Football Journey

Switzerland maintained good position on international club level – 12th after 1981. Maybe because of the top league was changed again – it was increased back to the common 16-team format for 1981-82 season. Meaning, 3 teams were promoted from Second Division. Five clubs fought for the coveted spots, although one can take FC Frauenfeld, 5th, and FC Wettingen, 4th, with a grain of salt – neither was particularly strong to actually go up. Of course, Second Division did not have particularly strong teams, but maybe the decline of Winterthur should be mentioned.

Third row: Paul Kilgus (Teambetreuer), Urs Egli, Rafael Chèlos – Walter Christinger, Christian Häni, Armin Döbeli, Paul Hollenstein (Physiotherapeut).

Middle row: Adi Noventa (Trainer), Daniel Häfeli, André Hagenbuch, Reto Vergani, Ota Danek, Adriano Venica, Mirko Scapin, Ernst Rief (Masseur).

Sitting: Rolf Dünner, Roland Wanner, Luigi Stomeo, Hanjo Weller, Oscar Bouli, Roland Käser, Erwin Schweizer.

The decline started a few years back and there was no reverse – by now, Winterthur was just a mid-table second level club. They finished 8th in the 14-team league.

FC Bulle was lucky 3rd – one point ahead of Wettingen and promoted.

With 35 points – one more than FC Bulle – FC Aarau took the 2nd place. Just enough for promotion and although the season was not great, Aarau not only returned to the finest, but was the only promoted team with a good chance to establish itself in the to top league.

Vevey-Sports won the Second Division – a big success for the small club. It was not an overwhelming victory – they clinched the title by a single point – but nevertheless it was great for a club not known for winning. And better days loomed ahead, at least temporary – going to first division was division was wonderful, surviving there was a problem.

The Cup final was something else – it opposed Velez (Mostar) to Zeljeznicar (Sarajevo). Neither had a great season, but they reached the final, a note of intentions anyway. Velez obviously wanted to maintain its good position in Yugoslav football, suggesting that the lukewarm championship season was just accidental. Zeljeznicar was trying to restore their former strong place after big decline – the season was not very good, but the team had both potential and ambition. On the other hand, a different comment could be made: presently, the Yugoslav clubs were not really great, even the strongest were not head and shoulders above the rest, a matter of concern. But the only thing the finalists were concerned with was winning the Cup. In a heavily contested and entertaining final Zeljeznicar opened the score, thanks to penalty in the 36th minute, which Bazdarevic did not fail. In the second half Halilhodzic equalized in the 55th minute and three minutes later scored again to give the lead to Velez. One more penalty and Bazadarevic equalized in the 62nd minute. Ten minutes before the final whistle Okuka scored a third goal for Velez and that was that – Veleaz won 3-2.

The boys from Mostar were all smiles, naturally.

This was historic moment, worth a thousand pictures: Velez won its very first trophy!

Zeljeznicar was worthy finalist, but no luck. Objectively, perhaps it was fair ending – the team was still in the process of building and shaping, not a finished product at its prime. The players were not bad, but the only real star was Bazdarevic and enthusiasm was unable to compensate the lack of big class. But playing at the final at least confirmed that Zeljeznicar was coming back and may be in the next few years would be trully dangerous again.

Squads, winning a trophy for the first time, usually become legendary – this was not exactly the case. Other teams come to mind instead of this one – Velez from the mid-1970s and from the mid-1980s. This one is somewhat in between, perhaps unjustly, because this is the only winning team in the history of the club. But what can you say? People remember Bajevic, Vladic, Hadziabdic. The strong generation of the mid-80s was not present yet. Ironically, the arguably best ever Velez squad did not a trophy, so it was great for the oldtimers here – Maric and Vukoje (who came on field only as a substitute) – to win at last. One can be happy for Enver Maric, who returned for his spell in West Germany as aging, nearing the end of his career goalkeeper, no longer number one. As for current stars – Blaz Sliskovic was the big name. However, he had better co-players than Bazdarevic in Zeljeznicar – Maric, Halilhodzic, Vukoje, Ledic, Okuka. Well, a trophy at last. Well done.

The Yugoslavian First Division was a mirror of the second level – to a point. Three teams competed for the title, the other 15 clubs were more or less equal. Seven points divided the 4th from the 17th, but even the very last was not really hopeless – Napredak (Krusevac) finished with 26 points, 3 less than the team just above them.

