1998 Categoría Primera A season

The 1998 Categoría Primera A season, known as Copa Mustang 1998 for sponsoring purposes, was the 51st season of the Categoría Primera A, Colombia's top-flight football league. The season started on 1 February and ended on 20 December 1998. Deportivo Cali were the champions, clinching their seventh domestic league title after beating Once Caldas in the finals.[1]

Copa Mustang
Season1998
Dates1 February – 20 December 1998
ChampionsDeportivo Cali (7th title)
RelegatedDeportivo Unicosta
Copa LibertadoresDeportivo Cali
Once Caldas
Copa CONMEBOLAtlético Huila
Matches played426
Goals scored1,134 (2.66 per match)
Top goalscorerVíctor Bonilla (36 goals)
1999

América de Cali were the defending champions, but placed third in their semifinal group and thus failed to qualify for the final stage of the competition.

Format

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The competition returned to its usual calendar year system, following the year-and-a-half tournament played in 1996–97, and was split into four stages: the Apertura and Finalización tournaments, the semifinals, and the finals. In the Apertura tournament, the 16 teams played each other under a double round-robin format as well as six additional rounds divided into regional groups for a total of 36 games, whilst the Finalización tournament had 14 rounds with the teams being divided into two groups of eight. An aggregate table considering the results of both tournaments was used to decide the eight teams that would advance to the semifinals, with the top four of said table receiving bonus points to be applied in the next stage of the competition. In the semifinals, the eight qualified teams were split into two groups of four and played each one of their group rivals twice, with the winners of each group playing a final series over two legs to decide the champions of the season. In the event that both teams tied on points at the end of the second leg of the finals, a tiebreaker match on neutral ground would be played.[2] The winners of the Apertura tournament and the season champions qualified for the 1999 Copa Libertadores, but since Once Caldas won both tournaments of the season and also advanced to the final, then the other finalist (Deportivo Cali) also qualified for the Copa Libertadores.

This was the last tournament in which teams were awarded bonus points, as well as the last one in which draws triggered a penalty shoot-out, in which the winning side ended up earning an additional point.

Teams

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16 teams competed in the season, the top 15 teams of the relegation table of the 1996–97 season and Atlético Huila, who were promoted as champions of the 1997 Categoría Primera B tournament, replacing Deportivo Pereira who were relegated at the end of the previous season.

Team Home city Stadium Capacity
América de Cali Cali Pascual Guerrero 45,625
Atlético Bucaramanga Bucaramanga Alfonso López 28,000
Atlético Huila Neiva Guillermo Plazas Alcid 22,000
Atlético Nacional Medellín Atanasio Girardot 52,000
Cortuluá Tuluá Doce de Octubre 16,000
Deportes Quindío Armenia Centenario 29,000
Deportes Tolima Ibagué Manuel Murillo Toro 28,100
Deportivo Cali Cali Pascual Guerrero 45,625
Deportivo Unicosta Barranquilla Romelio Martínez 20,000
Envigado Envigado Polideportivo Sur 11,000
Independiente Medellín Medellín Atanasio Girardot 52,000
Junior Barranquilla Metropolitano Roberto Meléndez 60,000
Millonarios Bogotá Nemesio Camacho El Campín 48,300
Once Caldas Manizales Palogrande 36,553
Santa Fe Bogotá Nemesio Camacho El Campín 48,300
Unión Magdalena Santa Marta Eduardo Santos 23,000

Torneo Apertura

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The Torneo Apertura (also known as Copa Mustang I) began on 1 February and ended in late September.

