Tuesday, August 4, 2026

African Champions' Cup

 

African Champions' Cup 1971
First Round
Abaluhya United          Ken  Great Olympics           Gha   0-0  1-3  1-3x
Al-Merreikh              Sud  Tele SC Asmara           Eth   2-1  0-1  2-2  5-4p
Canon Yaoundé            Cam  AS Solidarité            Gab   7-3  2-1  9-4
ASC Diaraf               Sen  Stade Malien             Mli   3-0  0-4  3-4
Espérance                Tun  Al-Ahly (Benghazi)       Lby   0-0  1-0  1-0
Maseru United            Les  MMM Tamatave             Mad   1-2  2-3  3-5
AS Porto Novo            Dah  Victoria Club Mokanda    CoB   0-1  0-2  0-3
Secteur 6                Nig  Enugu Rangers            Nga   1-1  0-1  1-2
Young Africans           Tan  Lavori Publici           Som   2-0  0-0  2-0
AS Kaloum Star           Gui  bye
ASEC (Abidjan)           IvC  bye
Asante Kotoko            Gha  bye
Coffee                   Uga  bye
Dynamic Togolais         Tog  bye
Ismaili                  Egy  bye
AS Vita Club             Zai  bye
x Abaluhya United were later renamed AFC Leopards

Second Round
AS Kaloum Star           Gui  Enugu Rangers            Nga   3-3  1-2  4-5z
Al-Merreikh              Sud  Asante Kotoko            Gha   2-1  0-1  2-2  4-5p
Coffee FC                Uga  Young Africans           Tan      w/o       x
Ismaili                  Egy  Espérance                Tun      w/o       x
Stade Malien             Mli  ASEC (Abidjan)           IvC   2-2  1-2  3-4
MMM Tamatave             Mad  Great Olympics           Gha   2-1  0-7  2-8
Victoria Club Mokanda    CoB  Dynamic Togolais         Tog   1-2  0-2  1-4y
AS Vita Club             Zai  Canon Yaoundé            Cam   2-0  1-3  3-3  3-4p
x Young Africans and Espérance withdrew before 1st leg
y Dynamic Togolais were dissolved in 1974
z 1st leg May 16, 2nd leg May 29 in Port Harcourt

Quarterfinals
Coffee FC                Uga  Great Olympics           Gha   0-0  0-2  0-2
Dynamic Togolais         Tog  Canon Yaoundé            Cam   1-2  3-4  4-6
Enugu Rangers            Nga  ASEC (Abidjan)           IvC   0-1  0-2  0-3
Ismaili                  Egy  Asante Kotoko            Gha   0-0  0-3  0-3

Semifinals
ASEC (Abidjan)           IvC  Canon Yaoundé            Cam   2-1  1-4  3-5
Great Olympics           Gha  Asante Kotoko            Gha   1-1  0-1  1-2

Final (Dec 5 and 19)
Kumasi Stadium, Kumasi and Militaire Garoua, Yaoundé
Asante Kotoko            Gha  Canon Yaoundé            Cam   3-0  0-2x
x for the final, only points aggregate, not goals aggregate was considered

Final Playoff (Dec 21)
Militaire Garoua, Yaoundé
Canon Yaoundé            Cam  Asante Kotoko            Gha   abd
match abandoned at 1-0 to Canon Yaoundé, result stood

First African Champions' Cup for Canon (Yaounde) and second for Cameroon. Scandalous final, but Canon was awarded.

The heroes one by one. Only the French paid attention to the unknown African players – among them the great Jean Manga-Onguene. The centre-forward never moved to European club.

Monday, August 3, 2026

Costa Rica

 

Costa Rica. NB: tournament played over two stages, with both stage winners     playing off for the championship and both bottom teams playing off against relegation.

