Football Journey

The Cup final confirmed the transitional state of Hungarian football at that time: the new strong teams were not sos strong to dominate and the old feet were still good enough. Vasas vs Diósgyõri VTK – old feet vs provincial disturbers of the status quo.

Vasas was still having big names – Meszaros, Muller, Varadi, Zombori, Torok. Getting long in the tooth, but not at all to be dismissed, especially at a time when oldish stars were placed on the international market. Vasas was seemingly the favourite.

Paper is one thing, real football – something else. Vasas lost the final 1-3.

Standing from left: Szabó Géza vezetőedző, Szabó, Tatár, Salamon, Oláh, Kádár, Veréb, (középen) Szántó, Borostyán, Kerekes, Kutasi, Tóth István gyúró.

Crouching: Fekete, Teodoru II., Szalai, Görgei, Fükő.

Happy and proud Cup winners!

Diosgyiori VTK (Miskolc) did it again – they won their first cup in 1977 and added a second one in short time. No doubt, the best years of the club. Therefore, a legendary squad – which was not bad at all. Yet, it was a provincial team without much future: in the championship they finished 12th, which was their rather typical position. It was a wonderful team only on local level and it was unlikely they would be able to keep their best players for long. But they won over the long-established stars of Vasas, added a second cup – a sign of a transitional period: smaller clubs with younger squads were pretty equal to the big clubs, depending on aging stars.

 

Hungary was still running its largest first division – 18 clubs – which, given the general decline of the game in the country, perhaps explains the comfortable existence of most clubs. Three clubs were far below the rest in 1979-80.

Good for clubs like DMVSC – or Debrecen – the lowest of the ‘comfortable’: they finished 15th, just above relegation zone, but with 30 points they were never in trouble. The 16th finished with 22 points.

MAV Elore (Szekesfehervar) finished 16th and went down, thus reducing the first division derbies by one. Videoton was running strong, MAV Elore did not – perhaps understandable situation in a smaller city: not enough money to keep two relatively strong clubs.

Salgotarjan, as the club was popularly known, finished 17th with 20 points. Relegation was hardly a surprise – SBTC was lowly club and no stranger to lower division football.

The weakest of the weak was not match even to the other outsiders, finishing with 15 points.

Pecsi VSK was a newcomer, which did not last, as expected. The only thing about their departure from the league was the end of the novelty of provincial derbies: Szekesfehervar lost its derby this season and so did Pecs.

Pecsi MSC, traditionally the stronger club of Pecs, finished like they ever did – in mid-table. Unlike getting stronger Videoton, PMSC just kept their usual level. Their smaller neigbours PVSC did not develop into a rival.

Weak season for Ferencvaros – they finished 6th with 39 points – three more than Pecsi MSC at 7th place.

Videoton ended 4th with 43 points and a point better was Vasas.

Bronze medals for Vasas – they were still going relatively strong.

The title was a contest between Ujpesti Dosza and Honved. Honved had the edge and won the championship 3 points ahead of Ujpesti Dosza. May be Honved took advantage of the shaky generational change of their rivals, but it was historic victory.

Third row, from left: Weimper, Varga, Lukács, Kocsis, Pál, Kozma.

Middle row: Tóth Kálmán gyúró, Paróczai, Garaba, Nagy A., Dajka, Esterházy, Fejes, Tichy Lajos vezetőedző.

Sitting: Menyhárt, Pandúr, Melis, Bodonyi, Pintér, Gujdár.

On one side, it was a victory of the Army over the Police – the traditional rivalry in the Communist countries. It was part of the revival of the Army clubs in Eastern Europe at the end of the 1970s. On the other hand, this was the first title won since 1955! It was their 6th and the number is surpirzing, considering that the old Honved was closely associated with the great ‘Flying Magars’ of the 1950s. But the Hungarian Revolution in 1956 cut the wings of Honved in more than one aspect: not only stars emigrated, notably Ferenc Puskas, but the political changes diminished the powerful status of Honved – a status clearly seen as Stalinist creation. It took 15 years for Honved to come back.

Honved were strong indeed, but were to return to a dominance? Was it a beginning of second golden period? They had a team of contempary stars, unlike the aging Ujpesti Dosza and shaky Ferencvaros. But it was not a great team – Guydar and Pinter were leading players for some time, but never the best at their positions in the country. Garaba, Kozma, Bodonyi, Dajka, Menyhart, Poczik… not a bad bunch, but somewhat unfinished, not the prime stars. Much more perspective squad, compared to Ujpesti Dosza, but not great one. It all depended on further development – Honved returned to the top of Hungarian football, but really strong years were yet to come.

Hungary II division. A mixed bag of winners.

Declining Csepel (Budapest) was still too good for second division and won promotion quickly. The team was not too bad actually – Hajdu, for instance, was still national team material. But the glory years were long gone, never to return. Still, it seemed that the proper place of Csepel was in the top league.

Kaposvari Rakoczi – one more attempt to establish itself among the best Hungarian clubs. Unlike Csepel, it was more than doubtful they will succeed.

The third club winning promotion was different – NYVSSC never played first division before.

As many Hungarian clubs, the name is hidden behind convenient abbreviation, for it was long and difficult, but just as often it was known in another version – just the name of the home city Nyiregyhaza. The club was founded in 1928 and went into several name changes between 1944 and 1955. The changes were not over, though – in 1977 the club merged with the other club of the same city, Nyiregyhazi Spartacus Petofi, becoming Nyiregyhazi Vasutas-Spartacus Sportclub. Hence, NYVSSC. One long and difficult to chant version; the other – difficult to pronounce, so it was sufficient just to call it Nyiregyhaza.

Third row, from left: Temesvári Miklós vezetőedző, Bakos Béla gyúró, Szekrényes, Gáspár, Ambrusz, Szűcs, Nagy Lajos technikai vezető,Arany László palyaedző.

Middle row: Buús, Moldván, Cséke, Kiss, Mayer

Sitting: Lukács, Polyák, Kozma, Czeczeli, Turtóczky.

