Month: February 2021

Switzerland. Domestic concerns, primeraly: it was difficult to adjust to harsh reality. The country would not support demands of modern football. It was plain to see in the championship: perhaps only 11 clubs in the top league were relatively fine, the rest were clearly weaker. And among the better ones there was rather weakening of the usual top clubs. Since there was no limitless cash and the national pool of players was small, no club was actually able to build truly great squad. Experiments with the championship structure were already tried and did not work. Return to traditional leagues was not working either… impasse. In the past the limited domestic pool was helped by imports – never great, but at least Swiss clubs were able to get good players in good numbers. Now even this sourse was cut short – other countries offered better prospects to foreign players, so options shrunk and what was left was mostly veterans – Xamax went up partly thanks to his foreign imports, but Stielike was here only to play his last games in peace and Don Givens was practically forgotten now, having his best time a good 10 years earlier. It was a sad comment on the state of Swiss football that Xamax went to the top with such help.

It was worse in the second level: only 4 teams were quite decent and the rest… just made the numbers.

Winterthur was one of those making the numbers – once upon a time a solid top-league member, now – 6^th with 31 points in Second Division. Top row from left: Viktor Frank (President), Thomas Unseld, Reto Arrigoni, M. Haller, Mauro Bunkofer, Ulrich Tschanz, Ernst Rief (Masseur).

Middle row: Dr. Bruno Peter (doctor), Thomas Staub, Urs Egli, Hans Franz, Daniel Haefeli, Christian Schleiffer, Hans Kodric (coach).

Sitting: Vladimir Jakovljev, Kevin Streule, Walter Christinger, Stephan Lehmann, Rafael Chèlos, Rolf Müller.

Chiaso was above them – 5^th with 35 points – but they were not match to the leaders either. Only 4 teams were really stronger and possibly near the first division teams. Chenois ended 4^th with 41 points.

FC Lugano ended 3^rd with 43 points. Jure Jerkovic was playing his last days in it – arguably, the only well known name in the league this season.

AC Bellinzona lost the battle for first place on worse goal-difference, finishing with 45 points.

FC Locarno clinched the Second Division title thanks to better goal-difference: they had 45 points like Bellinzona – 20 wins, 5 ties, 5 losses, 96-33. Great scorers, no doubt about it, and they provided the club with +63, twice better than Bellinzona’s +34. Crouching from left: Michele Volentik, Enrico Giani, Mauro Benzoni, Armando Rossi, Michele Nicora, William Fornera, Thomas Bachofner, Carlo Bianchi – masseur.

Middle row: Antonio Chiandussi – coach, Claudio Gilardi, Jean-Jacques Frutiger, Winfried Kurz, Michele Pedrazzini – president, Caryl Facchinetti, Nazzareno Zanoli, Augusto Favero, Sandro Molnar – assistant coach.

Top row: Pierluigi Tami, Fabio Chiappa, Bertrand de Coulon, Mauro Alini, Michel Guillaume, Bruno Abaecherli.

In general terms, the final standing was a trimph of attacking football over defensive one – Bellinzona excelled in cautious, defensive-minded game and lost only 3 games, but they scored rarely as a consequence – but it hardly mattered. The important thing was promotion and both Bellinzona and Locarno went up.

The Cup final was the classic derby – Olympiakos vs Panathinaikos – but rather on paper only. Panathinaikos was too strong and won 4-0.

Disappointing season for Olympiakos, but they had only themselves to blame for the failure to win anything. For some reason, the squad was not very good and really needed urgent reinforcement. And they were going to be done, for Olympiakos without trophies… it was a hard slap on the face.

Excellent season, finished with a double, but there was much to be desired – this team had only 2 great stars: Saravakos and the Yugoslav former national team star Zajec. Not enough for a club with Panathinaikos’ pretencions. Especially on the international level. But this was concern for the summer transger period. Presently, 14th title and 9th Cup were collected.

