Football Journey

Dominance is relative term – 4 Ukrainian clubs played in first division in 1980 vs 8 Russian, of which 5 represented Moscow, so the great Moscow – Kiev rivalry was 5-1. Kind of, for in fact it was just Spartak vs Dinamo, Beskov vs Lobanovsky. 1980 season kept the formula tried earlier and considered helpful: a limit of 10 ties. Any tie above the limit gave no point. The clubs learned the lesson at last – only 6 clubs went above limit. Dinamo (Moscow) had the seasonal record of 14 ties, which was low number compared to what have been two-three years ago. Attacking football was making its way, but scoring was still low and new trend was observed with some alarm: the league was becoming home-match oriented. The number of points earned away, never very high anyway, decreased. Most of the league was not great, but at least there were no outsiders this year – more or less, all were competitive. Final positions depended largely on the makings of the teams – with one exception, most teams finished in positions corresponding to the number of good players in each of them. Lokomotiv (Moscow) had no outstanding players and finished last.

Crouching from left: Gleb Kolesnikov – doctor, Anatoly Shelest, Viktor Budnik, Vladimir Mukhanov, Sergey Baburin.

Middle row: Aleksander Gassov – masseur, Viktor Maryenko – coach, Nikolay Badussov, Petr Slobodyan, Anatoly Mashkov – administrator, Boris Petrov – assistant coach, Aleksander Averyanov.

Third row: Igor Avvakumov – team chief, Anatoly Solovyev, Evgeny Aleksandrov, Boris Kuznetzov, Sergey Kamzulin, Nikolay Kalaychev, Valery Staferov – assistant coach, Aleksey Mikhaylov.

Petr Slobodyan was perhaps the most famous player in the squad, but he was no longer the promising young player – the very reason he was now playing for Lokomotiv, which was in decline for years and unable to gather a decent team. It was not that Lokomotiv gave up, but they lacked strength and earned 25 points, which placed them at the bottom.

A point above them finished Karpaty (Lvov) – technically, they lost on worse goal-difference, but even if they had better one, their immediate rival was to stay in first division – because of the air disaster, killing almost the whole team the previous year, Pakhtakor (Tashkent) were excepted from relegation. Karpaty suffered from lack of experience more than anything else: it was very young squad. Talented, but uneven – thus, Yurchishin, who attracted the eye of the national team coach when still playing in the second division, now had mediocre season. On the other hand, the right full back O. Rodin played for the national team in 1980. May be hard to believe, but Karpaty had Yu. Susloparov, A. Bal, and V. Ratz in the squad this year. Plus Dumansky and Batich, who were considered sure stars in near future – more promising at the moment than the trio above. Unfortunately, Karpaty needed 29 points to stay in the league, but finished with 26. Down they went again.

One Russian and one Ukrainian club were relegated, a parity in misfortune between Ukraine and Russia, but the newcomers were both Ukrainian. Apart from the relegated and Pakhtakor, which should be excepted from judgment for the reason they needed time to build a new team, the low point of the season was Dinamo (Moscow).

Dinamo finished 14th , barely 2 points ahead of relegation zone. Dinamo lost its leading position during the 1970s, but coming close to relegation was too much, considering the team they had. Perhaps the most experienced and the deepest squad in the league, full of former and current national team players. The usually employed excuse – too many things to handle (championship, cup tournament, UEFA Cup, national and Olympic team duties) – is rather lame.

On the other hand the team which finished just below Dinamo – Kuban (Krasnodar) – may be considered a success. They were debutantes this season and managed to survive.

Crouching from left: I. Grishin, V. Gaponenko, S. Goryukov, I. Kaleshin, R. Hassanov, A. Ploshnik.

Middle row: A. Chakholyantz – doctor, A. Ovchinnikov, A. Chugunov, Yu. Semin, A. Semenyukov, Yu. Chebotarev, V. Shitikov, E. Antonyantz – coach, V. Sereda – team chief.

Third row: V. Beloussov – coach, P. Kusht – coach, E. Polovinko, S. Andreychenko, V. Fursa, A. Artemenko, A. Balakhnin, V. Lagoyda, V. Erkovich, V. Komarov, ?.

15th place is hardly something to brag about, but consider that Kuban had only a handful players with first division experience and never played at top level before – yet, they finished equal to famous Dinamo (Moscow), both teams with 28 points and both teams scored exactly the same number of goals – 32 in 34 matches. Only worse goal-difference placed Kuban below Dinamo.