The newest incarnation proved the most successful in the club’s history, winning the very first promotion. Like Kaposvar, the squad was nothing to speak of and the club was not expected to last among the best. Then again, who could tell in advance.

New page was opened in Czechoslovakia, however, with some difficulties. 1980 was double-edged edged year: international success of the national teams at the European Championship and the Olympic games, but at home it was not so great season, marked by inevitable aging of the great 1976 heroes, the sharp decline of the Slovak clubs Slovan (Bratislava) and Spartak (Trnava), and the lack of really strong current club. Dukla (Prague) seemingly had the squad to dominate the league, but had a weak season. There was no other well-rounded team in the league – the better ones had no more than 5-6 classy players. To a point, the aging stars of 1976 still determined positions – who had them, performed quite well. The best example was Bohemians (Prague), which started their perhaps greatest period – they had Antonin Panenka (32 years old by now) for years, but since 1977 few more veterans were added: Karol Dobias (33, formerly of the excellent Spartak Trnava team), Frantisek Vesely (37, who spent his best years with Slavia Prague) and Premysl Bicovsky (30, formerly of Sklo Union Teplice). They, plus few formerly promising, but failing to become stars players – like Dusan Herda (29), formerly of Slavia (Prague) – amalgamated into one of the best teams at this time. It should be noted that 1979-80 was the last season for Panenka and Vesely – in the summer of 1980 the Czechoslovakian Federation started exporting players, a new trend in East Europe – USSR made its first transfer of player abroad, Bulgaria and Romania also did so. Hungary started a year earlier. It was one and the same pattern everywhere: players, well into their 30-s , nearing retirement and no longer needed for the national teams were permitted to play abroad in small numbers. Panenka and Vesely were among the first transferred abroad after the brief ‘Prague Spring’ period in the late 1960s. The new opportunity perhaps boosted the moral of aging stars, who found new reason to keep top form, but the problem was that they and not yet the younger generations shaped Czechoslovakian football.

At the lower level – no sign of change. Sklo Union (Teplice) and Spartak (Hradec Kralove) won the two groups of the Czech Second Division.

Sklo Union had no rival in their group, leaving the next team 7 points behind and seemingly ready to return to to flight. But they lost the play-off against Spartak 1-1 and 0-1.

Spartak (Hradec Kralove) were Czechoslovakian champions once upon a time – 20 years ago. After that they declined and spent most of the 1970s in the second division. Perhaps they were coming back?

The Slovak Second division had a bit of variety – DAC Dunajska Streda, unheard of previously club won one of the groups and painfully moving up and down Tatran (Presov) was the other group winner.

Well done by DAC, but that was all. Tatran won the promotional play-off. However, this team should be taken into account for the future: they failed this time, but the 1980s were their glory years.

As for Tatran, it was painfully familiar success. It was difficult even to count how many times they were promoted only to be relegated again. A typical ‘unsettled’ club – too strong for the second division, yet, too weak for the first. None of the promoted was expected to shake the top league – they would be lucky to escape relegation next year.

The unlucky ones, going down were not a surprise – two of small fry, which were clearly below the rest of the league in 1979-80.

Skoda (Plzen) finished last with 19 points.

Jednota (Trencin) was 15th with 20 points. Dukla (Banska Bystrica) was safe at the 14th place with 26 points. Most of the league was fairly equal and hardly exciting.

Ruda Hvezda (Cheb) was one of the ‘bulk’ – it could be said that they had a good year… finishing 12th with 28 points. Lucky to survive? Perhaps, but they were not that far away from the bronze medalists – 6 points difference. They deserve mentioning for another reason, though: the name. By now, such strongly ideological names were all but gone in Czechoslovakia – since the mid-1960s. Ruda Hvezda means Red Star were a strange remnant of the Stalinist 1950s. Eventually, they changed the name too.

Dukla (Prague) for some reason had a weak year and were out of the championship race, finishing 4th with 33 points. Without them, the top spots were open for those with relatively stronger squads. Bohemians (Prague) got the bronze medals – a success for the club, which ranked distant 4th among Prague’s clubs, playing at tiny stadium. The title was beyond their reach, however.

Zbrojovka (Brno) finished with silver medals, capitalizing on the weakness of others, particularly Dukla. These were strong years for the club, but they had no really great squad – after winning the title in 1978, they did not add new strong players. It was still the same team with the same limitations – 5-6 strong players and the rest were journeymen. Zbrojovka did not really fought for the title in 1979-80 – they ended 5 points behind the champions.

One horse race, then. The winners were one of the strongest Czechoslovakian teams in the 1970s – Banik (Ostrava).

It was easy sailing: 16 wins, 9 ties, 5 losses, 47-23 goal-difference, and 41 points – 5 points more than Zbrojovka. Banik was not troubled at all and won its 2nd title.

The champions were not a great team – to a point, their success came because of the decline or relative weakness of the competition. Vojacek and Knapp were the long-time stars and the goalkeeper Michalik was also now and then playing for the national team. Next to them were the rising stars, the next generation of national team regulars – Radimec, Licka, and Rygel. This group, in good form, was enough to make the difference in a league without any well-balanced team studded with stars. Objective circumstances helped indeed, but no reason to deny the success of Banik – this was the best period in the history of the club. Champions in 1976, Cup winners in 1979, second title in 1980 – and it was not over yet.

The Czechoslovakian Cup final opposed the Cup winners of Czechia and Slovakia – Sparta (Prague) and ZTS Kosice. Neither club was strong at the time – Sparta finished 10th and Kosice – 13th in the league. Both clubs were in a special moment: trying to restore their positions after some lean years. Both clubs ‘enjoyed’ second division not long ago.

Kosice, under slightly different name – VSS, instead of ZTS – was quite strong in the first half of the 1970s, but as a provincial club, they had no chance to maintain strong squad for long. Eventually, they suffered decline after 1975, failed behind their city rival Lokomotiva (Kosice), dropped to second division, and at the turn of the decade were just trying to re-establish themselves in the top league. The Cup final was a rare and chancy opportunity for some success. Alas, they lost the final 0-2.

