Uruguay I Division: http://football-journey.com/

Uruguay II Division: http://football-journey.com/

Peru Championship: http://football-journey.com/

Peru I Division First Phase: http://football-journey.com/

Peru had more comprehensible championship than most South American countries, yet, still two-phased affair. At the first stage, it was standard league format – 16 clubs playing 30 rounds. After that the top 8 entered the second stage as championship group, playing 14 rounds and the bottom 8 formed relegation group, also playing 14 rounds. One team was relegated. Such structures never satisfy no matter the rules: if teams carry their points from the first stage, then a whole bunch of clubs have nothing to play for in the second and only go through the motions. If everything begins anew, then the first stage is meaningless for the top clubs. No matter which way is chosen, such championships are open for various schemes and corruption – and often the best schemer benefits at the end. Peru chose a variety of the starting anew – no points were carried over from the first stage, except for bonus points awarded to top three – depending on their place, 3,2, and 1 point. At the bottom, penalty points wee taken away from the last three teams, also depending on position – the last had 3 points deducted in the second phase and the 14^th – 1. So, the first league really played largely to form the two final groups and only the leaders had some minimal advantage. The losers in the first phase entered with slight disadvantage the relegation group, yet,what mattered most was still how the teams played in the final stage.

Peru had no second division – instead, the winners of the regional championships played promotional tournament, also called Copa Peru. Like most South American countries, Peru had no parallel national cup tournament and Copa Peru had little significance in itself – the importance of winning it was the promotion to first league. Copa Peru went through many stages with teams from the 24 country's departments, until the final 6 moved to the final round-robin, played in Lima. This year only one participant had familiar name – Defensor (Lima). At least on paper, it looked like they would win promotion. In reality it was different. The final table will provide the home cities and departments. 1. Asociación Deportiva (Tarma, Junin) 8 - 5 - 3 - 2 - 0 - 5 - 1

2. Aguas Verdes (Zarumilla, Tumbes) 7 - 5 - 3 - 1 - 1 - 9 - 2

3. Defensor Lima (Lima, Lima)    5 - 5 - 2 - 1 - 2 -  8 -  6 
4. Garcilaso (Cuzco, Cuzco)      5 - 5 - 2 - 1 - 2 -  8 -  6
5. Universidad Técnica (Cajamarca, Cajamarca)  5 - 5 - 2 - 1 - 2 -  3 -  3

6. Centenario (Ayacucho, Ayacucho) 0 - 5 - 0 - 0 - 5 - 1 – 16

Centenario was out of their depth, obviously – they lost every match they played. Defensor Lima failed to impress.

Deportivo Centenario (Ayacucho) – perhaps just happy to be at the finals and nothing else.

Garcilaso (Cuzco) – neither good, nor bad, right in the middle. Standing from left: Rolando Echegaray, Fernando Valencia, José Elguera, "Arbolito" Gonzáles, Robinson Astete, Wilfredo Valencia.
First row: Marco Echegaray, Percy Huamán, Miguel Arapa, Javier Ugaz,el "Cóndor" Sergio Hinojosa.

The battle for promotion was really between unknowns:

Aguas Verdes, hailing from a city often flooded by the very river waters giving the club's name, missed promotion by a point. They scored most goals in the tournament and ended with the best goal-difference. Small consolation.

The winners did not lose even a match and that was the secret of success, for they were not great scorers. One point more than Aguas Verdes and ADT won the tournament, Copa Peru and the single promotion.

Going to first league: standing, from left: Nicolás Miranda, Alberto Marticorena, Rowland Chumpitaz, Alejandro Mujica, Gonzalo Ginocchio, José Chacaltana.
First row: Luis Camacho, Juan Zapata, Carlos Gutiérrez, Angel Fuentes, Carlos Gavidia.

Asociacion Deportiva – more often just abbreviated to ADT (Asociacion Deportiva de Tarma) – were founded in 1929, but little known. They never played first division before. As for the squad – no familiar names here, as expected. This was their biggest success at the time – winners of Copa Peru for the first time and promoted to the top league.

That was then – Copa Peru still exists, but now it equals third division championship. So far ADT never won it again.

Chile I Division:http://football-journey.com/

Chile II Division: http://football-journey.com/

Paraguay: http://football-journey.com/

Brazil Championship: http://football-journey.com/

So difficult to measure success and fame – of course, many Brazilian clubs were traditional powerhouses in their native states and also participated regularly in the national championship, alas, barely noticed. Yet, sometimes they performed stronger than famous clubs... but in the vast river of Brazilian football that meant almost nothing...

Colorado – strong in their state, but ranked 31^st in the national championship this season.

Brasilia – hailing from weak part in terms of football, 73^rd in the national championship, but compared to famous Santos, not even playing at national level?

Gama – champions of Distrito Federal. Coming straight from the capital of Brazil, yet a club which was internationally kind of heard of years later – in the 1990s. 48^th in the 1979 national championship.

Ferroviario – once again champions of Ceara. 69^th in the national championship.

It is impossible to measure what was more important – local success or national one. One thing was to win the championship of, say, Distrito Federal, but quite another to win the Paulista championship. Yet, they were championships on equal level. It could be said that famous clubs often put more effort in their state championship and neglected the national one. Or compensated weak national performance with local success – or the other way around.

Bahia – five consecutive titles at home. 50^th in the national championship.

And what about Gremio?

Winners of the tough Gaucho championship, full of stars: Paulo Cesar Lima, Dirceu, Ancheta, Baltazar, Tarciso, Vantuir... Eder on his way to become a world famous star... ever present Manga adding one more title to his name... certainly a strong team, stronger than most. 22^nd in the national championship... in any other country such place meant second division... in Brazil it meant Gremio was much weaker than Uberlandia, 9^th, a club nobody heard of... or so it seems. The failure on national scale was pushed aside... the importance of winning Gaucho championship emphasized... and may be rightly.

Brazil non Copa Brasil: http://football-journey.com/

Argentina Nacional: http://football-journey.com/