Category: 1985

Holland. In a nut shell, the beloved heroes of the 1970s were coming back. The Second Division fluctuated a bit, if it mattered – 17 teams in 1983-84, 18 this season, 19 in the next. Just for the record. The top position was grandly contested this year – 5 teams involved. A rare hot pursuit.

With 15 points FC Eindhoven was the outsider of Second Division this season.

Vitesse – 17th with 24 points.

FC Wageningen – 16th with 26 points.

Telstar – 15th with 27 points.

DS’79 – 14th with 28 points.

Helmond Sport – 13th with 29 points.

SVV (Scheidam) – 12th with 29 points.

RBC (Roosendaal) – 11th with 30 points.

SC Veendam – 10th with 32 points.

Spcl. Cambuur – 9th with 33 points.

Willem II – 8th with 37 points.

NEC – 7th with 38 points.

SC Heerenveen – 6th with 39 points.

That was the insignificant bulk of the league. The remaining 5 teams fought for top position, which was won dramatically – 2 points divided 1st from 5th at the end. A bitter pill to swallow for some, because of the rules not giving chance to some.

RKC (Waalwijk) – 5th with 44 points. Tough luck.

DC Den Haag – 4th with 45 points.

De Graafschap – 3rd with 45 points.

VVV (Venlo) – 2nd with 45 points. Better goal-difference gave them second-best position, but they lost as well.

SC Heracles’74 clinched 1st place with 46 points. Champions of Second Division and directly promoted up. Wonderful success after stressful season, perhaps depending mostly on stamina and determination than skills. 18 wins, 10 ties, 6 losses, 50-33 goal-difference.

The other promoted team was traditionally decided in a promotional play-off between stage winners. And that did not favour VVV (Venlo), so it was 2nd place in vain. De Graafschap (3rd), NEC (7th), RKC (5th), and FC Den Haag (4th) competed in the play-off stage. RKC and FC Den Haag were clearly not up to task, but the coveted first place was won in a strange manner: FC Den Haag – De Graafschap was abandoned in the 77th minute. De Graafschap was leading 1-0 and this result stayed – strange, because some games were abandoned this season, generally to bad weather, and were completed later. But this one was neither replayed, nor completed – well, it did not matter: De Graafschap was staying 2nd regardless the outcome of the match. They finished with 8 points, but NEC (Nijmegen) had 9 and won the promotional spot. Delightful moment, but… fairness suffered terribly: NEC was not at all among the leaders. They finished 7th and yet got promoted. True, they were best at the most important stage, but the usual question persists: why bother to play grueling football during the year when you can just gear yourself to qualify to the final stage, as early as possible, then safe your strength for it, focus of it and take advantage of the those who were already tired. Anyhow, NEC went up and that was that.

Anderlecht was so powerful this season, that a double was the natural outcome – but did not happened. Cup tournaments have their own logic and Anderlecht did not reach the final – two underdogs reached it: SK Beveren and KSV Cercle Brugge. Which supplied the drama – no matter how successful was Beveren at this time, their squad was not particularly stronger than Cercle Brugge’s and face-to-face, in a single combat, ambition and desire entirely equalized the opponents. Thus, nobody won – the final ended 1-1 after extra time. Penalty shoot-out is always a Russian roulette and luck eventually favoured Cercle Brugge 5-4.

To a point, one can be sorry for such lovely underdogs as Beveren, but even that is relative – they lost the battle of the underdogs. Not even lost it – it was only that luck was not on their side this day. It would have been great to if they got the trophy, but Beveren more or less won whatever they could win with modest and unassuming squads. Frankly, one can be really sorry for them if they lost to Anderlecht.

KSV Cercle Brugge was lucky, no doubt about it, but having good luck on one’s side sometimes is fair.

An old club, but always in secondary position. Yet, they had their successful times and were still ahead of Beveren in that – 3 titles and 1 Cup – but their glory days were in very, very distant past. The last triumph happened in 1930, when they won their 3rd and last title. Thus, the Cup won in 1985 came after so many years of suffering, that it was great joy. For that reason, it was better that Cercle Brugge won – Beveren’s success was recent one, so Cercle Brugge won against the odds in a sense. In terms of local rivalry, it was perfect: FC Brugge won nothing this year. And it was rare and unexpected success in the current reality, unlikely to be repeated and much more to be cherished because of that.

