Iran

 Iran. In 1970-71 the first national championship was organized.

Regional Stage

Region A (Kerman)

Final Table:

 1.Paykan                   4   3  0  1  24- 9   7  Qualified
 2.Taj Abadan               4   2  2  0   9- 4   6  Qualified
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 3.Rah Kerman               4   1  2  1   4- 5   4
 4.Khane Javanan Isfahan    4   1  2  1   9-14   4
 5.Arash Bandar Anzali      4   0  0  4   6-20   0 
 
NB: in the final group stage, Perspolis Tehran entered instead of Paykan

Region B (Rezaeieh)

Final Table:

 1.Taj Tehran               3   3  0  0   6- 1   6  Qualified
 2.Kargar Abadan            3   2  0  1   5- 3   4  Qualified
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 3.Perspolis Rezayeh        3   1  0  2   1- 3   2
 4.Pas Hamedan              3   0  0  3   1- 6   0
 
Region C (Rasht)

Reported Final Tables:

Group A
 1.Pas Tehran               3   3  0  0  12- 3   6  Rasht Semifinals          
 2.Give Bandar Pahlavi      3   2  0  1  12- 7   4  Rasht Semifinals
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 3.Taj Gonbad               3   2  0  1   8- 7   4
 4.Taj Tascht               3   0  0  3   4-13   0
NB: 2 more wins than losses, overall goal difference +6

Group B
 1.Arya Mashhad             2   2  0  0   3- 0   4  Rasht Semifinals
 2.Taj Khorramabad          2   1  0  1   2- 1   2  Rasht Semifinals
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 3.Taj Tabriz               2   0  0  2   0- 4   0      

Semifinals
Pas Tehran            7-1 Taj Khorramabad
Arya Mashhad          1-1 Give Bandar Pahlavi    [4-3 pen]

Third Place Match
Give Bandar Pahlavi   8-0 Taj Khorramabad

Final
Pas Tehran            2-2 Arya Mashhad           [3-2 pen]  

NB: both finalists qualified for final group stage
 
Region D (Isfahan)

Reported Final Tables:

Group A
 1.Taj Ahvaz                3   3  0  0  15- 2   6  Isfahan Semifinals
 2.Bargh Tehran             3   2  0  1   8- 5   4  Isfahan Semifinals
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 3.Pas Mashhad              3   1  0  2   5- 7   2
 4.Taj Kohgiluyet           3   0  0  3   2-16   0
 
Group B
 1.Javanan Isfahan          2   1  1  0   5- 2   3  Isfahan Semifinals
 2.Taj Shiraz               2   0  2  0   3- 3   2  Isfahan Semifinals
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 3.Sahand Tabriz            2   0  1  1   1- 3   1
NB: overall goal difference +1

Semifinals
Taj Shiraz            3-2 Taj Ahvaz
Javahan Isfahan       0-4 Bargh Tehran
 
Third Place Match
Javanan Isfahan       0-2 Taj Ahvaz       
 
Final        
Taj Shiraz            0-1 Bargh Tehran     
      
NB: both finalists qualified for final group stage


Final Group Stage

NB: it is not clear why Perspolis Tehran entered instead of Paykan

Group A
 1.Pas Tehran               3   3  0  0   9- 2   6  Qualified
 2.Perspolis Tehran         3   2  0  1  10- 3   4  Qualified
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 3.Taj Shiraz               3   1  0  2   3- 8   2   
 4.Bargh Tehran             3   0  0  3   0- 9   0

Group B
 1.Taj Tehran               3   1  2  0   7- 2   4  Qualified
 2.Taj Abadan               3   1  2  0   4- 2   4  Qualified
 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 3.Kargar Abadan            3   1  2  0   5- 4   4
 4.Arya Mashhad             3   0  0  3   2-10   0
        
NB: tie-breaker goal difference
 
Semifinals 
Pas Tehran            4–2 Taj Abadan        
Taj Tehran            awd Perspolis Tehran       [awarded 3-0, abandoned at 1-1 in 80'; Perspolis walked off] 

Third Place Match
Taj Abadan            w/o Perspolis Tehran       [Perspolis dns]

Final
Taj Tehran            2–1 Pas Tehran   
  [Gholamhosein Mazlomi 3, Akbar Kargarjam 33; Asgahr Sharafi 9]

Final Ranking:
 1.Taj Tehran
 2.Pas Tehran
 3.Taj Abadan
 4.Perspolis Tehran
Taj (Tehran) was the first champion of Iran.
NB: Taj Tehran renamed Esteghlal after islamic revolution 1979 ('Taj'
    means 'crown' and so referred directly to the shah)

Asian Champions' Cup

 

Asian Champions' Cup 1971

(all matches at the National Stadium in Bangkok, Mar 21-Apr 2, 1971;
 originally to be held in Kuwait, but moved to Thailand by the AFC)

Preliminary Round (group allocation matches)
21- 3 Bangkok Bank             Tha  ROK Army                 SKo   1-2
        [Praderm Muangkasem 79; Kim Chong-Ho 23, Choi Sang-Chul 32; att: 8000]
21- 3 Aliyat Al-Shurta         Irq  Taj Club                 Irn   3-2
        [Ghanem Abdul-Hamid 2, Shaker Ismail 35, 65; Gholamhossein Mazloumi 23, 81]
22- 3 Al-Arabi                 Kuw  Punjab                   Ind   8-1
        [Hassan Shehata 13 50, Ibrahim Fahad 28, Ali Al-Mulla 31, 36, 61, 68,
         Taha Basri 63; Surjeet Singh 17; att: 3000]
22- 3 Maccabi Tel-Aviv         Isr  Perak                    Mly   1-0
        [Meir Nimni 20]
(each group to contain two winners and two losers from this round)

