in total, but their first since 1977. Ten years waiting for it, but it was very confident victory.
Standing from left: Alsides Barreto, Pedro Garay, Raul Navarro, Catalino Rivarola, Justo Jacket, Cesar Zavala.
Front row: Tarciso, Jose Domingo Riveros, Sanahoria Britez Roman, Pedro Osvaldo Garcia, Robson Rematoso.

First Division. One team dominated the championship and won it in spectacular way.
San Luis – last with 14 points and relegated.
Rangers – 15th with 25 points and relegated.
Lota Schwager – 14th with 26 points. Twice unlucky – worse goal-difference forced to promotion/relegation play-offs against the second-placed teams in the Second Division and then worse goal-difference relegated them.
Deportes Concepcion – lucky 13th: equal points with Lota Schwager, but better goal-difference saved them. Actually, not even goal-difference, but more scored goals – they and Lota Schwager finished with -9, but Lota Schwager scored 24 goals and Deportes Concepcion 31.

Union Espanola – now, they survived on better goal-difference: 26 points too, but -5 goal-difference placed them 12th.
Deportes Iquique – 11th with 27 points.
Huachipato – the photo may be or may be not one from 1987, but they finished 10th for sure with 28 points.
Palestino – 9th with 29 points.
Fernandez Vial – 8th with 29 points.
Everton – 7th with 29 points.
Naval – 6th with 30 points.
Universidad de Chile – 5th with 31 points.
Cobresal – 4th with 34 points and young Ivan Zamorano getting noticed.
Cobreloa – 3rd with 38 points.
Colo-Colo – 2nd with 39 points.
Universidad Catolica – champions with 49 points.
What a season they had! 21 wins, 7 ties, and only twice left the field beaten. Scored 51 goals – the only team passing the 50-mark – and allowed only 16 in their net, almost 0.5 goals average and the only team which received less than 28 goals this season. Absolutely dominant. Won their 6th title.
The champions were rightly called ‘El Boom’ this season, but it would be well remembered for the next 10 years brought nothing.

South Zone.
Union Santa Cruz – last with 20 points and relegated.
Deportes Laja – unfortunate 13th with 21 points: relegated on worse goal-difference.
Magallanes – 12th with 21 points. Survived on better goal-difference.
General Velasquez – 11th with 23 points.
Deportes Linares – 10th with 24 points.
Provincial Osorno – 9th with 24 points.
Malleco Unido – 8th with 25 points.
Nublense – 7th with 26 points.
Iberia Biobio – 6th with 28 points.
Deportes Puerto Montt – 5th with 29 points.
Curico Unido – 4th with 29 points.
Deportes Temuco – 3rd with 30 points.
O’Higgins – 2nd with 32 points and going to promotion/relegation play-offs.
Deportes Valdivia – champions of the South Zone with 35 points from 11 wins, 13 ties, 2 lost games, and 30-15 goal-difference. Great success for the club – First Division was just a dream for them so far, but now they were going to rub shoulders with the best.

Promotion/relegation tournament after the regular season between the second-placed teams in the Second Division Zones and the 14th in the First Division: O’Higgins, Regional Atacama, and Lota Schwager. Regional Atacama lost both games and ended last with 0 points. Goal-difference decided the winners: O’Higgins and Lota Schwager won their matches against Regional Atacama and tied the game against each other, but the final table shows discrepancy, suggesting that may be something else was counted: O’Higgins finished with 3-1 goal-difference and Lota Schwager with 1-2 goal-difference. Such numbers are impossible given the record of win and tie. The goal records simply make no sense, for Regional Atacama ended with 0-3. But it was goal-difference counted at the end and according to it, impossible or not, O’Higgins came on top.
O’Higgins happily promoted to First Division. No matter the controversy, it was happy moment for them – return to First Division!