Belgium. Absolute domination of Anderlecht, in a nut shell. Quite dramatic battle for the first place in Second Division between RWD Molenbeek and KRC Mechelen.

Eventualy, RWD Molenbeek prevailed, finishing with 43 points – 2 more than KRC Mechelen. Quick comeback of RWD Molenbeek, but was it a revival remained to be seen.

KRC Mechelen still had a chance for promotion – if winning the play-off tournament against the next 3 teams in the final table: FC Winterslag, 3rd with 36 points; R. Charleroi SC, 4th with 35 points; and St. Truidense VV, 5th with 34 points. Looked like an easy job for KRC, which finished way ahead of FC Winterslag – 5 points ahead – but the outcome was entirely different: KRC Mechelen was pathetic and lost all 6 games. Last of 0 points! St. Truidense VV was not much during the season and the same here: 3rd with 5 points. FC Winterslag played strong final and scored mots goals at this stage – 16 – but a tie against St. Truidense VV did them – 2nd with 9 points. R. Charleroi SC raised to the occasion – they lost the away leg to FC Winterslag, but won all other games and clinched 1st place with 10 points. And with this – promotion. Like RWD Molenbeek, Charleroi was only returning to the top league after brief exile.

First division was dominated by Anderlecht and almost everything else was quite normal – with the exception of Standard (Liege), hardly any surprises.

Racing Jet (Bruxelles) was last with 19 points. Their brief emergence from obscurity ended just as quickly. K. St.-Niklase SK was 17th with 21 points and also relegated. No surprise in that either.

Beerschot VAV – managed to avoid relegation. 16th with 24 points.

K. Lierse SK – 15th with 25 points. Given their recent years, nothing new. Hard to imagine their young goalkeeper Verlinden will become well known name in time.

RFC Seresien – or Seraing – 14th with 26 points. KV Kortrijk – 13th with 27 points.

KV Mechelen – 12th with 28 points. Their aim was clear: trying to establish their place in the top division. But careful building of decent team was already started, which was something different than what most lowly clubs were doing. It was nothing much yet, but some recognizable names were already here. Top row from left: Wilfried Dommicent, Rudy Geens, Raymond Jaspers, Theo Custers, Filip Benoot, Michel Van Campenhout, Marc Huysmans.

Middle row: Jan De Cleyn, Herman Fransen, Piet den Boer, Mark Talbut, Joachim Benfeld, Koen Sanders, Mathy Billen, Wim Smets, Fi Van Hoof, Leo Canjels.

Sitting: Willi Reisinger, Benny Asselberghs, Bert Cluytens, Geert Deferm, Yvan Hoste, Karel Kesselaers, Johan Van Arwegen.

KSV Cercle Brugge – 11th with 29 points. Normal. But they had soemthing else going on. KSC Lokeren – 10th with 30 points. May be losing some ground, but Lokeren was essentially mid-table club and their good years were largely due to Polish stars. No more the likes of Lubanski and Lato, though.

K. Waterschei SV Thor (Genk) – 9th with 32 points. Mid-table club – mid-table finish.

Standard (Liege) – 8th with 33 points. Quite a drop and that looked like a big surprise, given the squad at hand. But the club was still suffering the aftermath of the bribing scandal and the weakness was the result.

Royal Antwerp 7th with 39 points. Not bad, considering how distant was Standard from them, but apart from that – nothing new.

KAA Gent – 6th with 40 points. Like Antwerp, nothing special and new. Yet, not a bad season for a mid-table club.

SK Beveren – the champions of the previous season were now 5th with 41 points. Not even able to compete for bronze medals, but this club should be measured differently: a small club with little money, they were brave heroes. Their golden period,which started roughly in 1975, still continued and it was amazing period for a club unable to recruit even a secondary star. The sheer guts kept them at the top of Belgian football and they even won 2 titles. 5th place was hardly a drop or sign of decline – it was just that a modest team could not do more. A lovely kit, though, and something else: they became a face for Nike. Difficult to thing of that now, but at that time Nike was only trying to get some slice of the football market. Rather unknown firm and not at all in a position to attract the interest of big clubs.