In a fairly equal league small differences decide and Napredak was last just because it was a smaller than most, having slightly weaker players. Not really a surprise their relegation.

The second unfortunate was Borac (Banja Luka) – 17th with 29 points and going down. One point more and they would have been safe, but they did not get it.

NK Zagreb breathed with relief: they survived by a point. One more first division ahead of them, more or less, the best the club eternally in the shadow of Dinamo (Zagreb) can dream of.

Two clubs were in decline – Vojvodina (Novi Sad) and OFK Beograd (Belgrade).

Gradually, during the 1970s Vojvodina lost its leading position in Yugoslav football. The slump was more pronounced after 1975 and there was no stop – this year they finished 10th. However, they were never in really bad situation – which was not the case of OFK Beograd. They lost their strong position after 1973 and really badly at that – sinking lower and lower, barely surviving this season. They were 15th with 30 points and the way they going made them prime candidates for relegation.

The clubs from Sarajevo did not fair well either, but for different reasons.

FK Sarajevo finished 13th, but they generally unpredictable up and down club. Zeljeznicar was just behind them – 14th with 32 points, the same as Sarajevo, but with worse goal-difference. However, Zeljeznicar already reached its lowest point, dropping to second division, and now was slowly moving up. So, not bad for the moment – remaining in the top league was the prime goal and it was achieved.

Slightly losing ground was Velez (Mostar) – they were 9th, largely because it was difficult for them to maintain really strong squad, but the club was by no means approaching crisis: they were only slightly weaker compared to the team of the mid-1970s.

Partizan (Belgrade) had a disastrous season – 8th and only 2 teams won fewer matches than them. The problem, however, was long term – after the end of the 1960s Partizan really lost its leading position. Yes, the aura of the grand derby with Crvena zvezda kept them always under the spotlights, but they were shaky. Compared to arch-rivals, Partizan did not have a great squad for years – they were successful, but only occasionally. And also occasionally they slipped down the table. Decline of some, inconsistency of others others – and good fortune for a third kind of clubs: never really strong, never extraordinary, second- or even third-rate traditionally, now they had a chance to shine partly because of the weakness of usual favourites.

NK Rijeka was 7th, continuing their best period in history. Not an exceptional team, but one the very best they ever had, for the joy of local fans.

Sloboda (Tuzla) was 4th – traditionally, they were stronger than Rijeka, but hardly the club to be found so high in the table.

With a point less than Sloboda, but also with a point more than Buducnost (Titograd), Dinamo (Zagreb) took the 5th place. Not a factor this season, although they had the players for more: Kranjcar, Mlinaric, Ivkovic, to name just a few. Not really at its prime, this squad – or may be they were following the example of Partizan: good teams, but not great and not consistent because of that.

With that, the bulk of the league ends: Sloboda finished best among similar teams with 36 points. The team above them had 41!

The battle for the title went between three clubs, two of them ‘the usual suspects’ and the third surprise intruder, enjoying the best time in its history. Three points separated the favourites at the end. The intruders, may be predictably, finished with fewest points.

To the delight of their fans, Radnicki (Nis), usually a lowly club, suddenly soared to a title contender. Radnicki finished 3rd the previous year, which was seen as an accident by skeptics, but this time they aimed at the title – and nothing terrible they lost it by 3 points. The team had excellent season in the UEFA Cup at the same time – they eliminated Napoli, Grasshopper, Dundee, reaching the semi-finals, where finally were eliminated by Hamburger SV. Instantly this squad became a legend, although the truth was slightly different: a good team, surely, but not exceptional and perhaps carried on mor on enthusiasm than true class. The only real star was their captain Dragan Pantelic, arguably, the last great Yugoslavian goalkeeper. Already 30 years old and 10 years playing for Radnicki, Pantelic was also a national team regular since 1979 – his best years coincided with those of the club and he added not only strong leadership, but also quite an entertainment, for his the regular penalty-taker and scored 23 goals. Not exactly a news – goalkeepers, including Yugoslav ones, shoot penalty kicks before, but rather accidentally. Coaches were quite afraid to designate goalkeepers as regular penalty kickers – Pantelic was one of the first to be standard penalty-kicker. Which delighted the fans. Unfortunately, Radnicki had to enjoy the moment, for they knew all too well their predicament: a small provincial club was never able to keep, let alone add strong players, what they had. The first to go was Pantelic – after the end of the season he went to play in France for Bordeaux.

