"Barcelona Campeon" (SiTv, Mar-08-1997) comerciales - Telesistema

The 1997 Ecuadorian Football Championship, officially known as the "1997 National Football Championship," was the 39th edition of the Serie A of the Ecuadorian national professional football championship. The competition was held without interruption from March 8, 1997, to January 25, 1998. The tournament was organized by the Ecuadorian Football Federation and featured twelve teams. The tournament was structured in three stages. The first stage, called the Apertura Tournament, consisted of two groups of six teams each. The winners of each group earned a bonus point and the right to compete for a place in the final stage. The second stage, called the Finalización Tournament, was played in a round-robin format. The top two teams from each group earned two bonus points and one point, respectively, and qualified for the final stage for the remaining two places in the final stage. The third stage, called the Final Stage, consisted of two rounds of play. The two phases were played: the final hexagonal and the relegation quadrangular. The first round was the final hexagonal to compete for the title, where the top two teams earned the right to compete for a spot in the 1998 Copa Libertadores, and the third-placed team qualified for a spot in the 1998 Copa Conmebol. The second round was the relegation quadrangular, where the bottom two teams were relegated to Serie B in 1998.