First Division. With first place ‘reserved’ for dominant Panathinaikos, the battles for 2^nd place and escaping relegation were the thrill.

Panachaiki (Patras) – last with 20 points and relegated.

Panserraikos (Serres) – 15^th with 24 points. Lost a battle between 5 teams on worst head-to-head record and relegated.

Doxa (Drama) – barely escaped relegation: 14^th with 24 points.

Ethnikos (Piraeus) – also lucky survivor: 13^th with 24 points.

Apollon (Athens) – 12^th with 24 points.

PAS Ioannina (or Giannina, depending on sourse) – 11^th with 24 points.

PAOK (Thesaloniki) – waht a plunge. The champions of the previous year were not 10^th with 27 points.

Apollon Kalamarias (Thesaloniki) – 9^th with 28 points.

AE Larissa – in moave kit – 8^th with 30 points.

Aris (Thesaloniki) – in their reserve colours – 7^th with 33 points.

Panionios (Athens) – 6^th with 34 points. One of the teams which lost the race for 2^nd place.

Olympiakos (Piraeus) – miserable season. 5^th with 34 points.

Iraklis (Thesaloniki) – one of their strongest seasons, but only 4^th with 36 points at the end.

AEK (Athens) – clinched 3^rd place with 36 points and thus secured UEFA Cup spot.

OFI (Iraklion) – 2^nd with 38 points. Arguably, their best season ever. They were ascending for quite some time and that was pretty much their peak – bested more illustrios team in the race for 2^nd position, but unable to challenge the leaders.

anathinaikos (Athens) was unriveled and easily won the title with 43 points from 18 wins, 7 ties, 5 losses, and 58-26 goal-difference. Perhaps not the best squad in the history of the club, but still having stars in top form and collecting one more title.

Greece. Not one of the memorable seasons – Panathinaikos dominated, but Olympiakos was nowhere to be seen – but that depending on point of view. OFI (Iraklion) had a great season – perhaps their gretest ever – and if one looks at the season from Crete… well, it was more than memorable championship.

Second Division. 20 teams, 2 promoted, 4 relegated. Nobody was penalized, so the season was fine, but not very strong. The difference between the relegated 17^th-placed and Edessaikos and 5^th-placed A.O. Kavala was only 3 points – most teams were preocupied with avoiding relegation than with promotion. Only 3 teams battled for the top positions.

At the bottom finished Agrotikos Esteras Evosmos (Thesaloniki) – last,

Eolikos Militinos (Lesbos) – 19^th, A.S. Naoussa – 18^th, and Edessaikos A. O. (Edessa) – 17^th. Edessaikos was most unfortunate among the relegated – their fate was decided on the head-to-head record against Acharnaikos Menidi (Athens). Acharnaikos survived, for they won both games.

Nothing much up the table.

Panetolikos (Egrinio) – 13^th with 37 points.

Pierikos (Katerini) was 10^th with 37 points.

Athinaikos (Athens) – 6^th with 39 points. Perhaps the only team quite steadily going up, but nothing special yet. And it was not easy to be special in Athens – too many clubs, too much competition. There were three more in the Second Division – Atromitos Peristeri, Egaleo F.C., and Acharnaikos Menidi. And then – the first division clubs, every next stronger and bigger: Apollon, Panionios, AEK, Panathinaikos. Athinaikos was doing quite well under the circumstances.

A. E. Levadiakos (Livadia) was 4^th with 41 points. One of the best, but… only relatively stronger than relegated Edessaikos – 5 points difference – and not at all in the race for top positions and promotion.

Above Levadiakos were the three teams,which fought for promotion. Makedonikos N. Efkapia (Thesaloniki) eventually stumbled and ended 3^rd with 44 points.

A.S. Veria – or was it P.A.E. Veria? Greek clubs present quite a difficulty with their names – eventually lost the battle for the title by a point, but it was fine: they were promoted.

