2008 Torneo Descentralizado

The 2008 Torneo Descentralizado (known as the Copa Cable Mágico for sponsorship reasons) was the ninety-second season of Peruvian football. A total of 14 teams competed in the tournament, with Universidad San Martín defending their national title. The season began on February 17, 2008 and ended on December 14, 2008.

Torneo Descentralizado

Season	2008
Champions	Universidad San Martín 2nd Primera División title
Relegated	Sport Boys Atlético Minero
Copa Libertadores	Universitario de Deportes (Second stage) Universidad San Martín (Second stage) Sporting Cristal (First stage)
Copa Sudamericana	Cienciano (First stage) Alianza Atlético (First stage)
Goals scored	893
Average goals/game	2.45
Top goalscorer	Miguel Ximénez (32)
Biggest home win	Universidad San Martín 5-0 Alianza Lima (2008-05-21) Atlético Minero 5-0 Sport Boys (2008-08-06) José Gálvez 5-0 Sport Boys (2008-09-14)
Biggest away win	Coronel Bolognesi 0-4 Alianza Atlético (2008-08-06)
Highest scoring	Coronel Bolognesi 4–4 Sport Áncash (2008-12-14)
Longest winning run	9 - Universitario de Deportes (April 30-July 2)
Longest unbeaten run	15 - Universitario de Deportes (April 9-July 13)
← 2007 2009 →

Competition modus

The season was divided into two tournaments; Torneo Apertura from February to July and the Torneo Clausura from July to December. Both tournaments had the fourteen teams play a round-robin home-and-away round for a total of 26 matches in each tournament. The winner of the Torneo Apertura qualified to the 2009 Copa Libertadores group stage and was eligible to play in the season final if they finished above 8th place in the Torneo Clausura. The winner of the Torneo Clausura also qualified to the group stage and was eligible to play in the season final if they finished above 8th place in the Torneo Apertura. A team that would've won both tournament was automatically season champion. If one of the tournament winners failed to place above 8th place, the other tournament winner would've been season champion. If both teams failed to finish above 8th place, the team that placed higher on the aggregate table–the summation of the points earned in both tournaments–would've been season champion. The two teams that placed last on the aggregate table were relegated and the best placed team–excluding the two tournament winners–qualified to the first stage of the 2009 Copa Libertadores. The second and third best placed teams on the aggregate table qualified to the 2009 Copa Sudamericana.

Changes from 2007

Structural changes

• The number of teams was increased from 12 to 14.
• Due to the increase in teams, the tournament winners could finish in the top seven instead of the top six to play in the season finals.
• 1,170 minutes of game time was to be accumulated by players born on or after 1989 in the Torneo Apertura and Torneo Clausura. The amount for the Torneo Clausura was later reduced to 600.
• The minimum stadium capacity was increased from 4,000 to 5,000.

Promotion and relegation

Deportivo Municipal and Total Clean finished the 2007 season in 11th and 12th place, respectively, in the aggregate table and thus were relegated to the Segunda División. They were replaced by the champions of the Segunda División 2007 and Copa Perú 2007, Universidad César Vallejo and Juan Aurich. The F.P.F. also invited José Gálvez and Minero into the first division.

Season overview

Universitario won the Apertura title after 6 years of failing to win a half-year tournament. They won the title with 50 points, a ten-point lead, and had four games left to be played. Sporting Cristal was the other team close to winning the title, however they had three games left to play and would have been unable to reach Universitario. Universitario had a 15-game undefeated streak and a 9-game winning streak. In the Clausura Universitario did surprisingly worse and finished 11th. They lost four games at home and failed to finish in the top 7 to contest the national title. U. San Martin finished third in the Apertura and won the Clausura with three games to spare. They achieved their second national title after only four years of existence. This is the first time since 1958 where the big three were not able to win the title for two consecutive years.

Alianza Lima experienced a terrible season because they were close to being relegated this season. Every team, with the exception of José Gálvez, gained points playing at their home ground and they had also lost several home games. Fortunately, Alianza Lima remained in the First Division. Sport Boys saved itself from relegation two years ago, however this year they could not. They were the worst team of the year and won very few games. Problems arose in the club as the players were not paid for many months. This led to a sorrowful year for the fans of Sport Boys.

