1998 Torneo Descentralizado

Torneo Descentralizado
Season1998
ChampionsUniversitario
22nd Primera División title
RelegatedLawn Tennis
Copa LibertadoresUniversitario
Sporting Cristal
Copa CONMEBOLSport Boys
Copa MerconorteAlianza Lima
Sporting Cristal
Universitario
Top goalscorerNelson Esidio (25)
← 1997
1999 →

The 1998 season of the Torneo Descentralizado was the 83rd season of the top category of Peruvian football (soccer). It was played by 12 teams. The national champion was Universitario.

The national championship was divided into two half-year tournaments, the Torneo Apertura and the Torneo Clausura. Each was played on a home-and-away round-robin basis. The winners of each would play for the national title in a playoff. If the same club had won both tournaments, it would have won the national championship automatically.

Following-season Copa Libertadores berths went to the winner of each tournament, while the runners-up played for a Copa CONMEBOL spot. The bottom team on the aggregate table was relegated, while the eleventh place held a relegation/promotion playoff against the winner of the Segunda División (Second Division).

Teams

Team changes

Promoted from
1997 Segunda División 		Promoted from
1997 Copa Perú 		Relegated from
1997 Primera División
Increase Lawn Tennis (1st) Increase Juan Aurich (1st) Decrease Alcides Vigo (11th)
Decrease Atlético Torino (12th)
Decrease José Gálvez (13th)
Decrease La Loretana (14th)

Stadia locations

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Locations of the 1998 Primera División teams
Team City Stadium Capacity Field
Alianza Atlético Sullana Campeones del 36 8,000 Grass
Alianza Lima Lima Alejandro Villanueva 35,000 Grass
Cienciano Cuzco Garcilaso 42,056 Grass
Deportivo Municipal Lima Nacional 45,750 Grass
Deprotivo Pesquero Chimbote Manuel Rivera Sanchez 25,000 Grass
Juan Aurich Chiclayo Elías Aguirre 24,500 Grass
Lawn Tennis Lima Nacional 45,750 Grass
Melgar Arequipa Mariano Melgar 20,000 Grass
Sport Boys Callao Miguel Grau 18,000 Grass
Sporting Cristal Lima San Martín de Porres 17,000 Grass
Unión Minas Cerro de Pasco Daniel Alcides Carrión 8,000 Grass
Universitario Lima Nacional 45,750 Grass

Torneo Apertura

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Universitario 22 11 10 1 40 18 +22 43 Copa Libertadores 1999 First stage
2 Sport Boys 22 11 6 5 38 23 +15 39 1999 Copa CONMEBOL playoff
3 Sporting Cristal 22 10 7 5 40 20 +20 37
4 Unión Minas 22 11 4 7 33 29 +4 37
5 Deportivo Pesquero 22 9 6 7 35 21 +14 33
6 Alianza Lima 22 9 6 7 35 21 +14 33
7 Juan Aurich 22 7 8 7 27 25 +2 29
8 Alianza Atlético 22 6 8 8 33 26 +7 26
9 Cienciano 22 6 7 9 24 27 −3 25
10 Melgar 22 7 2 13 20 36 −16 23
11 Deportivo Municipal 22 6 4 12 23 48 −25 22
12 Lawn Tennis 22 3 2 17 16 49 −33 11
Updated to match(es) played on July 1998. Source: https://www.rsssf.org/tablesp/peru98.html
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

Results

Home \ Away AAS ALI CIE MUN PES JA LTF MEL SBA CRI MIN UNI
Alianza Atlético 4–2 3–3 3–1 2–3 2–2 1–1 4–1 1–0 1–3 3–3 0–0
Alianza Lima 1–0 2–0 7–0 0–1 2–1 3–0 2–0 3–0 0–0 6–0 0–0
Cienciano 1–0 4–0 0–0 3–1 1–0 1–2 2–0 0–0 2–1 0–0 1–1
Deportivo Municipal 0–1 2–0 1–1 2–4 1–0 3–0 2–1 1–3 0–3 2–3 2–2
Deportivo Pesquero 3–1 2–2 3–0 2–1 1–3 3–0 3–1 1–1 0–0 1–0 0–0
Juan Aurich 2–1 2–2 1–1 1–2 0–0 2–1 2–0 1–0 1–1 4–0 1–1
Lawn Tennis 1–2 0–1 1–0 0–1 1–2 0–1 1–2 1–2 0–4 2–0 0–5
Melgar 2–1 1–0 2–1 4–0 0–0 0–0 2–1 0–1 2–0 1–2 0–1
Sport Boys 2–2 0–0 3–1 5–0 4–0 3–1 3–3 1–0 1–0 4–1 3–3
Sporting Cristal 0–0 1–1 3–2 3–0 2–1 2–2 5–0 7–1 1–0 2–1 1–1
Unión Minas 0–0 1–0 2–0 3–0 4–1 1–0 4–1 2–0 2–0 2–0 1–1
Universitario 5–1 2–1 1–0 2–2 2–1 3–0 2–0 3–0 1–2 2–1 2–1
Updated to match(es) played on 1998. Source: RSSSF Peru 1998
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Torneo Clausura

