The 1966 Torneo Descentralizado was the 50th season of the highest division of Peruvian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

. This season marked the first time the Primera División was named the ''Descentralizado'' because teams outside

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of t ...

and

Callao Callao () is a Peruvian seaside city and Regions of Peru, region on the Pacific Ocean in the Lima metropolitan area. Callao is Peru's chief seaport and home to its main airport, Jorge Chávez International Airport. Callao municipality consists o ...

were invited for the first time making it the first national championship in

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

. The four teams invited to play in the inaugural national championship were Melgar of

Arequipa Arequipa (; Aymara and qu, Ariqipa) is a city and capital of province and the eponymous department of Peru. It is the seat of the Constitutional Court of Peru and often dubbed the "legal capital of Peru". It is the second most populated city ...

, Octavio Espinosa of Ica,

Grau The Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (), commonly referred to by its transliterated Russian acronym GRAU (), is a department of the Russian Ministry of Defense. It is subordinate to the ...

Piura Piura is a city in northwestern Peru located in the Sechura Desert on the Piura River. It is the capital of the Piura Region and the Piura Province. Its population was 484,475 as of 2017. It was here that Spanish Conqueror Francisco Pizarro fou ...

, and

Alfonso Ugarte de Chiclín Alfonso Ugarte de Chiclín is a Peruvian football club, playing in the city of Trujillo, Peru. The club is the biggest of Trujillo city, and one of the biggest in La Libertad Province. The club were founded 1 August 1917 and play in the Copa P ...

of Trujillo. The first match of the season was played on 13 August 1966 between

Universitario Club Universitario de Deportes, popularly known as Universitario or simply as La "U", is a Peruvian football club located in Lima. The club was founded in 1924 under the name Federación Universitaria by students of the National University of S ...

and

Mariscal Sucre Mariscal Sucre is a Peruvian football (soccer), football club, located in the city of La Victoria District, La Victoria, Lima. The club was founded with the name of Sucre FC and was promoted to Peruvian Primera División in 1933, later was renam ...

in the Estadio Nacional. Shortly after this match, the first match to feature a team outside the

and

region was between

Sporting Cristal Club Sporting Cristal S.A. is a Peruvian sports club located in the city of Lima, best known for its association football, football team. It was founded on 13 December 1955 in the Rímac District, Rímac district by engineer Richard Bentín Mujica ...

and Alfonso Ugarte in the same stadium on the same day. The champion was Universitario. Four teams were relegated at the end of the season. Carlos Concha was relegated to the 1967 Segunda División as the last placed team. In addition, Octavio Espinosa, Alfonso Ugarte, and Melgar were relegated as they needed to place seventh or higher to remain in the first division. They needed to play the 1967 Copa Perú to attain promotion to the first division.

Teams

League table

Season statistics

Top scorers

Scoring

*First goal of the season –

Héctor Chumpitaz Héctor Eduardo Chumpitaz Gonzáles (; born April 12, 1943, in Cañete) is a former footballer from Peru. Voted one of the greatest defenders of all times, among the 30 best defenders in football history and included within the 100 best player ...

for Universitario against Mariscal Sucre (13 August 1966)

References

External links

Peru 1966 season
at

RSSSF The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF) is an international organization dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around the ...

{{Torneo Descentralizado Peru1 1 Peruvian Primera División seasons