Football Journey

The lowest of them all in 1981 was Iceland – the time,when Icelandic players started getting noticed in Europe did not translate into increasing power of the clubs. Simple: talent was quickly going abroad.

The Second Division was dominated by two teams – Keflavik won the championship with 28 points and IB Isafjördur was 2nd with 27 points. For a tiny 10-team league the dominance was enourmous – Throttur Reykjavik, 3rd, finished with 21 points. The top two were promoted, which was particularly great for IB Isafjördur – they rarely reached the top league.

First Division, also with 10 teams, had 3 outsiders. FH Hafnarfjördur was last with 7 points. KR Reykjavik and Thor Akureyri ended with 12 points each, worse goal-difference relegated Thor. KA Akureyri was 7th, but never in danger – they finished 6 points ahead of the outsiders.

The battle for the title was roughly between 4 teams – this was almost half the league, but Icelandic football never had dominant clubs. UB Kopavogur took the 4th place – not bad at all. They lost bronze medals on goal-difference and IA Akranes took the 3rd place. A point better Fram Reykjavík , settling for silver.

Vikingur Reykjavík kept the title in the capital, which was wonderful since they had too many rivals at home – Reykjavik was represented by 4 teams in the top league. Vikingur played a splendid season, mostly excelling in winning – they won 11 of their 18 championship matches. Fram lost only 2 matches – halve of the losses Vikingur suffered – but they tied halve of their total games.

The Cup final was played between ÍB Vestmannæyjar and Fram Reykjavík.

IBV prevailed 3-2 and triumphed with one more trophy.

Finland ranked 31st at the end of 1981 – of course, the Fins were among the eternal outsiders of Europe, but now they were outpaced by countries like Luxembourg and Cyprus, which have been lower. Not a good period for Finnish football, one may think.

The championship was a complicated affair by now, consisting of two stages – regular season and according to the final standings, the top 8 proceeded to the championship round with their points halved. The rear 4 moved to promotion/relegation tournament with the top 4 teams of the regular Second Division season. Sepsi-78 Seinäjoki, RoPS Rovaniemi, MP Mikkeli, and MiPK Mikkeli were the lowest 1st division teams. Kuusysi Lahti, Elo Kuopio, KPV Kokkola, and Honka Espoo were the 2nd division hopefuls. The rules stipulated that, according to final league position, every team got bonus points – the highest placed teams got 4, and the lowest placed – 1. The final tournament was 1-leg round robin and the top 4 teams at the end were going to play in the First Division the next season. This year second division outplayed the lowly first division members: Kuusysi topped the group, followed by Elo and KPV was third. Only Sepsi-78 managed to keep first division place by finishing 4th.

KPT Kuopio won the preliminary stage of First Division and their prospects looked great at this point – they lost only matches, scored freely, and kept tight defense. HJK Helsinki was 2nd with 28 points and TPS Turku – also with 28 points – was 3rd. But halved points eliminated the 3 points-lead KPT had at the end of the preliminary stage. In the Championship Group HJK stepped on the pedal and added 11 points to their starting 14. KPT managed only 7 points, which, added to their initial 16 was not enough for the title. Haka Valkeakoski benefited by the rounding rule – to the higher number – and good performance at the final stage gave them 9 more. TPS dropped 4th at this level. Haka ended with bronze medals and KPT with silver.

The new champions were HJK Helsinki – nothing surprising about that.

The Cup opposed HJK to the up and coming Kuusysi, so far in the second division. Kuusysi was just emerging, not really up to a big challenge and they lost 0-4.

HJK Helsinki triumphed with a double.

Albania. Partizani (Tirana) with one more title.

Hardly a surprise to anyone.

The Cup final was played between Besa (Kavaje) and Vllaznia (Shkoder). The first leg, predictably, decided the new holder: much stronger Vllaznia destroyed Besa 5-1. The second leg was mere protocol, but it was also a consolation for Besa in front of their home crowd – they won 2-1.

Vllaznia with the Cup – apart from local pride, Vllaznia practically represented provincial football against the clubs from Tirana and holding its ground nicely.

Luxembourg. FC Wiltz 71 won the Second Division, dominating it this season. Second finished Jeunesse Hautcharage. Both teams were promoted.

