Football Journey

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

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

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

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

Nothing much up the table.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

First Division. Surprise champion, that was the season in nutshell.

Inter (Bratislava) finished last with 23 points and Bratislava’s derby was going to be played again in the next season, but in Second Division.

Lokomotiva (Kosice) – 15th with 24 points and relegated. Well, the other Slovak derby in the city of Kosice was also going to be played in Second Division.

Dynamo (Ceske Budejpovice) survived – 14th with 24 points.

ZVL Zilina – 13th with 26 points.

Tatran (Presov) – 12th with 26 points.

DAC (Dunajska Streda), absolute debutantes, did well – 11th with 27 points. Top row from left: Šoltés, Pavlík, Kašpar, Hesek, Fieber, Mucha, Liba, Šimonič (masseur), N. Szabó.

Middle row: MUDr. Stadtrucker (doctor), J. Kapko, F. Németh, Kosňovský, Veselý, J. Medgyes, Vahala, Šrámek, Ravasz, Kalmár, Reisz (technical).

Front row: Hodúr, Krištof, Bartoš, Pecze (coach), Ing. Šanta (president of football club), Abrahám (assistant trainer), Audi, Majoros, Michalec.

Like most clubs in Czechoslovakia, the team from the town near the Hungarian border, where Hungarian was spoken at least as much as Slovak, was old, but so far did not play any significant role. Reaching the top league was their highest achievement and managing to stay there was great.

Spartak (Trnava) – 10th with 27 points.

Dukla (Banska Bystrica) – 9th with 28 points.

Banik (Ostrava) – 8th with 30 points.

Ruda Hvezda (Cheb) – 7th with 31 points.

Slavia (Prague) – 6th with 34 points.

Bohemians (Prague) – 5th with 34 points.

Sigma (Olomouc) – 4th with 34 points.

Dukla (Prague) – clinched 3rd place on better goal-difference, for they too finished with 34 points.

Sparta (Prague) – 2nd with 37 points.

TJ Vitkovice – brand new champions with 40 points from 14 wins, 12 ties, 4 losses. 48-32 goal-difference. Quite a surprise.

TJ Vitkovice practically came from nowehere – not one of the traditional powers and a team more often played second level than top league, they represented wonderful victory of the underdog. It was not an easy win, but Dukla was stuck and Sparta perhaps took its victory for granted and underperformed, and Vitkovice took advantage of the situation.

The squad was not bad, but hardly exceptional, but they squireled points and kept good form, fueled by increasing eathusiasm to the end. It was rather defensive team – Sparta outscored them by 27 goals, for example – but they made sure to not lose a game. Wonderful success, but it was quite clear that it was one-time wonder, not to be repeated. So, the victory had to be enjoyed in the fullest possible way.

The Cups. As much as it was to see victory of the ‘little man’, it was equally alarming that the traditional powers were in obvious bad shape – Celtic did not reach the semi-finals of either cup and Rangers was eliminated in League Cup semi-final by Hibernian. Aberdeen, though, excelled – and it was equally telling that no team was able to have truly great season – if the champions and the runners-up failed to win a cup, Aberdeen failed in the championship. But enough musing. Aberdeen and Heart of Midlothian met at the Scottish F.A. Cup. Rather easily Aberdeen destroyed the current candidates for the title – 3-0.

The Hearts lost twice this season in the last moment – bad luck, surely. And surely enthusiasm was not enough to prevail over objectively better sides.

For Fergie indeed – he made Aberdeen strong and successful and he was leaving. This was the second trophy for the season, for the other cup was already won half-a-year ago.

As it was, the League Cup had very different schedule and finished in the previous year. Early in the season, really – in October 1985. Hibernian and Aberdeen reached the final and Aberdeen did not leave any doubt who was stronger – comfortable 3-0 victory. Really, it was the expected outcome.

Nice try for Hibernian and perhaps they had some hopes after eliminating Glasgow Rangers in the semi-finals, but objectively they were no match to Aberdeen.