Aggregate Table:
1.LD Alajuelense 30 18 5 7 71-31 41 Champions
2.CD Saprissa 30 20 3 7 63-33 43
3.CS Herediano 28 10 12 6 46-38 32 4.Municipal Puntarenas 28 9 8 11 42-46 26 5.CS Cartaginés 28 9 7 12 45-55 25 6.Dep. México 28 7 7 14 29-50 21 7.San Ramón 30 8 5 17 33-61 21 8.Rohrmoser 30 7 9 14 32-47 23 Relegated NB: includes championship playoff between Alajuelense and Saprissa as well as relegation playoff between San Ramón and Rohrmoser Championship Playoff First Leg Alajuelense 2-1 Saprissa Second Leg Saprissa 5-3 Alajuelense [aet, 4-2 after 90 min; 1-3 pen]
Alajuelense – champion. Promoted: Limón

NASL

 

USA. NASL only. Before the season, New York, Toronto and Montreal were added. Team rosters were almost entirely made of foreign players from everywhere – only Oceania was not represented on continental basis – but there were no recognizable names at all. Here is a short list of those of some minor significance: perhaps Adolfo Gori (b. 1938, Italy) of Rochester Lancers had the stronger career before moving to North America – he played about 150 games for Juventus plus some for Brescia and SPAL. He had 1 cap for Italy. Dallas Tornado's goalkeeper Mirko Stojanovic (b. 1939, Yugoslavia), formerly of Crvena zvezda and Dinamo Zagreb, was the only player in the league appearing at World Cup finals – he was in the 1962 Yugoslavian team, but only as an unused reserve. He had 4 caps for his native country. Another goalkeeper – Konrad Kornek (b. 1937) of New York Cosmos – was the one with games for a national team: 15 matches for Poland. He played for Legia Warszawa and Odra Opole. Tibor Szalay Csikos (b. 1938, born in Czecholsovakia, but originally citizen of Hungary) had the most impressive CV: Austria Wien, Barcelona, Real Murcia, Besiktas. The Yugoslavs used to play a bit for well known domestic clubs: Dragan Popovic (b. 1941, St. Louis Stars)- Crvena zvezda and Hajduk Split; Milonja Kalicanin (b. 1938, St. Louis Stars) – Pristina and Besiktas (Istanbul); Josip Ognjanac (b. 1942, Montreal Olympique) – Crvena zvezda, Radnicki Nis, and Malmo FF of Sweden; Momcilo Gavric (b. 1938,Dallas Tornado) – OFK Beograd. Polish players also played for stronger local clubs before joining NASL: Kazimierz Frankiewicz (b. 1939, St. Louis Stars) – Zawysza Bydgoszcz, Lechia Gdansk, Legia Warszawa; Karol Kapcinski (b.1943, New York Cosmos) – Gornik Zabrze, Slask Wroclaw. And the Czech player of Montreal Olympique – Jiri Klaboch (b. 1936) – used to play for Bohemians Prague. Perhaps some players from Africa and the Caribbean islands had some appearances for the national teams of their original countries, but none was a current member. South Americans and Mexicans were generally anonimous players. As a whole, NASL was filled with not even second raters, but third rate players and North Americans were very few. Even the weird point system, used by NASL – Rochester Lancers finsihed the regular season with 141 points! - was not able to compensate for the low level of the games.
                           G    W   T   L   GF  GA  PTS    %     Att.
      Northern Division
Rochester Lancers          24  13   6   5   48  31  141  .666   5,871
New York Cosmos            24   9   5  10   51  55  117  .479   4,517
Toronto Metros 24 5 9 10 32 47 89 .395 5,993
Montreal Olympique 24 4 5 15 29 59 65 .270 2,440 Southern Division Atlanta Chiefs 24 12 5 7 35 29 120 .604 4,275 Dallas Tornado 24 10 8 6 38 24 119 .583 3,326
Washington Darts 24 8 10 6 36 34 111 .541 3,262
St.Louis Stars 24 6 5 13 37 47 86 .354 3,579
Semi-finals: Dallas defeated Rochester 1-2(OT), 3-1, 2-1 (OT)

Atlanta defeated New York 0-1 (OT), 2-0
CHAMPIONSHIP: Dallas defeated Atlanta 1-2 (OT), 4-1, 2-0
Atlanta Chiefs finished second.
Dallas Tornado was the 1971 NASL champion.