KSV Waregem – 4th with 45 points. Wonderful season for them, but it was unlikely to get better in the future. It was the typical rise of modest Belgian club – a few good local players (the Millecamps brothers, Desmet) and some sturdy foreigners (Gortz, Buckley) were enough for a good season or two. However, the best players were likely to be lost to richer clubs just as quickly, so it was imperative to enjoy the moment and not get into dreaming.

RFC Liegeois – or FC Liege – clinched 3rd place with 46 points. Like Waregem, they enjoyed their great moment. Came close to 2nd place, but 3rd was almost equally wonderful achievement. Unlikely to be repeated – at least, not soon.

FC Brugge – 2nd with 48 points. Climbing back to leading position after the disaster of 81-82, but not yet a real title contender. Still in the rebuilding process, so, realistically, it was good season, but only a stepping stone for the future.

Goes without saying – Anderelecht was number 1. It could be argued this was their finest season, it could be argued that the opposition was quite weak and unable to offer much challenge or resistance, but Anderlecht was the single constantly stable Belgian club and no matter what the league looked like, the numbers speak of themselves: 26 wins, 7 ties, and only one lost match. They scored a round 100 goals in this championship, permitting only 25 in their net in the same time. The nearest team to them finished 11 points behind. There was no contest at all, Anderlecht was supreme and wonderful. 17 players were current, former or future national team players, representing 4 different countries. Anderlecht used to be Dutch in its earlier great version, now it was Danish – the club had uncanny ability to recruit cutting age players. It was also a club able to change its squad smoothly – Vercauteren was already getting old, an yesterday’s star, but Scifo was tomorrow’s star. There was nothing to fear from rich foreign clubs either – with such a squad, losing a player or two to Italian clubs was not a big deal: another was eager and may be even impassioned to step in. Lastly, there was the coach – the club’s legend Paul van Himst proved himself excellent not just as a player. Well, what is the point of saying more – Anderlecht is widely known. It is futile to compare squads of different times – they were great before, they were still great, still hungry for success.

The Cup final opposed FC Porto to Benfica, a grand clash between strong rivals. FC Porto had the best team at the moment, but Benfica not only had plenty of experience, but had deeper squad and foxy coach, who knew how to extract single victory. Perhaps this advantage decided the final – Benfica had enough strength to win a single game and they did it, 3-1.

Surely a disappointment – no double – but also a good learning experience for up and coming team, making it only stronger in the long term. The future belonged to FC Porto, there was still a little bit missing.

The old rule of thumb: clubs like Benfica are never to be dismissed even when they were relatively weak. Pride, tradition, experience, everything can be gathered for one single task, even dirty tricks, if necessary. Head-to-head Benfica was able to beat talented FC Porto and they did it. Thus, they saved the season and won one more trophy. Yet, they had to improve the squad, to rebuild it, to make it younger and up to date. Occasional success was not in the books of Benfica – they had to really catch up with FC Porto.

First Division. On the surface, nothing really new – one leader, two more teams well above the rest of the league, and another familiar name right behind them. The usual suspects. No matter how good or bad Portuguese football was at any particular time, the leaders remained the same. However, the heart of Portuguese rivalry already shifted from purely Lisbon affair to a battle between two cities – Lisbon vs Porto – and there was no reversal to the old status quo. And the champion of this year was not just champion, but a team getting closer and closer to its very exciting peak.

The bottom of the league had its own drama, largely thanks to the structure: 4 relegated teams. Two were obvious outsiders and in another country that would have been enough for serene existence of many others, but not in Portugal: 6 teams were preoccupied with finding a way of escaping relegation.

FC Vizela was too weak for anything – last with 15 points. Standing from left: Russo,Toni,Berto,Manuel Correia,José Carlos,Sérgio.

First row: Barbosa,Fernando Jorge,Pita,Salvador,Faria.