Aberdeen with a double this season – perhaps they were the best Scottish squad at the moment. The trouble was that they had no way keeping their stars – Gordon Strachan was already sold, for instance. Wonderful as they were, Aberdeen could at best keep the same level – getting stronger was impossible, they were sellers, not buyers. So, success was boiled down to Alex Ferguson – he was capable of motivating the team and keeping it in good condition. But he was leaving… so it was more a matter of reviewing his spell than looking to the future: a title and lost final in 1979-80, 2nd in the championship of 1980-81, 2nd in the championship and cup winners in 1981-82, cup winners in 1982-83, champions and cup winners in 1983-84, champions in 1984-85, and lastly winners of both cups in 1985-86. Plus the Cup Winners Cup, of course. The best period in Aberdeen’s history and perhaps it was possible even to extend it a bit, if the core players were preserved a little longer and their motivation maintained high. Possible, Because of the state of Scottish football – Aberdeen, even without Ferguson, was more than likely to have better squad than most clubs. But future would be of little concern at the moment of victory.

Premier Division. It was fine for those on the bottom, because they were not going to relegated, but this was no comfort for the Scottish football at large: a 10-team league was divided into 4 distinct groups – 4 strong teams, 2 mid-table, 2 weak, yet much stronger than the last two. Bigger league would be perhaps more interesting for the fans, but could not hide the reality: Scottish football was quite impoverished. Really strong and competitive championship was just a wild dream. It was clear that no more than 4 clubs could be strong – there were resources for more.

Clydebank – last with 20 points. Happy to stay in the league, thanks to the coming enlargement, but…

Motherwell – 9th and that thanks to better goal-difference, for they too finished with 20 points. They too only postponed the real battle for survival to the next season.

Hibernian – weak, but still much stronger than the last 2 teams: 8th with 28 points. Bigger league was perhaps good news for them – that meant security. A bit larger group of weaker than them clubs.

St. Mirren – 7th with 31 points. Like Hibernian, they looked forward to bigger league, so to be safer.

Dundee FC – 6th with 35 points. Mid-table club… what does it mean to be sedate mid-table team in so small league? Largely, no danger of relegation…

Perhaps Dundee FC could be satisfied with mid-table place, but Glasgow Rangers reduced to mediocrity? Well, there they were – 5th with 35 points. And in such situation since 1978-79… slowly sinking from 3rd to 5th place. Urgent changes were needed.

And that was the sorry state of Scottish football… 4 teams. Under closer scrutiny, none all that great.

Aberdeen – unable to defend its title of the previous season and 4th with 44 points.

Dundee United – 3rd with 47 points. Just four decent teams and among them Dundee United already settled for 3rd position and no more. They were entirely outside the race for the title three years in a row.

No matter how strong or weak the teams, the battle for the title was thrilling – two rivals went together to the very end, finishing with equal points. Goal-difference separated them.

One may feel truly sorry for Heart of Midlothian – they had weaker team compared to Celtic and Abredeen, but played bravely and lost the championship only on goal-difference. Were they really one of the top 4 is also debatable, for the Hearts were only 7th in the previous season, but sudden ups and down were quite typical of them. Too bad they did not win.

Both Hearts and Celtic finished the season with 20 wins, 10 ties, and 6 losses and Celtic clinched the title on better goal-difference: 67-38, +29 bettered Hearts’ +26. Of course, fans were happy, but… it was not just that Celtic barely prevailed over modest squad. Given who had what, Celtic had the best squad in Scotland by far – but it was not a great squad and was rather short and limited one. The best quality of it was that most of the boys were young. Danny McGrain was the pillar of the team, but he was 35-years old already. The new bright star was Mo Johnston, but there was no much around him. Yes, it was stronger and better rounded team than the other Scottish teams at the moment, but… McGrain was getting too old, Roy Aitken, Tommy Burns, and Dave Proven certainly reached their maximum already and they were not going to get better, only older. Pat Bonner was solid, but hardly great goalkeeper. It was largely a matter of keeping the young players away from English clubs, which was almost impossible – especially in the case of Mo Johnston. Celtic won one more title, but reality was bitter: they were reduced to local power and only in terms of the current state of Scottish football. Internationally, Celtic was just run-of-the-mill team. The only comfort was that arch-enemy Rangers was in worse shape.