Sparta won the Cup, which sounds normal, given the history of the club – one of the most successful and famous Czech clubs. But the familiarity with the name hides the truth: the 1970s were perhaps the lowest point in the long history of the club. They were even relegated to the second division. Ironically, the only trophy Sparta won was as a member of the second division – the Cup. Making history, however, for this was the only time a second division club won the Cup in the history of the country. They won promotion the same season, but so far they stayed in the lower half the league table, slowly trying to build a stronger team. Miroslav Starek, Josef Jarolim, and aging Jaroslav Pollak, ironically, the star player of Kosice during its good years, were the bone of not made yet team. Frantisek Straka was the promise for better days: already included in the national team. Sparta had enough classy players to overcome weaker ZTS Kosice and started the 1980s brightly: winning the Cup suggested a team rising. It was still uncertain affair, but at last Sparta had some good players and a chance to improve.

 

Dynamo (Berlin) was not taken for what it was yet – they won the titles, but not the cups. Nothing alarming or suggestive: they lost the Cup final in 1978-79 and did not reach it at all in 1979-80. It will be later, when it became clear that Dynamo were made dominant by every mean available to their omnipotent owner, the Stazi, the Cup became a sign of the corruption: Dynamo (Berlin) was unbeatable in the league, but the Cup format was not so easily organized: direct elimination was not so easily manipulated. Perhaps the Cup was not all that important, perhaps it was left to hide the ‘organized’ championships by pretended fairness. But all this belongs to future speculations. In 1979-80 Carl Zeiss and Rot-Weiss (Erfurt) reached the Cup final. Rot-weiss scored in the first half, Carl Zeiss managed to equalize 10 minutes before the end of the match, and finally prevailed with 2 more goals scored in the extra-time. 3-1 and the Cup went to Jena.

Rot-Weiss fought bravely, but inevitably lost. No strong players in their team, they were the underdog. By far. There were long gone years when Erfurt – under the name Turbine – was strong, the national title. The great years finished in 1955. Under the new name – Rot-Weiss – the club was small potato: constantly in the lower half of the table and relegated a few times. This year was no different – Rot-Weiss finished 12th, escaping relegation by 2 points. Nobody expected them to win the Cup final – objectively, they were too weak. Too bad they lost, though – it was rare success for the club: their first since they were champions in 1955. Their first under this name. And it was their second final – the first they lost in 1950, when they were called BSG KWU Erfurt. They lost their second final too…

Carl Zeiss were stronger – way stronger with their about 10 former, current, and future national team players – and won their 4th Cup and their first trophy since 1974. It was not an easy victory, but class prevailed in overtime. Traditionally, one of the strongest East German clubs, but something was not known yet – that this very team will be the strongest internationally squad of Carl Zeiss, achieving the biggest European success of the club.

One other thing was also unknown… that this cup will be the last trophy won by the club. So, let us take one more look at the boys.

The chasm between second and first division was not the only one in East German football – by the end of the 1970s a second big separation settled down: the top league was clearly divided into two groups. Half the league just fought for survival and the other half was way stronger. Newcomers hardly lasted more than a single season. 1979-80 season only confirmed the trend.

 

BSG Chemie (Leipzig) – winning promotion in 1978-79 – finished last with 15 points. Nothing new… the same happened to them before: promoted in 1974-75 and relegated in 1975-76, for instance.

1.FC Union (Berlin) ended 13th with 16 points and were also relegated.

Union won promotion in 1975-76 – along with Hansa (Rostock) – and since then just fought for survival. Their best season was 1977-78 – 8th place. Inevitably, their stint in first division came to an end… they never improved. The relegation of the second clubs in Berlin and Leipzig meant there will be no derby – if the word is really applicable to East German football – in 1980-81.

The relegated were merely the bottom of the lower half of first division – East German football already settled into vast divisions: the lowly second division, much weaker than the first, then half the top league clearly not a match to the other half. It was marked division, staying stable to the end of DDR, with only few exceptions. First division was evenly divided – 6 points were the chasm between the upper and lower half.

BSG Sachsenring (Zwickau) ended at the top of lower half – 8th with 22 points.

HFC Chemie (Halle) was at the bottom of the strong upper half – 7th with 28 points. But there was one more division in the upper half – 5 teams were more or less equal, yet, far behind the top two. Nothing new and also a sub-division which was to stay. Effectively, East German football came to be dominated by one club, occasionally challenged. Anyhow, the good news in 1979-80 was the second promoted club in 1978-79:

Vorwaerts (Frankfurt/Oder) finished 5th. They were relegated in 1977-78 and came back with a vengeance after an year in the purgatory of second division. In decline since the beginning of the 1970s, the Army club seemingly was coming back – similar revival of Army clubs happened elsewhere in Estern Europe: Dukla (Prague), Honved (Budapest), rebuilt CSKA (Sofia) all came strong by the end of the decade. It looked like Vorwaerts were following the pattern, but a look at their squad did not promise much: there were no famous players there.

Carl Zeiss (Jena) finished with bronze medals.

Hinten v.l.

Helmut Stein(Co-Trainer) – Jürgen Raab – Dietmar Sengewald – Gerhard Hoppe – Hans Meyer(Trainer) – Rüdiger Schnuphase – Ulrich Oevermann – Jörg Burow – Dr.Johannes Roth(Mannschaftsarzt)

Mitte v.l.

Peter Rock(Mannschaftsleiter) – Lothar Kurbjuweit – Konrad Weise – Hans-Ulrich Grapenthin – Detlef Zimmer – Eberhard Vogel – Lutz Lindemann – Dieter Freund(Masseur)

Vorn v.l.

Dr.Manfred Dressel(Co-Trainer) – Andreas Krause – Matthias Kaiser – Dieter Noack – Thomas Töpfer – Gert Brauer – Martin Trocha – Paul Dern(Co-Trainer)

Well done, but… Carl Zeiss had not been title contender since 1974-75. The squad was still one of the best in DDR, the most the boys were able of was to finish on top of the bulk of the stronger half of the league with 32 points. This record left them 10 points behind from those fighting for the title.