One more look at the boys from Nis.

Hajduk (Split) finished one point better than Radnicki – what is there to say? Running strong, constantly developing new talent, maintaining strong team – and constantly selling stars abroad. Hajduk had an excellent team, with eager young reserves ready to make their names as soon as possible. Second place was perhaps a bit of disappointment, but it was just not their year.

If not Hajduk, then Crvena zvezda… 15 wins, 14 ties, 5 losses, the best attack – 62 goals scored, the second-best defense, and 16th title. Two points ahead of Hajduk at the end.

Sitting, from left: M. Durovski, M. Sestic, Vl. Petrovic, B. Stankovic – coach, R. Janjanin, S. Stamenkovic, C. Blagojevic, dr. B. Babic – team doctor.

Middle row: D. Simeunovic, Z. Borovnica, I. Jurisic, B. Durovski, S. Repcic, M. Jovin, Z. Krmpotic, N. Milosavljevic, G. Zivanovic, Kostic – assistant coach.

Third row: Kotlajic – physio, Z. Ljukovcan, Bingulac (?), D. Miletovic, M. Rajkovic, Z. Jelikic, Lj. Stojanovic, M. Jankovic.

A few minor changes occurred during the season, but the the starting eleven was quite impressive:

Standing: Dragan Miletovic,Dragan Simeunovic,Ivan Jurisic,Slavoljub Muslin,Zlatko Krmpotic,Milan Jovin.

First row:Vladimir Petrovic,Milos Sestic,Radomir Savic,Rajko Janjanin,Srebrenko Repcic.

Full of national team players – and also future once, like Dragan Simeunovic – and a squad wit hreal depth – Simeunovic was not real regular, but shared with equally talented Ljukovcan, for instance. However, this was not as famous team as the one of the early 1970s, which gave half of the Yugoslavian squad at the 1974 World Cup. The big star was Vladimir Petrovic, the only remaining link with the old great team, led by Dragan Dzajic. May be the difference made this title rather routine in the eyes of fans and observers, but it counts and it was not an easy one.

The Western Second Division was very similar to the Eastern one, with only two exceptions: a few stronger former first division clubs – Celik (Zenica), Spartak (Subotica), Proleter (Zrenjanin), which were may be temporary weak – and one team dominating the championship from start to finish. As for the rest – one absolute outsider, one relative outsider, and 13 fairly equal teams. The last two were directly relegated – Bosna (Visoko), dead last with 15 points, and Vrbas (Vrbas), 15th with 20 points. Above them 8 points separated the 2rd from the 14th. GOSK Jug (Dubrovnik) was lucky 14th with 28 points – lucky, because they should have been relegated, but were not, thanks to Maribor (Maribor), 9th in the final table. Most likely Maribor was found guilty of fixing matches and expelled.

Svoboda (Ljubljana) finished 8th. Standing from left: Magič, Milojević, Dimitrijević, Omanović, Huselj, Klemenc, Poljanšek, Bušić, Zupančič, Šišić.

First row: Kolarič, Petrik, Protić, Busuldžić, Kadivnik, Zajnilović, Kerković.

It is not that Svoboda did anything interesting, but their photo serves rather as a taste what the second division was made of. Svoboda not even dreamed of playing top level and most of the other clubs.

With 33 points Proleter (Zrenjanin) finished 4th. Top row, from left: Vučetić, Tošić, Dubljević, Pleše, Šarenac, Savković, Karanović, Glišin, Ezveđ.

Middle row: Vidović, Gaćinović, Škorić, Zorić, Radosavljević, Geca, Stanić, Ilijašević, Ivančević, Sitting: Lukač, Radulović, Milivojević, Mišić, Soldo, Mićanović, Jonjev, Đorđević, Bursać.

Proleter should have been one of the favourites for promotion, but obviously were at a low point and not a factor. Dinamo (Vinkovci) bested them by a point for the third place and Iskra (Bugojno) finished 2nd with 36 points. All this is just for the record – the championship was dominated by NK Osijek (Osijek), which finished without trouble on top with 42 points from 17 wins, 8 ties, and 5 losses. The winners shared the best scoring record with delinquent Maribor – 50 goals each, bested by Dinamo (Vinkovci) – 51 goals. But Osijek’s defense was impeccable: they received only 16 goals.