Varzim SC was also too weak – 15th with 17 points. Like many times before, unable to last long in the top division.

SC Farense – 14th with 22 points. It was not that they did not try to survive, but failed and were directly relegated.

Rio Ave FC was also unable to climb to safety, but at least had hopes for survival – 13th with 23 points. Weaker goal-difference was their misfortune, but there was still the promotion/relegation tournament. Perhaps they most unlucky exactly at this final stage – they finished it wit the best record, but took 2nd place and were relegated.

SC Salgueiros secured a place in the league for at least one more season, but it was after fretting to the end – like Rio Ave, they ended with 23 points. Better goal-difference put them above Rio Ave – 11th and safe.

Vitoria (Setubal) – often presented as VFC Setubal, largely to avoid duplication of names – generally tried to survive this year and they barely succeeded: 10th with 25 points.

FC Penafiel, which, unlike Setubal, was generally found in this situation, also managed to escape relegation – 10th with 25 points.

Vitoria (Guimaraes) – or VSC Guimaraes – slipped dangerously close to relegation, but at the end was 9th with 25 points. Better goal-difference placed then above Penafiel and Vitoria (Setubal).

Sportng (Braga) – or SC Braga – preserved its normal mid-table position in Portuguese pyramid: 8th with 28 points. Should be noticed that they were among the only 6 teams with positive goal-difference.

Academica (Coimbra) – 7th with 29 points. Looked like revival of sorts, but was it really going to last?

CF Belenenses (Lisbon) – 6th with 30 points. Nothing much in the general state of affairs, but on smaller scale – quite a promising season. Belenenses hit rock bottom just recently and looked like the learned their lesson and were trying to reestablish their lost leading position. However, it was far from clear they would succeed.

Portimonense SC – 5th with 36 points. Now, this was a club enjoying progress and reflecting the shift in Portuguese football: looked like Porto was going to have 3 strong teams in the league, replacing Lisbon as the center of the country’s football. Was it really possible was another matter, but at the moment hopes were strong – Portimonense was quite stronger than Belenenses, the third club of Lisbon.

Boavista FC (Porto) – 4th with 37 points. Enjoying strong period, but also questioning the possibility of Porto, as a whole, replacing Lisbon – presently, Boavista was challenged by Portimonense for the 2nd position in the order of Porto, and was not coming close to the leading clubs of Lisbon.

Benfica – 3rd with 43 points. Poor season and no surprise: it was slightly aging team – compared to those of the rivals – and Pal Csernai could not do more with it.

Sporting (Lisbon) – not their season either: 2nd, but distant second with 47 points. They lost only 2 games, but had too many ties. John Toshack paid the price for that, but he could be hardly blamed: even when strong, Sporting was not a truly great team: having less money than Benfica and, the recent years, FC Porto too, Sporting was always in a bit of disadvantage. Small things… they rarely had enough first-rate players. More likely, they had second-best. Point in case: look at the goalkeepers – neither Damas, nor Katzirz in his native Hungary, were number one. National team players, yes, but back-ups, not regulars. Winning was more of a heroic act rather than superiority even in their strongest years.

FC Porto dominated the championship. It was a squad almost at its peak, coached by talented and ambitious Artur Jorge, still young and pushing up. It a season revealing what this team could really do – they simply rolled over everybody. Almost a perfect record at home – 14 wins and 1 tie. Away, they were just as strong: 12 wins, 2 ties, and their single lost match. But they allowed less goals away than at home: only 6! True, they scored less than half goals when visiting, but were formidable at home turf: 25 goals scored away and 53 at home. Anyway, they were best in every aspect this season, finishing with 55 points – 8 points ahead of Sporting and 12 more than Benfica. Perhaps their only weaker post was the goalkeeper – that compared post by post to the rivals’ squads – but it was going to be balanced quickly. Theirs were the current stars, younger than what Benfica had, and more numerous than Sporting’s, and not only that, but new talent was theirs as well – Futre was already a regular and hailed as one of the most promising youngsters in Europe. Not an accidental victory at all – this was perhaps the season which revealed FC Porto not only as a strong club, but a club which was going as a top European club.