Teams

 

 

Alianza Atlético

 

Minero

 

Cienciano

 

Sport Áncash

 

Melgar

 

José Gálvez

 

Juan Aurich

 

Coronel Bolognesi

 

U. César Vallejo

 

Alianza Lima
Sporting Cristal
Universitario
U. San Martín
Sport Boys

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Locations of the 2008 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
Atlético Minero	Matucana	Municipal de Matucana^[1]	5,000	Grass
Cienciano	Cusco	Garcilaso	42,056	Grass
Coronel Bolognesi	Tacna	Jorge Basadre	19,850	Grass
José Gálvez	Chimbote	Manuel Rivera Sanchez	25,000	Artificial
Juan Aurich	Chiclayo	Elías Aguirre	24,500	Artificial
Melgar	Arequipa	Mariano Melgar	20,000	Grass
Sport Áncash	Huaraz	Rosas Pampa	8,000	Grass
Sport Boys	Callao	Miguel Grau	15,000	Grass
Sporting Cristal	Lima	San Martín de Porres	18,000	Grass
Universidad César Vallejo	Trujillo	Mansiche	25,000	Artificial
Universidad San Martín	Lima	San Martín de Porres	18,000	Grass
Universitario	Lima	Monumental	80,093	Grass

Torneo Apertura

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Universitario	26	16	7	3	40	21	+19	55	2009 Copa Libertadores second stage
2	Sporting Cristal	26	15	4	7	46	32	+14	49
3	Universidad San Martín	26	11	10	5	40	20	+20	43
4	Cienciano	26	12	5	9	37	28	+9	41
5	Coronel Bolognesi	26	10	8	8	33	28	+5	38
6	Alianza Atlético	26	10	4	12	28	28	0	34
7	Universidad César Vallejo	26	9	7	10	26	32	−6	34
8	Juan Aurich	26	9	6	11	27	30	−3	33
9	José Gálvez	26	7	9	10	26	32	−6	30
10	Melgar	26	7	9	10	18	25	−7	30
11	Alianza Lima	26	7	8	11	27	32	−5	29
12	Sport Áncash	26	9	2	15	25	36	−11	29
13	Sport Boys	26	7	8	11	23	42	−19	27^[a]
14	Atlético Minero	26	6	7	13	26	36	−10	25

Source: Peruvian Football Apertura 2008
Notes:

1. Sport Boys were docked 2 points for an outstanding debt with a former manager.

Results

Home \ Away	AAS	ALI	ATM	CIE	BOL	MEL	JG	JA	ÁNC	SBA	CRI	UCV	USM	UNI
Alianza Atlético		0–1	3–1	1–0	1–4	3–0	3–0	1–1	3–0	0–0	1–2	1–3	1–1	1–0
Alianza Lima	0–1		4–1	0–0	0–1	0–0	3–0	0–1	1–0	1–1	1–3	2–1	0–1	1–1
Atlético Minero	0–0	0–0		2–2	3–1	0–0	2–1	1–0	3–0	3–0	3–1	0–0	1–1	0–2
Cienciano	1–0	3–2	1–0		1–3	1–0	3–0	3–2	3–0	1–0	4–0	4–1	0–0	4–1
Coronel Bolognesi	1–2	1–0	2–1^[a]	0–1		1–1^[a]	1–1	3–1^[a]	2–1^[a]	3–0	0–2	1–1	1–2	1–1
Melgar	1–0	1–1	1–1	1–0	1–1		1–0	2–1	0–2	1–1	1–0	1–1	2–1	0–1
José Gálvez	1–0	1–1	1–0	1–1	0–0	2–1		4–0	1–0	3–2	1–2	2–2	0–2	0–1
Juan Aurich	0–2	1–2	1–0	1–0	2–0	1–0	0–0		3–0	3–0	1–0	0–0	1–0	1–1
Sport Áncash	2–1	1–0	1–0	3–3	1–2	0–2	0–0	3–2		4–0	1–2	1–0	1–0	0–1
Sport Boys	0–1	2–1	2–1	1–0	1–3	0–0	0–0	1–0	2–1		1–1	3–1	2–2	2–1
Sporting Cristal	3–1	2–2^[b]	4–1	1–0	1–1	2–1	3–2	1–1	2–1	5–1		3–0	3–4	1–2^[b]
Universidad César Vallejo	2–0	2–3	2–1	1–0	2–0	1–0	0–2	2–1	0–1	1–0	0–1		3–1	0–0
Universidad San Martín	2–0	5–0^[c]	4–0	3–0	0–0	2–0	1–1	1–1	1–0	0–0	0–1^[b]	4–0		1–1^[b]
Universitario	2–1	2–1^[b]	2–1	3–1	1–0	2–0	3–2	3–1	2–0	5–1	1–0	0–0	1–1