And they did fight, the best two. Unlike the previous season, which was one-team show, this year there was real race. Real to a point…

Dynamo (Dresden) lost the title by a single points. The previous year they were also second, but 7 points behind the champions – now they really raced. Strong team, the most consistent club in the decade was showing signs of crisis. Unfortunately – and yet not a common knowledge – Dynamo had no chance of winning no matter what team they had. Was it fair championship or not matters little: Dynamo lacked both scoring and defensive power, compared to the champions.

Second consecutive title for Dynamo (Berlin).

It was not so confident victory as the year before, but Dynamo (Berlin) proved that will stay on top – no one time wonder these boys. Of course, many national team players and pretty much the new generation, pushing aside the heroes of 1974. Younger and less tired team than Dynamo (Dresden), Magdeburg, and Carl Zeiss, to be sure, but were Terletzki, Lauck, Netz, Noack, Rudwaleit, Trieloff, Ernst, Troppa much better than the stars of the other three strong clubs? It is hard to confirm or deny – it was not evident yet that Dynamo (Berlin) will dominate East German almost to the fall of the Berlin wall. It was not clear yet that Stazi will make them unbeatable, with a grip so strong that the top players of the country will play for Dynamo and referees will help them, and back-room orders will diminish whatever opposition existed. For the moment, their title was optimistic and refreshing: a new strong club added to the usual three and no chancy winners either: two consecutive titles meant Dynamo was going to stay, that the East German football will be more competitive than before. So it looked… and it was entirely wrong.

DDR had mixed season – familiar and different at once. The vast see of second level provided no excitement. The five groups of the second division hardly had strong and ambitious members – ever! Clubs like Chemie (Premnitz) played there.

Clubs, which even looked alike – the only difference between a photo of Chemie (Premnitz) and one of Chemie (Leipzig) is the goalkeepers’ colours. Same kits… and it is a safe bet that other clubs with this name were also dressed the same. Well, Chemie (Bohlen) was. The club from Premnitz, however, ended 11th in Group C of Second Division – next to last and thus relegated. May be 95% of the second level clubs were entirely unknown and insignificant even in East Germany – first division was out of their reach, out of their dreams.

But there was something curious: a few foreign players appeared here.

Motor (Hennigsdorf) was unheard of club, but had three foreigners in its squad: Plachetko (standing, 2nd from left), Igor Uschakow (crouching last at the far right, 31 years old), and Wladimir Polikarpow (standing, 6th from left to right, 37 years old). Not well known names to be sure – perhaps Plachetko was a bit familiar: he played for CSKA (Moscow) once upon a time. The three Soviet players are interesting for the following reasons: first, Eastern European countries and particularly USSR did not export players during the 1970s (except Poland). Czechoslovakia and Romania did export players in the late 1960s and stopped in the early 70s. Regular exporting started roughly in 1980 – Hungary a bit earlier. Second, Communist countries never imported and exported players between themselves – and the first officially transferred player from one Eastern European country to another was announced at the very end of the 1980s, shortly before the whole system collapsed. Third, the thorny question of Soviet exports and the purely historic matter who was the first export and the list of early Soviets playing abroad. Mind, officially, the first Soviet export is still considered Zinchenko, who went to Rapid (Vienna) in 1980. The general Russian population, including journalists, learned about it well after USSR seized to exist. But Hadzipanagis went to play in Greece in 1975. Shortly after that Armenian player appeared in small club in USA, and returned to USSR. However, technically, these were not transfers – both players were officially allowed to emigrate, because of their nationality. But Zinchenko officially was not a transferred player either – he was registered under different profession, taking his salary not from Rapid, but from the Soviet embassy in Vienna.

So, what about the Russians playing for Motor? If one doesn’t know, then there is no problem. Nobody heard of them, they were never mentioned in the Soviet press – unlike hockey players, allowed to play abroad since the early 1970s. Very likely the Russians were not a news in DDR either – perhaps mentioned casually as names in the sport pages, just because this cannot be avoided, but without nationality or former clubs. And why were they playing in DDR? Only a guess: most likely they were part of the Soviet Army stationed in East Germany. Marian Plachetko (35 years old) clearly suggests so – he was playing for the Army club at home, where players were militarized and many remained in the Army as officers after they retired from football. Plachetko perhaps was an officers, the other two may be just recruits, placed in units in DDR. A little ‘understanding’, nothing official, just on the side – let the boys keep their form and play a bit of football, in the same time helping the local team to stay afloat. Lower divisions permit such ‘muddy’ agreements, for nobody is looking. Yet, these were foreign players in East European club – unique occasion! Was it the first? How many before? Where? It is difficult to unearth information, but there is a legal guiding point to start with: however rarely, East Europeans moved from one to another country to work. Since they were legally there, there was no problem to kick the ball a bit since East European sports were ‘amateur’ in status. No transfers, no contracts, no fees – as far as high level football is not involved. So the Russians played and helped… not much, after all: Motor (Hennigsdorf) finished 8th in Group B of Second Division, 2 points ahead of the relegated…

But they were not the only Russians:

TSG Neustrelitz also had a bunch: Mikhail Forkas (32 years old, his last name misspelled in the German list), Nikolay Litwinow (35), Wiktor Babenko (23), and Wiktor Kalinin (27). Again, not famous players, but the goalkeepr Forkas was champions of USSR in 1972 with Zarya (Voroshilovgrad) and even played a tiny bit for the national team. The second ‘Russian’ club faired even worse than the first: Neustrelitz finished last in Group B and were relegated to third division.

So much for mystery and curious historic events. Second division football took its course and produced its highs and lows. The lows: WM Schmalkalden (Schmalkalden) finished with 6 points in the Group D. They were the team scoring the least number of goals this season – 13. But Nord (Torgelow) was truly the worst: they finished with 4 points in Group A. Lokomotive (Halberstadt), 12th and last in Group C received most goals in their net: 73.

