Football Journey

Friday, July 10, 2026

Ecuador

Ecuador. National Championship 1971

First Phase

Group A
 1.Emelec               14  8  5  1 30-12 21 [Guayaquil] Qualified
 2.El Nacional          14  8  3  3 27-15 19 [Quito]     Qualified
 3.Deportivo Cuenca     14  7  4  3 21-16 18             Qualified
 4.América              14  7  3  4 24-19 17 [Quito]     Qualified
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
 5.Politécnico          14  3  6  5 20-19 12 [Quito]
 6.Macará               14  4  4  6 22-24 12 [Ambato]
 7.Juventud Italiana    14  3  6  5 17-26 12 [Manta]
 8.Norte América        14  0  1 13  9-40  1 [Guayaquil]

Top-4 qualify to Liguilla Final
Bottom-4 participate in Liquilla de no descenso
Group B
 1.Universidad Católica 14  8  3  3 28-13 21 [Quito]     Qualified
 2.LDU de Quito         14  6  5  3 23-14 17 [Quito]     Qualified
 3.Barcelona            14  7  3  4 21-14 17 [Guayaquil] Qualified
 4.LDU de Portoviejo    14  4  8  2 25-19 16             Qualified
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 5.Deportivo Quito      14  5  3  6 22-25 13
 6.Brasil               14  5  3  6 10-22 13 [Ambato]
 7.9 de Octubre         14  5  2  7 19-26 12 [Guayaquil]
 8.Olmedo               14  1  3 10  8-23  5 [Riobamba]

Top-4 qualify to Liguilla Final
Bottom-4 participate in Liquilla de no descenso

Second Phase

Liguilla de no descenso

1.Macará 14 7 4 3 23-12 18 [Ambato]


 2.Olmedo               14  6  5  3 24-17 17 [Riobamba]
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
Standing: Dr. Manuel Viteri, Marcos Zambrano, Jorge Vega, Alberto Pellacini (Arg), Jorge GAFTER, Hugo Cortéz, Felipe Landázuri.
Crouching: Félix Guerrero, Mario Olivera(Uru), Ricardo Martinez (Uru), Isidro Collahuazo, Sergio Marichal (Uru). 
 3.9 de Octubre         14  7  3  4 23-18 17 [Guayaquil] Relegated
 4.Deportivo Quito      14  6  4  4 25-16 16             Relegated
 5.Politécnico          14  5  3  6 29-27 13 [Quito]     Relegated
 6.Juventud Italiana    14  4  5  5 18-26 13 [Ambato]    Relegated
 7.Norte América        14  5  2  7 14-22 12 [Guayaquil] Relegated
 8.Brasil               14  1  4  9 10-28  6 [Riobamba]  Relegated

Liguilla Final
 1.Barcelona            14  6  6  2 20-13 18 [Guayaquil] Champions
 2.América              14  4  9  1 18-11 17 [Quito]     Runners-up
 3.Emelec               14  4  7  3 12- 9 15 [Guayaquil]
 4.El Nacional          14  5  5  4 18-17 15 [Quito]
 5.Universidad Católica 14  4  5  5 17-17 13 [Quito]
 6.LDU de Quito         14  4  5  5 13-14 13
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 7.Deportivo Cuenca     14  2  9  3  8-12 13             Relegated
 8.LDU de Portoviejo    14  2  4  8 14-27  8             Relegated

First division to be reduced to 8 teams in 1972 (6 first places in
Liguilla Final and two first places of Liguilla de no descenso).

Barcelona (Guayaquill) won the championship. Their 5^th title.

Tuesday, July 7, 2026

Colombia. Closed league. NB: Independiente Medellín and Atlético Bucaramanga sold their posts in the championship of 1971 to Oro Negro [Barrancabermeja] and Real Cartagena respectively due economical problems.

Torneo Apertura 

Final table: 

 1. Nacional        26   16    8    2   43-23   40   [Medellín] 
 2. Deportivo Cali  26   16    7    3   48-28   39 
 3. Santa Fe        26   12   10    4   42-27   34   [Bogotá] 
 4. Millonarios     26   13    6    7   44-30   32   [Bogotá] 
 5. Cúcuta          26   10    9    7   43-36   29 
 6. América         26    9    8    9   34-33   26   [Cali] 
 7. Pereira         26    8   10    8   34-38   26 
 8. Quindío         26    7   11    8   31-41   25   [Armenia] 
 9. Cristal Caldas  26    9    6   11   39-33   24   [Manizales] 
10. Tolima          26    6   10   10   33-38   22   [Ibagué] 
11. Real Cartagena  26    4   12   10   18-32   20 
12. Atlético Junior 26    7    4   15   29-40   18   [Barranquilla] 
13. Oro Negro       26    4    7   15   23-47   15   [Barrancabermeja] 
14. Unión Magdalena 26    4    6   16   28-43   14   [Santa Marta] 

Atlético Nacional & Deportivo Cali classified to Final Quadrangular. 