Torpedo (Moscow) improved a bit, finishing 11th this year, but essentially they shared the same problem with Dinamo (Moscow) – experienced, but disinterested squad.

Top row from left: A. Petrov – masseur, V. Yurin, A. Redkous, N. Vassiliev, V. Chanov, N. Kazantzev, V. Kruglov, V. Sakharov, S. Prigoda.

Middle row: Yu. Zolotov – team chief, N. Senyukov – assistant coach, E. Khrabrostin, V. Buturlakin, A. Zarapin, S. Petrenko, A. Kodylev, V. Zhupikov, A. Minaev, V. Zhendarev – administrator, A. Proyaev – doctor, V. Salkov – coach.

Crouching: V. Pimushin, M. Chesnokov, G. Salov, Yu. Kovalev, Yu. Khlopotnov, M. Smirnov, V. Galayba.

Perhaps the most interesting figure in the team was a newcomer from Shakhter (Donetzk) – the goalkeeper Vyacheslav Chanov. He may serve as a test against both Dinamo and Torpedo – back at home, he was constant a reserve. At 29, he appeared in only 78 matches and faced pressure from two sides – from the regular keeper and national team choice Degtyarev and from his younger brother Viktor Chanov. Yet, Vyacheslav Chanov was talented keeper and even considered national team candidate – but hardly ever played, so he moved to e reputable club where he became instantly a starter. Both Dinamo and Torpedo had this problem with quite a few players, but both the clubs and the players chose not to make a move. Thus, to a point, Dinamo’s goalkeepers Pilguy and Gontar aged together with one sitting on the bench – whoever played at the moment was called to the national team too, but the other often missed a whole season. Or two – Gontar, at 31, had 112 official games and Pilguy, 32 – 188. But it looked like that both were happy just to sit and watch than to play regularly outside Moscow – and they were not exceptions in both Dinamo and Torpedo.

The league was tightly going up to 5th place, occupied by CSKA (Moscow) with 35 points. Then a gap occurred – Dinamo (Tbilisi) finised 3 points ahead of CSKA, but also 3 points behind the bronze medalists. The Georgians had fine season, but never were a title contender. The bronze medalists were not fighting for the title either – they finished 3 points behind the second placed and ended 9 points less than the champions. But they had splendid season, their best in years, for Zenit (Leningrad) normally were mid-table club, hardly worth mentioning. Suddenly they came to life.

Standing from left: V. Khrapovitzky – assistant coach, S. Shvetzov, Yu. Timofeev, V. Klementiev, Yu. Zheludkov, V. Melnikov – doctor, M. Yudkovich – administrator, V. Golubev, A. Stepanov, S. Bondarenko, V. Kazachenok, P. Sadyrin – assistant coach.

Sitting: A. Tkachenko, Yu. Gerasimov, I. Yakovlev, S. Vedeneev, Yu. Morozov – coach, A. Davydov, V. Kornev – team chief, N. Larionov, A. Zakharikov, M. Biryukov.

A solid team, yet nothing special – a typical Zenit’s squad. Good players, but hardly wetting the appetites of the Moscow clubs (Kazachenok did, but Larionov, one of the strong national players in the 1980s, did not). The reason for the sudden awakening of Zenit may be entirely credited to the coaching staff – Yury Morozov, one of the top Soviet coaches of the 1960s and the 1970s – and his assistant, who soon became famous too – Pavel Sadyrin. As for this squad, it had two things: at the beginning of the season Zenit had the only player in the league with more than 300 championship matches – their goalkeeper Tkachenko – and one face is missing on the this photo, made late in the season – the missing face belongs to the first Soviet player transferred to play professionally in the West.

Spartak (Moscow) was one of the two candidates for the title and the champions of 1979 played bravely until they met Dinamo (Kiev) in the second half of the championship – they lost 0-2 in Kiev and Dinamo got momentum, which left Spartak second at the end.

Spartak was arguably the most promising side, but it was also unfinished team – Beskov was still searching and shaping. The rivalry for the 1980s, however, was established this season – Spartak, after sinking to the second division, came back with vengeance. Dasaev, Khidiatulin, Romantzev, Shavlo, Cherenkov firmly established themselves as the leading Soviet players and still very young Rodionov made himself noticed.