NB: Jardines (Hongkong) withdrew

Group A 
24- 3 Al-Arabi                 Kuw  Perak                    Mly   3-0
        [Ibrahim Fahad 17, Hassan Shehata 66, Taha Basri 73; att: 10000]
24- 3 Taj Club                 Irn  ROK Army                 SKo   2-1
        [Alireza Hajghasem 43, 67; Lim Tae-Joo 46]
26- 3 ROK Army                 SKo  Perak                    Mly   3-0
        [Choi Sang-Chul 19, Park Yi-Chun 56, Chung Kyu-Poong 78; att: 9000]
26- 3 Taj Club                 Irn  Al-Arabi                 Kuw   0-0
28- 3 Taj Club                 Irn  Perak                    Mly   3-0
        [Masoud Mojdehi 59, Mehdi Lavasani 62, Wong Hee Kok 66 OG; att: 8000]
28- 3 ROK Army                 SKo  Al-Arabi                 Kuw   1-0
        [Park Yi-Chun 73]

 1.Taj Club                        3  2  1  0  5- 1  5
 2.ROK Army                        3  2  0  1  5- 2  4
 3.Al-Arabi                        3  1  1  1  3- 1  3
 4.Perak                           3  0  0  3  0- 9  0

Group B 
25- 3 Bangkok Bank             Tha  Punjab                   Ind   2-0
        [Narong Pisetsamrascheep 5, Prasarn Daencharoenvanakit 7; att: 8000]
25- 3 Maccabi Tel-Aviv         Isr  Aliyat Al-Shurta         Irq   w/o x
27- 3 Maccabi Tel-Aviv         Isr  Punjab                   Ind   4-1
        [Meir Nimni 10, Shlomo Gerbi 16, Giora Spiegel 39, Dror Bar-Nur 71;
         Surjeet Singh 83 pen; att: 9000]
27- 3 Bangkok Bank             Tha  Aliyat Al-Shurta         Irq   0-2
        [Ghanem Abdul-Hamid 75, Sabah Hatem 82]
29- 3 Aliyat Al-Shurta         Irq  Punjab                   Ind   6-1
        [Sabah Hatim 23, 53, 62, Mudhafar Nouri 50, 87, Ravi Kumar 64og;
         Sukhvinder Singh 78]
29- 3 Bangkok Bank             Tha  Maccabi Tel-Aviv         Isr   1-4
        [Kasetchai Suvanthada 65; Shlomo Gerbi 10, Dror Bar-Nur 20, 29, Giora Spiegel 32]
x Aliyat Al-Shurta withdrew from this match, awarded to Maccabi

 1.Maccabi Tel-Aviv                3  3  0  0  8- 2  6
 2.Aliyat Al-Shurta (Bagdad)       3  2  0  1  8- 1  4
 3.Bangkok Bank                    3  1  0  2  3- 6  2
 4.Punjab                          3  0  0  3  2-12  0

Semifinals (in Bangkok)
31- 3 Aliyat Al-Shurta         Irq  Taj Club                 Irn   2-0
        [Munaim Hussein 6, Shaker Ismail 81; att: 12000]
31- 3 Maccabi Tel-Aviv         Isr  ROK Army                 SKo   2-0
        [Shlomo Gerbi 29, 63]

Third Place Match (in Bangkok)
 2- 4 Taj Club                 Irn  ROK Army                 SKo   3-2
        [Alireza Hajghasem 19, Gholamhossein Mazloumi 57, Ali Jabbari 80;
         Chung Kyu-Poong 63, Lim Tae-Joo 87; att: 3000]

Final (in Bangkok)
 2- 4 Maccabi Tel-Aviv         Isr  Aliyat Al-Shurta         Irq   w/o x
x Aliyat Al-Shurta withdrew from this match, awarded to Maccabi

NB: instead of the final, an exhibition match was played
 2- 4 Combined Bangkok         Tha  Maccabi Tel-Aviv         Isr   1-2
        [Aikkachai Sondhikan 6; Dror Bar-Nur 2, 61]

Maccabi (Tel-Aviv) returned home with the Asian trophy – their second and last. Politics gravely affected the Asian competitions and soon Israel will be banned from participating just like South Africa in Africa. The Asian Champions' Cup was cancelled in 1972, when some clubs withrew for financial reasons and Racing (Beirut) refused to play because of Maccabi (Natanya) presence – with that the Asian Champions' Cup vanished until 1986.

African Footballer Of The Year

 

African Footballer of the Year. The second issue of the award was all-domestic – no European-based players reached the top three. The voting perhaps reflected the Champions' Cup – all three were from the finalists, but on top came those from the losing team:

1st Ibrahim Sunday (Ghana) Asante Kotoko 29

2nd Robert Mensah (Ghana) Asante Kotoko 15

3rd François Ndoumbé (Cameroon) Canon Yaoundé 13

Ibrahim Sunday was 27 years old winger and midfielder, he was well established player in Africa – a national team player since 1966, when he was 18 years old. In 1975 he became the first African player in the West German Bundesliga (only 1 game for Werder Bremen – perhaps he moved to Europe too old).

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.

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. 

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.