Confident winners and much stronger squad than Teteks’ – Meter, Ostojic, and Hukic may not have been leading players and a bit over the hill, but had solid reputations. Osijek was no stranger to first division and although never very strong, they had good chances to last longer than a single season among the best. Well, judging by this strong season, Osijek was ready and eager for one more return to the top league.

Yugoslavia – 15th for 1981 and 11th overall by UEFA. That is club level, nothing spectacular, but consistent. The domestic season was pretty much the same. The Eastern Group of Second Division was , at a glance, more competitive – 9 points were the whole difference between the winner and the second to last. Fairly equal league, alas, not very strong – none of the former first division teams was impressive, according to their history: Radnicki (Kragujevac) was perhaps best known and they finished 5th. At the bottom were never heard of outside Yugoslavia clubs: Vlaznimi (Djakovica) was last with 15 points, Rabotnicki (Skopje) – 15th with 28, Lovcen (Cetinje) – 14th, also with 28, and Radnicki (Pirot) – 13th with 29 points. These four teams were relegated.

Pristina (Pristina) finished 8th. Standing from left: Trajković, Lalić, Novaković, Ljota, Rama, Dalku

Crouching: Rugova, Murići, Rajčevski, Mitin, Živković.

Right behind them were Sloboda (Titovo Uzice)

Standing from left: Savić, Belojević, Jagodić, Radević, Ćuković, B.Veselinović.

First row: Krdžević, Rovčanin,Stevanović, Hodžić, I.Čančarević.

Nothing special, typical second division teams. Both ended with 30 points – like 4 other clubs. Prtistina lost only game more than the champions. Along with Rad (Belgrade), Pristina were the worst scorers this season with 27 goals. Strangely, one of the relegated – Radnicki (Pirot) – were the best scorers with 45 goals. Two of the relegated four scored more goals than the group winner – a testimony of a league of low class, where everything was possible. Rad (Belgrade) ended 3rd with 33 points, edging Sutjeska (Niksic) on goal-difference. Galenika (Zemun) was 2nd with 35 points.

Teteks (Tetovo) finished first with 37 points.

Normally, it is nice to see an underdog soaring, but this one should be taken with a grain of salt: the small Macedonian club never played top level football, so it was wonderful to see them promoted. This was their best season so far. But! Teteks won a so-so league mostly on good luck and persistence than actual class: the only reason they topped the league was they won more matches than anybody else – 15. That is, exactly half of the seasonal total. However, Teteks scored less than a goal per game on average and given their outstanding defensive record – only 18 goals received – their approach was going for 1-0 wins at most. It worked this year, but the real test was the next season among the big boys. It was quite easy to see Teteks among the outsiders.

 

The Cup final opposed Dukla to Bohemians, a Prague derby. No more Czech vs Slovak final, so two of the leading at the time clubs met trying to add a trophy. It was closely contested final – Dukla won the first leg 3-1, then Bohemians won the second leg 3-2. One goal difference decided the winner – Dukla.

Perhaps unlucky Bohemians, but football is about winners and losers after all. Unfortunately, Bohemians was not able to construct big squad – Dukla, Sparta, Slavia were stronger rivals, yet, Bohemians managed to scrape a strong team. Most people think Bohemians was just Antonin Panenka, but there was more than him, starting with Bicovsky. Wonderful period in the history of the club, one of their best, but trophies escaped them – so far.

Dukla won its 5th Cup – the first since 1969. Surely, they returned to the top of Czechoslovakian football and looked like a new great period, similar to the years between 1950 and 1965, appeared to be unfolding. The squad arguably the best in the country – Nehoda, Gajdusek, Samek, Stambachr, Vizek, Rada, Fiala. But times changed and Dukla, still able to get talented players almost at will, for everybody could be called to Army service, was not able to keep players after the end of required time in uniform. Most recently Jarolim, the talent snatched from Sparta, returned to his original club, for example. This placed Dukla in peculiar situation: they were getting talent, but had no stable team. With strong foes next door superiority was probably just a dream, but the team was winning, so why not dream more? Winners can always look ahead and Dukla was a winner.

First Division was pretty much divided into three sections this season – one absolute outsider, fairly equal group of 11 teams, and 4 favourites fighting for the title. The dividing lines were not strongly pronounced, except for the outsider.

ZTS Kosice had terrible season, ending with just 14 points from 5 wins, 4 ties, and 21 losses.

