1998 Torneo Descentralizado

Torneo Descentralizado

Season	1998
Champions	Universitario 22nd Primera División title
Relegated	Lawn Tennis
Copa Libertadores	Universitario Sporting Cristal
Top goalscorer	Nelson 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

Alianza Atlético

Juan Aurich

Unión Minas

Pesquero

Cienciano

FBC Melgar

Alianza Lima
Lawn Tennis
Municipal
Sporting Cristal
Universitario
Sport Boys

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
Deportivo Pesquero	Chimbote	Manuel Rivera Sanchez	25,000	Grass
FBC Melgar	Arequipa	Mariano Melgar	20,000	Grass
Juan Aurich	Chiclayo	Elias Aguirre	24,500	Grass
Lawn Tennis	Lima	Nacional	45,750	Grass
Sport Boys	Callao	Miguel Grau	18,000	Grass
Sporting Cristal	Lima	San Martin de Porres	17,000	Grass
Unión Minas	Cerro de Pasco	Daniel Alcides Carrión	8,000	Grass
Universitario de Deportes	Lima	Nacional	45,750	Grass

Results

Torneo Apertura

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
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	FBC 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 games played on July, 1998
Source: http://rsssf.com/tablesp/peru98.html
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Torneo Clausura

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Sporting Cristal (O) (A)	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	0291
6	Deportivo Pesquero	22	7	8	7	20	20	0	29
7	FBC 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 games played on December, 1998
Source: http://rsssf.com/tablesp/peru98.html
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
1. Cienciano were deducted 1 points for fielding 4 foreign players in Round 3.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Clausura title playoff

December 16, 1998	Sporting Cristal	1–0	Alianza Lima	Estadio Nacional, Lima
	A. Mendoza 42'

---

Sporting Cristal Clausura 1998 winners
To Copa Libertadores 1999
(Alianza Lima to Copa CONMEBOL playoff)

Copa CONMEBOL playoff

December 20, 1998	Sport Boys	0–1	Alianza Lima	Estadio Miguel Grau, Callao
			Saavedra 74'

---

December 22, 1998	Alianza Lima	2–0	Sport Boys	Estadio Alejandro Villanueva, Lima
	Basombrío 6' Gareca 29'

---

Alianza Lima to 1999 Copa CONMEBOL
(Alianza Lima later declined their spot in favor of Sport Boys)

Final playoff

December 20, 1998	Sporting Cristal	2–1	Universitario	Estadio Nacional, Lima
	N. Esidio 30' A. Mendoza 40'		L. Guadalupe 62'

---

December 23, 1998	Universitario	2–1 4–2 (PSO)	Sporting Cristal	Estadio Nacional, Lima
	R. Farfán 50' R. Farfán 56'		A. Mendoza 74'

Title

Primera División Peruana 1998 Champion
Universitario 22nd title

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
2	Sporting Cristal	44	23	10	11	81	43	+38	79
3	Universitario	44	19	20	5	72	40	+32	77
4	Alianza Lima	44	20	15	9	70	38	+32	75
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	0541
9	FBC 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 to the relegation playoff
12	Lawn Tennis	44	9	6	29	36	87	−51	33	Relegation to the Segunda División 1999

Updated to games played on December, 1999
Source:^{[citation needed]}
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
1. Cienciano were deducted 1 points for fielding 4 foreign players in Round 3.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Relegation playoff

December 20, 1998	Deportivo Municipal	4–1 (AET)	Hijos de Yurimaguas	Estadio Nacional, Lima
	Baroni 34' Baroni 100' Baroni 113' Maldonado 119'		Rodríguez 64'

---

Deportivo Municipal remained in Primera División Peruana

Promotion

• IMI FC promoted to Primera División 1999
  • IMI FC (Talara) won the Copa Perú 1998 after defeating Coronel Bolognesi (Tacna) in the two-legged final. Each team won 3-1 at home, but the second leg in Talara was abandoned after 81 minutes, following a brawl started by Bolognesi players. I.M.I. were declared 2-0 winners in the penalty shootout that was not played.

Top scorers

25 goals

• Nelson Esidio (Sporting Cristal)

19 goals

• Martín Reyes (Juan Aurich)

17 goals

• Roberto Farfán (Universitario)
• Sergio Ibarra (Sport Boys)

16 goals

• Andrés Gonzales (Deportivo Pesquero)
• Jorge Soto (Sporting Cristal)

External links

• Peru 1998 season Details on RSSSF