Football Journey

The Cup. 1.FC Locomotive (Leipzig) and 1.FC Union (East Berlin) met at the final. It was unequal clash and the result is practically commenting on the game: 5-1 Locomotive.
1.FC Union had wonderful season, but they mostly run on the excitement from winning promotion the previous year. They went far, very far, but when they faced superior squad at its peak… the difference in class was too much.
1.FC Lokomotive were at their peak presently and no wonder the season was great. Winning the Cup was no big deal really. It was their 4th Cup.

First Division. At the very top – the same as ever. Dynamo (East Berlin) won as expected, although they were not dominant as usual. Whatever new happened, happened a bit down the table – this season the league was not sharply divided into 3 or 4 separate groups, but was fairly equal. Yet, FC Vorwaerts (Frankfurt/Oder) was in obvious decline and it was clear that the Army club was not going to restore its leading position in East German football. In the same time two smallish and traditionally weaker clubs pushed up – BSG Stahl (Brandenburg) and 1. FC Union (East Berlin). It may have been just an accidental strong performance, but the challenge to the status quo was refreshing.

BSG Sachsenring (Zwickau) continued old tradition – newly promoted teams immediately were relegated back to Second Division. They were sorry outsiders, earned 13 points and won just 2 matches. Interestingly, they had a national team striker in the squad: Martin Trocha.

FC Hansa (Rostock) lost the battle for survivel and finished 13th with 20 points. Well, a major star of the next decade played for them, but still young and unknown – and going to second level prsently.

With 22 points, BSG Stahl (Riesa) managed to survive. Which was pretty much all they could achieve. As long as they were not going down, it was great.

BSG Wismut (Aue) – 11th with 24 points.
FC Rot-Weiss (Erfurt) – 10th with 24 points.

FC Vorwaerts (Frankfurt/Oder) – quietly slipping down. 9th with 25 points.

FC Karl-Marx-Stadt (Karl-Marx-Stadt) – same as ever. 8th with 26 points.
1.FC Union (East Berlin) – wonderful season for the newcomers: 7th with 27 points.

SG Dynamo (Dresden) – 6th with 28 points. Surely an accidental slip, but still weak performance for a team with national team players.
BSG Stahl (Brandenburg) – 5th with 29 points. Arguably, the biggest pleasant surprise this season. Top row from left: Frank Jeske, Michael Schulz, Peter Schoknecht, Jens Pahlke, Winfried Kräuter, Mike Wangerin, Holger Döbbel .
Middle row : Trainer Peter Kohl, Andreas Lindner, Ingo Nachtigall, Mannschaftsleiter Günter Boede, Roland Gumtz, Silvio Demuth, Co-Trainer Eckhard Düwiger.
Sitting:  Eberhard Janotta, Uwe Kirchner, Frank Schulz, Detlef Zimmer, Hubert Gebhardt, Gerhard Kraschina, Eckart Märzke, Christoph Ringk,
1.FC Magdeburg – 4th with 29 points. Important season for them – 3 key players retired, but the team dod not decline. The biggest loss was the all-time goalscorer of DDR Joachim Streich. Now the star was coaching them, which also seemed to be fine.
FC Carl Zeiss (Jena) – 3rd with 31 points. Coming back from brief decline and aiming for the title for the first time after 1980-81. Third row from left: Mathias Pittelkow, Jurgen Raab, Thomas Ludwig, Heiko Peschke, Andreas Bielau, Roeser.
Middle row: Jurgen Werner – assistant coach, Volker Probst, Henry Lesser, Karsten Hartel, Meixner, Srefan Boger, Lothar Kurbjuweit – coach.
Sitting: Wolfgang Schilling, Robby Zimmermann, Konrad Weise, Jorg Burow, Andreas Krause, Brauer.

1.FC Lokomotive (Leipzig) – 2nd with 32 points. One of their finest seasons, coming very close to winning the title. Yet, it was impossible task – and the familiar champions prevailed in the head-to head meets: 1-1 and 0-1.

BFC Dynamo (East Berlin) won its 8th consecutive title. It was not an easy victory this time, but they came on top of their opponents. 12 wins, 10 ties, 4 losses, and 46-31 goal-difference gave them 2 points more than the rivals from Leipzig – 34 points. Everything appeared to be fine – their second team won Group A of Second Division as well, but in the same time this was the title won with least points earned . They were unable to beat Carl Zeiss at all. But the team had 11 players with national team appearances, so nothing to worry about… with the mighty help of Stasi.