Sunday, August 2, 2026

Mexico II Division

 

II Division

1 San Luis (C, P) 32 16 13 3 50 26 1.923 45 Promoted to Primera División

2 Zamora 32 17 6 9 51 32 1.594 40

3 Tampico 32 13 13 6 50 33 1.515 39

4 Naucalpan 32 15 9 8 41 28 1.464 39

5 Querétaro 32 14 10 8 50 37 1.351 38

6 UANL 32 14 10 8 37 28 1.321 38

7 Unión de Curtidores 32 14 8 10 46 37 1.243 36

8 La Piedad 32 10 16 6 39 35 1.114 36

9 Tepic 32 9 12 11 34 53 0.642 30

10 Nacional 32 8 13 11 50 47 1.064 29

11 Salamanca 32 12 5 15 35 49 0.714 29

12 Cuautla 32 9 10 13 41 48 0.854 28

13 Atlético Cuernavaca 32 9 8 15 37 47 0.787 26

14 Ciudad Madero 32 8 10 14 33 49 0.673 26

15 Ciudad Victoria 32 8 8 16 33 46 0.717 24

16 Universidad Veracruzana 32 4 13 15 23 38 0.605 21

17 Nuevo León 32 6 8 18 26 43 0.605 20 Relegated to Tercera División

18 Morelia[a] 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 Disqualified

San Luis (Potosi) won the championship and got promotion to the top level.

Sunday, July 26, 2026

Mexico I Division

 

Mexico. I Division
Group Corsairs           P       W       T       L      GF      GA      PTS     GAVG
1. Toluca 34 14 15 5 38 21 43 1.81 (playoffs)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2. Jalisco 34 12 14 8 35 29 38 1.21 [Guadalajara]
3. Zacatepec 34 14 10 10 39 37 38 1.05
4. Cruz Azul 34 11 15 8 39 39 37 1.00 [Ciudad Cooperativa]
5. U.N.A.M. 34 10 15 9 43 38 35 1.13 [Ciudad de México]
6. Necaxa 34 10 11 13 44 39 31 1.13 [Ciudad de México]
7. Irapuato 34 8 13 13 34 53 29 0.64
8. Laguna 34 10 8 16 37 47 28 0.79 [Torreón]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
9. Atlas 34 5 12 17 32 48 22 0.67 (relegation playoffs) [Guadalajara]
Group Pirates P W T L GF GA PTS GAVG
1. América 34 17 10 7 56 33 44 1.70 (playoffs) [Ciudad de México]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Monterrey 34 15 10 9 46 37 40 1.24
3. León 34 14 10 10 50 41 38 1.22
4. Atlante 34 9 16 9 33 31 34 1.06 [Ciudad de México]
5. Veracruz 34 12 9 13 39 40 33 0.98
6. Puebla 34 11 10 13 43 49 32 0.88
7. Torreón 34 11 9 14 27 35 31 0.77
8. Guadalajara 34 11 8 15 34 44 30 0.77
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
9. Pachuca 34 11 7 16 38 46 29 0.83 (relegation playoffs)
Championship Playoffs Final Toluca 0 América 0 América 2 Toluca 0 (2-0 agg)
Toluca ended with silver medals.

Champion: AMÉRICA
Relegation Playoffs Final Pachuca 2 Atlas 2 Atlas 1 Pachuca 1 (3-3 agg) Replay [Estadio León, León] Pachuca 2 Atlas 0
Relegated: Atlas
Promoted: San Luis Potosí Changes for the next season: Necaxa changed its name to Atletico Español and Cruz Azul moved to Ciudad de México.

Friday, July 24, 2026

CONCACAF Champions Cup

 

CONCACAF Champions Cup.  Copa de Campeones y Subcampeones CONCACAF 1971
Northern Section

Round 1
(Oct 3 & 13)
Elizabeth SC             USA  Cruz Azul                Mex   0-0  awd  0-2x
(Oct 3 & 31)
Rochester Lancers        USA  Pembroke Hamilton Club   Ber   4-1  1-3  5-4y asdet
x 2nd leg awarded, forfeit Elizabeth SC
y other sources give 2nd leg as 1-1

NB: some sources list an additional round in which Rochester Lancers
    supposedly were to play Guadalajara but withdrew; if the two were
    to meet at all, it apparently was Guadalajara who withdrew as
    Rochester played the final tournament and Guadalajara did not

Central Section

Preliminary Round (Aug 22 & 29)
Diriangén                Nic  Comunicaciones           Gua   0-5  1-10 1-15