Relegated from First Division were Stade Dudelange, 12th, and Etzella Ettelbruck, 11th. Three teams competed for the title, leaving the rest the league far behind. Jeunesse Esch finished 3rd, but with the best defense in the league. Red Boys Differdange lost the title by a point, but they lost only 3 matches. The champion lost one more and what gave them the title was their wins – 17, two more than Red Boys won.

Progres Niedercorn were the happy champions, scoring 68 goals in 22 championship games – one of the best average per game in Europe.

The Cup final opposed Olympique Eischen to Jeunesse. As much as one wished the underdog to win, reality was different – Jeunesse destroyed them 5-0.

Jeunesse won its 8th Cup.

 

Malta next. Senglea Athletics won the Second Division, followed by Gzira United – both teams won promotion.

The tine First Divison nevertheless had two hopeless outsiders – Marsa ended last with 3 points and Birkirkara finished 7th with 5 points. Relegated both and their presence relaxed the stable league members. Valletta FC had strangely weak season, finishing 5th with 13 points. Hamrun Spartans took bronze medals with 15 points. Only two teams competed for the title, head and shoulders above the rest , losing among themselves just a single match. The loss went to Sliema Wanderers, which at the end finished 2nd with 23 points. However, they had the best defense this season, allowing only 8 goals in the 14 championship rounds. The new champions did not lose any game, but won 12 and tied 2, scoring the most goals in the league – 34, and second-best defense, allowing 10 goals. At the end of the championship, there was a gap of three points between them and Sliema Wanderers. It was the spring match against Sliema Wanderers, which secured them the title and gave the only loss to Sliema.

Hibernians (Paola) celebrating their victory over Sliema Wanderers and along with that, their 5th title. No wonder both players and fans were all smiles.

The Cup final opposed Floriana to Senglea Athletics. Floriana did not have a strong season, but still was tiny bit stronger than the Second Division leaders and clinched 2-1 victory.

Not an easy victory, but enough for Floriana’s 15th Cup.

Senglea Athlerics deserves a special mentioning. Even in weak football countries like Malta there are ‘big’ and ‘small’ clubs on one hand, and on the other hand, second division clubs almost winning a trophy are rare too, as everywhere else. Senglea Athletics were perhaps the first lower division team to claim the Cup – they failed, but they won the Second Division, thus moving up to the top league.

Second Division champions and Cup finalists – Senglea Athletics in their finest season.

Northern Ireland – nothing spectacular, as usual. Distillery Lisburn finished last after very weak season in which they won only 1 match. But there were was no relegation, so it did not matter how bad Distillery was. The usual battle on the top between Linfield and Glentoran, the favourites hardly concerned with the rest of league.

Linfield lost the race against their city rivals, alhough they excelled defensively – only 15 goals in their net, but they lost 3 matches and consequently, the title. 35 points, however, left the next team in the table 7 points behind.

 

The title stayed in Belfast once again – Glentoran won it, after a splendid campaign: they finished without losing any match – 15 wins and 7 ties. This earned them 37 points, 2 more than Linfield’s record and meant 17th title altogether.

The Cup final opposed Ballymena United to Glenavon Lurgan. Ballymena prevailed 1-0.

Happy winners, Ballymena United. They never won the championship, but it was their 4th Cup and first after 1857-58. Long wait, but they won in particularly strong season – Ballymena was also third in the championship. Well done.

Cyprus – nothing new neither on international front, nor on the domestic one. 26th in Europe. Evagoras (Paphos) won the Second Division. Their city rivals APOP finished 2nd and both teams were promoted. Once again, one should add.

Aris (Limassol) was the First Division outsider – last with 17 points. Alki (Larnaca) was perhaps unfortunate – worse goal-difference placed them 13th and they joined Aris in relegation. Four teams struggled the escape the road to the lower level, all ending with 21 points. EPA (Larnaca) survived, so did AEL (Limassol), thus preserving top league derbies in their towns – there were the stronger at the time Apollon (Limassol), 6th, and Pezoporikos (Larnaca), 3rd. But the battles at the end of the table concerned only the teams involved – at the top the usual clash between APOEL and Omonia decided the new-old champions. APOEL lost the least matches this season – only 3, but they tied too many games – 10 – and their city enemies excelled in winning. 16 wins, 6 ties, 4 losses, 56-21, and 38 points made Omonia once again champions.