Standings

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Pos Team Pld W PW PL L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Once Caldas 36 21 4 6 5 66 34 +32 77 Qualification for the Copa Libertadores
2 Atlético Nacional 36 17 7 4 8 63 35 +28 69
3 Santa Fe 36 17 6 5 8 48 32 +16 68
4 Independiente Medellín 36 16 4 8 8 51 29 +22 64
5 Deportivo Cali 36 15 6 4 11 60 49 +11 61
6 América de Cali 36 11 10 5 10 54 39 +15 58
7 Junior 36 11 8 6 11 51 55 −4 55
8 Atlético Huila 36 13 4 7 12 54 47 +7 54
9 Millonarios 36 11 6 8 11 42 43 −1 53
10 Deportes Tolima 36 9 11 2 14 42 51 −9 51
11 Deportes Quindío 36 11 4 8 13 43 47 −4 49
12 Cortuluá 36 10 5 7 14 42 59 −17 47
13 Envigado 36 11 4 5 16 40 50 −10 46
14 Atlético Bucaramanga 36 10 4 8 14 37 54 −17 46
15 Unión Magdalena 36 7 6 3 20 40 72 −32 36
16 Deportivo Unicosta 36 8 1 4 23 42 79 −37 30
Source: RSSSF
Rules for classification: 1) Points, 2) Wins, 3) Goal difference, 4) Goals for, 5) Away goals for, 6) Goals against, 7) Away goals against, 8) Drawing of lots.

Torneo Finalización

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The Torneo Finalización (also known as Copa Mustang II) began in early October and ended on 19 November. Teams were divided into two groups according to their placement in the Apertura tournament: odd-placed teams made up Group A while even-placed ones made up Group B.

Group A

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Pos Team Pld W PW PL L GF GA GD Pts
1 Once Caldas 14 8 4 1 1 27 11 +16 33
2 Deportes Quindío 14 6 4 1 3 25 18 +7 27
3 Deportivo Cali 14 6 2 3 3 17 12 +5 25
4 Envigado 14 5 3 2 4 14 14 0 23
5 Millonarios 14 5 2 3 4 15 16 −1 22
6 Unión Magdalena 14 4 0 3 7 18 24 −6 15
7 Santa Fe 14 2 1 4 7 8 19 −11 12
8 Junior 14 1 3 2 8 20 30 −10 11
Source: RSSSF
Rules for classification: 1) Points, 2) Wins, 3) Goal difference, 4) Goals for, 5) Away goals for, 6) Goals against, 7) Away goals against, 8) Drawing of lots.

Group B

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Pos Team Pld W PW PL L GF GA GD Pts
1 Atlético Nacional 14 8 4 1 1 30 16 +14 33
2 Independiente Medellín 14 7 3 2 2 28 16 +12 29
3 Cortuluá 14 4 3 4 3 22 20 +2 22
4 Atlético Bucaramanga 14 4 3 3 4 22 21 +1 21
5 Deportes Tolima 14 3 4 3 4 15 19 −4 20
6 América de Cali 14 5 0 4 5 17 20 −3 19
7 Atlético Huila 14 4 2 1 7 20 21 −1 17
8 Deportivo Unicosta 14 2 0 1 11 15 36 −21 7
Source: RSSSF
Rules for classification: 1) Points, 2) Wins, 3) Goal difference, 4) Goals for, 5) Away goals for, 6) Goals against, 7) Away goals against, 8) Drawing of lots.

Aggregate table

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An aggregate table known as Reclasificación including the games of both tournaments (Apertura and Finalización) was used to determine the teams that would advance to the semifinal stage, as well as the team to be relegated at the end of the season. The top eight teams in this table at the end of the Torneo Finalización advanced to the semifinals, while the team placed last was relegated to Categoría Primera B for the following season.

Pos Team Pld W PW PL L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Once Caldas 50 29 8 7 6 94 46 +48 110 Advance to the semifinals
2 Atlético Nacional 50 25 11 5 9 93 52 +41 102
3 Independiente Medellín 50 23 7 10 10 80 45 +35 93
4 Deportivo Cali 50 21 8 7 14 77 61 +16 86
5 Santa Fe 50 19 7 9 15 56 49 +7 80
6 América de Cali 50 16 10 9 15 70 59 +11 77
7 Deportes Quindío 50 17 8 9 16 68 65 +3 76
8 Millonarios 50 16 8 11 15 57 59 −2 75
9 Atlético Huila 50 17 6 8 19 74 68 +6 71 Qualified for the Copa CONMEBOL
10 Deportes Tolima 50 12 15 5 18 57 70 −13 71
11 Envigado 50 16 7 7 20 55 64 −9 69
12 Cortuluá 50 14 8 11 17 64 79 −15 69
13 Atlético Bucaramanga 50 14 7 11 18 59 75 −16 67
14 Junior 50 12 11 8 19 72 88 −16 66
15 Unión Magdalena 50 11 6 6 27 58 96 −38 51
16 Deportivo Unicosta (R) 50 10 1 5 34 57 115 −58 37 Relegation to Categoría Primera B
Source: RSSSF
Rules for classification: 1) Points, 2) Wins, 3) Goal difference, 4) Goals for, 5) Away goals for, 6) Goals against, 7) Away goals against, 8) Drawing of lots.
(R) Relegated