The best were only relatively best, for the 5 group champions had to play still a promotional tournament. As a rule of thumb, there was not great competition in second division – if there was, that most likely meant generally weak teams. Group E was such – Wismut (Gera) won a point ahead of Motor (Weimar) and Kali Werra (Tiefenort) was close behind. In Group D Energie (Cottbus) won 2 points ahead of Vorwarts (Kamenz), and Motor (Werdau) was third 4 points behind Vorwarts. Dynamo (Furstenwalde) edged Chemie PCK (Schwedt) on goal-difference, but only these two fought for the first place – Vorwarts (Neubrandenburg) was distant 3rd – 7 points behind. In Group C and Group A there was no fight at all – Chemie (Bohlen) won Group C 7 points ahead of the closest pursuer. They lost only 1 match this season. Hansa (Rostock) did not lose any match and more: they finished with almost perfect record: 21 wins and 1 tie! They allowed just 8 goals, scoring a league record of 77 in the same time. Vorwarts (Stralsund), one of generally stronger second division members, was second – 14 behind the champions! It was more or less clear by now – and nothing new either: Bohlen and Rostock were just relegated from first division – and were too much for the second division. Far too strong.

The promotional tournament between the 5 group winners simply showed the supremacy of the recent first division members. SC Dynamo (Furstenwalde) finished 5th with 4 points. BSG Wismut (Gera) – 4th also with 4 points. Goal-difference decided 3rd and 2nd place – BSG Energie (Cottbus) lost: 9 points and 10-12.

BSG Chemie (Bohlen) clinched 2nd place – and promotion – also with 9 points, but 13-12 goal-difference. Not an easy promotion, but success came at the end. Chemie was relegated from top flight in 1978-79 and immediately going back.

So was the other relegated team in 1978-79 – FC Hansa (Rostock). They were clearly way above any other second division club in 1979-80 – they lost a single point in the regular championship of Group A. In the mini-championship of the group winners, they lost their only match this season. But won the rest – 7 wins, 0 ties, 1 loss, 20-6, and 14 points – 5 more than Chemie (Bohlen).

Simply the best. But first division was another matter – obviously, the gap between first and second level was enormous: relegated clubs usually stayed in second division only one year. Yet… Hansa was relegated in 1874-75, promoted 1975-76, relegated 1976-77, promoted 1977-78, relegated 1978-79, and again promoted 1979-80. Their pitiful record was the longest, but otherwise typical for the clubs coming from second division – they were relegated right away normally. Too strong for the second league, too weak for the first.

Austria was unable to keep strong club football for obvious reason – the great players were few and one after another they moved to play for foreign clubs. As a result, Rapid (Vienna) moved down to mid-table and Wacker (Innsbruck) was relegated. 1979-80 was one-club show. Down, in the Second Division the curious thing was the parity of teams of the same town: SV Sankt Veit was 8th and SCA Sankt Veit – 9th, separated by 1 point. Wacker (Innsbruck) finished 2nd and SPG Innsbruck – 3rd. Wacker , which seemingly lost the powerful back-up of the famous firm Swarovski, fought for promotion, but lost the battle to SC Eisenstadt.

The winners were indeed the strongest team in the league this season, but their major task the next year would be to survive in the highest level of Austrian football. SC Eisenstadt – little known champions.

The small First Division seemingly work well – at least, the league became fairly competitive. Unlike many other countries, there were no terribly weak clubs. The battle for escaping the last place lasted the whole season and only near the end a gap was open between the unlucky club and those above.

First Vienna FC, the oldest Austrian club, finished last with 26 points. Once again they were relegated – First Vienna became a club ‘in between’ too strong for second division, too weak for the first, often moving between the leagues to this very day.

Rapid (Vienna) suffered greatly without Hans Krankl – they dropped down to 5th place this season, 7 points behind the 4th placed club. Rapid had seemingly stronger squad then most in the league, yet, without their superstar, they were nothing. So alarmed were the functionaries, they took extraordinary measure – and succeeded. But this was for the next season.

Three clubs fought for silver and bronze. Grazer AK lost the race, finishing with 42 points – 7 more than Rapid, but unfortunately one less then their immediate competition. Goal-difference decided the medals:

Linzer ASK had the best defense in the league – they lost just 6 matches out of 36 total and received only 34 goals. Excellent season, but best defense played a bitter trick on them – their city neighbours scored aplenty, and bested them at the end. To a point, the success of LASK was close to a miracle, for their squad was limited: they depended largely on a trio of veterans – Edi Krieger (34),who returned to Austria after strong years with FC Brugge (Belgium), the former West German international midfielder Wolfgang Gayer (37), and former Austrian international striker Helmut Koglberger (34). Talented and young goalkeeper – Klaus Linderberger (23) – completed the ‘skeleton’: one strong player in every line, but the rest was not great and given the age of the key players, it was not a team capable of staying at the top for long.

VOEST (Linz) edged their city rivals at the end and finished with silver. Great, in terms of local rivalry , and also strong finish of perhaps the most successful decade in the history of the club. But it was laso clear that VOEST was not going to be a major force in the future: more or less, the team had only one really strong player – Max Hagmayr (24). VOEST, perhaps with enthusiasm and bit of luck, was on equal footing with LASK and GAK, but nothing more. A title challenger they were not.

In fact, there was no challenger to the favourites: 20 wins, 10 ties, 6 losses, 84-39 goal-difference, 50 points. 7 points more than VOEST and LASK, 21 more goals scored then the next best scorers, and second-best defensive record in the league. Perhaps there is no need even to mention the champions.

One more title, easily won, a routine…

The favourites also reached the Cup final. Austria (Salzburg) was the other finalist, a rare success for the club at that time. They even won the home leg of the final 1-0. But in the second leg in Vienna, the hosts won 2-0 and won the cup.

Salzburg ranks 4th in the all-time Austrian table today, but the 70-s were low decade for them. 1979-80 was no different from previous years: Austria finished 6th, 6 points ahead of the relegated 10th placed First Vienna. Fifth place was unreachable… even weak Rapid was capable of far better record. Reaching the Cup final was a fantastic achievement for the club and they were more than brave at the final, but… their squad, lacking even faintly recognizable player was not match of the excellent team of the other Austria.