Chile. The First Division was reduced to 16 teams, three relegated – and three promoted from Second Division. The championship started in July 1987 and ended in January 1988, but but still counts as 1987 season. Second Division was divided into 2 zones of 14 teams each. The winners were directly promoted, the 2nd placed teams went to promotion/relegation play-offs with the 14th in First Division. The last two in each zone were relegated to third level. The only strange rule was that teams reaching semi-finals or finals in the Copa Polla Gol got bonus points included in their league records.
North Zone
Quintero Unido – last with 13 points and relegated.
Ivan Mayo – 13th with 18 points and relegated. Standing from left: Valencia, Agresta, Zavala, Díaz, Gatica, Kirk. First row: Longoni, López, Benzi, Verdejo. Puntarell.
Soinca Bata – 12th with 19 points.
Union La Calera – 11th with 21 points. Standing from left: Miranda, Ortega, Fernández, Jélvez, Figueroa, Sandoval. Crouching: Leiva, Valenzuela, Ríos, Rivera, Tapia.
Cobreandino – 10th with 23 points. Trasandino was renamed Cobreandino in 1985 and played under the new name until 1992.
Union San Felipe – 9th with 26 points.
Audax Italiano – 8th with 27 points.
Deportes Arica – 7th with 28 points.
Santiago Wanderers – 6th with 29 points.
Deportes Ovalle – 5th with 30 points.
Coquimbo Unido – 4th with 31 points.They had 1 bonus point added for reaching the semi-finals of Copa Polla Gol.
Antofagasta – 3rd with 32 points.

Regional Atacama – 2nd with 33 points. Going to promotion/relegation play-offs.
Deportes La Serena – champions of North Zone with 37 points. 12 wins, 11 ties, 3 losses, 45-22 goal-difference. Promoted to the top division, which was a return to top flight for the club.

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.

First Division. 13 teams, one relegated. The system seemingly was like the Argentine – with separate relegation table, keeping track of the few recent season and the the team with lowest percent average was going down, but this year there was a need of additional play-off between Rampla Juniors (last in the championship) and Miramar Misiones (11th). Miramar Misiones eventually prevailed 1-2, 1-0, and 2-1.
Rampla Junjors – 13th with 17 points. Relegated after losing the relegation play-off.
Huracan Buceo – 12th with 18 points.
Miramar Misiones – 11th with 18 points. Escaped relegation by winning the relegation play-off.
Central Espanol – 10th with 19 points.
Cerro – 9th with 21 points.
Penarol – 8th with 23 points. May be too involved in international football to concentrate in the championship – terrible season, really.
Progreso – 7th with 25 points.
Danubio – 6th with 25 points.
Wanderers – 5th with 27 points.
River Plate – 4th with 28 points.
Bella Vista – 3rd with 28 points.
Nacional – 2nd with 30 points.
Defensor – 1st with 33 points. 14 wins, 5 ties, 5 losses, 32-18. Clearly a team based on strong defense – they were outscored by 4 teams, but allowed the least goals in the league – less than one par game, average. The squad does not ring any bells, but since Nacional and Penarol had rather lean and anonymous teams, Defensor was equal and with ambition, discipline, and motivation won the championship.

Defensor won its 2nd title, which was great success and in country dominated forever by two clubs, such victory was instantly historic and well remembered. Their success also continued the tendency of breaking the dominance of Nacional and Penarol, characteristic of the 1980s. Well deserved title, excellent season, and brave success of the underdog.

Uruguay. The only straightfoward championship on the continent. Second Division – 10 teams. The top 4 continued additional tournament after the regular season, carrying the points they already had, and the winner was promoted.
Oriental (La Paz) – last with 4 points. The first team outside Montevideo to reach second level, but relegated immediately.

Rentistas – 9th with 11 points.
El Tanque Sisley – 8th with 14 points.
Villa Teresa – 7th with 16 points.
Italiano – or Deportivo Italiano, or Sportivo Italiano. 6th with 17 points. Unsure about the photo – may be not from this season, but at least from the period.
Liverpool – 5th with 23 points.
Cerrito – 4th with 23 points. Cerrito, however, did not go to the promotion stage – additional play-off against Liverpool may have been played and they lost, or something else was a factor for their exclusion.
Fenix – 3rd with 23 points.
Racing – 2nd with 24 points.
Sud America – 1st with 25 points. 10 wins, 5 ties, 3 losses, 36-16 goal-difference. Cliched the league top place, but rules were against them.