Scotland. The top league was going to increase to 12 teams the next season, so there were no relegations from it. Dramatic race for the title, ending with title decided by goal-difference. Pathetic Glasgow Rangers.

Third level – Division 2. Two teams way stronger than the rest of the league.

Albion Rovers was one the weakest this season – 13th with 29 points, but since there was no relegation here, nothing worse was going to happen.

Queen of the South lost the battle for top position by 2 points and finished 2nd with 55 points. Happily promoted.

Dunfermline Athletic won the championship with 57 points – 23 wins, 11 ties, 5 losses, 91-47. Climbing back to second level and happy about it.

Second level – Division 1. The enlargement of the top division affected them as well – second division was going to be reduced to 12 teams. Two teams promoted, as usual, but without relegated top league teams. No drama at the bottom – 2 teams were pretty much the outsiders. One team was above the rest, but there was dramatic battle between 5 teams for the 2nd place.

Alloa Athletic was 14th and out with 26 points. Ayr United was the second relegated team – 13th with 31 points.

Clyde FC was nothing special, like most members of the league – 11th with 35 points.

Partick Thistle was among the weaker teams this season – 8th with 36 points.

Dumbarton, East Fife, Forfar Athletic, Kilmarnock, and Falkirk battled for 2nd place.

Dumbarton lost the race – 6th with 43 points.

Falkirk clinched the 2nd place with 45 points and was promoted.

Hamilton Academical dominated the league and won the championship with 56 points. 24 wins, 8 ties, 7 losses, 77-44 goal-difference. It was great success, for they played top-league football for the last time in the last season before it was reorganized – 1975-76. Back then they ended 9th and thus went to the newly formed second level and were unable to play in the Premier Division so far.

The Cup final opposed Velez (Mostar) to Dinamo (Zagreb). Both teams fought for 3rd place and since they were out of the championship race, winning the Cup was imperative. Velez had the day, though, winning 3-1.

Dinamo (Zagreb) lost the final and ended the season emptyhanded. Third row from left: Cuckovic, Adzic, Novak, Bogdanovic, Hadzic, Besek, Arslanovic, Bracun, Cupan.

Middle row: Baca, Katanec, Komocar, Stojic, Cerin, Z. Boban, Okvaradi, Maric, B. Belin – assistant coach.

Sitting: Smit, D. Boban, Istvanic, Lulic, Blazevic – coach, Mlinaric, Munjakovic, B. Cvetkovic, Zv. Cvetkovic.

Strong squad, coached by Blazevic – a hot coach already, although not yet a legend. However, Dinamo reached its peak a few years back and now on the way down. At least for the moment. But here was the first foreign player imported in Yugoslavia – Okvaradi. He appeared only once during this season and was unloaded. Not a great beginning, but at least a start. Okvaradi went to play in Austria, despite his poor European debut. This year African player appeared also in Hungary, so it is hard to say which Communist country was first to import foreign footballer.

A great success for Velez (Mostar) – a club which could not build a league winner no matter what, so the only reasonable aim was winning the Cup. Of course, it was wonderful to win, but more importantly the slump started in the late 1970s seemingly ended and Velez had strong team again. Perhaps not as great as the famous ‘BMW’ of the 1970s, but close. Well deserved victory.

First Division. If seeing Partizan and Crvena zvezda way above the rest of the league was hardly a surprise, seeing who was relegated was surprising. May be not so much OFK Beograd, but the last team… Vojvodina (Novi Sad) in the role of hopeless outsider? Unbelievable… yet, true. Apart from their sorry state, the league was similar to previous season, even if the level of football now was lower than before. Goal difference decided the title and also decided the second relegated team. Relegation was possible for most teams, though – in the final table 7 points was the difference between the 3rd and the 17th. And bronze medals were decided on goal-difference too.