All trophies were collected by Austria (Vienna), a double, which was only right – this team had no rival at that time. Carefully built and internationally successful team, which was able of getting strong players from other clubs. Friedl Koncilia, Robert and Josef Sara, Obermayer, Baumeister, Gasselich, to name a few of those wearing the national team shirt along with the violet one. Brazilian assistant coach, not famous, but representing artistic football Uruguayan and Brazilian foreigners – unlike the other Austrian clubs, preferring little known or very aged West Germans and Yugoslavians. But the big difference was that Austria was the only club at the moment keeping a superstar – Herbert Prohaska. And right behind him was even younger great player – Walter Schachner. With them Austria was simply head and shoulders above any other club and also had a safety cushion: this proved to be the last season of Prohaska in Vienna, but unlike Rapid and Wacker, who had nobody to take the reigns after a superstar left them, Schachner was going to stay for a year or two, and replace Prohaska as a team leader. Or so it appeared at the time. Austria had too much talent for an Austrian club and no wonder they won everything. The club was beginning a new decade really strong.

Slavia did not end empty-handed. They reached the Cup final. Beroe (Stara Zagora) was the other finalist – Beroe was playing their 4th Cup final and their second in a row. No other provincial club was so successful, but so far Beroe lost every final they played. No different this year – they lost 1-3. Here, of course, another dark speculation rises: provincial clubs were routinely ‘robbed’ of trophies. Slavia was robbed from the title and given the Cup as a remedy. Easy thinking, lacking evidence. Slavia won quite easily the final and Beroe made a record: they lost a Cup final for a forth time! Yet, it was good year for Beroe – they finished 4th in the championship and reached the Cup final.

Happy and not so happy Cup winners – Slavia won their 6th Cup, but not their 6th title this year. Their first trophy since 1975 – thanks to the same generation of players, which established them as one of the greatest squads of the club ever.

Sitting from left: Pavlin Dimitrov, Botyo Malinov, Vanyo Kostov, Tchavdar Tzvetkov, Georgy Minchev, Milcho Evtimov, Ilyaz Aliev.

Middle: Trendafil Terziisky – conditioning coach, Vasko Shalamanov, Ivan Khaydarliev, Svetoslav Georgiev, Christo Mladenov – coach, Atanas Aleksandrov, Georgy Dermendzhiev, Ivan Chakarov, Simeon Simeonov – assistant coach.

Top row: Stoycho Stefanov, Ivan Iliev, Iliya Velichkov, Andrey Zhelyazkov – captain, Petar Miladinov, Georgy Gugalov.

Very strong squad, lead by one of the best Bulgarian coaches in the 1970s – Christo Mladenov mastered the excellent Beroe team of the late-60s – early-70s and lead Bulgaria to the 1974 World Cup finals. Plenty of experience and talent. He had 7 current national team players at his disposal, established as top players for years. Slavia had lethal strikers: Alerksandrov-Zhelyazkov-Tzvetkov were arguably the best attacking line during the 1970s in the country. What Slavia lacked was well rounded first eleven: there was always a missing piece for one or another reason. This year the missing piece was found: Botyo Malinov was never a great player, he played little and left no memories at his original club, Levski-Spartak, but fitted perfectly to Slavia’s midfield – where the weak point was. With Malinov, Slavia finally achieved balanced starting eleven (the real gap was in the middle of defense – the arrival of Malinov solved the problem by moving the defensive midfielder Kostov back as a center-defender). Everything clicked right and Slavia had fantastic season – to the point it had to be prevented from winning the title by ‘other means’. Robbed or not, Slavia did not compare well with CSKA – it was a thin team: hardly any strong player behind the regulars. Older stars than CSKA’s too – the starters played together more or less since 1973, few were already beyond their peak (Aleksandrov, Minchev, Gugalov, Chakarov, Evtimov), others proved to have smaller talent than hoped for (Velichkov, Stefanov), and the only really promising younger additions were Khaydarliev and Aliev. Nobody was nearing retirement yet, but key players were getting older nevertheless – Zhelyazkov, Kostov, Tzvetkov. The clock was ticking against this team – and it was now or never for them. Unfortunately, it was ‘never’. May be they were robbed, but it was short squad getting old and fragile – a single injury was able to destroy it, for the reserves were not even remotely close to the regulars (this eventually happened a year later when Malinov got hepatitis). The golden generation of Slavia unfortunately achieved only 2 cups.

Most of the Bulgarian top division was nothing special. Decline settled in few clubs:

Botev (Vratza) was one of them, slowly going down. They were 10th this season – out of danger still, but their direction was clear. Similar was Sliven, although their fate mostly depended on the quality of players given or taken by CSKA. Sliven finished 13th. Trouble loomed for Pirin (Blagoevgrad) and Lokomotiv (Plovdiv) – they had the same problem: a core of very old stars, surrounded by talented youngsters lacking experience. No players at the prime of their careers – both clubs lacked key players 25-28 years old. The veterans were kept to lead and shape the game, but they were getting too old to produce strong football. Pirin escaped relegation, ending at 12th place, but Lokomotiv (Plovdiv) was not so lucky – they were 15th and relegated.

Lokomotiv (Plovdiv) was one of the best Bulgarian teams a few years back, even candidates for the title. It was sad to see them going to second division. It was even sadder to see great stars going to end their careers in second level league – Todor Ivanov (34 years old), Nedyalko Stamboliev (33), Kosta Bosakov (30), Gancho Peev (33), Georgy Vassilev (35), Christo Bonev (33). Especially the last two, who were leading players for years, national team players, legends. Bonev was the best Bulgarian player of the late 1960s and most of the 1970s, ranking high in Europe, and one of the all-time best Bulgarian players. It was also sad to see bright talent, much better than most players in the league, going down – Vesselin Balevsky (21), Krassimir Chavdarov (22), Eduard Eranosyan (19), and Ayan Sadakov (19). The quartet was already marked as raising stars and stars they became, especially the last two – but not before going to second division (except Balevsky, who moved to Levski-Spartak after the end of the season). It was painful lesson: late start of rebuilding was costly, very costly. Lokomotiv was shaky in the 1980s, unable to gather a team similar to the great one of the first half of the 1970s. Pirin followed the same pattern and same fate, but Lokomotiv went down first.