DDR. In the UEFA club ranking of the year, East Germany was 12th, a high place not really corresponding to the general level of this country’s football. But it was also confirmation of the internal divides – 2 or 3 clubs were able to concentrate the best players in their squads and perform well on international stage. That has been for years and nothing changed, inlcluding the champion. But at lower level the season was quite extraordinary: the newcomers to the top division played unusually well and there was brand new second division champion – a club which never played top league football before. Meantime, the other second division group was won by a team, which could not be promoted – the second team of Dynamo (Berlin) – so the second-placed team was promoted instead.
Second Division, Group A. TSG Bau (Rostock) was last,
Stahl Walzwerk (Hettstedt) – 17th, and BSG Aktivist (Brieske-Senftenberg) – 16th. These were the relegated teams. Fairly gradual and equal situation up the table to the very top.
BSG Chemie (Leipzig) ended 3rd with 43 points. BFC Dynamo II (East Berlin) won the championship wiyh 46 points – but as a second team, they were ineligible for promotion.
Which was great for BSG Energie (Cottbus) – they lost the batle for 1st place by one point, finished 2nd and were promoted. It was strong season for them anyway: they won most games in the league – 20 – and also finished with best defensive record, allowing only 30 goals in 34 games. Going back to top flight after their relegation in 1981-82.
Second Division, Group B. No drama here – one team was clearly stronger than the rest. Freshly relegated BSG Motor (Suhl) continued to be weak and finished 14th, nearly relegated even further down. Still, they survived – down to third level went BSG Wismut II (Aue) – last, Motor F.H. (Karl-Marx-Stadt) – 17th, and FC Rot-Weiss II (Erfurt) – 16th. The second team of Rot-Weiss lost its second division place on worse goal-difference.
At the top, BSG Chemie (Bohlen) was very distant 3rd with 39 points.
HFC Chemie (Halle) was comfortable 2nd with 47 points. But they did not challenge the leader.
The group winner was a surprise – traditionally, freshly relegated from First Division teams got quick promotion back to top flight, but this season was different: BSG Fortschritt (Bischofswerda) dominated the championship and winning it with 52 points from 23 wins, 6 ties, 5 losses, and 61-23 goal-difference. The team attached to and named after tractor-making factory never played in the First Division. So far, they had been stable second-division team – most often finishing in the upper half of the table, but never among the best. It was great for them, of course, to go up. And their victory completed unusual second-division season – both groups had new winners and they were not former top-league members. Of course, the second team of Dynamo (East Berlin) could not be promoted, so by default Fortschritt was to be the only debutante in top flight next season.

The Cup final was both a reminder that there was no really strong team in Switzerland and success of the underdog. FC Sion and Servette reached the final, mid-table neigbours and nothing special this season, but ambition was not absent.
Servette wanted at least to save disastrous season, but it was not to be – they lost 1-3.
Frankly, Servette’s loss was not a great surprise – Swiss teams were always pretty equal, so it was difficult to speak of favourites and predict ‘sure’ outcomes. Yet, Servette won the title in the previous year and the squad was pretty much the same – thus, supposed to run for the Cup to safe its pride, if for no other reason. Given the squad, Servette should have been the winner – they had a handful strong players, perhaps more than any other Swiss club and certainly more than FC Sion, but… names do not win games.
A great moment for FC Sion – and no surprise. A modest club, but a Cup specialist in recent years – this was their 5th Cup and third won in the 1980s, beginning in 1980. Lovely victory and more than enjoyable moment.

First Division. Too many outsiders, but at the top it was a battle between equals and no favourites. Thus, to some extend, the winner was a surprise.

FC Baden – not just an outsider, but an outsider compared to the other outsider. They earned only 8 points and won just 1 match! Last and relegated, of course.

FC Grenchen – 15^th with 16 points, relegated.

Vevey-Sports – 14^th with 17 points.

FC La Chaux-de-Fonds - 13th with 18 points.
FC Wettingen - 12th with 24 points.
FC St.-Gallen - 11th with 30 points. Way above the last 5 teams – that was the sad reality in the Swiss league. 
Miserable season for FC Basel - 10th with 30 points. Never even in theoretical danger of relegation, but maybe their worst season in the last 20 years.
Servette FC – 9th with 31 points. Considering they won the 1984-85 championship... what a drop down. 
Top row from left: Charles Andre, Lucien Favre, Laurent Jaccard, Alexandre Stefanovic, Mats Magnusson, Michel Decsatel, Silvano Bianchi, Alain Geiger, Eric Burri.
Middle row: Robert Kok, Rainer Hasler, Erich Burgener, Samuel Opoku N`Ti, Philippe de Choudens, Pascal Besnard, Bent Christensen.
Front: Robert Ley-Ravello, Michel Renquin, Paul Garbani, Jean-Marc Guillou, Marc Schnyder, Gilbert Castella.
FC Sion - 8th with 33 points.
FC Aarau - 7th with 34 points.
Lausanne-Sports - 6th with 35 points.
Grasshopper - 5th with 38 points.
FC Zürich - 4th with 39 points.
FC Luzern – 3rd with 41 points.
Xamax - 2nd with 42 points. Perhaps the only club ascending in the last 2-3 years and now a title contender. 
BSC Young Boys (Berne) somewhat surprisingly won the championship with 44 points from 18 wins, 8 ties, and 4 losses. 72-28 goal-difference - 2nd best strikers, best defenders. To a point, Young Boys took advantage from the current weakness of Grasshopper, Basel, Servette, and even FC  Zürich and won a race between more or less equals, which is alwaysa bit chancy. But they were persistent and consistent, so nothing to be said against them – the team was winning and not losing. A modest team... few players appeared briefly for Switzerland (Bregy, Weber), Polish striker Joachim Siwek had long, but not for big clubs, career in the West, The Egyptian midfielder Youssef Radi was naver called to play for his country, the young Danish striker Lars Lunde called attention to himself exactly this season – and went to play briefly for Bayern thanks to that. The only big name in the team was the Swedish midfielder Robert Prytz, who joined Young Boys in the beginning of 1986 and played in the spring half of the season. Success was achieved with remarkably modest squad.
It was a grand moment for the club and its supporters – Young Boys won its 11th title, but had to wait for it a quarter of a century! The 10th title came in 1960 and they were without a trophy for almost 10 years, lastly winning the Cup in 1977. Still, Young Boys was the third most successful club in Switzerland behind Grasshopper and Servette and the victory was perhaps a beginning of golden period   - nothing like that was going to happen, but it was still wonderful to have a cuurent victory and not to be some old, but faded glory. 

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…