May be the picture is not exactly form this season, but is from the period. Back in 1977 the club changed its name from VSS to ZTS – Czechoslovakian clubs were generally attached to industrial factories, so most likely the club was moved from one to another such factory, but no luck. Going down again… they returned to first division after winning promotion in 1977-78. Local rivals Lokomotiva were perhaps happy, but Kosice lost its local derby. On the other hand, Second Division was going to see a Kosice derby next year – ZTS vs VSZ.

Spartak Hradec Kralove finished 15th with 25 points and were also relegated. How was that is impossible to tell, for they and Dukla Banska Bystrica finished with absolutely identical records: 10 wins, 5 ties, 15 losses, 31-43 goal-difference. Very rare occasion, but Spartak went down for some reason.

Bad luck really, but the truth was sad – Spartak played much stronger role in Czechoslovakian football up to mid-1960s. After that it was just downfall to insignificance – the 1970s established it new lowly position. They managed to return to first division football in 1979-80, but lasted only one season. Going down right away, unfortunately.

The other newcomer for the season Tatran Presov enjoyed a swell season – they finished 8th. Really good for a perpetually ‘in between’ club, constantly moving between first and second division. The rest was more or less familiar, except for the low finish of Zbrojovka (Brno) – 12th and only 3 points above relegation. They were champions just two years ago, but were unable even to keep stable performance. Slovan (Bratislava) and Spartak (Trnava) were in sharp decline, already well known – Slovan finished 9th and Spartak – 10th. Right behind them was Inter (Bratislava) – like all Slovak clubs, declining, but more erratic.

 

Internacional was 11th this year. At least they behind Slovan, traditionally, the big Bratislava club, so it was ‘logical’ finish, although it was so only because Slovan had better goal-difference: Inter, Spartak, and Slovan ended with 29 points each.

Slavia (Prague) continued its seemingly eternal so-so performance, finishing 8th . The strongest Slovak clubs this years were Lokomotiva (Kosice) and Ruda Hvezda (Cheb), both ending with 32 points. Lokomotiva took 5th place on better goal-difference, continuing their solid period.

Wonderful season for Ruda Hvezda (Cheb), a club more often playing second division football. They were promoted in 1978-79, survived among the best the next year, and now in their second consecutive top flight season suddenly went high – 6th. One of their best years ever, thanks to managing somehow to get a bunch of good players: Miklosko, Chovanec, Hruska, Cermak. Of course, they had to keep the stars and that was a big problem for the small club.

Lastly, the favourites – all Czech clubs, three from Prague. Dukla, Sparta, Bohemians, and Banik (Ostrava). Sparta finished 4th, losing bronze medals on worse goal-difference.

Sitting from left: Miroslav Koubek, Zdenek Scasny, Zdenek Caudr, Kolar (?) – assistant coach, Jiri Rubas – coach, M. Sykora – masseur, Petr Slany, Milan Vdovjak, Miroslav Starek.

Middle row: Jaroslav Pollak, Frantisek Straka, Jaroslav Kotek, Tomas Stransky, Vaclav Kotal, Josef Horvath.

Top row: Bezkocka (?), Josef Raska, Jan Pospisil, Prostecki (?), Josef Jarolim, Konvalinka (?), Jan Berger.

This may be the squad for 1979-80 – Jaroslav Pollak apparently missed the 1980-81, which, given his age, may have been retirement (although he came back, played abroad and back in Czechoslovakia for a good chunk of the 1980s) – but the strong team was already in place: Jarolim, Berger, Straka, plus some not so well known players. However, the team was not ready for victory yet – just climbing up.

Bohemians (Prague) clinched bronze on better goal-difference – this was very strong period for the club and not ending yet.

Dukla (Prague) finished with silver – 2 points ahead of Bohemians and Sparta, but also 2 points behind the champions. Best scoring record in the league, but they tied 2 games, instead of winning them and because of that lost the title.

Banik (Ostrava) topped the league with 18 wins, 4 ties, and 8 losses. 44-19 was not the best record, but they had the best defensive record in the league by far. Second consecutive title!

Strong during the 1970s, consistent, even getting better with time. Perhaps not so different than their rivals in terms of stars, but they had enough: Vojacek, Knapp, Danek, Radimec, Licka, Nemec, Michalik, Rygel. Good team, 3 titles, two of them consecutive – Banik enjoyed their best time in the history of the club. Nobody knew this was their last success…

One more look at the champions, for the last time.