The other relegated team was Etar (Veliko Tirnovo), which just came back from a stint in second division. Etar came back with a team without chemistry and real class and nothing changed in 1979-80: a bunch of former reserves of Levski-Spartak were added to no good. The new coach was great, but perhaps not fully motivated – Vassil Metodiev made Lokomotiv (Sofia) champions in 1978, but committed ‘unthinkable crime’ – eliminated Dinamo (Kiev) in the European Champions Cup 1978-79, and was fired as a punishment. Etar was not his cup of tea and in any case he needed time to shape a team of his liking. There was not time, he had a rag-tag squad, and finished last. Which ended his engagement with the club.

The other newcomer did much better: Minyor (Pernik) belonged to first division even more than Etar, but normally they occupied the lower half of the table. Like Etar, the squad was misshapen and in early stage of rebuilding. Like Pirin and Lokomotiv (Plovdiv), it was risky squad of old stars and young talent, with mediocrity in between. But enthusiasm helped them and they finished 10th.

Good season for Minyor, but it was not a team for the future – this photo more or less spells out trouble: it is from the testimonial of Georgy Yordanov (pictured on the right), the all-time goal-scorer of Minyor. This season was the last for the well respected center-forward. Inevitably, the veterans were stepping down. At the same time Minyor, located next to Sofia, was old hunting ground for the big clubs from the capital – whatever young talent was spotted was quickly snatched. Minyor had almost no chance of building strong team and there was a sense the club was not going to last in the top league.

Lokomotiv (Sofia) finished 11th , too low for practically the same team, which won the title two years earlier. To a point, the team was shaken by the punishment of their coach Metodiev, but the lowly place was misleading: it was not that Lokomotiv was declining, but rather temporary misfortune, relatedto to their particular style. Lokomotiv played defensive football, depending on counter-attacks. They never scored a lot of goals and scoring was in the feet of Atanas Mikhailov, already a legend. Minimal wins and plenty of scoreless ties was the typical record sheet of Lokomotiv – this season they failed to win enough fixtures, drawing ties instead, and as a result finished rather low. The only problem the club had was the aging of Mikhailov – he was 31. However, it was a minor and even immediate problem – traditionally, Lokomotiv was one-man show and they already had the next great key player – Boycho Velichkov (22). And Mikhailov was not retiring yet – he was good for at least 2-3 more years with his peculiar style of playing (he was never involved in defensive efforts, did not run much, was highly technical, and even getting too fat was not a major problem – essentially, it was enough to give him a few free kicks and corner kicks and he will score at least a goal. Which more or less equaled victory, given the defensive approach of the team.)

The bright side of the league was supposed to be Trakia (Plovdiv) – the club not only managed to avoid a crisis a few years back, when the old stars retired, but emerged with the best young talent in the country. And there was no ending – the youth system of the club introduced new exciting players every year. The squad was young and internally highly competitive and balanced – there was ready replacement of practically every starter, even more than replacement: a newcomer often relegated a year or two older starter to the bench. So far, the team was labeled ‘young and promising’, thus excused for occasional failure – great things were expected in the future. Perhaps 1979-80 was the key season – most of the players were around for 4-5 years already. It was time to show real teeth, which they did not… Trakia finished 5th. Not bad, still considered the most talented squad and… the team for the future. Trakia was risking to become just a never fulfilled promise. Which they really became – coming close to greatness, never great. They should have been contenders in 1979-80, but were not, and the excuse that they were too young was no longer valid – their key players were already 25 years old (Zekhtinsky, Khorozov, Aleksandar Ivanov, Peychev, Krassimir Manolov, Garabsky).

Instead of champions – 5th. The moment was missed and lack of character was showing: at 25, Aleksandar Ivanov was already… past his best, a reserve, and ready to move elsewhere. Few years back he was thought the next great Bulgarian playmaker… Few years back Atanas Garabsky was playing for the national team – now, also 25, he was a substitute. So was Peychev, the reserve goalie, who was expected to be more than a regular – he reached the national team eventually, but for a very short spell. Yet, everybody was talking of these guys as future stars – and most of them retired under this label. No wonder… Levski-Spartak finished higher than Trakia.

The champions of 1978-79 had a problem and a problem detected perhaps two years back: morally aging squad.

Familiar faces for many years… Staykov, Aladzhov, Borisov, Voynov, lead by Panov. These played at the 1974 World Cup. Others came a bit later – Tishansky, Yordanov, Grancharov, Spassov, Stankov. Few were really old – Aladzhov (33), Staykov (31), Panov (30), but this was a squad which reached its prime around 1975-77 and it was far from perfect even then. There was persistent problem in the center of defense, for instance. Peculiar individual limitations became more and more a liability with time – the players were not really old, but getting older and no longer capable of developing or changing. 1979-80 was a season of crisis – the team was not even a contender. Levski-Spartak struggled. They finished 3rd, but far behind the top two. Leaky defense, inefficient strikers, moody midfield. It was a wake-up season – it was time for radical change, but… the eternal problem was at hand: how to dismiss legendary players, especially when they think they are still too good. Years later Stefan Staykov recalled the aftermath of this season with displeasure: ‘they benched us in favour of some youngsters. There was a whole national team sitting on the bench’. True… and not: why playing this very Staykov, who was blind to shots from a distance and reacted to balls by estimation: if the ball was judged going out, he simply did not move. He was often wrong and the ball ended in his net. Anyhow, Levski-Spartak was miserable this year – another finger pointed to Trakia: even when Levski-Spartak was so weak, the great talents of the country failed to come close – Levski-Spartak finished 4 points ahead of Trakia, outscoring them by 6 goals.