Diagoras (Rodos) clinched top position with 48 points. 20 wins, 8 ties, 10 losses, 68-38 goal-difference. Splendid – Diagoras hardly ever won anything, so champions of Second Division was real success. And they were promoted, of course. However, not much hope could be placed on neither them, nor Veria for surviving in First Division, let alone making an impact.

Austria. New championship format was started – in the fall the 12-team league played regular schedule and the top 8 teams continued in the fall the second phase, carrying over their full records from the fall. The last 4 in the fall plus the top 4 in the Second Division started promotion/relegation tournament – no earlier records were carried over – and the top 4 in it went to the top division the next season. The formula meant to make more competitve championship was far from perfect and the obvious problem showed up right away: namely, teams playing their best in the fall just to find secure place among the top 8 teams. In the spring they only went through the motions. Austria (Klagenfurt) and Admira/Wacker did precisely that. Meantime, other teams played just enough to qualify to the next phase and only stpped on the pedals in the spring – Wacker (Innsbruck) was the prime example. Such calculations did nothing to increase the quality of the championship – eventually, it was dominated by the 2 usual suspects Rapid and Austria from Vienna. It was the same as before the new formula was introduced: two strong teams and the rest quite weak.

In the fall First Vienna FC, Wiener Sportclub, SV Spittal an der Drau, and SK Vorwaerts Steyr topped the Second Division and qualified to the promotion/relegation tournament. Meantime, Salzburger AK 1914, Donawitzer SV Alpine, SC Eisenstadt, and SK VOEST Linz took the last 4 positions in the First Division and joined the Second-division best in the promotion/relegation phase. VOEST was really unlucky – they lost 3-team battle on worse goal-difference. Apart from that battle in mid-table, no drama in the top league: SK Austria Klagenfurt was surprise performer, ending 3^rd with 23 points, but it was relative success – Klagenfurt, as it turned out later, was only trying to ensure security. They finished 3 points ahead of unfortunate VOEST and bested Grazer AK on goal-difference for the third place. Rapid and Austria fought between themselves away from the rest – Rapid lost only 1 match and finished the fall 14 points ahead of Klagenfurt. FK Austria Vienna was 1^st, 2 points better than Rapid – the battle was not decided yet, but it was clear that no other team could come close, let alone joining the champiosnhip race.

Promotion/relegation tournament. Salzburger AK 1914 was the most terrible team this season: last in the fall, they were last in the spring too. In the fall they did not win even one game, finihsing far behind anybody else with 7 points. Now, they were outsiders again, only this time not able to compete even with second-division squads – 7 points again, finishing 6 points behind the next worst team and relegated to Second Division.

SK Vorwaerts Steyr took 7^th place with 13 points and remained in Second Division.

SV Spittal an der Drau was 6^th, also with 13 poinst – like Vorwaerts, they were not good enough to fight for promotion.

Donawitzer SV Alpine was the second First division team to go down this season – they finished 5^th with 14 points. Front row from left: Schicker, Hobelleitner, Angerer, Paal, Erlsbacher.

Middle row: Untergrabner, Ivsic, Hofmann, Oliveira, Janjanin, Gregoritsch, Sabitzer, Mikscha.

Top row: Harrer, Auffinger, Crnjak, Stocker, Gruber, Koiner, Haberl, Meusburger, Pracher.

SC Eisenstadt managed to keep place in the top league – they clinched 4^th place with 15 points.

Wiener Sportclub went up – 3^rd with 15 points.

SC VOEST Linz also avoided relegation – they finished 2^nd with 17 points.

First Vienna FC won the promotion/relegation tournament with 18 points. Like Wiener Sportclub, they were just returning to the top league – but also like Wiener Sportclub, they lost competitive edge long time ago and there was no return.

At the end, the promotion/relegation tournament proved to be unnecessary… the better top-division teams kept their place and the 2 best second-division teams were promoted. The same as in standard championship formula.

Nothing much happened in the championship tournament – Rapid and Austria competed between themselves, alone.