The champion was of course Dinamo (Kiev) – after overcoming Spartak they steadily opened a gap between themselves and the Moscovites, finishing 6 points ahead. Dinamo lost only 4 matches and typically for champions had the best scoring and defensive record. Comfortable, confident victory. Lobanovsky prevailed over Beskov – not that much a victory, but a statement of approach, a philosophy.

If Spartak had some problems, Dinamo had too. Some were old, going on for years. It was not the team Lobanovsky envisioned and he was clearly going to search further. Rising stars were aplenty, of course, but… Lobanovsky had peculiar attitude to the game: it was very pragmatic and shortcomings made him insisting on iron no-nonsense football. Compared to the great 1975 team, itself accused of robotic kind of playing, the new version was entirely lacking beauty and fantasy. It was compensated by over-physical, often brutal and sometimes cruel style. Atrocious tackles were characteristic. May be there was no other option, given the circumstances and the coach. After the retirement of Rudakov, Lobanovsky was still trying to find agreeable replacement. For instance, both winners of second division had keepers previously tried by Lobanovsky – Dnepr’s regular Krakovsky was Dinamo player at the beginning of the season. Romensky, who spent many years in second division, was the regular, but by the end of the season it looked like his days were over – a new man was found: Mikhail Mikhailov. Jumping a bit ahead, neither goalie lasted long. The goalkeeping problem put pressure on defense, which was also far from perfect. Lozinsky, who even reached the national team, lost his place as right full back to seemingly promising Viktor Kaplun. Kaplun was not the needed player eaither – the problem with this post was almost ten years old already. Even in 1975 the solution was improvisation – midfielder Troshkin was moved back to cover this post. The 1980 version was also improvisation – Lozinsky was played too, as a defensive midfielder, covering Kaplun. It worked well enough, but who remembers either player today? On the left side Demyanenko was the solution, but there were still reservations: he was accused of not coming back to his post quickly enough after running into attack. So, the left side was a bit vulnerable, although not as risky as the right side. The centre of defense was the best – Konkov and Zhuravlyov. But… Konkov was getting too old. Lobanovsky was not particularly fond of aging players. Zhuravlyov was seemingly the key player for the future – or so it looked like in 1980. Lobanovsky had another view – presented by his fielding of players like Boyko, who never raised above the status of reserve (this was his 6th season with Dinamo already – most of the time he played for the second team). Bessonov was ordered to constantly help the defense – in some matches he was even played as pure defender. Defensive line was saturated with Lozinsky and Bessonov, which restrained the attack. Kolotov, already 31, suffered from injuries and clearly his days were coming to end. He played little – Bessonov was not just preferred starter, but made team’s captain: another sign that the veterans were hardly needed. But Veremeev (32) and Buryak (27) were regulars – perhaps out of necessity: Bessonov was creative player, but he was asked to do too many other things, preventing him from playmaking. Thus, Veremeev and Buryak – as a compromise, for Veremeev was not going to last and Buryak soon was to be out of favour and after not so pleasant confrontation with Lobanovsky, out of Dinamo and to another club. For this Buryak is considered a bit of a traitor… Anyhow, the midfield looked temporary – Baltacha, already in the national team, was still a midfielder, but there were signs he will be moved back to defense. He was. But midfield was not in critical state – Bessonov was the guarantee for better days. Attack had a chronic problem: the centre-forward. In 1975 Lobanovsky played without such player, because there was no one good enough for him – and in 1980 there was still nobody good enough to fill the position regularly. Khapsalis, talented as he was, was not constant starter. By now there was a problem at the right wing too – back in 1975 Onishchenko was at hand and Troshkin forayed at the flank, doubling as a winger, but now there was only the young Evtushenko, who played his first official games this year. Lobanovsky liked younger players, but he was also cautious… Evtushenko was already 22 – at this age Blokhin was not only a regular, but a national prime star. Evtushenko was considered too green… which helped Khapsalis a bit, for Lobanovsky never went as far as using just a single striker. Perhaps he had no say on the matter, for Blokhin was pure left-winger and attempts to move him elsewhere failed. Two strikers were needed to balance the situation. Blokhin was the big star as ever, but this season was a bit special – he came back from injuries and his restored form immensely helped Dinamo.