Portugal. Along with Romania, the other country with rapidly ascending football. Talented generation was complimented by good coaches, foreign and domestic, old and young: Pal Csernai (Benfica), Raymond Goethals (Vitoria Guimaraes), John Toshack (Sporting Libon), Artur Jorge (FC Porto), James Melia (Boavista).

Second Division – divided into 3 groups of 16 teams each, the winners directly promoted. The 2nd – placed and the 13th in the First Division played in promotion/relegation tournament. Competitive championships in 2 of the groups – Zona Norte and Zona Centro – and only Zona Sul had dominant leader.

Zona Norte. Quite a few former first division members, but not all of them competed for promotion.

Fafe – 8th with 30 points.

Four teams battled for the top position – Leixoes, Pacos de Ferreira, Chaves, and Aves. 3 points was the difference between the champion and the 4th at the end. Chaves clinched 2nd position with 40 points and better goal-difference than Pacos de Ferreira.

Aves won the championship with 41 points (17 wins, 7 ties, 6 losses, 51-30) and was promoted to the top league.

Zona Centro. Similar to Zona Norte – 4 teams competing for promotion.

Little known Elvas had wonderful season – 3rd with 40 points. Couldn’t get a chance for promotion, but still it was memorable performance.

Uniao Leiria took 2nd place with 41 points, thus keeping hope for climbing higher.

Covilha won the championship with 43 points (17 wins, 9 ties, 4 losses, 44-13) and promotion.

Zona Sul. No drama here – one team dominated the championship and right behind it – another one, which could not challenge the leader, but was still high above the rest of the league.

Torralta was 9th with 30 points.

Estrella Amadora topped the bulk of the league – 3rd with 36 points – but couldn’t even dream of promotion.

Uniao Madeira was too strong to let anybody challenge their position, but winning the championship was not up to them – 2nd with 42 points.

Maritimo reigned supreme, easily winning the league – 23 wins, 5 ties, 2 losses, 64-15, and 51 points. Excellent season.

The promotion/relegation tournament involved the three 2nd placed teams in the Second Divistion the 13th in the top league – Rio Ave. Only two battled for the coveted top spot and the winner was decided only by the direct results between the leaders. Which relegated Rio Ave, which had the best overall record. Uniao Leiria (Zona Centro) finished last with 3 points. Uniao Madeira (Zona Sul) was 3rd also with 3 points. Rio Ave (1st Division) was unfortunate 2nd with 9 points and 17-4 goal-difference.

Deportivo Chaves won the tournament with 9 points and 16-10 goal-difference. Head-to- head results against Rio Ave were in their favour and they were happily promoted to top flight.

Thus, the teams going up to First Division were: Deportivo Aves, Deportivo Chaves (Zona Norte), Covilha (Zona Centro), and Maritimo (Zona Sul). Congratulations!

And the ascent of Steaua to greatness was confirmed in the Cup final – they prevailed over Univeristatea (Craiova) 2-1 and won a double.

Universitatea was still strong and tough, but it was already yesterday’s news – beatable, losing ground. They were not to fade away, but leading position moved to Bucharest and Universitatea was settling for secondary place in the peck order. Not a big difference, but… they lost the Cup final and finished 4th in the championship.

Some names were already noted, because of wonderful Romanian performance at the 1984 European Championship finals, but they were not yet great and familiar stars – thus, the Bulgarian publication of the team leaves some uncertainty who was who. First row, from left: Petcu, Barbulescu, Lacatus, Eduard, Laurentiu, Radu II, Boloni (? – may be, the name given with the photo is Duckadam), Stoica, Puscas.

Standing: Jenei – coach, Piturca, Bumbescu, Iordake (?), Duchadam, Stingaciu (? – the given name is Stanescu), Tataran, Iovan, Belodedici, Majearu, Iordanescu – assistant coach.