Round 1 
(Aug 22 & 29)
Aurora                   Gua  Atlético Marte           ElS   2-1  1-1  3-2
(Sep 19 & 26)
Motagua                  Hon  Saprissa                 CRi   0-3  0-2  0-5
  [Hernán Morales 10, Fernando Hernández 18, Edgar Marín 60]
  [Odir Jacques 22, 65]
(Sep 26 & Oct 3)
Comunicaciones           Gua  Deportivo FAS            ElS   5-2  3-0  8-2
  [Larrosa 12, 81, Molina 56, 89, Torres 82; Sarceno 50, Torres 78]
(Sep 26 & Oct 12)
Olimpia                  Hon  Alajuelense              CRi   0-0  0-1  0-1
  [Walter Elizondo 60pen]

Round 2
(Nov 7 & 14)
Aurora                   Gua  Comunicaciones           Gua   1-2  0-1  1-3
(Nov 14 & 21)
Saprissa                 CRi  Alajuelense              CRi   1-5  3-0  4-5
  [Carlos Solano 52; Mario Vega 27, Alfredo Piedra 47, Chávez 49, Víctor Ruiz 65,
   Oscar Cordero 88]
  [Francisco Hernández 5, Jaime Grant 10, 48]

Caribbean Section

Round 1 
SV Estrella              DAn  Águila Negra             Hai     w/o        x
(Sep 30 & Oct 5)
SV Transvaal             Sur  Thomas United            Guy   3-1  3-0  6-1
  [?, ?, ?; Michael Pierre]
x Águila Negra apparently withdrew

Final Tournament (Ciudad de Guatemala)

(Mar 12, 1972)
Rochester      2-0 Transvaal 
  [Eli Durante 35, Carlos Dell’omodarme 80]
Comunicaciones 7-0 Estrella 
  [Carlos Guzmán 17, Enrique Mendoza 31, Héctor Tambasco 33, 35, 50pen, 
   Antonio Rojas 41, Oscar Molina 63]
(Mar 14, 1972)
Alajuelense    2-1 Estrella
  [Emilio Valle 46, 74; Ismael Croes 54]
Cruz Azul      1-1 Transvaal
  [Octavio Muciño 68; Edwin Schal 55]
(Mar 16, 1972)  
Cruz Azul      1-1 Rochester 
  [José Luis Desachy 60; Manfred Siessler 67]
Comunicaciones 3-1 Transvaal
  [Héctor Tambasco 15, 56pen, 71; Edwin Schal 6]
(Mar 19, 1972)
Rochester      2-0 Estrella 
  [Charlie Mitchel 22pen, Francisco Escos 55]
Comunicaciones 1-2 Alajuelense   
  [Antonio Rojas 31; Walter Elizondo 10, 42pen]
(Mar 21, 1972)
Alajuelense    2-0 Transvaal
  [Roy Saénz 12, Emilio Valle 62]
Cruz Azul      9-0 Estrella
  [Octavio Muciño 3, 32, 37, Fernando Bustos 11, Cesareo Victorino 29, 48,
   Alberto Gómez 35 81, Antonio Munguía 60]
(Mar 23, 1972)
Cruz Azul      3-1 Alajuelense
  [Octavio Muciño 29, Fernando Bustos 35, 71; Carlos Mejía 51]
Comunicaciones 3-1 Rochester
  [Peter Sandoval 37, Oscar Molina 43pen, 55; Manfred Seissler 68]
(Mar 26, 1972)
Transvaal      1-0 Estrella
  [Edwin Schal 52pen]
Alajuelense    1-0 Rochester
  [Walter Elizondo 75pen]
Comunicaciones 1-3 Cruz Azul
  [Oscar Molina 28pen; Javier Guzmán 23, Octavio Muciño 68, 72]

Final Ranking:

 1.Cruz Azul          5  3  2  0  17- 4  8  [Mexico]
   Alajuelense        5  4  0  1   8- 5  8  [Costa Rica]
 3.Comunicaciones     5  3  0  2  15- 7  6  [Guatemala]
 4.Rochester Lancers  5  2  1  2   6- 5  5  [USA]
 5.Transvaal          5  1  1  3   3- 8  3  [Surinam]
 6.Estrella           5  0  0  5   1-21  0  [Dutch Antilles/Aruba]

Playoff (Ciudad de México, Apr 19, 1972)
Cruz Azul                Mex  LD Alajuelense           CRi   5-1
  [Fernando Bustos 16, Eladio Vera 25, 60, Octavio Muciño 70, 75pen;
   Miguel Villalobos 43]

Standing from left: Alfonso Estupiñan, Calvo, “Pipas” Calvo, Zúñiga, Emilio Sagot, Walter Elizondo. Crouching: Errol Daniels, Floyd Daniels, Roy Saénz, Mario Vega, Nuñez.

