Descentralised Tournament. Two stages here – at first something like normal league championship of 16 teams was played. The last placed in it went to relegation play-off against the weakest team of the Regional Torunament. The top 6 teams qualified to the final stage deciding the title – the winner of the first stage got 2 bonus points to carry over to the final stage. Looked like there was to be a grand final after the final stage for the title between the winners of Regional Tournament and the Descentralised Tournamnt, but that depended on who wins what – obviously, if the same team wins both phases, there was not going to be a grand final. Which, at least this season, makes the notion of grand final dubious – was there such rule at all? Why bonus points, if so? Why playing the Regional Tournament to the end, if there was no rule for grand final? Made better sense if using it only for pruning initial participants to meaningful scale. Questions without clear answers, so the championship:
Alfonso Ugarte (Puno) finished last and went to the relegation play-off. They fared better there, eventually prevailing over Diablos Rojos (Juliaca), the weakest team in the Regional Tournament, 2-1 and thus avoiding relegation.
Asociacion Deportiva (Tarma) – 15th.
Juventud La Joya (Chancay) – 14th.
Deportivo Junin (Huancayo) – 13th. Peruvian football appears aimed at never letting it you relax – just as you decide there is enough confusion and no more possibly can be piled up and there is a strike… the club from Huancayo started the season as Huancayo FC and then before the start of the Descentralised Torunament reversed the name to its older one Deportivo Junin. And under this name played in the second phase.
Coronel Bolognesi (Tacna) – 12th.
Sport Boys (Callao) – 11th.
Sporting Cristal (Lima) – 10th. Very weak season for one of the traditional leading clubs. Poor performance in the original Metropolitan Group – 6th, and even worse in the second stage.
Octavio Espinoza (Ica) – 9th.
Colegio Nacional (Iquitos) – 8th. Apparently, they spent whatever strenght they had in the Regional Tournament.
Melgar FBC (Arequipa) – 7th. Standing from left: Alberto Sanchez, Eloy Ortiz, Freddy Bustamante, Jose Aguayo, Jesus Oviedo. First row: Jorge Ramirez, Raul Obando, ?, ?, Genaro Neyra, Victor Guttierez. Not their year, clearly. The only thing to be proud of was that Genaro Neyra ended the top scorer of the season with 22 goals.
The top six clubs qualified to the final stage of the championship.
Los Espartanos (Pacasmayo) – 6th, Carlos Mannucci (Trujillo) – 5th, Deportivo Municipal (Lima) – 4th, Alianza (Lima) – 3rd, Universitario de Deportes (Lima) – 2nd, and
Universidad Tecnica (Cajamarca) – 1st. UTC won comfortably this phase, leaving Universitario 7 points behind, and earned 2 bonus points to start the final stage with.
And the final group – the finalists had to play once against each other, all games in Lima. The two ‘academic’ clubs were the obvious favourites after winning the two earlier phases, but Alianza was traditional favourite as well, so they counted too. However, in vain.
Deportivo Municipal (Lima) ended 6th with 3 points.
Carlos Mannucci (Trujillo) – 5th with 3 points.
Alianza (Lima) – 4th with 3 points. Standing from left: Jaime Duarte, Jorge Cordero, Daniel Reyes, Tomas Farfan, Roberto Rojas, Jose Mendoza. First row: Raul Mejia, Jose Casanova, Luis Escobar, Humberto Rey Munoz, Gino Pena.
Los Aspartanos (Pacasmayo) – actually, the name is Once Benjamines Espartanos – finished 3rd with 5 points. This club was the great surprise of the season – unheard of club, which out of the blue played very well in every phase and at the end took third place. But no matter how heroic these boys were, they did not have enough class to really run for the title.
Universidad Tecnica (Cajamarca) settled for 2nd place with 8 points. Solid second – even without bonus points, they were ahead of all except Universitario, with which they were unable to compete – their only loss at the final stage was against Univeristario. However, UTC got the second Peruvian spot in Copa Libertadores – rules proved to be nothing this year: Univesitario won the Regional Tournament giving Copa Libertadores spot and after that became Peruvian champion, also giving Libertadores spot. Thus, UTC got the second spot for finishing 2nd in the final table. Not bad.
Universitario de Deportes (Lima) was supreme at the final stage: 5 games, 5 wins. They scored 20 goals, receiving 5: 4-1 average, which shows how far they left the opposition. It was not just final rush, but solid overall season and great timing: just good enough to qualify from their group, but they won the Regional Tournament after that. Second in the first stage of the Descentralised Tournament, 7 points behind UTC, but still second best, but perfect in the final stage. No doubt who deserved the title. Top row from left: Cesar Chavez Riva, Samuel Eugenio, Cesar Charun, Martin Duffo, Javier Chirinos, Walter Najar, Ramon Quiroga, Hugo Gastulo, Leo Rojas, Freddy Ternero, Pedro Novella, Raul Garcia, Enriwue Vega Centeno.
Middle row: Jose Carranza, Luis Reyna, Luis Mansilla, Miguel Elguera, Marcos Calderon – coach, Percy Rojas – assistant coach, Fidel Suarez, Jaime Drago.
Front row: Eduardo Rey Munoz, ?, ?, Miguel Seminario, Garagay, Juan Carlos Oblitas, Claudio Pedraglio, Miguel Torres.
This was the 16th title for Universitario and they left Alianza behind – the rivals had 15 titles at the moment. Still the most successful Peruvian club. That is not counting the amateur championships before 1926.