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Sporting Cristal (A, O) 22 13 3 6 41 23 +18 42 Copa Libertadores 1999 First stage
2 Alianza Lima (A) 22 11 9 2 35 17 +18 42 1999 Copa CONMEBOL playoff
3 Sport Boys 22 12 6 4 24 12 +12 42
4 Universitario 22 8 10 4 32 22 +10 34
5 Cienciano 22 7 9 6 23 20 +3 29[a]
6 Deportivo Pesquero 22 7 8 7 20 20 0 29
7 Melgar 22 8 5 9 26 33 −7 29
8 Juan Aurich 22 6 8 8 24 27 −3 26
9 Alianza Atlético 22 6 6 10 24 30 −6 24
10 Unión Minas 22 6 6 10 22 30 −8 24
11 Lawn Tennis 22 6 4 12 20 38 −18 22
12 Deportivo Municipal 22 3 4 15 24 43 −19 13
Updated to match(es) played on December 1998. Source: https://www.rsssf.org/tablesp/peru98.html
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(A) Advance to a further round; (O) Play-off winners
Notes:
  1. ^ Cienciano were docked 1 points for fielding 4 foreign players in Round 3.

Results

Home \ Away AAS ALI CIE MUN PES JA LTF MEL SBA CRI MIN UNI
Alianza Atlético 1–1 2–0 2–0 0–0 1–1 2–1 2–2 0–0 2–3 3–0 1–1
Alianza Lima 4–2 4–1 2–1 2–1 2–1 1–1 2–0 3–1 0–2 0–0 1–0
Cienciano 2–0 0–0 4–1 2–0 1–0 4–0 0–0 0–0 2–1 0–0 0–0
Deportivo Municipal 0–1 1–1 1–2 0–3 1–1 1–2 5–1 0–1 2–1 2–3 1–1
Deportivo Pesquero 2–0 0–0 0–0 2–1 2–1 0–1 0–0 0–0 1–1 3–0 2–2
Juan Aurich 2–0 0–0 2–2 1–1 1–0 4–1 3–2 0–4 2–1 2–1 1–1
Lawn Tennis 2–0 1–5 2–0 0–2 1–2 0–0 2–1 0–1 1–1 3–1 0–2
Melgar 2–1 1–2 3–2 1–0 2–0 1–0 3–1 2–0 0–1 3–1 0–3
Sport Boys 1–0 0–0 2–0 2–0 2–0 1–0 0–0 3–0 2–0 2–1 1–1
Sporting Cristal 3–2 1–1 1–0 7–2 0–1 3–1 2–1 3–0 2–0 4–2 2–0
Unión Minas 0–1 2–1 0–0 2–1 3–0 1–1 2–0 0–0 0–1 1–0 2–2
Universitario 3–1 0–3 1–1 3–1 1–1 1–0 4–0 2–2 3–0 0–2 1–0
Updated to match(es) played on 1998. Source: RSSSF Peru 1998
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Clausura title play-off

Sporting Cristal1–0Alianza Lima
A. Mendoza 42'
Sporting Cristal Clausura 1998 winners
To Copa Libertadores 1999
(Alianza Lima to Copa CONMEBOL playoff)

Copa CONMEBOL play-off

Sport Boys0–1Alianza Lima
Saavedra 74'
Alianza Lima2–0Sport Boys
Basombrío 6'
Gareca 29'
Alianza Lima to 1999 Copa CONMEBOL
(Alianza Lima later declined their spot in favor of Sport Boys)

Season finals

Sporting Cristal2–1Universitario
N. Esidio 30'
A. Mendoza 40'		 L. Guadalupe 62'
Universitario2–1Sporting Cristal
R. Farfán 50'
R. Farfán 56'		 A. Mendoza 74'
Penalties
Gustavo Grondona soccer ball with check mark
César Casas soccer ball with red X
Gustavo Falaschi soccer ball with check mark
Luis Guadalupe soccer ball with check mark
Eduardo Esidio soccer ball with check mark		 4–2 Javier Ferreira soccer ball with check mark
Jorge Soto soccer ball with red X
Roger Serrano soccer ball with check mark
Germán Carty soccer ball with red X

Aggregate table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Sport Boys 44 23 12 9 62 35 +27 81 1999 Copa CONMEBOL
2 Sporting Cristal 44 23 10 11 81 43 +38 79 1999 Copa Libertadores and 1999 Copa Merconorte
3 Universitario 44 19 20 5 72 40 +32 77
4 Alianza Lima 44 20 15 9 70 38 +32 75 1999 Copa Merconorte
5 Deportivo Pesquero 44 16 14 14 53 49 +4 62
6 Unión Minas 44 17 10 17 55 60 −5 61
7 Juan Aurich 44 13 16 15 51 52 −1 55
8 Cienciano 44 13 16 15 47 47 0 54[a]
9 Melgar 44 15 7 22 46 69 −23 52
10 Alianza Atlético 44 12 14 18 57 66 −9 50
11 Deportivo Municipal (O) 44 9 8 27 47 91 −44 35 Qualification for promotion play-off
12 Lawn Tennis 44 9 6 29 36 87 −51 33 Relegation to 1999 Segunda División
Updated to match(es) played on December, 1999. Source: [citation needed]
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(O) Play-off winners
Notes:
  1. ^ Cienciano were docked 1 points for fielding 4 foreign players in Round 3.

Promotion play-off

Deportivo Municipal4–1
(AET)		Hijos de Yurimaguas
Baroni 34'
Baroni 100'
Baroni 113'
Maldonado 119'		 Rodríguez 64'
Deportivo Municipal remained in Primera División

Top scorers

25 goals
19 goals
17 goals
16 goals