Torneo Finalización 

Final table: 

Standing from left:  Jesús “El Toto” Rubio, Gabriel Hernández, José Ignacio Díaz Granados, Otoniel Quintana, Hermenegildo Segrera, Óscar Villano. 
Crouching: Alejandro Brand, José I. Muñoz, Néstor Subiat, Juan Adolfo Maldonado, Luis Fernando Lavezzi.
 1. Millonarios     26   17    5    4   41-17   39   [Bogotá] 
 2. Santa Fe        26   16    6    4   50-21   38   [Bogotá] 
 3. Nacional        26   14    5    7   42-31   33   [Medellín] 
 4. Deportivo Cali  26   12    6    8   44-33   30 
 5. Quindío         26   10    8    8   39-35   28   [Armenia] 
Standing from left: Beracochea, Zapata, Torres, “Pele” González, Ortega, Gomez, Fabio Cadavid. Crouching: Rezza, Santamaría, Lobaton, Prospitti, Quiñónez. 
 6. Cristal Caldas  26   11    6    9   45-46   28   [Manizales] 
Top row from left:Director Técnico Pancho Villegas, Cristobal Valencia, Joaquín Sánchez, Armando Valencia, De la Hoz, Absalón Oviedo, Heriberto Rigi, Claudio Norberto Bautista, Henri Valencia, Gullo preparador físico.
Middle row: Alejandro Sinisterra, Orlando Puerto, Pipa Solarte, Joaquín Ramírez, Juan Vicente la liebre Quintero, Iroldo de Oliveira , Raul Peñaranda, Wilson Barona, Carlos Obando, Carlos man Ávila, Canín Zabala  masajista.
Front: Jaime Illice, José Vicente Tuta, Fabio guaracha Mosquera, F. Espinosa, Fernando Romero, Carlos Arturo el pollo  Díaz, Carlos la chancha Monsalve, Nélson Silva  Pacheco ( uruguayan), Edgar  Angulo, Néstor Manfredy.
 7. Cúcuta          26    8   10    8   37-43   26 
Standing from left: Morales, Paniagua, Monsalve, Rivarola, Gomez. 
Crouching: Gaviria, Matiz, Rodríguez, Largacha, Valencia, Naranjo. 
 8. Pereira         26    7   11    8   39-36   25 
 9. Unión Magdalena 26    7    9   10   36-43   23   [Santa Marta] 
10. América         26    6   10   10   26-38   22   [Cali] 
11. Real Cartagena  26    7    7   12   27-35   21 
12. Atlético Junior 26    2   15    9   21-38   19   [Barranquilla] 
13. Oro Negro       26    5    8   13   34-44   18   [Barrancabermeja] 
14. Tolima          26    1   12   13   23-44   14   [Ibagué] 

CD Millonarios & Independiente Santa Fe classified to Final Quadrangular. 



Final Quadrangular 

Final table: 

 1. Santa Fe         6    2    3    1    8- 6    7   Libertadores 1972 
 2. Nacional         6    2    3    1    7- 6    7   Libertadores 1972 
 3. Millonarios      6    2    2    2    6- 5    6 
 4. Deportivo Cali             6    1    2    3    7-11    4 

Santa Fe and Nacional both with 7 points had to play a final championship 
serie. 



Final Championship 

First Leg  [Jan 30 1972, Medellín] 
Nacional   0-0  Santa Fe 

Second Leg [Feb 3 1972, Bogotá] 
Santa Fe   0-0  Nacional 

Tie-breaker match [Feb 10 1972, Cali] 
Santa Fe   3-2  Nacional 
  [Miguel Arce 5, 47, Pedro Alzate 83; Jorge Fernández 58, Javier 
   Tamayo 81] 
Atletico Nacional finished with silver.
Independiente Santa Fe [Bogotá] champions of Colombia 1971. This was their 5^th title.

Sunday, July 5, 2026

Paraguay

Paraguay. First Division champion:

Olimpia.

Second: Cerro Porteño. Standing from left: Artemio Villanueva, Luis Bordón, Carlos Jara Saguier, César Ortiz Aquino, Justiniano Enciso, Valentín Mendoza.
Front: Adalberto Escobar, Juvencio Osorio, Hugo González, Saturnino Arrúa, Severiano Irala.

Possible First Division participants:

Guarani. Standing from left: Raimundo Aguilera, Vicente Bobadilla, Ricardo Tavarelli, Flaminio Sosa, José L. Ivaldi, Juan Martínez.
Crouching: Aurelio Martínez, Alcides Sosa, Joaquín Yugovich, Dionisio A. Valdez, Wilfrido Cañellas.

Libertad. Standing from left: Secundino Arévalo, Benjamín Shupp, Pedro Jaquet, Ignacio Achucarro, César Caballero, Alcides Báez.
Crouching: Emigdio Dos Santos, Francisco Martínez, Estanislao Franco, Gustavo Torres, Arecio Colmán.

River Plate. Standing from left: Alicio Solalinde, Néstor Sanguinetti (argentinian), Juan V. Lezcano, Francisco Riveros, Miguel A. Alvarenga, José D. Insfrán.
Crouching: Atilano Fernández, Carlos Huespe, Eladio Vera, Juan F. Riveros, Genaro García.

Sol de America. Standing from left: Pablo De Jesús Garay, Gumercindo Yudis, Secundino Aifuch, Cirilo Bogado, Ricardo Meyer, Silverio Troche.
Crouching: Diosmede Cabrera, Ladislao Delgadillo, Jacinto Paredes, Mariano C. Pesoa, Roberto Cino.