Vojvodina (Novi Sad) arguably had their worst season ever. Why the sudden sharp decline could be debatable, but the fact was they were hopeless outsiders this season: last with 20 points. 10 points behind the 17th…

Although it was unusual to see OFK Beograd relegated, their decline was going on for many years, eventually reaching the logical bottom. True, they were a bit unlucky – 5 teams finished with 30 points and unfortunately OFK Beograd had the worst goal-difference among them. Too bad… Standing from left: Milenkovic, Bjelic, Stojakovic, Duric, Ivanovic, Kuzmanovski.

Crouching: Stojadinovic, Kahrovic, Markovic, Stevovic, R. Stankovic.

Well, the squad pretty much tells why they went down…

Celik (Zenica) – lucky survivors: 16th with 30 points.

Lucky survivors were FK Sarajevo too – 15th with 30 points – but why they had so disastrous season?

Buducnost (Titograd) was 14th with 30 points as well, but for them it was normal to fight to survival and finish near relegation zone.

Dinamo (Vinkovci) – 13th with 30 points. Not bad for them to survive.

Sloboda (Tuzla) – 12th with 31 points. Near peril, but avoiding it.

Pristina (Pristina) – 11th with 32 points. Standing from left: Vokri, Zaveli, Sengulji, Domi, Pupovac, Cimili, Dinali, Prekazi, Mehinovic, Stefanovic.

Sitting: Tortosi, F. Murici, Sinani, Cana, Dz. Murici, Salja, Nedzipi, Morina, Keljmendi.

Sutjeska (Niksic) – 10th with 32 points.

Osijek (Osijek) – 9th with 33 points.

Vardar (Skopje) – 8th with 34 points.

Zeljeznicar (Sarajevo) – 7th with 35 points. Top row from left: Crnogoric, Mioc, Elez, Verlasevic, Skoro, Komsic, Skrba.

Middle row: Milanovic, Vuric, D. Jankovic, Ninkovic, Mihajlovic, Sliskovic, Gavrilovic.

Front: Ivanovic, Pavlovic, Z. Samardzija, Janjus, Baljic, Sabanadzovic.

Dinamo (Zagreb) – 6th with 36 points.

Rijeka (Rijeka) – 5th with 37 points.

Hajduk (Split) – 4th with 37 points.

Velez (Mostar) – 3rd with 37 points. Clinched bronze medals on better goal-difference.

Crvena zvezda (Belgrade) – 2nd with 49 points. So close were the eternal enemies in this fight for the title, that the caption reads ‘champions’. Alas, they were not… lost the title by single goal!

Partizan (Belgrade) dramatically won the championship – everything between them and their arch-rivals was equal: both finished with 21 wins, 7 ties, 6 losses and 49 points. It came to better goal-difference: Crvena zvezda had 73-38 – plus 35. Partizan; 65-29 – plus 36! A single goal difference, but in their favour and they came on top. Hardly the best squad in the history of Partizan, but strong enough. Lucky victory, but only title counts, so never mind.

 

Yugoslavia. Dramatic final of the championship – goal-difference decided the champion and also the battle for survival. Slightly lower general quality of the game and two teams way above the rest of the league, but still fairly equal general level. And a new chapter of East European football started: import of foreign players. Looks like 1985-86 was the beginning – in Yugoslavia and Hungary, very minimal yet, but a start.

Second Division. The usual 2 groups – East and West, 18 teams in each, the last 4 were relegated and the winners – promoted. More dramatic battle for top position in the East II Division, but in total 5 teams were much stronger than the rest.

West II Division. At a glance, Borac (Banja Luka) catches the eye immediately – what a big decline! Although rarely among the top teams, Borac had been solid First Division member for years. Now – it was uncharacteristically down: 12th in Second Division. Escaped relegation to third level by 2 points and with worse goal-difference than 2 of the relegated teams.