Semifinals

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In the third stage of the tournament, the eight qualified teams were split into two groups according to their final position in the season's aggregate table, and played each one of the other teams in their group under a double round-robin system with the teams with the most points in each group at the end of this stage advancing to the final.

Group A

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Pos Team Pld W PW PL L GF GA GD Pts Qualification ONC DIM QUI SFE
1 Once Caldas 6 3 2 0 1 7 5 +2 14.5[a] Advance to the Finals 1–0 1–1 (5–4 p) 2–1
2 Independiente Medellín 6 4 0 0 2 7 7 0 13[b] 1–0 1–0 1–0
3 Deportes Quindío 6 2 0 2 2 7 7 0 8 1–1 (4–5 p) 4–1 3–2
4 Santa Fe 6 1 0 0 5 9 11 −2 3 1–2 2–3 1–0
Source: RSSSF
Rules for classification: 1) Points, 2) Wins, 3) Goal difference, 4) Goals for, 5) Away goals for, 6) Goals against, 7) Away goals against, 8) Bonus points.
Notes:
  1. ^ Aggregate table bonus: 1.5 points
  2. ^ Aggregate table bonus: 1 point

Group B

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Pos Team Pld W PW PL L GF GA GD Pts Qualification CAL NAC AME MIL
1 Deportivo Cali 6 3 1 2 0 13 6 +7 13.75[a] Finals and Copa Libertadores 1–1 (1–4 p) 3–1 3–0
2 Atlético Nacional 6 1 2 1 2 8 9 −1 9.25[b] 2–2 (4–3 p) 1–3 3–1
3 América de Cali 6 2 0 2 2 9 10 −1 8 2–2 (1–3 p) 1–0 1–3
4 Millonarios 6 1 2 0 3 6 11 −5 7 0–2 1–1 (4–3 p) 1–1 (4–3 p)
Source: RSSSF
Rules for classification: 1) Points, 2) Wins, 3) Goal difference, 4) Goals for, 5) Away goals for, 6) Goals against, 7) Away goals against, 8) Bonus points.
Notes:
  1. ^ Aggregate table bonus: 0.75 points
  2. ^ Aggregate table bonus: 1.25 points

Finals

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Deportivo Cali4–0Once Caldas
Attendance: 35,000
Referee: Henry Cervantes
Once Caldas0–0Deportivo Cali

Deportivo Cali won 4–1 on points.


 1998 Categoría Primera A champions 
Deportivo Cali
7th title

Top goalscorers

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Rank Name Club Goals
1   Víctor Bonilla Deportivo Cali 36
2   Sergio Galván Rey Once Caldas 29
3   Héctor Mario Núñez Independiente Medellín 26
  Adolfo Valencia Independiente Medellín
5   Alex Comas Atlético Nacional 25
6   Carlos Rodas Deportes Quindío 21
7   Edwin Congo Once Caldas 20
8   José Herrera Unión Magdalena 19
  Daniel Tilger Junior

Source: Historia del Fútbol Profesional Colombiano 70 Años[3]

References

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  1. ^ "Cali clasificó con lo justo y fue campeón: así pasó en 1998" [Cali qualified by doing just enough and were champions: that's how it happened in 1998] (in Spanish). As Colombia. 28 November 2015. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  2. ^ "CAMPEÓN, CAL..., CAMPEÓN" [CHAMPION, CAL..., CHAMPION] (in Spanish). El Tiempo. 16 December 1998. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  3. ^ Ruiz Bonilla, Guillermo (2018). Historia del Fútbol Profesional Colombiano 70 Años (First ed.). Bogotá, Colombia: Mundo Fútbol SAS. p. 343. ISBN 9-789584-852731.
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