As a whole, the team was unbalanced and rather provisional. Shortcomings were compensated by excellent physical condition, iron discipline, and aggressive intimidation, but what worked at home, did not work in Europe and Lobanovsky was well aware of that. So the search was going to continue… the champions were 5-6 players short of a great team.

Second division very likely did not differ from its usual state of affairs, except for an irony: as soon as relegation numbers were changed, none of the newcomers was at the bottom – for the first time all newcomers survived and some played rather strong championship.

Kolos (Nikopol) finished 5th.

SKA (Khabarovsk) – 6th, Dinamo (Stavropol) – 7th, Iskra (Smolensk) – 9th, Guria (Lanchkhuti) – 11th, and Buston (Dzhizak) – 19th. Under the old rules, only Buston would have been relegated – and that only because of worse goal-difference – but now even they survived. But as whole the league was unimpressive – three clubs were hopeless outsiders and three clubs fought for 2 promotional spots. One can say 18 clubs just went through the motions, not carrying a bit for anything: their next season was guaranteed early and sedated life continued as always. Newcomers were more or less the only disturbance of the normal: just like those promoted from 2rd division were normally relegated right away, those relegated from first division were favourites and the biggest candidates for promotion. Not this year.

Zarya (Voroshilovgrad) continued their long slump, which led them to second level football – even here they were no good and finished 10th. But their fall was nothing compared to Krylya Sovetov (Kuybishev), who was relegated along with Zarya.

In the last ten years Krylya Sovetov was unable to build meaningful team and contsntly moved between first and second division. But now they just collapsed. 11 wins 16 ties and 19 losses placed them 22nd with 34 points. They lost 4 points on the rules for ties – only 12 gave points, every tie above the limit gave nothing. But even if all their ties counted they were have been still 22nd – and relegated. Shinnik (Yaroslavl), the 21st finisher, had 40 points (also losing 3 points for ties above the limit).

Along with Krylya Sovetov, two other clubs collapsed – Spartak (Nalchik), 23rd with 28 points and Uralsmash (Sverdlovsk), last with 21 points. Both were normally mid-table clubs, Uralmash more so – Spartak (Nalchik) experienced relegation before, but Uralmash appeared to be eternal members of second division, living in sleepy safety. However, the collapse of these three hardly disturbed the league – most clubs watched in glee the sinking clubs: outsiders meant no trouble at all this season, even hypothetical trouble! No trouble and no ambition either – Pamir (Dushanbe) was noticed, and not just this year, as solid and rising team and they finished 4th, 4 poinst ahead of the 5th, Kolos (Nikopol). Yet, they were far behind the top clubs, ending with 5 points less than the 3rd placed. Hardly candidates for promotion.

The battle for promotion was between Ukrainian clubs, further evidence of the superiority of this part of USSR established in the 1970s and seemingly to be continued in the 1980s.

Metallist (Kharkov) finished 3rd with 62 points – best defense and second-best strikers in the league, but apparently not ready yet for real jump to the top league. They lost by a small margin of only 2 points, but it was a telling one: it came from too many ties compared to the winners.

The battle for promotion was won at the last stage of the championship when Dnepr was unbeaten in 13 consecutive matches. At the end, they were second with 62 points and earned promotion for a second time – the first was in 1971. For Dnepr (Dnepropetrovsk) relegation from first division was followed by insignificant season in which they lost fan support. 1980 was played in practically empty stadium, which was unusual even for a second division club. But all ended fine.

Crouching from left: M. Palamarchuk, N. Samoylenko, V. Kutzev, V. Chernykh, O. Kramarenko, S. Motuz, S. Babenko, V. Shevchuk – captain, A. Vasyutich.

Standing: V. Lukashenko – coach, P. Kutuzov, A. Troshkin, S. Diev, A. Usenko, V. Pavlenko, S. Krakovsky, Ya. Balykin – team chief, A. Lysenko, V. Strizhevsky, R. Konafotzky – administrator, E. Danilov – assistant coach.