Updated to match(es) played on June 25, 2008. Source: Peruvian Football Apertura 2008 Fixture
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:

1. Played in Estadio Héroes del Alto de la Alianza.
2. Played in Estadio Nacional.
3. Played in Estadio Miguel Grau.

Top goalscorers

20 goals

•   Miguel Ximénez (Sporting Cristal)

13 goals

•   Juan Gonzáles-Vigil (Bolognesi)

12 goals

•   Jamie Ruiz (Alianza Atlético)
•   Héctor Hurtado (Universitario)

11 goals

•   Wilmer Aguirre (Alianza Lima)
•   Gustavo Vassallo (Cienciano)
•   Germán Carty (Sport Áncash)

9 goals

•   Donny Neyra (Universitario)
•   Carlos Lobaton (Sporting Cristal)
•   Pedro García (U. San Martín)
•   Carlos Alberto Pérez (Sport Boys)

Torneo Clausura

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Universidad San Martín	26	15	6	5	41	20	+21	51	2009 Copa Libertadores Second Stage
2	Sporting Cristal	26	14	3	9	36	25	+11	45
3	Sport Áncash	26	12	7	7	39	29	+10	43
4	Melgar	26	11	7	8	35	34	+1	40
5	Cienciano	26	11	6	9	34	30	+4	39
6	Alianza Atlético	26	10	8	8	35	25	+10	38
7	Universidad César Vallejo	26	11	5	10	35	32	+3	38
8	Atlético Minero	26	9	10	7	32	26	+6	37
9	José Gálvez	26	10	7	9	42	38	+4	37
10	Alianza Lima	26	11	1	14	38	36	+2	34
11	Universitario	26	8	10	8	31	32	−1	34
12	Juan Aurich	26	8	5	13	24	34	−10	29
13	Coronel Bolognesi	26	7	5	14	34	51	−17	26
14	Sport Boys	26	1	8	17	18	54	−36	11

Updated to match(es) played on December 14, 2008. Source: [1]
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.

Results

Home \ Away	AAS	ALI	ATM	CIE	BOL	MEL	JG	JA	ÁNC	SBA	CRI	UCV	USM	UNI
Alianza Atlético		1–0	2–0	3–0	2–0	1–1	3–2	1–1	1–3	4–0	1–2	0–1	1–2	1–1
Alianza Lima	1–2		1–2	2–0	1–2	2–1	2–1	1–0	0–2	2–0	1–0	1–2	1–3	1–2
Atlético Minero	1–2	1–0		1–1	2–0	2–0	2–1	2–0	0–0	5–0	0–1	1–0	0–3	1–1
Cienciano	2–1	4–1	1–1		2–2	3–1	2–1	3–1	0–1	4–1	2–1	2–1	2–1	2–1
Coronel Bolognesi	0–4^[a]	3–4	3–2	2–0		1–1	3–1^[a]	1–2	4–4^[a]	0–0	0–1	1–2^[a]	0–2	0–1
Melgar	0–0	1–0	2–2	1–0	3–2		2–1	2–0	2–1	3–1	1–1	2–0	1–2	1–2
José Gálvez	0–0	4–3	0–0	1–0	3–1	4–2		1–1	1–1	5–0	3–2	2–2	2–2	2–0
Juan Aurich	2–0	1–3	1–0	1–0	3–0	0–1	0–1		4–1	2–0	2–1	1–3	0–2	1–1
Sport Áncash	0–0	3–1	2–2^[b]	1–0^[b]	1–1	2–1	2–0	2–0^[c]		2–1	0–1^[c]	1–0	0–1	3–0
Sport Boys	0–0	1–1	2–2	0–0	1–2	0–1	1–2	1–1	0–3		1–2	5–2	2–5	0–0
Sporting Cristal	1–1	1–2^[d]	1–0	2–1	1–2	4–1	3–0	2–0	2–1	2–0		1–1	1–0	0–1^[d]
Universidad César Vallejo	2–1	0–2	1–2	0–1	4–1	1–1	2–3	0–0	2–1	3–0	1–0		1–1	2–0
Universidad San Martín	3–1	1–0^[d]	0–0^[e]	1–1	3–1	0–1^[e]	1–0^[d]	1–0	3–0	0–0^[e]	2–1^[d]	0–1		1–1^[f]
Universitario	0–2	1–2	1–1	1–1	1–2	2–2	1–1	4–0	2–2	2–0	1–2	2–1	2–1

