1997 Torneo Descentralizado

The 1997 Torneo Descentralizado was the 82nd season of the top category of Peruvian football (soccer). It was played by 14 teams. The national champion was Alianza Lima, their first title in 19 years.

Torneo Descentralizado

Season	1997
Champions	Alianza Lima 18th Primera División title
Relegated	Alcides Vigo Atlético Torino José Gálvez La Loretana
Copa Libertadores	Alianza Lima (first stage) Sporting Cristal (first stage)
Copa CONMEBOL	Melgar
Top goalscorer	Ricardo Zegarra (17)
Biggest home win	Alianza Atlético 8–1 Unión Minas Alianza Atlético 8–1 La Loretana
Biggest away win	Municipal 1–6 Sporting Cristal Torino 0–5 Alianza Lima
Highest scoring	Alianza Atlético 8–1 Unión Minas Alianza Atlético 8–1 La Loretana Alianza Lima 5–4 Sporting Cristal
← 1996 1998 →

Competition modus

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

Following-season Copa Libertadores berths went to the champion, as well as to the winner of a Liguilla (small league) featuring teams between second and seventh place on the aggregate table. This had a round-robin format, with the team obtaining the best results in matchups during the "regular season" playing at home. The runner-up would qualify for the Copa CONMEBOL. The bottom four teams on the aggregate table were relegated.

Teams

Alianza Atlético

Torino

La Loretana

Unión Minas

Pesquero
José Gálvez

Cienciano

Melgar

Alianza Lima
Alcides Vigo
Municipal
Sporting Cristal
Universitario
Sport Boys

Locations of the 1997 Primera División teams

Team	City	Stadium	Capacity	Field
Alcides Vigo	Lima	Nacional	45,750	Grass
Alianza Atlético	Sullana	Campeones del 36	8,000	Grass
Alianza Lima	Lima	Alejandro Villanueva	35,000	Grass
Atlético Torino	Talara	Campeonísimo	8,000	Grass
Cienciano	Cuzco	Garcilaso	42,056	Grass
Deportivo Municipal	Lima	Nacional	45,750	Grass
Deportivo Pesquero	Chimbote	Manuel Rivera Sanchez	25,000	Grass
José Gálvez	Chimbote	Manuel Rivera Sanchez	25,000	Grass
La Loretana	Pucallpa	Aliardo Soria	15,000	Grass
Melgar	Arequipa	Mariano Melgar	20,000	Grass
Sport Boys	Callao	Miguel Grau	18,000	Grass
Sporting Cristal	Lima	San Martín de Porres	18,000	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	Alianza Lima	13	9	3	1	27	9	+18	30	Copa Libertadores 1998 Group Stage
2	Sporting Cristal	13	8	3	2	30	13	+17	27
3	Universitario	13	7	4	2	19	8	+11	25
4	Cienciano	13	6	6	1	18	10	+8	24
5	Deportivo Municipal	13	6	2	5	25	23	+2	20
6	Sport Boys	13	5	3	5	15	18	−3	18
7	Alianza Atlético	13	4	3	6	22	18	+4	15
8	Deportivo Pesquero	13	3	5	5	16	16	0	14
9	Melgar	13	4	2	7	16	24	−8	14
10	Atlético Torino	13	2	7	4	14	19	−5	13
11	Alcides Vigo	13	3	3	7	13	18	−5	12
12	Unión Minas	13	3	3	7	14	28	−14	12
13	José Gálvez	13	3	3	7	12	28	−16	12
14	La Loretana	13	2	5	6	9	18	−9	11

Updated to match(es) played on February 27, 2009. Source: RSSSF Peru 1997
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

Torneo Clausura

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Alianza Lima	13	10	2	1	33	7	+26	32	Copa Libertadores 1998 Group Stage
2	Universitario	13	8	4	1	19	7	+12	28
3	Sporting Cristal	13	6	4	3	25	16	+9	22
4	Alianza Atlético	13	6	3	4	24	13	+11	21
5	Melgar	13	6	3	4	17	16	+1	21
6	Cienciano	13	6	2	5	17	13	+4	20
7	Unión Minas	13	6	2	5	15	15	0	20
8	Deportivo Municipal	13	6	1	6	18	24	−6	19
9	Deportivo Pesquero	13	4	3	6	17	16	+1	15
10	Sport Boys	13	3	6	4	13	15	−2	15
11	Alcides Vigo	13	3	4	6	19	23	−4	13
12	Atlético Torino	13	3	1	9	13	30	−17	10
13	José Gálvez	13	3	0	10	12	27	−15	9
14	La Loretana	13	2	3	8	10	30	−20	9

Updated to match(es) played on February 27, 2009. Source: RSSSF Peru 1997
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

Finals

No finals were held after Alianza Lima won both the Apertura and Clausura tournaments, thus automatically obtaining the national title.

Aggregate table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Alianza Lima (C)	26	19	5	2	60	16	+44	62	Qualification for 1998 Copa Libertadores
2	Universitario	26	15	8	3	49	15	+34	53	Qualification for Liguilla Pre-Libertadores
3	Sporting Cristal	26	14	7	5	55	29	+26	49
4	Cienciano	26	12	8	6	35	23	+12	44
5	Deportivo Municipal	26	12	3	11	43	47	−4	39
6	Alianza Atlético	26	10	6	10	46	31	+15	36
7	Melgar	26	10	5	11	33	40	−7	35
8	Sport Boys	26	8	9	9	28	33	−5	33
9	Unión Minas	26	9	5	12	29	43	−14	32
10	Deportivo Pesquero	26	7	8	11	33	32	+1	29
11	Alcides Vigo	26	6	7	13	32	41	−9	25	Relegation to 1998 Segunda División
12	Atlético Torino	26	5	8	13	27	49	−22	23	Relegation to 1998 Copa Perú
13	José Gálvez	26	6	3	17	24	55	−31	21
14	La Loretana	26	4	8	14	19	48	−29	20

Updated to match(es) played on December 1997. Source:
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champion.

Title

Primera División Peruana 1997 Champion
Alianza Lima 19th title

Liguilla Pre-Libertadores

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Sporting Cristal	5	4	1	0	9	1	+8	13	1998 Copa Libertadores
2	Universitario	5	2	2	1	12	4	+8	8
3	Melgar	5	2	2	1	4	4	0	8	1998 Copa CONMEBOL
4	Cienciano	5	2	0	3	8	10	−2	6
5	Alianza Atlético	5	1	2	2	8	11	−3	5
6	Deportivo Municipal	5	0	1	4	5	16	−11	1

Updated to match(es) played on December 1997. Source:
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

Top scorers

Source: RSSSF

17 goals

• Ricardo Zegarra (Alianza Atlético)

External links

• Peru 1997 season Details on RSSSF