SK Austria Klagenfurt proved that their earlier ‘strenght’ was just about ensuring secure place in the league – in the second phase they dropped from 3^rd to last, earning only 5 points in the spring.

FC Admira/Wacker was pretty much the same as Klagenfurt and finished 7^th with 29 points. 9 points in the spring…

Grazer AK played as much as they could and finished with 35 points. Took 6^th position only because their city rivals had better goal-difference.

SK Sturm Graz bested Grazer AK on goal-difference and ended 5^th with 35 points.

Linzer ASK was nothing special, but at least steady – 5^th in the fall, not 4^th with total of 38 points.

FC Wacker Inssbruck apparently saved its strenght for the spring, but after barely qualified to the final group, they had no way to join the championship battle. Yet, they were strong in the spring adding 19 points to their fall record of 20 points. They were also the prime example of the general weakness of the Austrian clubs: if Austria and Rapid did not play at all in the spring, Wacker’s total record would have been 2-point better than Rapid and still not good enough for 1^st place.

Rapid and Austria continued head-to-head to the end, Austria maintaining leadership and eventually preserving its advantage of 2 points. Rapid finished 2^nd with 56 points, scoring 101 goals!

Austria Vienna won one more title with 58 points from 26 wins, 6 ties, and 4 lost games. 99-28 goal-difference – missing 100-mark by a goal, but having the best defensive record this season

The same teams met again in the Cup final and at least the rivalry between them was strong. There was hardly any difference between the rivals and the final went to extra time. Only then Austria prevailed 6-4.

Twice unlucky, Rapid. May be next year will be better.

Austria Vienna finished with a double. Strong season, no doubt. To a point, it was also an individual battle between the greatest Austrian players at that time – Prohaska prevaile over Krankl. A sign of the times, to a point… the constructive midfielder won over the great goalscorer: midfield commanded in the 1980s and scorers… well, they needed somebody to feed them with sharp balls. Krankl needed Prohaska to shine, but Prohaska did not need a Krankl. Yet, something else was more important and alarming: both great stars were getting quite old. And so were some of the best players around them – the Hungarian Nyilasi, in Austria’s case. There were no younger players at similar level…

The Cup – the traditional ‘big’ final between the winers of the Czech and the Slovak Cups. Sparta (Pargue) vs Spartak (Trnava). Serious names, but times had changed – Spartak was a pale shadow of the mighty team they were once upon a time and only the terrible shape most Slovak clubs presently were helped them winning the Slovak Cup. Sparta went the opposite way – they were in big decline for the most years of Trnava’s great period, but came back with a vengeance in the 1980s and currently were the strongest Czechoslovakian team by far. Thus, Sparta was the absolute favourite – the final was good as played, it was a matter of Sparta trotting to the stadium to collect the trophy. And there were for a rude surprise – perhaps underestimating the opponent, taking victory for granted. Spartak fought with determination and dragged the final to penalty shoot-out at 1-1. And managed to score a winning goal in the shoot-out – 4-3. Surprise champion, surprise cup winner – the season of surprises was completed.

Sparta (Prague) was about to win a double this year, but won nothing. They were the best Czechoslovakian team by far, full of national team players, the top current stars of the game: Chovanec, Stejskal, Nemecek, Griga, Prochazka, Berger, Straka, Hasek. There was no other team with even half-the talent Sparta had. And very likely that was the reason for failure: taking for granted their superiority and underperforming as a result. It was bitter season, teaching bitter lesson.

May be incidental victory, but enjoyable nevertheless. Spartak (Trnava) failed from grace many years ago and there was no chance for restoring its leading position now. But they took their chance to win a trophy and if their opponents in Slovakia were particularly out of shape this season and Sparta did not took them seriously enough, it was not their fault. Prevailing over Sparta was particularly wonderful, for the difference was enormous: Sparta had the best of Czechoslovakian players and Spartak did not have even one half-measuring to Sparta’s stars. It was their 4^th Cup and first trophy for almost 10 years – chancy or not, the victory was great.