Liga Deportiva Alajuelense had no chance, but still it was successful performance.

Standing from left: Alfonso Estupiñan, Calvo, “Pipas” Calvo, Zúñiga, Emilio Sagot, Walter Elizondo.
Crouching: Errol Daniels, Floyd Daniels, Roy Saénz, Mario Vega, Nuñez. Third consecutive victory for Cruz Azul. The final was played in 1972, which affected Copa Interamericana as well. Actual photos from the final seemingly doesn't exist, so substitutes.

Tuesday, July 21, 2026

Copa Interamericana

 

Copa Interamericana 1971. This was the second issue of the ill-fated competition – the first was in 1969, then nothing... until 1972, when the 1971 Copa Interamericana was played. The idea was similar to the Intercontinental Cup – to be played in two legs between the current winners of Copa Libertadores and the CONCACAF Champions Cup: the best of Northern America vs the best of South America. No wonder the South American clubs were not very interested...

Played in 1972.
First Leg [Cd. de México, Jul 15, 1972]
Cruz Azul   1-1 Nacional  
  [Héctor Pulido 1; Juan Carlos Mamelli 29]

Second Leg [Montevideo, Nov 7, 1972]
Nacional   2-1 Cruz Azul           
  [Juan Carlos Mamelli 35, Braulio Castro 39; Fernando Bustos 22]  

Match Details

First Leg
Estadio Azteca, México DF.
Saturday July 15, 1972
Referee: Marco Antonio Regalado (GUA)
CDSC Cruz Azul 1 Club Nacional de Football 1
[Héctor Pulido 1; Juan Carlos Mamelli 29]
Line ups:
Cruz Azul: Miguel Marín, Marco Antonio Rodríguez, Javier Guzmán, Alberto Quintano,
 Javier Sánchez Galindo, Juan Manuel Alejandrez, (Juan de Jesús Prado), Cesareo
 Victorino, Héctor Pulido, Fernando Bustos, Octavio Muciño, Horacio López Salgado
Nacional: Airton Correa de Arruda "Manga", Ángel Brunnel, Juan Masnik, (Gerolani),
 Luis Ubina, Julio Montero Castillo, Canepa, Luis Cubilla, Walter Mantegazza, Aba,
 Juan Carlos Mamelli, Víctor Espárrago
Sent off: Víctor Espárrago (NAL) 85'
 
Second Leg
Estadio Centenario, Montevideo
Tuesday, November 7, 1972
Referee: Mario Camom (CHI)
Club Nacional de Football 2 CDSC Cruz Azul 1
[Juan Carlos Mamelli 35, Braulio Castro 39; Fernando Bustos 22]
Line ups:
Nacional: Airton Correa de Arruda "Manga", Luis Ubiña, Ángel Brunnel, Juan Masnik,
 Juan Carlos Blanco, Ildo Enrique Maneiro, Walter Mantegazza, Suárez, Braulio
 Castro, Juan Carlos Mamelli, Julio César Morales
Cruz Azul: Miguel Marín, Marco Antonio Rodríguez, Javier Guzmán, Alberto Quintano,
 Javier Sánchez Galindo, Héctor Pulido, Juan Manuel Alejandrez, Cesareo Victorino,
 Fernando Bustos, Horacio López Salgado, Eladio Vera
Cruz Azul (Mexico City) lost the trophy by single goal. The photo is not from the contest, but at least is from 1971-72 season.
Nacional (Montevideo) prevailed with difficulty and won the trophy. Thus, 1971 was a great international success and in the same time not so great, for Copa Interamericana was played in 1972 – counting for 1971, but already the squad was slightly different than the one from the previous year. By default, Nacional was the 1971 king of South America, both Americas, and the world.