The Peruvian First Division had less complicated formula than most South American championship: a standard league format was played at first and after it the top 4 teams moved to play a final tournament, deciding the title and the second Copa Libertadores participant. The bottom 4 played relegation tournament – the last in it was directly relegated and the 3rd finisher – a promotion-relegation play-off against the losing finalist of the Copa Peru. All teams carried their records from the first stage – a rule, which, at least theoretically, could make the final stage meaningless. Half the league – those between 5th and 12th place in the opening stage – had a vacation after the first stage. So, two of the best Peruvian clubs finished early – Alianza and Universitario had a weak season. Alianza finished 5th and Universitario – 9th. Add Deportivo Municipal (Lima).
Standing from left: Raúl Obando, Franco Navarro, Rodolfo Quijaite, Duilio Poggi, Avila, Humberto Ballesteros,
First row: Pedro Bonelli, Eduardo Malásquez, Adhemir Arroé, Hugo Sotil, Roberto “Titín” Drago. Having Hugo Sotil did not help Deportivo Municipal – they finished 6th.
At the bottom of the table were Sport Boys (Callao) – 13th with 25 points, Melgar F.B.C. (Arequipa) – 14th with 25 points, Coronel Bolognesi (Tacna) – 15th with 24 points, and Juventud La Palma (Huacho) – last with 21 points. They made the relegation group, with Juventud La Palma obviously weaker than the rest. After 6 more matches between themselves, the clubs finished as they started: Melgar got the most points and exchanged places with Sport Boys, but the the other two maintained their starting positions.
Juventud La Palma added just 2 points in the last stage, unable to beat anybody – 2 ties – and ended last and relegated with 23 points. Nothing surprising, really. Coronel Bolognesi was also weak – 1 win, 3 ties, and 2 losses in the final stage kept them well ahead of Juventud La Palma, but also well below Sport Boys and Melgar F.B.C. They finished next to last and went to play relegation-promotion play-off against Gonzales Prada (Lima), the losing finalist of the Copa Peru. At last the boys from Tacna prevailed – they won both legs 2-0.
Standing from left: Héctor Revoredo, José Zevallos, Luis Advíncula, Amado Tejada, Reynaldo Bernaola.
First row: Américo Nieri, Victorino Vicente, Moisés Chumpitaz, Luis Gil, Enrique Boné, Roberto Zevallos.
A weak season, although not exactly a surprise, Coronel Bolognesi managed to keep their place in the First Division.
Most important was the final top group: Asociacion Deportiva (Tarma) – 4th with 36 points, Alfonso Ugarte (Puno) – 3rd with 36 points, Atletico Torino (Talara) – 2nd with 38 points, and Sporting Cristal (Lima) – 1st with 41 points. Looked like a provincial challenge to Lima dominance, but only at a glance. The stronger and more realistic impression was that Sporting Cristal had no real opponent – and this was right: in the final stage they only increased the distance between themselves and the rest. Alfonso Ugarte dropped to 4th place with final 40 points. Asociacion Deprotiva moved to 3rd place with 42 points – not bad for them, ending the season with bronze medals. Atletico Torino kept second position with 44 points.
Standing from left: Don Ítalo Espinoza, Percy Maldonado, Fernando Guerrero, Julio Núñez del Prado, Jaime Delly, Manuel Carrizales.
First row: Percy Gómez, Lucho Vitonera, José Zapata, Paco Montero, Jorge Jaramillo y Humberto Correa.
Unable to really win the championship, but wonderful season for Atletico Torino – they qualified to play in the Copa Libertadores.
Familiar new champions – standing from left: Carlos Carbonel, José Navarro, Juan Carlos Oblitas, Ruben Díaz, Hector Chumpitaz, Ramón Quiroga.
First row: Roberto Mosquera, Alfredo Quezada, Oswaldo Ramirez, Julio Cesar Uribe, Julio Aparicio.
Sporting Cristal had easy sailing to another victory – at least by looking at dry numbers. Looking at their squad, it also made sense – compared to the competition, Sporting Cristal had superior team: Chumpitaz, Oblitas, Uribe, Quiroga. Tradition was also on their side – who else, if not Alianza, Universitario, or them. Since the chief adversaries were weak this year, it was only logical Sporting Cristal to be the winner.
Second title in a row, their 7th all together – Sporting Cristal really established itself during the 1970s. Not bad for a club named after beer brand.