Hello and welcome to every readers. I hope you will find handy and interesting, this brand new created column which intends to guide the readers through the lesser known Latin-American football leagues.

In this edition, we are introducing the champions of Peruvian Apertura 2008, the team of Universitario de Deportes.

It was founded in 1924 by students from Lima , the Peruvian capital. Arguably it is the most popular club in Peru . The team broke a bad streak (six years without winning the title) when they won the 2008 edition of Apertura.

No doubt, they deserved it, though the season started not so bright. The team's squad predestined themselves for the title, but the team had problems with goal scoring. The defence looked already very solid, with Fernández in front of the net, and the experienced defence line lead by argentine Galván. The engine of the team was Colombian Mayer Candelo, whose task was creating the attacks, and scoring from free kicks. The coach, Gareca opted for the 4-5-1 formation when they played away, and its decision took its toll which resulted in many draws (0.0, 1-1). At home, the team used a 3-5-2 system, leaving Hurtado and Jiménez in the attacking section.

The team suffered a big blow, when Candelo suffered a serious knee injury in March, which sidelined him for three months. Universitario stood only at fourth place, though the deficit was not big.

Gareca replaced him with Donny Neira, which proved to be the most important decision of the season. The young attacking midfielder had been sitting on the bench most of the time until then, but stepped up the crease. The team then started to win one match after another. Neira's play was instrumental in these successes, scoring many long range goals, goals from free kicks, commanding the midfield. Jiménez also found his goal scoring boot. It is worth noting the very valuable endorsement of Miguel and Rainer Torres in midfield and defence.

While the starting eleven performed well, the bench also contributed to the successes. Undoubtedly la U has the best bench in Peru , with such players like Labarthe, Landauri and Rabanal.

All in all, with four matches left from the season, the students had such a big advantage, that nobody could overcome them.

In short now about the other traditional powerhouses:

After a terrible season, rejuvenated Sporting Cristal looked to consolidate, and surprisingly finished in second place. It has one of the best attacking sections, but still an unreliable defence.

Cienciano had the same old problems during all season:

Winning at home (dropped only five points, thanks to the altitude difference), but almost never winning away (only one victory).

Alianza Lima, the second most popular club in Peru lost a lot of players in the off-season, but its bad coaching played its part in their weak results. Recently the arrival of "el Doctor" Páez, celebrated former coach of Venezuela looks to turn things around. The team started to play more organised, though thanks to bad luck in their last two difficult encounters, won't reach the first seven places, which enables them to take part in a play off if they win Clausura.

El Virrey