Although Dnepr earned promotion, there was little praise – even the captain Shevchuk was unable to find good things to say about his teammates and spoke mostly nonsense (how political work was improved, how many factories the team visited to meet workers, how they used every free minute to go to museums and theatres – a required blabber, patently untrue, and having nothing to do with playing). No wonder – Dnepr had not even one famous player. The team was not particularly exciting – it depended on well known second division players, who were good and experienced, but neither great, nor near the level of the top players in first division: Palamarchuk, Kramarenko, Pavlenko. The defensive line was the weaker part of the team, but nobody else was particularly exciting. Of course, Dnepr was between the rock the and the hard place: as a smaller Ukrainian club, they had no chance of recruiting strong players and even developing their own talent was not a great idea, for talent was inevitably grabbed by Dinamo (Kiev): a team of solid, but unimpressive players was safe… and not much on the field. The only talented youngster playing regularly was the goalkeeper Krakovsky. There were two more, coming from the junior system, but so far just a deep reserves – V. Lyuty and G. Litovchenko. Not much for the future… the trio eventually became instrumental for Dnepr’s success in the 1980s, but the inevitable happened anyway: Litovchenko ended in Dinamo (Kiev). Dnepr had to navigate carefully, not attracting undue attention to itself, which meant having so-so team and promotion, as good as it was, was also a headache: how to survive among the best clubs with a team like that?

The problems of Dnepr were familiar to the second division winners, but there was a difference: Tavria (Simferopol) never played in the top league before. Like Dnepr, Tavria had miserable 1979 season. Unlike Dnepr, Tavria was driven by enthusiasm in 1980. Tavria excelled in attack and lost the least number of matches in the second division – the only club with less than 10 losses, and their 9th came in the last round of the championship, when they already won the title amd had nothing to play for. It was the greatest season in the history of the club and rightly they were going up. When the team captain was interviewed at the end of the season, he simply said that the key for success was had work – sometimes too much work. Typically Ukrainian approach.

Brand new champions, promoted to first division for the first time: sitting from left: A. Shudrik, Yu. Zuykov, E. Korol, V. Prichinenko, V. Naumenko, A. Petrov, S. Prichinenko, V. Sinelnik, A. Cheremisin, O. Serebryansky, Yu. Pomogaev – masseur.

Standing: A. Glukhoedov – team chief, A. Polosin – coach, V. Tansky – assistant coach, B. Marintzov, V. Korolev, V. Petrov, V. Yurkovsky, K. Panchik, S. Matukhno, A. Syrovatsky, S. Katalimov, V. Bass – doctor.

Tavria had even lesser known players than Dnepr, but it was younger and hungrier team. And hard work was familiar to some of the boys – V. Sinelnik, O. Serebryansky, V. Yurkovsky, and S. Katalimov were former Dinamo (Kiev) players, used to Lobanovsky’s drills. True, every one of them failed to satisfy Lobanovsky and only Yurkovsky was a regular starter, however, briefly, but for Tavria and second division in general, they had enough class and ambition. Of course, Tavria was not having happy life – like every secondary Ukrainian club, they were easy prey for Dinamo and not only Dinamo, for they were actually tertiary Ukrainian club, ranking well below Dinamo, Shakhter, Chernomoretz, Karpaty, Zarya, Metallist, and even Dnepr, so their fate was clear: hope not to be robbed form key players (V. and S. Prichinenko and Naumenko were possible targets) and depend on hand-outs form the bigger clubs, preferably Dinamo, because whoever was rejected by Lobanovsky hardly interested other clubs. So the team was not very impressive, but it was lively and high scoring. The problem was really the near future: survival in the top league.

Good or not, the newcomers were both Ukrainian clubs – a testimony of the dominance of Ukrainian football at the expense of the Russian.

 

The Soviet football season had two news in 1980 – one was usual: yet another change of formula. The other was kept successfully secret until the fall of USSR. The first legally transferred player to Western club – it needs separate narrative. As for the change, almost every year presented new rules and compared to some, this time the change was minor: it concerned only relegation/promotion between second and third division. Instead of 6 clubs, at the end of the 1980 season three were going down and three up. The reason was quite transparent: normally, the newcomers from third level did not last in the second, often relegated right away. They were obviously below the level of quality and reduction apparently was to take care of that – smaller number should mean more competitive ones. But second division was not reduced – it remained 24-club strong, so fewer relegation spots automatically meant increased comfort for the big number of clubs which were just happy to stay in the league without any trouble and no big effort. The reduction, however, changed the way clubs were promoted – so far, they were the winners of the different zones of 3rd Division. Now the winners were to play a final tournament for the three spots: 9 clubs divided into 3 round-robin groups. Which meant also restructuring of the third level – from 6 to 9 zonal groups, which perhaps inflated further the numbers at the expense of quality. At the end, to the finals emerged these clubs: Spartak (Kostroma), Rotor (Volgograd), Lokomotiv (Samtredia) – in Group 1; Traktor (Pavlodar), Dinamo (Samarkand), Torpedo (Toliati) – Group 2; SKA (Kiev), Khimik (Grodno), Dinamo (Barnaul) – in Group 3. Some played in second division before, but from those relegated in 1979 only Traktor (Pavlodar) managed to get a new chance. The final tournament produced outsiders and no real favourites. Predictably, the teams from the non-Russian South-East were below the rest. The third outsider was a relatively new club of which perhaps more was expected because it was attached to the giant VAZ automobile plant.