Wrongs will be righted soon – the double won this year was perhaps very important for this squad, giving them the opportunity to reach their rich potential. Very soon they will climb to the very top of world’s football ladder and there will be no uncertainty about names – here are players, who will be in everybody’s mouth for the next ten years. And Hagi was coming…

First Division. Romanian football was defined by traditional rivalry between Steaua and Dinamo, only it reached new level in the 1980s. The talented new generation of players was still a bit dispersed, so at least one more club was enjoying good time at the moment – Sportul Studentesc. But the provincial clubs, so strong in the 1970s, were already pushed down: the championship was entirely Bucharest battle and nobody came close to the three leaders of the this championship.

Politehnica (Iasi) was last with 24 points.

A rather mysterious club was 17th with 26 points. FC Maramures (Baia Mare). The name was never clearly established – written alternatively Maramures or Baia Mare. The name changed during the years, but when it was Maramures and when Baia Mare? May be the name was not even important – the club was lowly and why anybody should care about the correct name of the relegated?

Jiul (Petrosani) finished 16th with 28 points – they were doomed to relegation, because of worse goal-difference.

SC Bacau was lucky to survive – 15th with 28 points. Chimia (Ramnicu Vilcea) was 14th with 29 points. FC Olt (Scornicesti) – 13th with 30 points.

FCM Brasov – 12th with 30 points.

Rapid (Bucharest) – 11th with 30 points.

FC Bihor (Oradea) – 10th with 31 points.

Politehnica (Timisoara) – 9th with 32 points.

Corvinul (Hunedoara) – 8th with 32 points.

FC Arges (Pitesti) – 7th with 32 points.

ASA (Targu Mures) – 6th with 33 points.

Gloria (Buzau) – 5th with 34 points. Wonderful season for insignificant club, but so far the Romanian league was pretty much equal and shuffling up and down largely with escaping relegation in mind.

Universitatea (Craiova) was different category – 4th with 39 points. Traditionally strong, but arguably the leader of Romanian football in the 1970s was going down. Not in crisis, but the center changed entirely to Bucharest.

Sportul Studentesc (Bucharest) was part of the shift of power back to Bucharest – 3rd with 48 points and sharing with Steaua the honor of scoring most goal this season – 71. Strong period, no doubt – they were fighting for the title, perhaps, entirely against the odds, for they had no powerful sponsors, but they had Gheorghe Hagi.

Dinamo (Bucharest) finished 2nd with 52 points. Bested Sportul Studentesc in the battle for the title, but lost to Steaua.

Steaua (Bucharest) won the title with 54 points. 23 wins, 8 ties, 3 losses, 71-24 goal-difference. By itself, nothing new about Steaua winning the championship. Even the rapid improvement of the team was not new – the new talented generation was already noticed and was concentrated in Dinamo and Steaua. Naturally, the best talent of the country was quickly snapped by these two clubs , thus, it was sure that Hagi would be the next target and the next clash between Dinamo and Steaua. However, Steaua started its rebuilding a bit later than Dinamo and already had the key players of the great young generation. It was more promising team and may be that was decisive – Hagi moved to Steaua. And soon this wonderful team will concur the world: powerful sponsors or not, the class of this team was most important in footballing terms.

Romania. If Yugoslavian football was going through a period of decline, the Romanian one enjoyed a period of strong revival, thanks to wonderful generation of players. At club level, it almost reached its peak – the very best in the history of Romanian football. True, there was heavy state involvement, which Ceausescu’s son directly running Steaua as his own club and taking the upper hand over rivals of Ministry of Internal Affairs, but state meddling could not do much if talented players and coaches do not exist. Romania was blessed with incredible talent at the moment and it was young talent: consider this – Hagi was not even playing for Steaua yet; Jenei was still young and yet unknown coach and his assistant was even younger Iordanescu. Some great players were still unheard of – Belodedici, for example.

Second Division. Three groups, their winners promoted, as usual. But this season was significant in the light of the tricky and long-lasting battle between Army and Police. Apart from that, nothing really new: each group had dominant leader without a rival.

Serie I.

Otelul (Galati) finished 3rd with 38 points. Expected to battle for the promotional spot, but did not. City rivals Dunarea CSU (Galati) was much stronger – 2nd with 48 points – but even they were not much of a challenge to the leaders.

FC Petrolul (Ploesti) easily won the championship: 24 wins, 6 ties, 6 losses, 67-23, 54 points. Superior all the way and happily returning to First Division.