 

The Czech second division was clearer case: 2 leagues of 16 teams each, the winners going to a promotional play-off. Better known clubs too, for unlike the Slovak counterpart, a whole bunch of former 1st Division clubs played here now: LIAZ Jablonec, Skoda Plzen, Dynamo Ceske Budejovice, TZ Trinec, Sigma MZ Olomouc, VP Frydek-Mistek, and both group winners. Nothing really strong came out of the championship, however, and the final tables suggested a big change: may be one instead of two groups was coming, for 8 teams were relegated this season: Spartak Usti nad Labe, UD Pribram, Poldi SONP Kladno, VTZ Chomutov, Kovostroj Decin, CKZ Rakovnik, VTJ Tachov, and KZ Kraluv Dvur from Group A. And from Group B: Ostroj Opava, Slezan Frydek-Mistek, VCHZ Pardubice, Spolana Neratovice, CSAD Benesov, KSB Brno,TJ Gottwaldov, Tepna Nachod. If the division was moving to single-league format, the change was seemingly right: there was practically no competition – Sklo Union Teplica won Group A leaving LIAZ Jablonec 5 points behind and TJ Vitkovice won Group B leaving TZ Trinec 7 points behind. Those were the only clubs aspiring to go higher.

The promotional play-off opposed the champions and bitter battle: in the first leg TJ Vitkovice won 1-0 at home. In Teplice no team scored at all.

Moments from the second leg – the hosts attacked, but fruitlessly. TJ Vitkovice prevailed.

Sklo Union (Teplice), relegated from First Division in 1978-79 was unable to return to top flight.

TJ Vitkovice triumphed and moved up. Standing from left: Tylšar (org. pracovník), Pouba (trenér), Otoupalík, Vitula, Kořistka, Břenek, Sajdok, Kolář, Pardy, Kružberský, Šafránek, Janků (masér), Hrbáč (asistent)

Sitting: Bobčík, Stanovský, J. Knopp, Poledník, Pospěch, Z. Knopp, Ondrášek.

Not exactly a newcomers to first division, but their former record was spotty at best. May be better days were coming? Next season would tell.

Czechoslovakia ranked 10th for 1980-81 ans11th overall by UEFA – the high end of the bulk of the ‘middle’ European countries. The new thing for the season was the permission of Czechoslovakian players to play abroad. Naturally, the first to go were veterans, as was the East European custom. Did not make much sense economically, but it was the usual political thinking, somewhat trying to dodge ideological formulas and imperatives. Since Czechoslovakia was just at the end of generational change, the export was not damaging local football, but selling veterans was not very lucrative and supplied at least one ridiculous case. The first crop of exported players was not large and involved former national team players, who shined at the 1970 World Cup and 1976 European championship – Karol Dobias (33 years old, Lokeren, Belgium), Jozef Moder (33, GAK, Austria), Koloman Gogh (32, VOEST, Austria), Ladislav Petras (34, WAC, Austria), Alexander Vencel (36, SK Slovan Wien, Austria), Ladislav Kuna (33, Admira, Austria). The most curious case was Frantisek Vesely, 37 years old, and sold to Rapid (Austria) instead of Antonin Panenka – some say it was a package of the two, on which the Czechs insisted in order of providing some foreign income to otherwise unsellable veteran, but Panenka joined Rapid the next year. The other curious transfer was Alexander Vencel – not so much because of age, but because of the club he moved to: lowly Slovan (Vienna) has a name suggesting emigrant ties and such a community was not a friend of the Communist Czechoslovak state. Why there? Who knows. There is a bit of discrepancy between the year of official permission of Czechoslovakian players moving abroad and some earlier professionals: Jozef Adamec, for instance, played for same Slovan (Vienna) since 1977 and Jan Pivarnik joined ASV Kitsee in 1979 – both may have been refugees, as some other players of earlier years: the official permission obliterated such history, but one thing was clear – those sold abroad went to small clubs, some tiny. No surprise, given their age, but it was also the familiar East European practice: at first they moved carefully, selling players over the hill partly to see how such thing would be taken at home. Political reasons were most important, not the actual financial gains. But the door was opened.

