# 1998 Torneo Descentralizado

The 1998 season of the Torneo Descentralizado was the 83rd season of the top category of Peruvian football (soccer). It was played by 12 teams. The national champion was Universitario.
The national championship was divided into two half-year tournaments, the Torneo Apertura and the Torneo Clausura. Each was played on a home-and-away round-robin basis. The winners of each would play for the national title in a playoff. If the same club had won both tournaments, it would have won the national championship automatically.
Following-season Copa Libertadores berths went to the winner of each tournament, while the runners-up played for a Copa CONMEBOL spot. The bottom team on the aggregate table was relegated, while the eleventh place held a relegation/promotion playoff against the winner of the Segunda División (Second Division).

## Teams
### Team changes

| Promoted from 1997 Segunda División | Promoted from 1997 Copa Perú | Relegated from 1997 Primera División |
| Lawn Tennis (1st) | Juan Aurich (1st) | Alcides Vigo (11th) Atlético Torino (12th) José Gálvez (13th) La Loretana (14th) |

### Stadia locations

| Team | City | Stadium | Capacity | Field |
| Alianza Atlético | Sullana | Campeones del 36 | 8,000 | Grass |
| Alianza Lima | Lima | Alejandro Villanueva | 35,000 | Grass |
| Cienciano | Cuzco | Garcilaso | 42,056 | Grass |
| Deportivo Municipal | Lima | Nacional | 45,750 | Grass |
| Deprotivo Pesquero | Chimbote | Manuel Rivera Sanchez | 25,000 | Grass |
| Juan Aurich | Chiclayo | Elías Aguirre | 24,500 | Grass |
| Lawn Tennis | Lima | Nacional | 45,750 | Grass |
| Melgar | Arequipa | Mariano Melgar | 20,000 | Grass |
| Sport Boys | Callao | Miguel Grau | 18,000 | Grass |
| Sporting Cristal | Lima | San Martín de Porres | 17,000 | 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 | Universitario | 22 | 11 | 10 | 1 | 40 | 18 | +22 | 43 | Copa Libertadores 1999 First stage |
| 2 | Sport Boys | 22 | 11 | 6 | 5 | 38 | 23 | +15 | 39 | 1999 Copa CONMEBOL playoff |
| 3 | Sporting Cristal | 22 | 10 | 7 | 5 | 40 | 20 | +20 | 37 | |
| 4 | Unión Minas | 22 | 11 | 4 | 7 | 33 | 29 | +4 | 37 | |
| 5 | Deportivo Pesquero | 22 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 35 | 21 | +14 | 33 | |
| 6 | Alianza Lima | 22 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 35 | 21 | +14 | 33 | |
| 7 | Juan Aurich | 22 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 27 | 25 | +2 | 29 | |
| 8 | Alianza Atlético | 22 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 33 | 26 | +7 | 26 | |
| 9 | Cienciano | 22 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 24 | 27 | −3 | 25 | |
| 10 | Melgar | 22 | 7 | 2 | 13 | 20 | 36 | −16 | 23 | |
| 11 | Deportivo Municipal | 22 | 6 | 4 | 12 | 23 | 48 | −25 | 22 | |
| 12 | Lawn Tennis | 22 | 3 | 2 | 17 | 16 | 49 | −33 | 11 | |

### Results

| Home \ Away | AAS | ALI | CIE | MUN | PES | JA | LTF | MEL | SBA | CRI | MIN | UNI |
| Alianza Atlético | | 4–2 | 3–3 | 3–1 | 2–3 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 4–1 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 3–3 | 0–0 |
| Alianza Lima | 1–0 | | 2–0 | 7–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 6–0 | 0–0 |
| Cienciano | 1–0 | 4–0 | | 0–0 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 |
| Deportivo Municipal | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | | 2–4 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 1–3 | 0–3 | 2–3 | 2–2 |
| Deportivo Pesquero | 3–1 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 2–1 | | 1–3 | 3–0 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 |
| Juan Aurich | 2–1 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 4–0 | 1–1 |
| Lawn Tennis | 1–2 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 0–1 | | 1–2 | 1–2 | 0–4 | 2–0 | 0–5 |
| Melgar | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 4–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 0–1 |
| Sport Boys | 2–2 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 5–0 | 4–0 | 3–1 | 3–3 | 1–0 | | 1–0 | 4–1 | 3–3 |
| Sporting Cristal | 0–0 | 1–1 | 3–2 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 5–0 | 7–1 | 1–0 | | 2–1 | 1–1 |
| Unión Minas | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 4–1 | 1–0 | 4–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | | 1–1 |
| Universitario | 5–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 2–1 | |

