# 1996–97 Honduran Liga Nacional

The 1996–97 Honduran Liga Nacional season was the 31st edition of the Honduran Liga Nacional. The format of the tournament remained the same as the previous season. Club Deportivo Olimpia won the title after defeating C.D. Platense in the finals. Both teams qualified to the 1998 CONCACAF Champions' Cup. This was the last long-season tournament before the introduction of the Apertura and Clausura format.

## 1996–97 teams

* Independiente Villela
* Marathón
* Motagua
* Olimpia
* Platense
* Real España
* Real Maya
* Universidad (promoted)
* Victoria
* Vida

## Regular season
### Standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Olimpia | 27 | 15 | 6 | 6 | 40 | 25 | +15 | 51 | Qualified to the Final |
| 2 | Victoria | 27 | 13 | 8 | 6 | 35 | 24 | +11 | 47 | Qualified to the Final round |
| 3 | Platense | 27 | 13 | 8 | 6 | 28 | 20 | +8 | 47 | Qualified to the Final round |
| 4 | Motagua | 27 | 11 | 9 | 7 | 37 | 25 | +12 | 42 | Qualified to the Final round |
| 5 | Marathón | 27 | 10 | 7 | 10 | 31 | 29 | +2 | 37 | Qualified to the Final round |
| 6 | Real España | 27 | 8 | 10 | 9 | 24 | 24 | 0 | 34 | Qualified to the Final round |
| 7 | Universidad | 27 | 6 | 10 | 11 | 17 | 27 | −10 | 28 | |
| 8 | Vida | 27 | 7 | 7 | 13 | 21 | 33 | −12 | 28 | |
| 9 | Real Maya | 27 | 5 | 11 | 11 | 20 | 27 | −7 | 26 | |
| 10 | Independiente Villela | 27 | 5 | 8 | 14 | 24 | 43 | −19 | 23 | No relegation for this season |

### Results (Rounds 1–18)

| Home \ Away | IND | MAR | MOT | OLI | PLA | RES | MAY | UNI | VIC | VID |
| Independiente Villela | | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 |
| Marathón | 2–1 | | 1–1 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 0–3 | 0–0 | 4–0 | 1–3 | 2–1 |
| Motagua | 4–1 | 2–1 | | 1–3 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 |
| Olimpia | 5–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | | 2–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 3–5 | 2–1 |
| Platense | 2–0 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 |
| Real España | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 |
| Real Maya | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 2–0 | | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 |
| Universidad | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | | 1–1 | 0–0 |
| Victoria | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | | 1–0 |
| Vida | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | |
* Marathón–Olimpia abandoned at '70 (1–2). Result stood.

### Results (Rounds 19–27)

| Home \ Away | IND | MAR | MOT | OLI | PLA | RES | MAY | UNI | VIC | VID |
| Independiente Villela | | 0–3 | | 1–3 | 1–1 | | 4–1 | | | 1–2 |
| Marathón | | | | 2–3 | | | | 1–0 | 0–0 | |
| Motagua | 7–2 | 1–0 | | | | | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–2 | |
| Olimpia | | | 0–0 | | | 2–0 | 2–1 | | | 1–0 |
| Platense | | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–0 | | 1–1 | | | | 2–0 |
| Real España | 2–2 | 0–0 | 0–1 | | | | 1–0 | 1–1 | | |
| Real Maya | | 3–1 | | | 0–1 | | | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 |
| Universidad | 1–1 | | | 2–2 | 1–1 | | | | 1–0 | |
| Victoria | 1–0 | | | 1–0 | 3–0 | 2–1 | | | | 1–2 |
| Vida | | 1–3 | 0–2 | | | 1–0 | | 1–0 | | |

## Final round
### Hexagonal

* Real España won 3–2 on aggregated.
* Victoria 2–2 Marathón on aggregated. Victoria advanced on better Regular season record.
* Platense won 4–3 on aggregated.

### Triangular

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Platense | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 3 | +5 | 9 | Qualified to the Final |
| 2 | Victoria | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 6 | −1 | 7 | |
| 3 | Real España | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 7 | −4 | 1 | |

### Final

* Olimpia won 4–1 on aggregated.