They also reached the Cup final, where they met Enosis Neon Paralimni, which had a strong season – they were 4th in the championship – and tried to win a trophy at last. The final ended 1-1 and had to be replayd. Alas, the strength of Paralimni was only enough for one match – they lost the replay 0-3.

Omonia (Nicosia) triumphed with a double. It was not easy sailing, but they won everything. The Bulgarian connection was to a large point the reason for continual success: Omonia employed often Bulgarian coaches – Vassil Spassov at this time – and the results were so great, so soon Omonia was going to increase the Bulgarian presence with a string of players as well. It may have been political connection – the left-wing Omonia naturally looked for help from Communist countries, which in turn was safe for Bulgaria to permit coaches and eventually players to work for Omonia. But no matter – by now, it was just the familiar, predictable, even boring – Omonia with more trophies.

 

Norway next – 25th. Mjondalen and Sogndal won promotion from Second Division, but there was one more spot in dispute: the 10th in First Division – Brann – played promotion/relegation tournament with Molde FK and Pors Grenland IF from Second Division.

Molde FK prevailed on goal-difference, for the three participants ended with 2 points each, and was promoted to top division.

FK Lynn was 12th and Haugar – 11th in First Division. Both clubs were directly relegated. 10th was Brann and they went to the promotion/relegation tournament after which they went down too.

The three last teams were outsiders this season, well behind the rest of the league.

Brann, 10th with 17 points. Third row, from left: Terje Rolland, Espen Røtne, XX, Eivind Norderud, Bjørn Erik Brandt, Neil MacLeod, Paul Danielsen.

Middle row: Thor Åge Johansen, Geir Austvik, Finn Krogh, Robert Hirsch, Øyvind Pettersen, Knut Langeland, Atle Bilsback.

Front row: Tore Strand, Bjørn Dahl, Les Shannon (trener), Kjell Rune Pedersen, Ingvar Dalhaug, Arne Møller.

IK Start finished 8th with 21 points, besting Bryne FK on goal-difference. It was fairly equal championship with no outstanding favourites – 8 points divided the 9th from the champion.

Rosenborg got bronze medals with 26 points. Ahead of them, 2 points better, and getting the single UEFA Cup spot reserved for Norway, was Viking. And a point better than Viking were the new champions.

Valerenga IF (Oslo) clinched the title with 9 wins, 11 ties, and 2 losses and 44-27 goal-difference. The champions were nothing special – they were considered disciplined team and hardly more.

But the joy of Pal Jacobsen and Erik Foss is understandable, especially the sign they make with their fingers – Valerenga IF won its second title. Jacobsen was also the top scorer this year with 16 goals.

The Cup final opposed Lillestrom SK to Moss. Lillestrom won 3-1.

3rd cup for Lillestrom, which was still rolling. Tom Lund was naturally in the center of Lillestrom’s success.

 

The Cup final was the last act of the scandalous events. Why not the championship? Political events were the reason: lead by General Kenan Evren, the Army ousted Prime Minister Suleyman Demirel, and abolished the Parliament, the Senate, and the Constitution in 1980. Football was hardly the most important issue at that time, but 1981, when the Cup final was played was another matter – 1981 rounded 100 years from the birth of Kemal Ataturk, and General Evren had deep respect for the founder of modern Turkey. Ataturk also made Ankara the capital of the secular modern state he created – it was convenient occasion for popular celebration, since Ankaragucu reached the Cup final. May be with little ‘help’, may be not. There opponent was Boluspor. Under normal circumstances it would have been an interesting final between underdogs – Boluspor barely escaped relegation and Ankaragucu was in the second division and not a winner even there, thus unlikely Cup finalist without a precedent in Turkey. Ankaragucu prevailed minimally in the first leg 2-1. In the second they kept a scoreless tie to the end and triumphed. A rigged final, but winners are winners.

The joy was boundless after the final whistle – a moment fit for rock concert is captured here: Ankaragucu’s captain risking injury by diving in the sea of supporters.

He survived to receive the Cup.