Torpedo (Toliati) failed – 1 win, 3 losses, and the worst goal-difference among all finalists – 3-9.

None of the group winners was particularly impressive and there was even a curiousity: Spartak (Kostroma) lost its opening match in Volgograd 0-6. They won all other matches and finished first, but with negative goal-difference – a rare anomaly for a top finisher and quite telling too of the general class of the candidates to play in second division: there was no much. It will suffice to give only the final tables – winners were promoted.

Group 1:

1. Spartak (Kostroma) 2 1 1 4-7 5

2. Rotor (Volgograd) 2 0 2 8-5 4

3. Lokomotiv (Samtredia) 1 1 2 4-4 3

Group 2:

1. Traktor (Pavlodar) 2 1 1 5-2 5

2. Dinamo (Samarkand) 2 1 1 7-4 5

3. Torpedo (Toliati) 1 0 3 3-9 2

Group 3:

1. SKA (Kiev) 2 2 0 8-5 6

2. Khimik (Grodno) 1 3 0 5-4 5

3. Dinamo (Barnaul) 0 1 3 3-7 1

Dinamo (Samarkand) was the unlucky team – head-to-head matches with Traktor decided their fate and they were placed 2nd. Traktor (Pavlodar) won promotion and had a new chance to establish itself in 2nd Division after a single year in 3rd division, but if there was any hope placed on the newcomers, it was on SKA (Kiev) – they were familiar with second level football, represented the dominant already Ukrainian football, and as an Army club had much better chances of recruiting better players than Traktor and Spartak. It all depended on the not very well known in the West structuring of Soviet sport: SKA belonged to the Army organization, so the ‘mother organization’ would make sure to strengthened them. Spartak belonged to the trade-union organization and also would be helped by the centre. Traktor was on its own. So much for the newly promoted… Soviet press did not bother with them, except for mentioning that SKA was solid and confident from start to end.

 

And that was that: Ajax won the title, but not a double. They reached the Cup final and lost it 1-3 to their arch-enemy Feyenoord. True, the final was played in Rotterdam and in front of home crowd Feyenoord hardly needed motivation, particularly against Ajax, but they were in crisis and Ajax looked at least half-decent. Half-decent is not great… and fells pray to ambition. At least when a single match decides everything.

Third row from left: Gerard van der Lem, Ivan Nielsen, Roger Albertsen, Joop Hiele,

Jan Peters, Peter Petursson, Stanley Brard.

Middle row: Gerard Meijer (Verzorger), Vaclav Jezek (Hoofdtrainer), André Stafleu,

Jan van Deinsen, Sjaak Troost, Ton v. Engelen, Carlo de Leeuw, Marcel van der Blom,

Richard Budding, Ben Wijnstekers, Clemens Westerhof (Assistent).

Sitting: Michel van de Korput, René Notten, Karel Bouwens,

Win van Zinnen, Wim van Til, Wim Jansen, Paul van der Blom.

To a point, winning the Cup hides the problems of Feyenoord: winners immediately suggests good health. It was more saving face and momentary success, spurred by playing against the arch-enemy, though. Of course, Feyenoord, even when weak, was strong in Holland, but only fools would equate this victory with strong team. If anything, the victory was good for Vaclav Jezek – the man who made Czechoslovakia European champion in 1976 was hired clearly to restore Feyenoord to its former might. His second season with the club brought success. This was the first trophy Feyenoord won since 1974 and the their first Cup since 1969 and their 5th Cup altogether. The drought was over at last… well, not really. This is a period in the history of the club better not mentioned.

