Paraguay. The winner of Second Division, and promoted to the First, was Atletico Colegiales.
An interesting club: it was found in 1977 by the Zacarias family, owners of the chain of bookstores ‘El Colegio’ (‘The College’), and promptly named after their enterprise. The name of the club roughly means ‘the Students’ and to this very day a Zacarias chairs it. The location was nothing much – they hailed from 4 Mojones, Lamba municipality, Asuncion – a humble neighbourhood in a city full of old and popular football clubs. Finances were always limited, but the club generally did well enough. So far, it was a success: promoted to Second Division in 1979 and now, in 1982, won promotion to the top league – absolute beginners in every sense, but impressive ones. And good luck to them in the next season.
The top league had no surprises.
Cerro Porteno was out of the picture, failing one more season.
So was Sportivo Luqueno – and may even its supporters did not notice that Jose Luis Chilavert debuted this year.
Nacional finished 2nd – not bad, but still short of success. Standing from left: Raúl Navarro, Héctor Fariña, Oscar Cardozo, Luis García Siani, Ricardo Pérez, Francisco Carmona.
First row: Máximo Almada, Francisco Alcaraz, José Domingo Paniagua, Gustavo Fanego, Rene Vazquez.
Almost no need to name the champions – Olimpia. 5th consecutive title and also familiar squad – so familiar, that it is even difficult to distinguish the picture of this year from those of the previous. They easily mixed and confused even the club’s historians. One of the most impressive periods in the history of the club, a period not only of domestic dominance, but also of international success, putting them on the world map and making then at least known to fans around the world.