## Top scorer

* Denilson Costa (Motagua) with 13 goals

## Squads

Independiente Villela :
| José Lino Casildo | Walter "Gualala" Trejo | Reynaldo "Chino" Pineda |
| Mauricio Edgardo Figueroa | José Ulloa Villatoro | Oscar "Pando" Gómez |
| Washington Leonardo Rodríguez | Edgardo Emilson Soto Fajardo | Sandro Andreani |
| Alex Roberto Bailey | |
| Marathón |||
| Dangelo Daltino Bautista | Luis Orlando "El Chinito" Reyes | Ciro Paulino "Palic" Castillo |
| Bayron Suazo | Behiker Bustillo | Jorge Ferdín |
| Jose Christiano Pinheiro de Araujo | Marco da Silva | Edwin Alexander Medina |
| Pompilio Cacho Valerio | Octavio Santana | Luis Perdomo |
| Jurandir de Jesús Damacena | |
| Motagua |||
| Elvis Misael Castellanos | Denilson Costa de Oliveira | Juan Carlos Raudales |
| Dangelo Bautista | Javier Padilla | Fabricio "Amapala" Pérez |
| Aron Hernández | Henan Centeno | Edgar Sierra Puerto |
| Oscar "olanchano" Duarte | Oscar "Chicano" Lagos | Ramon Romero "Romerito" |
| Francisco Soares de Souza | |
| Olimpia |||
| Eugenio Dolmo Flores | Carlos Enrique Prono | Jorge Samuel Caballero |
| Rudy Alberto Williams | Norberto Martínez | Nahúm Espinoza Zerón |
| Álvaro Roberto Izquierdo | Marlon "Pitufo" Hernández | Wilmer Peralta |
| Gregorio Serrano | Merlyn Membreño | Nahamán González |
| Wilmer Neal "Matador" Velásquez | Alex Pineda Chacón | Eduardo Arriola |
| Christian Santamaría | |
| Platense |||
| Rodolfo Vargas | Ricardo James | Oscar René Contreras |
| Alexander "Araña" Clark | José Anthony Torres | Rony Morales |
| Julio César "Rambo" León | José Luis Piota | Wilmer Sandoval |
| Dennis Centeno | Antonio "Aguja" Laing | Luis Perdomo |
| Robel Bernárdez | Miguel Fernández | Marco Antonio Mejía |
| Dodsin Díaz | Reynaldo Clavasquín | Alexis Iván Duarte |
| Juan Manuel Cárcamo | Roberto Bernárdez | Jorge Arita Neals |
| Carlos González | Abel Rodríguez | Alex Geovany Ávila |
| Edgar Álvarez | Alex Alaniz | |
| Real España |||
| Wilmer Enrique "Supermán" Cruz | José Mauricio "Guicho" Fúnez Barrientos | Gustavo Adolfo Gallegos |
| Víctor Martín Castro | Miguel Angel "Gallo" Mariano | Camilo Bonilla Paz |
| Washington Leonardo "Piojo" Hernández | Milton "Chocolate" Flores | Marco Vinicio "Chacal" Ortega |
| Marlon Javier Monge | Edward "Güicho" Barahona | Edgar Antonio Figueroa |
| Real Maya |||
| Nelson Rolando Rosales | Edgardo Geovany "Yura" Róchez | Juan Fernando Palacios |
| Luis Lagos | David Cárcamo | Lenin Suarez |
| Alex Güity | Reynaldo Sanson | Gerardo Andino |
| Neptalí Funez | Erick "Misquito" Brown | Gerard Gordon |
| Hector Amaya | Nelson Palomo | Leroy Wood |
| Universidad |||
| Marvin "Mango" Henríquez | Marco Antonio Anariba | Juan Alberto Flores Maradiaga |
| Marco Antonio Lagos | Troy Anderson | Danery Berrios |
| Enrique Espinoza | Omar Vidal | Rony Zelaya |
| Juan Jose Craniotis | Jorge "Avioneta" Martinez | Javier Flores |
| Wilberto Maradiaga | Eduardo Sosa | M Sosa |
| Victoria |||
| Raúl Martínez Sambulá | Percival Piggott | Renán "Chimbo" Aguilera |
| Henan Funez | Jorge Ernesto Pineda | Juan Pablo Centeno |
| Javier Martínez | Miguel Arcángel Güity | Erick Fu |
| Jose Garcia | Geovanny Alarcón | Alejandro Naif |
| Juan Carlos Suárez | Renan Bengoché | |
| Vida |||
| Carlos Roberto Padilla | Carlos Matamoros | Franklin Walter |
| Rossel Cacho | Irineo Núñez | Carlos Alvarado |
| Pastor Martinez | Fernando Dolmo | Nigel Zuniga |
| Mauro "La Pica" Rivas | Raul Dolmo | Carlos "Monchin" Rodríguez |
| Dennis Piedy | Clayd Lester Marson | Walter Argueta |
| René Arturo David "Pupa" Martínez | |

## Controversies

* On 12 October 1996, during a week 7 match between C.D. Marathón and Club Deportivo Olimpia, then Marathón's president José Yacamán ordered his team to quit the game as he claimed that they were being targeted by referee Arturo Tábora with controversial calls. The game was not resumed and the result stood 1–2 to Olimpia.
* In the last round, C.D. Motagua defeated Independiente Villela at Tegucigalpa with a 7–2 score. This game sentenced Independiente to certain relegation. However, the Chorizeros protested that Motagua had included defender Júnior Izaguirre in its lineup. Izaguirre, who was on the bench that day, saw a red card in a reserves game a week prior. In order to avoid further conflicts, the league decided to abolish relegation and invited Independiente to play in the 1997–98 season.