Makina Kimya Endüstrisi Ankaragücü, as is the full name, was founded not in Ankara, but in the Zeytinburnu district of Istanbul. Back in 1904 the club was named Altin Örs Idman Yurdu and for unclear reasons some players, lead by Şükrü Abbas moved to Ankara and found Turan Sanatkaragücü in 1910. But another group, following Agah Orhan apparently also relocated to Ankara, keeping the original name. In 1938 the two clubs merged into AS-FA Gücü and in 1948 changed the name to Ankaragucu. To complete the confusion, Ankaragucu officially gives 1910 as the founding year. In 1959 they were admitted to the newly organized First Division, but their performance was nothing to brag about and included relegation in 1967-68. Until 1981 they were successful only twice – winning the national championship in 1949 and the Cup in 1972 – now they had a grand total of three trophies.

Of course, it was a moment of great triumph, worth first page at least in the Ankara newspapers, but even with high support the bitter truth was inescapable: ‘armagan’ means ‘gift’ and the winners got one more armagan as well – both General Kemal Evren and the Ankara governor Mustafa Gonul wanted a team from the capital in Division One and it was decreed that Cup winners should play in the top league, so Ankaragucu was suddenly promoted and the league increased for the next year.

The championship was nothing special and perhaps the only drama involved relegation – Galatasaray, Fenerbahce, and Besiktas were strangely weak this season, so there was no competing for the title, but for escaping relegation instead. Equal league, as it turned our, every team depending mostly on home games and scoring little. Only half the league managed to score one per game or more goals on average. Five points were the difference between silver medals and relegation at the end of the season. Fretting over survival could be exciting too, but hardly anybody wants such excitement.

Orduspor finished last with 20 points. Three points better was Mersin Idmanyurdu, taking the 15th place. Both teams dropped out of the race early, becoming hopeless outsiders, which was no surprise. The battle for escaping the 14th place was fierce and at the end goal-difference decided the unlucky team: 5 clubs finished with 29 points. So equal was the league this season that a barely escaping relegation team finished with positive goal-difference! As for the losers, they were minus 7 goals – in most countries teams with such negative goal-difference are often solidly sitting in mid-table!

So one can pity Rizespor, going down.

On the other hand, lucky boys: newcomers Boluspor was safely 13th. Demirspor (Adana) – 12th, Altay (Izmir) – 11th, and perhaps luckiest of them all – Fenerbahce, 10th.

This was probably the worst season of Fenerbahce ever – instead of fighting for the title, they just tried to stay in the league. Why they were so bad is hard to tell, largely because the other big Istanbul clubs were also bad. Yet, what a shame – to be happy to escape relegation and that on better goal-difference!

Bursaspor was also seemingly going down – they finished 9th – but their downfall was understandable: they had their few strong years, but were not the kind of club able to stay strong for long. The good years run their course, now it was the other way.

But good and bad were very relative this year – Bursaspor finished with 30 points.

Besiktas was 5th with 31 points. Who was really going down? Besiktas outside the title race… much higher than Fenerbahce, yet, with only 2 points more and losing more matches than Fenerbahce…

Excellent season for Gaziantepspor, then – they were 4th, unusually high placed. Good for the boys, but… they had worse goal-difference than Fenerbahce, finishing with measly 23-22 record. But 2 points better than Besiktas! If only they earned 2 more points… but they did not.

Galatasaray was 3rd with 34 points. No comfort… for club and fans third place is a disaster. They were not in the title race at all. Did not even got European spot, for Turkey had a single UEFA Cup spot. Big deal the arch-enemy was in danger of relegation – no trophy, no Europe, plain nothing.

Now, here is a happy team – Adanaspor (Adana) clinched 2nd place. Not only silver was a fantastic achievement for otherwise insignificant club, but they edged Galatasaray, a matter of big pride, and earned the Turkish spot in the UEFA Cup as well. A season to be remembered and locally nobody cared that the team was hardly better than the rest of the league – they were just stubborn and a bit lucky. 34 points after 30 games is nothing great after all, but such was the season and Adanaspor got the best out of it. The best, for they were not title contender, perhaps even not concerned with the title.

This season belonged solely to Trabzonspor. It may not have been their strongest year, but with all competition in shambles, the boys easily sailed to yet one more title. 16 wins – they were the only team to win more than 50% of the championship matches – 7 ties and 7 losses gave them 5 points lead at the end. Best defense and best striking record in the league too: 41-21. Trabzonspor dominated the championship plain and simple.