1997 Primera División of Chile

The 1997 tournament of the Primera División de Chile was based in the typical Apertura-Clausura scheme used in many football leagues in Latin-America, similar to the Argentinian First Division. For the first time, this format, with two champions, was used. This tournament format was dropped for the next season (1998), but came back, from 2002 to 2017.

Primera División

Season	1997
Champions	Universidad Católica (Apertura), Colo-Colo (Clausura)
Relegated	Unión Española Deportes Antofagasta
Copa Libertadores	Quarterfinals: Universidad Católica Semifinals: Colo-Colo
Supercopa Sudamericana	Semifinals: Colo-Colo
Copa CONMEBOL	First Round: Universidad de Chile
Top goalscorer	Apertura: David Bisconti (15) Clausura: Richard Báez (10)
← 1996 1998 →

Both champions qualified for the Copa Libertadores, while the two teams with fewest points overall relegated. The season started on 16 February 1997 and ended on 21 December 1997.

Overall table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Colo-Colo	30	22	6	2	60	31	+29	72	Qualified for the 1998 Copa Libertadores
2	Universidad Católica	30	20	7	3	61	28	+33	67
3	Universidad de Chile	30	15	11	4	67	31	+36	56
4	Cobreloa	30	13	8	9	54	39	+15	47
5	Audax Italiano	30	12	8	10	51	40	+11	44
6	Coquimbo Unido	30	11	8	11	43	39	+4	41
7	Provincial Osorno	30	8	14	8	35	33	+2	38
8	Deportes La Serena	30	10	7	13	44	45	−1	37
9	Deportes Temuco	30	11	4	15	44	49	−5	37
10	Huachipato	30	9	9	12	33	39	−6	36
11	Palestino	30	9	6	15	25	45	−20	33
12	Deportes Concepción	30	8	9	13	36	58	−22	33
13	Deportes Puerto Montt	30	8	8	14	39	49	−10	32
14	Santiago Wanderers	30	6	13	11	37	50	−13	31
15	Unión Española	30	8	4	18	37	62	−25	28	Relegated to Segunda División Chilena
16	Deportes Antofagasta	30	7	4	19	29	58	−29	25

Source:

Torneo de Apertura

Main article: 1997 Torneo Apertura (Chile)

Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Universidad Católica	15	11	4	0	36	13	+23	37	Qualified for the Championship play-off
2	Colo-Colo	15	11	4	0	27	12	+15	37
3	Universidad de Chile	15	8	6	1	31	14	+17	30
4	Deportes Temuco	15	7	1	7	26	18	+8	22
5	Cobreloa	15	6	4	5	26	22	+4	22
6	Deportes Concepción	15	6	4	5	21	26	−5	22
7	Huachipato	15	5	5	5	20	17	+3	20
8	Coquimbo Unido	15	6	2	7	28	26	+2	20
9	Santiago Wanderers	15	4	8	3	24	24	0	20
10	Deportes La Serena	15	5	3	7	23	25	−2	18
11	Provincial Osorno	15	3	8	4	16	18	−2	17
12	Palestino	15	4	4	7	12	24	−12	16
13	Audax Italiano	15	3	6	6	21	24	−3	15
14	Unión Española	15	4	1	10	15	35	−20	13
15	Deportes Puerto Montt	15	2	4	9	18	29	−11	10
16	Deportes Antofagasta	15	2	2	11	14	31	−17	8

Source:

Championship play-off

July 8, 1997

Colo-Colo	1 – 0	Universidad Católica
Basay 87'

Estadio Monumental David Arellano, Santiago

Attendance: 22,022

Referee: M. Sanchez

---

July 10, 1997

Universidad Católica	3 – 0	Colo-Colo
Acosta 2' Bisconti 23' Lunari 78'

Estadio Nacional, Santiago

Attendance: 38,750

Referee: M. Peña

Topscorers

Pos	Name	Team	Goals
1	David Bisconti	Universidad Católica	15
2	Walter Otta	Deportes Puerto Montt	11
3	Alberto Acosta	Universidad Católica	10
4	Sergio Gioino	Provincial Osorno	9
	Rodrigo Barrera	Universidad de Chile	9

Torneo de Clausura

Main article: 1997 Torneo Clausura (Chile)

Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Colo-Colo	15	11	2	2	33	19	+14	35
2	Universidad Católica	15	9	3	3	25	15	+10	30
3	Audax Italiano	15	9	2	4	31	16	+15	29
4	Universidad de Chile	15	7	5	3	36	17	+19	26
5	Cobreloa	15	7	4	4	28	17	+11	25
6	Deportes Puerto Montt	15	6	4	5	21	20	+1	22
7	Provincial Osorno	15	5	6	4	19	15	+4	21
8	Coquimbo Unido	15	5	6	4	15	13	+2	21
9	Deportes La Serena	15	5	4	6	21	20	+1	19
10	Palestino	15	5	2	8	13	21	−8	17
11	Deportes Antofagasta	15	5	2	8	15	27	−12	17
12	Huachipato	15	4	4	7	13	22	−9	16
13	Unión Española	15	4	3	8	22	27	−5	15
14	Deportes Temuco	15	4	3	8	18	31	−13	15
15	Santiago Wanderers	15	2	5	8	13	26	−13	11
16	Deportes Concepción	15	2	5	8	15	32	−17	11

Source:

Topscorers

Pos	Name	Team	Goals
1	Richard Báez	Universidad de Chile	10
	Rubén Vallejos	Deportes Puerto Montt	10
3	Hugo Brizuela	Audax Italiano	9

See also

• 1997 in Chilean football

References

• RSSSF Page