1998 Categoría Primera A season

Copa Mustang
Season	1998
Dates	1 February – 20 December 1998
Champions	Deportivo Cali (7th title)
Relegated	Deportivo Unicosta
Copa Libertadores	Deportivo Cali; Once Caldas
Copa CONMEBOL	Atlético Huila
Matches played	426
Goals scored	1,134 (2.66 per match)
Top goalscorer	Víctor Bonilla (36 goals)
	← 1996–97 1999 →

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]

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

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

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.

Atlético Bucaramanga

Atlético Huila

Atlético Nacional

Barranquilla

Bogotá

Cali

Independiente Medellín

Once Caldas

Unión Magdalena

Barranquilla teams:
Deportivo Unicosta
Junior
Bogotá teams:
Millonarios
Santa Fe
Cali teams:
América de Cali
Deportivo Cali

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Locations of the 1998 Categoría Primera A teams

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

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

Standings

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

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

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

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

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

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

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:

^ Aggregate table bonus: 1.5 points
^ Aggregate table bonus: 1 point

Group B

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:

^ Aggregate table bonus: 0.75 points
^ Aggregate table bonus: 1.25 points

Finals

16 December 1998

Deportivo Cali	4–0	Once Caldas
Bonilla Castillo

Estadio Pascual Guerrero, Cali

Attendance: 35,000

Referee: Henry Cervantes

20 December 1998

Once Caldas	0–0	Deportivo Cali

Estadio Palogrande, Manizales

Referee: Óscar Ruiz

Deportivo Cali won 4–1 on points.

1998 Categoría Primera A champions
Deportivo Cali 7th title

Top goalscorers

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

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

References

^ "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.
^ "CAMPEÓN, CAL..., CAMPEÓN" [CHAMPION, CAL..., CHAMPION] (in Spanish). El Tiempo. 16 December 1998. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
^ Ruiz Bonilla, Guillermo (2018). Historia del Fútbol Profesional Colombiano 70 Años (First ed.). Bogotá, Colombia: Mundo Fútbol SAS. p. 343. ISBN 9-789584-852731.

External links

[table_hth_ONC0.31129259164971-3] Aggregate table bonus: 1.5 points

[table_hth_DIM0.31129259164971-4] Aggregate table bonus: 1 point

[table_hth_CAL0.93272798412141-5] Aggregate table bonus: 0.75 points

[table_hth_NAC0.93272798412141-6] Aggregate table bonus: 1.25 points

[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.

[7] 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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v t e Categoría Primera A (Liga BetPlay Dimayor)
2024 teams	Águilas Doradas Alianza América de Cali Atlético Bucaramanga Atlético Nacional Boyacá Chicó Deportes Tolima Deportivo Cali Deportivo Pasto Deportivo Pereira Envigado Fortaleza Independiente Medellín Jaguares Junior La Equidad Millonarios Once Caldas Patriotas Santa Fe
Former teams	Alianza Petrolera Atlético Huila Boca Juniors Centauros Villavicencio Cortuluá Cúcuta Deportivo Deportes Quindío Deportivo Barranquilla Deportivo Unicosta Huracán Leones Libertad Once Deportivo Oro Negro Real Cartagena Sporting Tigres Uniautónoma Unión Magdalena Universidad
Competition	El Dorado Foreign players Seasons & winners Teams Venues
Statistics and records	Records All-time table Topscorers
Seasons	1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1995–96 1996–97 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Associated competitions	Categoría Primera B Copa Colombia Superliga Colombiana Copa Libertadores de América Copa Sudamericana
Early competitions	Campeonato Nacional Copa Centenario Batalla de Boyacá