 

First division did not present more optimistic picture than the second. Small countries with limited pool of players as a rule concentrate the best available talent in few bit clubs and Holland was no exception – traditionally, the top players were found in the usual three suspects, to which AZ’67 was added. But AZ’67 were rather separate and atypical case. For the troublesome state of Dutch football around 1980 it is better to take a look what the rest of the league had. The fate of many a club depended on the feet of veterans… Rinus Israel (b. 1942, PEC Zwole), Aad Mansveld (b. 1944, FC Den Haag), Dick Schneider (b. 1948, Go Ahead Eagles), Tommy Kristiansen (Dane, b. 1953, Go Ahead Eagles), Gerrie Kleton (just because he was a member of the great Ajax vintage, now – Haarlem), Pleun Strik (b. 1944, NEC Nijmegen), Jan Jongbloed (b. 1940, JC Roda), Theo de Jong (b. 1947, JC Roda), Dick Nanninga (b. 1949, JC Roda), Pim Doesburg (b. 1943, Sparta), Louis van Gaal (b. 1951, just because he became a famous coach – Sparta), Ruud Geels (b. 1948, Sparta), Willem van Hanegem (b. 1944, Utrecht). True, the stars played abroad to the usual destination for Dutch players – Belgium – another two attractive destinations were added – USA/Canada (NASL) and England after 1978, but the bulk of the league depended on a small group of very old local players. But compared to this group, the number of promising youngsters appeared pitiful… Ruud Gullit (b. 1962, Haarlem), Edo Ophof (b. 1959, NEC Nijmegen), Adrie van Tigellen (b. 1957, Sparta), Danny Blind (b. 1961, Sparta), Martin Jol (b. 1956, Twente), Hans van Breukelen (b. 1956, Utrecht), and the Norwegian Hallvar Thoresen (b. 1957, Twente). The future certainly did not look bright. And it was clear that none of the promising youngsters will play for their current club for long. Currently, Holland had not a generation capable of maintaining the high standards set by Cruyff and company in the first half of the 1970s. Which affected negatively the top clubs too – the big three were still the best in Holland, but already lost their leading position in Europe. The same happened to the national team this very year at the European finals. The league itself was divided into three groups this season – four above the rest, a big bulk of middle of the road teams, and 6 at the bottom trying to escape relegation. Three outsiders were unlucky – or simply worse than the others.

Haarlem finished last with 24 points.

Third row, from left: Jaap Elzinger, elftalleider, Frank Kramer, P.D.J.M. Huyg, P.L Th.M. De Jong, R. Boersma, E.M. Metgod, Ruud Gullit, Jan Frantz.

Middle row: A. Van Der Ban, E.L. Melgers, C.C. Verkaik, G. Kleton, F.W.M. Reuser, Cees Duindam. Sitting: D.A. George, K.L. Masefield, T. Hendriks, B. Hughes,A.M.F. Haar, W.P.T. Balm.

Ruud Gullit had to play second division football before becoming world-famous stars of the 1980s.

Vitesse finished 17th with 25 points – hardly a big surprise, for the club was outsider at that time.

NAC (Breda) was the unlucky 16th – with 27 points, they were relegated because of worse goal-difference than 3 other clubs – NEC (Nijmegen), PEC Zwole, and Sparta (Rotterdam).

Sparta was the best placed among the outsiders – 13th.

Of the small clubs, the bulk of the league better than the outsiders, but not in the same league with the best, Utrecht was the best.

Top row from left: v. Breukelen, Tervoort, v.d. Vlag, Carbo, de Kruyk, Rietveld, Stroomberg.

Middle row: Han Berger, Wildbret, Cabo, du Chatenier, v. Doorn, Streuer, v. Tamelen, Norbart, v. Oostrom, Verkaik, Okhuysen

Sitting: Rietveld, Flight, Gozems, Wouters, Adelaar, Kruys, Witbaard.

5th place most certainly was great achievement for Utrecht, but they had 4 points less than the 4th and were 5th because of better goal-difference – slowly declining since 1975 Twente in its current shape was still better than almost the whole league.

So, 4 clubs were above the rest – nothing new in Holland, except the best teams were not a reason for optimism. There supremacy was preserved largely because they were able to get the best players of the country. Of the four, two were in disarray, and one was a special case.