Vrbas was 10th with 32 points.

RFK Novi Sad – 7th with 33 points.

Rudar (Ljubija) – 6th with 34 points. Standing from left: Momcilo Turuntas, Tomislav Radic, Resad Crnalic, Ante Grabo, Vinko Samardzija, Stanko Mrsic.

First row: Dusko Ostojic, Fahro Bihorac, Ibrahim Kusljugic, Dragoljub Bekvalac, Nedeljko Topic.

Years later Bekvalac will make quite a good name as a coach.

Jedinstvo (Brcko) – 5th with 36 points. Standing from left: Stevic, Enver Lugusic, Sulovic, Kevric, Vuinovic, Tosic, Bekic – assistant coach.

Front row: Curcic, Suznjevic, Jahic, Zoran Malisevic, M. Besic.

Three teams were stronger than the rest, but two of them eventually lost steam and fell behind.

Leotar (Trebinje) – 3rd with 44 points.

Iskra (Bugojno) – 2nd with 44 points, ahead of Leotar on better goal-difference. Standing from left: Podgajski, Vuckovic, Dezelic, Z. Toskic, Delilovic, Pavlic.

Crouching: G. Toskic, Novokmet, D. Vrabac, ?, Mirkovic.

Spartak (Subotica) won the league with confidence: 20 wins, 9 ties, 5 losses, 65-33 goal-difference, 49 points. Top row from left: Pestalic, Bilbija, Durovic, Duran, Ugljanin, Kovacevic, Popovic.

Middle row: Karac, Dimitrijevic, Stajner, Acimovic, Rafai, Ljiljak, Slijepcevic.

Sitting: Arsic, Jeftic, Todorovic, Pejovic, Kuntic, Miranovic, Cosic, Puhalek.

Wonderful achievement – promotion to top flight.

East II Division.

Radnicki (Nis) and Rad (Belgrade) left the rest of the league far behind and were entangled in dog fight to the end – 1 point separated them in the final table.

There was similarity between Borac (Banja Luka) and Napredak (Krusevac) – both first division members were in bad shape right now. Napredak finished 11th with 33 points and relegation further down was a real option: at the end, Napredak escaped by 3 points.

Crvena zvezda (Gnjilane) had no reputation to keep, so they were quite happy just to stay in the league: 14th with 33 points.

But others had to suffer: FK Zemun, practically fresh from playing in First Division, now was going to third level – 16th with 28 points and relegated.

Another former First Division member – FK Bor – also went down to third level – 15th with 30 points.

Trepca was satisfied with 34 points and 9th position.

Borac (Cacak) – pictured here with Mladost (Rogatica), white kit – was 5th with 34 points. Like the West Group, in the East most teams were closer to the relegation zone than to possible promotion. Radnicki (Kragujevac) finished 3rd with 36 points – that is, 15 points behind the 2nd placed, but only 6 points ahead of the relegated 15th placed FK Bor.

The battle for 1st place was lost by Rad (Belgrade) by 1 point – they finished with 51 points.

Radnicki (Nis) clinched 1st place with 52 points from 22 wins, 8 ties, and 4 losses. Goal-difference: 65-21. Third row from left: Bankovic, Dzinovic, Gogic, S. Nikolic, Vojinovic, Binic, Mitrovic, Kuzmanovic.

Middle row: Halilovic – coach, Pejic, Visnjic, Ivanovic, Jocic, Duvandzic – team chief, Stojkovic, Zlatanovski, Milenkovic, Jankovic – assistant coach.

Sitting: Kocic, Milosevic, Radosavljevic, Gajic, Aleksic, Mladenovic.

Going down to Second Division was bitter pill to swallow for a club, which met Real Madrid just a little earlier – Radnicki was among the top Yugoslavian teams in the early 1980s and played strong football in the European tournaments. Coming back to top flight was a must, but they faced very strong competition from Rad (Belgrade) and were lucky to win the league. However, they did win and everything was fine.