More or less, the league was not exciting and almost nothing optimistic. Yet, the season stays in memory -because of the race for the title.

The 1979-80 Bulgarian championship was decided by a single point and CSKA got their record 20th title. A memorable occasion, but tainted by the bitter accusations of the fans of Slavia. To this very day they – and the club after the fall of Communism – swear they were robbed. The race lasted the whole season – CSKA was leading by 2 points at mid-season, but Slavia had better scoring and defensive record. CSKA lost only one match in the fall – Slavia lost 3. In the spring, Slavia reduced the difference to a single point – at a glance, nothing dramatic: CSKA lead all the way. Not by much, but had the edge nevertheless. Given historic tradition, nothing surprising – Slavia did not win a single title after 1945 and were notoriously moody. Strong half-season did not mean much – usually Slavia was quick to destroy itself. But this year they stayed strong all the way – and the reason they lost the title, Slavia supporters claim, was that CSKA was helped. Interested Communist Party officials, the Federation, the referees, other clubs – all plotted against Slavia. CSKA had to win their record title, and Slavia was not to win ever, for, as the oldest Bulgarian club, Slavia would not serve Communist ideals well – they were tainted as ‘bourgeoisie’ . Well, CSKA was ‘helped’ often, so there was nothing new in that. The mechanism was as described by Slavia’s supporters. But they miss – deliberately – one key pointof pressure: CSKA and Slavia both belonged to the Army. Different branches, but in the military structure CSKA stayed higher and subjected to following orders. As a rule of thumb, Slavia hardly ever played seriously against CSKA and it was unlikely the club really rebelled this season: at the end of the day, if order came to lose the title, they will follow. It was not to the liking of the fans, perhaps not to the liking of the players and the club’s functionaries, but when the top general orders lesser officers obey. The sad thing is Slavia really had fantastic season and deserved to win. Were they robbed or ordered to lose the title is a matter of speculation, but nothing can be proved, for nobody involved is speaking. The politics of Bulgarian football, however, are known: the Army clubs – Trakia, Sliven, Cherno more – were to play strong against Slavia and lose without a fight against CSKA. Other clubs would do the same, when local Party bosses get a call from Sofia. Referees will show suspect yellow or red card here and there, give – or not give – a penalty, thus helping CSKA. And Levski-Spartak, out of the race this year, was not going to help – not because of rivalry with Slavia, dated back to the 1920s, but because Slavia usually served as CSKA satellite against Levski: giving away points to CSKA, but playing their best matches against ‘The Blues’. Slavia was alone against everything and everybody, including its own brass, which was going to give up, if ordered so. Slavia had excellent team this year – at last – and was at its peak, but in purely football matters it was not enough: CSKA emerged from its slump with a strong team precisely this year. And they won their record title.

Sitting from left: Vassil Simov, Mario Valkov, Krassimir Goranov, Nikola Christov, Plamen Markov, Tzvetan Yonchev, Vassil Tinchev, Angel Kalburov.

Middle row: Asparoukh Nikodimov – coach, Krassimir Dossev, Metody Tomanov, Tzvetan Danov, Ivan Zafirov, Angel Rangelov, Georgy Velinov, Dimitar Penev – assistant coach.

Third row: Ivan Metodiev, Spas Dzhevizov, Yordan Fillipov, Dinko Dimitrov, Georgy Dimitrov.

This is not the full squad, so one more picture is in order:

First row from left: Angel Rangelov, Tzonyo Vassilev, Ivan Zafirov – captain, Spas Dzhevizov, Vassil Simov, Ivan Metodiev, Tzvetan Yonchev, Angel Kalburov.

Standing: Georgy Velinov, Asparoukh Nikodimov – coach, Dinko Dimitrov, Krassimir Goranov, Mario Valkov, Vassil Tinchev, Nikola Christov, Plamen Markov, Georgy Dimitrov, Dimitar Penev – assistant coach, Yordan Fillipov.

Still missing – Stoycho Mladenov and Radoslav Zdravkov, suspended ‘forever’ for illegal transfers. Technically, not part of the squad – not part of organized football really, but since ‘forever’ was short time in Bulgarian football, they trained with the rest, getting ready to start playing. This vintage was full of former, current, and future national team players – a typical CSKA of any time, but with a difference: this was the new great team of the club. Asparoukh Nikodimov practically established himself as the leading Bulgarian coach this season – he was young and his team was young. As usual, almost all players were harvested from other clubs. The brightest talent of the country was gathered here – players defining the 1980s, becoming legendary: Velinov, the Dimitrov brothers, Yonchev, Markov, Dzhevizov, and add Mladenov and Zdravkov. Internally competitive squad, having equal to the regulars substitutes at almost every post. Young squad with young coaching staff, they were growing together. Young, yet, a squad with plenty of experience. It was said often – the mercurial star of the previous generation Georgy Denev, rudely dismissed from Nikodimov earlier, is never tired to support this view – that Nikodimov did not want to coach former team-mates and kicked out all of them prematurely, but the young coach was no fool: contrary to the legend, here are quite a few of the players he played with – Fillipov, Zafirov, Vassilev, in particular. The veterans were needed to provide leadership and back-up for the young boys. A new great period for the club started this year, one more legendary vintage, which is a matter of eternal, perhaps unsettlable debate: which vintage of the club was the greatest ever – the unbeatable one of the 1950s, the one of the late 1960s-early 1970s,which eliminated the great Ajax, among other victories, or this one, which just popped out in 1979-80 and went to beat two European Champions Cup holders. Few of this squad were not former or future stars – even the unknown deep reserve in 1979-80 – Tzvetan Danov – eventually became a member of the national team. Looking at the squad – they were worthy of the title. A deeper and more versatile squad than Slavia of the same year. Comparing the two opponents, it is hard to see how Slavia was ‘robbed’ from the title – CSKA was at least equally strong and played modern football, thanks to their younger coach. Round numbers stay in memory – and for CSKA this is historic year: their 20th title was won and fantastic period started.