Liguilla Final – a round-robin tournament in which the contenders played once against the others.
Fenix – 4th with 24 points. (23+1). Standing from left: Daniel Arias, Nelson Peña, Julio Acuña, José Aguiar, Nelson Acosta, ?
Crouching: Fabiano Pereyra, José Chileli, Jorge Bertolio, Daniel Malceñido, ?.
Sud America – or IASA – 3rd with 26 points (25+1)
Racing – 2nd with 28 points (24+4). Standing from left: José Fleitas, Fernando Santos, Luis Dagnino, Orlando Carballo, Laones Galli, Rafael Bonavía.
Front row: Luis Miraglia, Ayala, Fernando Vilar, Gustavo Acosta, Leonardo García.
Liverpool – 1st with 29 points (23+6). Perfect final stage – they won all their games, 3 of 3, scoring 12 goals and allowing only 3. So, Liverpool was Second Division champion and promoted back to First Division.

Green Module – or COPA UNIÃO. Or I COPA UNIÃO – 1st COPA UNIÃO. The bottom line was that the big Brazilian clubs were never happy with the National championship for all kinds of right and wrong reason. That led to constant compromises to somewhat accommodate them, but now a pretext for breakaway was found: it was petty, but depending to whom – Botafogo and Coritiba were left out of the originally formulated national championship of 28 teams. Roughly, the exclusion was based on weak performance, a relegation of a kind. But big clubs cannot be relegated… Botafogo and Coritiba went to the courts and won their case. Back in the top level… which immediately led to many other clubs making the same claim for inclusion. As a result of the mess, “Clube dos Treze” (Club of Thirteen – the 13 biggest clubs) organized their own championship outside the CBF authority. They invited Coritiba, Goias, and Santa Cruz – PE to their championship, making it a league of 16. Note that America-RJ was not invited, but as soon as CBF attempted new compromise, amalgamating the break-away league with their own Yellow Module championship, America blamed CBF for ‘relegating’ them to second tier and refused to participate. Anyhow, the break-away championship was called Copa Uniao – and became the Green Module. There was bitter irony in the name – the ‘unification’ Cup was the tournament of run-aways, who played outside official authority. An illegal championship, technically. But quickly legalized somewhat, only the method of legalizing was found inadequate by the rebels and they boycotted it.
The Green Module was similar to the formula of the CBF’s Yellow Module (or may be it was the other way around – CBF mirroring the rebels in order to bring them back by legalization).
Two groups of 8 teams. In the first stage, Group A teams played against Group B teams.
In the second stage, teams played the other teams inside their groups. Winners of the
groups from both stages qualified to the semifinals.
FINAL TABLE – FIRST STAGE
GROUP A
TEAM Pts P W D L GF GA DIF
1. Clube ATLÉTICO Mineiro (Belo Horizonte-MG)14 8 6 2 0 14 3 11 Qualified
2. GRÊMIO de Football Portoalegrense (Porto Alegre-RS) 12 8 5 2 1 8 1 7
3. Sociedade Esportiva PALMEIRAS (São Paulo-SP) 9 8 4 1 3 6 7 -1
4.BOTAFOGO de Futebol e Regatas (Rio de Janeiro-RJ) 9 8 2 5 1 6 4 2
5.Esporte Clube BAHIA (Salvador-BA) 7 8 3 1 4 6 10 -4
6.Clube de Regatas FLAMENGO (Rio de Janeiro-RJ) 7 8 2 3 3 6 8 -2
7.SANTA CRUZ Futebol Clube (Recife-PE) 6 8 1 4 3 4 10 -6
8.Sport Club CORINTHIANS Paulista (São Paulo-SP) 5 8 1 3 4 4 9 -5

GROUP B
TEAM Pts P W D L GF GA DIF
1. Sport Club INTERNACIONAL (Porto Alegre-RS) 10 8 4 2 2 10 2 8 Qualified
2. FLUMINENSE Futebol Clube (Rio de Janeiro-RJ) 9 8 3 3 2 7 6 1
3. CRUZEIRO Esporte Clube (Belo Horizonte-MG) 8 8 1 6 1 4 5 -1
4. Clube de Regatas VASCO DA GAMA (Rio de Janeiro-RJ) 7 8 3 1 4 10 7 3
5. GOIÁS Esporte Clube (Goiânia-GO) 7 8 3 1 4 5 8 -3
6. SÃO PAULO Futebol Clube (São Paulo-SP) 6 8 2 2 4 7 7 0
7. CORITIBA Football Club (Curitiba-PR) 6 8 2 2 4 6 10 -4
8. SANTOS Futebol Clube (Santos-SP) 6 8 1 4 3 3 9 -6
FINAL TABLE – SECOND STAGE
GROUP A
TEAM Pts P W D L GF GA DIF
1-ATLÉTICO-MG 11 7 4 3 0 7 2 5
2-FLAMENGO 10 7 4 2 1 10 4 6 Qualified
3-PALMEIRAS 7 7 3 1 3 5 6 -1
4-BOTAFOGO 6 7 2 2 3 5 5 0
5-GRÊMIO 6 7 2 2 3 6 7 -1
6-BAHIA 6 7 1 4 2 5 8 -3
7-SANTA CRUZ 5 7 2 1 4 6 10 -4
8-CORINTHIANS 5 7 1 3 3 5 7 -2