## Torneo Clausura

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Sporting Cristal (A, O) | 22 | 13 | 3 | 6 | 41 | 23 | +18 | 42 | Copa Libertadores 1999 First stage |
| 2 | Alianza Lima (A) | 22 | 11 | 9 | 2 | 35 | 17 | +18 | 42 | 1999 Copa CONMEBOL playoff |
| 3 | Sport Boys | 22 | 12 | 6 | 4 | 24 | 12 | +12 | 42 | |
| 4 | Universitario | 22 | 8 | 10 | 4 | 32 | 22 | +10 | 34 | |
| 5 | Cienciano | 22 | 7 | 9 | 6 | 23 | 20 | +3 | 29 | |
| 6 | Deportivo Pesquero | 22 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 20 | 20 | 0 | 29 | |
| 7 | Melgar | 22 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 26 | 33 | −7 | 29 | |
| 8 | Juan Aurich | 22 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 24 | 27 | −3 | 26 | |
| 9 | Alianza Atlético | 22 | 6 | 6 | 10 | 24 | 30 | −6 | 24 | |
| 10 | Unión Minas | 22 | 6 | 6 | 10 | 22 | 30 | −8 | 24 | |
| 11 | Lawn Tennis | 22 | 6 | 4 | 12 | 20 | 38 | −18 | 22 | |
| 12 | Deportivo Municipal | 22 | 3 | 4 | 15 | 24 | 43 | −19 | 13 | |
* ↑ Cienciano were docked 1 points for fielding 4 foreign players in Round 3.

### Results

| Home \ Away | AAS | ALI | CIE | MUN | PES | JA | LTF | MEL | SBA | CRI | MIN | UNI |
| Alianza Atlético | | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 2–3 | 3–0 | 1–1 |
| Alianza Lima | 4–2 | | 4–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 |
| Cienciano | 2–0 | 0–0 | | 4–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 4–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 |
| Deportivo Municipal | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 | | 0–3 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 5–1 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 2–3 | 1–1 |
| Deportivo Pesquero | 2–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | | 2–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 2–2 |
| Juan Aurich | 2–0 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | | 4–1 | 3–2 | 0–4 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 |
| Lawn Tennis | 2–0 | 1–5 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 0–0 | | 2–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 0–2 |
| Melgar | 2–1 | 1–2 | 3–2 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | | 2–0 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 0–3 |
| Sport Boys | 1–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 3–0 | | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 |
| Sporting Cristal | 3–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 7–2 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 2–0 | | 4–2 | 2–0 |
| Unión Minas | 0–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | | 2–2 |
| Universitario | 3–1 | 0–3 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 4–0 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 0–2 | 1–0 | |

### Clausura title play-off
## Aggregate table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Sport Boys | 44 | 23 | 12 | 9 | 62 | 35 | +27 | 81 | 1999 Copa CONMEBOL |
| 2 | Sporting Cristal | 44 | 23 | 10 | 11 | 81 | 43 | +38 | 79 | 1999 Copa Libertadores and 1999 Copa Merconorte |
| 3 | Universitario | 44 | 19 | 20 | 5 | 72 | 40 | +32 | 77 | 1999 Copa Libertadores and 1999 Copa Merconorte |
| 4 | Alianza Lima | 44 | 20 | 15 | 9 | 70 | 38 | +32 | 75 | 1999 Copa Merconorte |
| 5 | Deportivo Pesquero | 44 | 16 | 14 | 14 | 53 | 49 | +4 | 62 | |
| 6 | Unión Minas | 44 | 17 | 10 | 17 | 55 | 60 | −5 | 61 | |
| 7 | Juan Aurich | 44 | 13 | 16 | 15 | 51 | 52 | −1 | 55 | |
| 8 | Cienciano | 44 | 13 | 16 | 15 | 47 | 47 | 0 | 54 | |
| 9 | Melgar | 44 | 15 | 7 | 22 | 46 | 69 | −23 | 52 | |
| 10 | Alianza Atlético | 44 | 12 | 14 | 18 | 57 | 66 | −9 | 50 | |
| 11 | Deportivo Municipal (O) | 44 | 9 | 8 | 27 | 47 | 91 | −44 | 35 | Qualification for promotion play-off |
| 12 | Lawn Tennis | 44 | 9 | 6 | 29 | 36 | 87 | −51 | 33 | Relegation to 1999 Segunda División |
* ↑ Cienciano were docked 1 points for fielding 4 foreign players in Round 3.

### Promotion play-off
## Top scorers
### 25 goals

* Nelson Esidio (Sporting Cristal)

### 19 goals

* Martín Reyes (Juan Aurich)

### 17 goals

* Roberto Farfán (Universitario)
* Sergio Ibarra (Sport Boys)

### 16 goals

* Andrés Gonzales (Deportivo Pesquero)
* Jorge Soto (Sporting Cristal)