Serie II. Here was the interesting occurrence suggested at the beginning.

Most participants hardly ever aimed for a place above second level. Here is an example of the typical: Flacara (Moreni). 13th with 33 points. Normally, former first division members were on top of the table, trying to return back to the top league.

Clubs like CS Targoviste, but it was not their year – they finished 5th with 35 points. True, they had 3 points deducted for some infringement, but even with full record this squad was not going to be more than 3rd. A distant 3rd – the winners finished 10 points ahead of the 2nd placed Siomii (Sibiu).

And what winners! This is most likely a photo of them – because of the name. Dinamo Victoria (Bucharest) had its strongest season since foundation and won the league after 18 wins, 12 ties, 4 losses, 69-41, and 48 points. Their victory made immediate problem and what a quandary it was: this was a semi-club, founded in 1971 – it was the second team of Dinamo (Bucharest). Thus, promotion should have be prohibited… but Dinamo was the club not just of the Police, but of the all-powerful Secret Police. As far as I can tell, Dinamo was the only club having a second team playing in Second Division ever and very likely there were no clear rules about promotion of such type of teams. Opposing the Secret Police was not easy, but some kind of opposition was seemingly voiced, most likely coming from Steaua, belonging to the Army and at that time personally led by Nicolae Ceausescu’s son. Dinamo Victoria was promoted nevertheless, but the name was changed to Victoria and the club was separated from Dinamo, becoming independent entity. This was most likely done only in jest, because as soon as Ceausescu was toppled in 1989, Victoria was disbanded: ‘for violation of the laws and sports rules’. That, because the club was never separated from the Police and was subservient to mother-club Dinamo. Even Ceausescu’s son was unable to change that. For the present moment – the end of the 1984-85 season – the fact was simple: Dinamo Victoria was promoted. Very few enjoyed that.

Serie III. The same as the other groups, as far as the season went.

Aurul (Brad) had strong season and finished 4th, but promotion was not even a dream for them – former top league members were above them: CSM Resita, 3rd, and Gloria (Bistrita), 2nd. Neither provided strong challenge to the leaders – Gloria ended with 42 points. That was 8 points less than the winner’s record.

Universitatea (Cluj-Napoca) dominated the championship, finishing with 20 wins, 10 ties, 4 losses, 68-23, and 50 points. Like the winners of Serie I, FC Petrolul, they were just returning to top flight after some regretful exile.

The Cup final opposed Crvena zvezda to Dinamo. Naturally, a great clash: the rivalry between Serbians and Croatians, between Belgrade and Zagreb, spiced by additional desire to win a trophy when the title was clearly out of their reach. May be not great football, but it was tense and highly contested final. It ended without a winner: 1-1. In the replay Crvena zvezda extracted 2-1 victory. Dinamo lost.

Given the gravity of the final, what kind of squads the rivals had is unimportant. Yet, Dinamo was a bit weaker team and perhaps that mattered at the end. Top row from left: Kobescak, Mlinaric, Arslanovic, Dzeko, Arnautovic, Juric, Lulic, Susak

Middle row: Cupan, Maric, Rumora, Istvanic, Cerin, Dragan Bosnjak, Stojic, Cvjetkovic

Sitting: Branko Bosnjak, Munjakovic, Petrovic, Ivic – coach, Bogdan, Borislav Cvetkovic, Zvezdan Cvetkovic.

Ivic did what he could with the squad as it was, but apart from Mlinaric and Maric nobody else was at his prime – the Cvetkovic brothers and Dzeko were too young, others seemingly reached the limits of their potential and could go no further. Tiny loss, by single goal, but a loss.

Crvena zvezda clinched the victory and won its 11th Cup. If anything, the season was saved and it was firmly established that the 1970s, when Crvena zvezda was practically unable to win the Cup, were not going to be repeated – this was already the 2nd Cup Crvena zvezda won in the 80s. As for the squad, it was great that the boys could win, but it was largely due to willpower. True, the leading players of Crvena zvezda were more than those of Dinamo and slightly better too, but talented recruits were badly needed.