GROUP B
TEAM Pts P W D L GF GA DIF
1-CRUZEIRO 12 7 5 2 0 12 1 11 Qualified
2-SÃO PAULO 11 7 5 1 1 14 5 9
3-FLUMINENSE 8 7 3 2 2 7 6 1
4-CORITIBA 6 7 2 2 3 9 12 -3
5-VASCO 6 7 2 2 3 7 11 -4
6-SANTOS 5 7 1 3 3 4 8 -4
7-INTERNACIONAL 4 7 1 2 4 2 8 -6
8-GOIÁS 4 7 0 4 3 3 7 -4
Since Atlético-MG had already won the first stage, the second stage runner-up,
Flamengo, qualified for the semifinal. For winning both stages, Atlético earned an
extra point in the semifinals. Once again one may wonder what that extra point was suppose to mean when the next stage is direct elimination.
Semi-finals
Flamengo 1-0 Atletico MG 3-2
Internacional 0-0 Cruzeiro 0-0 1-0 (overtime)
Final
Internacional 1-1 Flamengo 0-1
Bebeto scored both goals for Flamengo at the final.
Flamengo won Copa Uniao – that is certain. The rest… depends on what one ‘considers’. Again: Flamengo and Internacional did not enter the next stage organized by CBF and technically the new champion of Brazil was Sport (Recife). Which was already technically a Second level team, not even a sole champion of the Yellow Module, but only shared the title and that not because CBF ruled it, by because of private agreement between the Yellow Module finalists. In the eyes of the South American Federation Sport was Brazilian champions, for the Green Module was a run-away championship and also because Flamengo and Internacional forfeited CBF’s affort to amalgamate the rebels championship with the official one. On the other hand: the Green Module was ‘normalized’ and recognized as First Level by CBF. So, Flamengo should have been Brazil’s champion – pretty much the argument for refusing to play some final stage against Second Level clubs. The safest and solid thing to say is that Flamengo won Copa Uniao.
The final table makes only statistical sense and nothing else. There was no relegation, so the table speaks only for the future – this were the 16 teams which were entering the next year’s top level championship plus 8 promoted teams from the Yellow Module. By hook or crook, the championship was normalized.
BRAZILIAN CHAMPIONSHIP 1987 – FINAL TABLE
TEAM Pts P W D L GF GA DIF
1-FLAMENGO 24 19 9 6 4 22 15 7
2-INTERNACIONAL 18 19 6 6 7 14 12 2
3-ATLÉTICO-MG 25 17 10 5 2 23 9 14
4-CRUZEIRO 21 17 6 9 2 16 7 9
5-GRÊMIO 18 15 7 4 4 14 8 6
6-SÃO PAULO 17 15 7 3 5 21 12 9
7-FLUMINENSE 17 15 6 5 4 14 12 2
8-PALMEIRAS 16 15 7 2 6 11 13 -2
9-BOTAFOGO 15 15 4 7 4 11 9 2
10-VASCO 13 15 5 3 7 17 18 -1
11-BAHIA 13 15 4 5 6 11 18 -7
12-CORITIBA 12 15 4 4 7 15 22 -7
13-GOIÁS 11 15 3 5 7 8 15 -7
14-SANTA CRUZ 11 15 3 5 7 10 20 -10
15-SANTOS 11 15 2 7 6 7 17 -10
16-CORINTHIANS 10 15 2 6 7 9 16 -7
And that was all… ‘consider’ Flamengo new champions of Brazil – at the poster says.