The other interesting things concerning this season were the Cup and the Second Division. For many years the Czechoslovak Cup opposed the winners of the Czech and the Slovak cups – seemingly, the tournaments were amalgamated at least at some stage and the final no longer opposed strictly Slovak to Czech club. The Second Division remained divided between the two federal republics, but how many groups the second level had? The Czech division had two groups, may be going to be just one after this season, for every team finishing lower than 8th place was relegated. Slovakia most likely also had two groups – otherwise there was reasonable explanation for missing teams, including the promoted in 1979-80 one – but only one table is available now and no other group is mentioned. The mystery builds on 1993, when the old federation cracked and gave birth to two independent countries – after that the old second division made no longer sense to football statisticians. Anyhow, in real time the second level was not all that important, for really small clubs played there. But it has to be mentioned, because of the 2 promoted teams.

Slovakia first, for it is the true mystery: Tatran (Presov) was promoted in 1979-80, but in the ‘Slovakian People’s League’ there was no Tatran. Yet, the tenor of an article observing the 1980-81 championship is about one league, not two. 16 teams in it, most unknown outside the country. The only more or less known club was ZVL Zilina, for they played often first division football – they were down on their luck, however. Of the others perhaps one team should be mentioned:

Third row: L. Majthényi, J. Kováč, T. Velický, J. Zabloudil (masér/gyúró/masseur), V. Horváth, V. Sipos, T. Végh

Middle row: P. Leškiv, L. Tóth, J. Szikora, J. Lainc, V. Hrivnák (tréner/vezetőedző/coach), T. Lelkes, K. Krištof, J. Majoros, M. Sill

First row: J. Brosz, J. Lépes, T. Domonkos, Š. Tősér, B. Dudás, G. Nagy, J. Audi, D. Horváth

DAC Dunajska Streda, a border city, largely populated by Hungarians, was nothing so far, but this club was soon going not only to reach first division, but to make quite an impression there. Some of the players here were to soar high as well. For the moment – the typical second division club: nobody ever heard of it.

 

Moments from the clash between DAC Dunajska Streda and the leaders Petrzalka.

To a point, the said of DAC applies to the winners – ZTS Petrzalka.

Sitting: Šimurka, V. Chovanec, asistent trénera Kasan, vedúci mužstva Sedlár, Kadák a Morávek. Middle row: masér Smetana, Pochaba, Tichý, Švirloch, Jánoš, Beseda, Zrubec.

Third row: Pavlovič, Priesol, Gerič, Sopko, T. Chovanec, Tóth, Šoltés.

A bit better known, but just as a name – if they played larger role in Czechoslovakian football, it was not only minimal, but also so long ago nobody remembered it. They won promotion, which was fantastic achievement, but questions emerged long before the championship ended – was Bratislava able to support 3 first division clubs? The problem is location, not clear even now – Petrzalka sometimes is considered Bratislava club, sometimes – not. Traditionally it seems to be separated from the city proper, just like Viktoria Zizkov us hardly ever mentioned as a Prague club, but is referred to the neighbourhood on which it is located. The close proximity, however, raised the question for the simple reason how many good players such a team could have when bigger clubs are just next door. But never mind doubts – ZTS Petrzalka won the Slovakian championship and moved up, a great occasion for joy.

Stasi ruled the championship, but not the Cup. Perhaps they did not want the Cup; perhaps iron rule, however strong, cannot penetrate a cup format, where not a whole season, but a single match is most important. Anyhow, the finalist this year were Lokomotive (Leipzig) and Vorwarts (Frankfurt/Oder) – technically, the clubs with no so strong championship season. One strong and stable for year, the other – up and coming, eager to restore its leading position. Experience prevailed and easily at that: Lokomotive won 4-1. It was almost a copy of the 1975-76 cup final: same goal-difference, almost the same players. This time Vorwarts managed to score a goal, that was all.

Lokomotive got the Cup – their 3rd Cup and also their 3rd overall trophy.

Well, Vorwarts were serious about coming back, but clearly were not ready yet. They had good players – Geyer, Probst, Otto – but not as many as the other leading clubs. They needed fine tuning, more experience, some new players. All for the future – not bad for the moment, but still only that.

Lokomotive were rightful winners, for they had superior team, but the real importance of their success was elsewhere and not just because they compensated for a relatively weak season. To a point, Lokomotive was the underdog among the cluster of leading East German clubs: the never had many stars, compared to the others – they were rather solid team, made of second-tier players. Thus, the title was always out of their reach, but a cup format was just right: a bit of luck, a bit of this and that, and they could eliminate otherwise a stronger and starrier opponent. So, no matter what, a victory of Lokomotive was lovely for it was a victory of the underdog.