Updated to match(es) played on December 14, 2008. Source: Fixture
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:

1. Played in Estadio Héroes del Alto de la Alianza.
2. Played in Estadio Gerardo Lara Guerrero.
3. Played in Estadio Manuel Rivera Sanchez.
4. Played in Estadio Nacional.
5. Played in Estadio Monumental "U".
6. Played in Estadio Miguel Grau.

Top goalscorers

15 goals

•   Ronaille Calheira (Sport Áncash)

14 goals

•   Claudio Velásquez (José Gálvez)

12 goals

•  Miguel Ximénez (Sporting Cristal)

11 goals

•   José Luis Díaz (Universidad San Martín)
•   Sergio Ibarra (Melgar)

10 goals

•   Antonio Meza Cuadra (José Gálvez)

9 goals

•   Roberto Jiménez (Universitario)

8 goals

•   Juan Barros (Coronel Bolognesi)
•   Mauricio Montes (Cienciano)

7 goals

•   Donny Neyra (Universitario)
•   Piero Alva (Cienciano)
•   Wilmer Aguirre (Alianza Lima)
•   Roberto Ovelar (U. San Martín)

Aggregate table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Universidad San Martín	52	26	16	10	81	42	+39	94	2009 Copa Libertadores Second Stage^[a]
2	Sporting Cristal	52	29	7	16	82	57	+25	94	2009 Copa Libertadores First stage
3	Universitario	52	24	17	11	71	53	+18	89	2009 Copa Libertadores Second Stage^[a]
4	Cienciano	52	23	11	18	71	57	+14	80	2009 Copa Sudamericana First Stage
5	Alianza Atlético	52	20	12	20	63	53	+10	72
6	Sport Áncash	52	21	9	22	64	65	−1	72
7	Universidad César Vallejo	52	20	12	20	61	64	−3	72
8	Melgar	52	18	16	18	53	59	−6	70
9	José Gálvez	52	17	16	19	68	70	−2	67
10	Coronel Bolognesi	52	17	13	22	67	79	−12	64
11	Alianza Lima	52	18	9	25	62	71	−9	63
12	Juan Aurich	52	17	11	24	51	64	−13	62
13	Atlético Minero	52	15	17	20	58	62	−4	62	Relegation to 2009 Segunda División
14	Sport Boys	52	8	16	28	40	97	−57	38^[b]

Updated to match(es) played on December 14, 2008. Source: Peruvian Football
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
Notes:

1. Universitario and U. San Martín qualified to the 2009 Copa Libertadores as Apertura and Clausura champions respectively.
2. Sport Boys were docked 2 points for an outstanding debt with a former manager.

12th/13th place playoff

December 17, 2008

Atlético Minero	1–2	Juan Aurich
Portillo   26'	Report	Chará   19' Zegarra   35'

Estadio Alejandro Villanueva, Lima

Referee: Héctor Pacheco

Atlético Minero relegated to Segunda División.

References

1. Used Estadio Huancayo during the Apertura.

External links

• Peru 2008 season at RSSSF
• Peruvian Football League News (in Spanish)