From Champions To Relegation Fodder: Huachipato’s Awful Chilean Title Defence
Last season’s Chilean title was decided on the final day. But the top two that day both now find themselves in relegation trouble!
It seems almost unthinkable that two teams fighting for a title on an exciting final day could be at serious risk of relegation six months later. But that’s the case in Chile, where champions Huachipato and runners-up Cobresal find themselves sitting 14th and 15th in the 16-team Campeonato Chileno.
In December 2024, Huachipato FC was crowned champions of Chile in dramatic fashion. Going into the final day, the club from Talcahuano trailed Cobresal by two points. The leaders lost 1–0 away to Unión Española, while Huachipato won 2–0 at home to Audax Italiano to claim a third Chilean title.
However, not only is there no chance of Huachipato defending that crown, the club finds itself in the relegation zone more than halfway through the season. Even more strangely, Cobresal, the team challenging Huachipato for last season’s title, are also right in the relegation mix with them!
Who Are Huachipato?
Huachipato FC was founded on 7 June 1947 by workers at a steel mill in Talcahuano, a port city in the south of Chile’s Central Zone around 310 miles (500 kilometres) southwest of the capital Santiago.
Acereros (The Steelers) remains the only team from southern Chile ever to win the national title, which has largely been dominated by the Santiago-based big three of Colo-Colo, Universidad de Chile and Universidad Católica, who’ve won 67 of the country’s 107 titles. While 15 more titles have been shared among six other Santiago sides.
The club was largely a second-tier side in its early days, first gaining promotion to the top tier by winning Segunda División in 1966. It won its maiden title in 1974 and added another in the 2012 Clausura, when the Chilean league operated the dual-title system.
From Champions To Relegation Fodder
Huachipato’s title defence began poorly, drawing at home to Unión Española and at Cobreloa before losing at home to Unión La Calera and at Colo-Colo. They finally won 2–1 at Cobresal and backed that up by beating Copiapó 2–1 at home.
But Huachipato soon entered the Copa Libertadores group stage and performed relatively well, finishing 3rd to drop into the Copa Sudamericana knockout stages. And that continental distraction seemingly caught up with them.
Huachipato earned a solid 0–0 at home to Universidád Católica but has only won two league games since the Copiapó victory on 17 March. They beat Deportes Iquique 2–1 in April and Everton 1–0 in May, but suffered several disappointing defeats like a 4–0 hammering at home to Universidad de Chile in April, a 3–1 loss at Coquimbo in early May and a 3–0 thumping at 10th-place Ñublense in June.
As a result, Huachipato find themselves 15th out of 16 teams in Campeonato Chileno with just 17 points from their 17 games. Cobresal beat Cobreloa 2–1 yesterday to climb above Huachipato, who dropped into the relegation zone as a result. Huachipato now trail Cobresal by two points and are in the relegation zone on goal difference from Audax Italiano, but they do have a game in hand on their rivals against title-chasing Colo-Colo.
There’s certainly an exciting relegation race shaping up, as the bottom seven teams are separated by seven points and the bottom six are split by just four points.
Three Months To Secure Safety
Huachipato’s bid to avoid the ignominy of relegation less than 12 months on from becoming champions begins with a huge game on Friday. The holders welcome Cobresal, last season’s title contenders, with both sides needing a victory.
The following week, Huachipato travel to 11th-place Copiapó, who they currently trail by one point, before hosting 7th-place Palestino and 9th-place O’Higgins. That’s followed by a run of tricky games as they take on five of the top six then travel to 8th-place Everton and host Ñublense on the final day.
Their relegation fight could also be affected by their ongoing Copa Sudamericana campaign. The club has reached the round of 16, where they’ll face Racing Club at home on 13 August and away in Argentina on 20 August. You can read more about the Copa Sudamericana knockouts here.
Chile’s Equally Intriguing Title Race
At the other end of the table, there’s also another exciting title race shaping up. After this weekend’s results, Universidad de Chile lead the way with 36 points, one point clear of Coquimbo Unido, who are a further one point ahead of Universidad Católica. Chasing that trio are Colo-Colo, who have 32 points but have that game in hand against Huachipato. While the likes of Deportes Iquique, Unión Española, Palestino and Everton will consider themselves well in the mix, considering just 10 points separate the top eight. In fact, that trio could have been right in contention bar poor recent form that’s seen them win four of a combined 15 games.
Can Huachipato and Cobresal avoid relegation? And who will succeed in its latest close title race? We’ll keep an eye on how the Chilean league plays out over the next few months.