Feyenoord was 4th and rightly so – signs of coming crisis were noticed around 1975 and after that they were on the slippery slope. Compared to Ajax, Feyenoord missed the moment for starting a new team – Ajax constantly sold the top players and thus was also constantly looking for replacements of the stars. Feyenoord had no such approach and when the great stars moved abroad, retired, or were just too old to play outstanding football, the club was caught unaware. They started rebuilding late, from scratch, and in disadvantage – the new talent was limited in numbers and currently more successful clubs were more attractive to the youngsters. By this season a single player remained from the great older vintage – Wim Jansen. 34-years old defensive midfielder… hardly the player to build a team around and let him lead. Vaclav Jezek, the other famous name, made Czechoslovakia European champion in 1976, but in Feyenoord produced no magic may be because of the very small number of really talented players. Rene Notten, aging himself, was not a big star anyway and failed to satisfy Ajax a few years earlier. Ton van Engelen was the third veteran, perhaps making the fans wonder why Trejtel was dismissed: already 30 years old, van Engelen spent most of the 1970s as a back-up of the best Dutch goalkeeper Jan van Beveren in PSV Eindhoven. The rest of the key players were much younger and still rather ‘promising talent’ than established stars: Michel van de Korput, Ben Wijnstekers and two foreigners: the Icelander Petur Petursson and the Danish defender Ivan Nielsen. Both eventually became well-known players, but in 1979-80 were just raw unknowns. With such a squad, there was no surprise Feyenoord had nothing to do with the title and finished 4th.

Now PSV Eindhoven aged and automatically declined a bit, but they were different than Feyenoord – perhaps because PSV was the last internationally successful Dutch club, or may be because they never had such grand figures like Cruyff and van Hanegem, replacing veterans was easier and young players willing to join. PSV suffered largely by their own movers and shakers: Rene and Willy van de Kerkhof in particular, but also those veterans, who were beyond their peak for years already – Lubse, van der Kuylen, and van Kraay. Van Beveren was perhaps declining too, for he was no longer called to play for Holland – when Cruyff quit the national team in 1977, it seemed that the goalie will be willing to play regularly, but curiously he was no longer called. PSV had a big group of current stars completing the team: Huub Stevens, Ernie Brandts, Jan Poortvliet, Piet Wildschut, and the young hopeful Erwin Koeman, but there was no flair – the switch of flamboyant, fast, and risky football they were famous for in the first half of the 1970s, was gradually replaced by rather dull, strict, physical football of the van de Kerkhof twins. Their stamp was very clear – all younger players were of the same ilk and almost all of them – defenders. It was exactly the current generation of Dutch players – well prepared, tough, competent, but dull and unimaginative. Unfortunately, it was not a great generation and PSV struggled without really great players, and went down a bit.

Third row from left: Reker (ass. trainer), Harry Lubse, ?, Huub Stevens, Ernie Brandts, Jan van Beveren, Willy Heijink (ass. trainer)

Middle: Jac. v.d.Ven (verzorger), Piet Wildschut, Adri van Kraaij, Willy v.d.Kuijlen, Erwin Koeman, Willy Janssen, René v.d.Kerkhof, Cees Rijvers (trainer)

CrouchingValke, ?, ?, Adrie Koster, Jan Poortvliet, Willy v.d.Kerkhof.

Good enough for 3rd place, a point better than Feyenoord, but out of the title race.

Which was lost by the only optimistic happening in Holland – AZ’67 by 3 points.

This was the most successful championship season of the club so far. Also, this was the most promising team at the moment, but in the same time AZ’67 was a special case and not taken entirely serious. The record shows astonishing climb: the club won Second Division in 1971-72 and debuted in First Division the next season, in which barely survived, finishing 15th. But after that it was only going up and – 7th in 1973-74, 5th in 1974-75 and 1975-76, 3rd in 1976-77 and 1977-78, and 4th 1978-79. And Az’67 won the Cup in 1978. Yet, the club was hardly ever mentioned, let alone considered a big news. Perhaps staying out of scrutiny helped, but there was a sense it was a special project, a bit of artificial development, which prevented permanency. Success depended on special blend – AZ’67 took discarded veterans from other clubs and added young talent missed for one or another reason by the big clubs. This season started with Eddy Treytel and Hugo Hovenkamp as veteran anchors. The rest of the team was much younger, but already the current stars of Holland – Ronald Spelbos (b. 1954), Johnny Metgod (b. 1958), Jan Peters (b. 1954), Peter Arntz (b. 1953), Kees Tol (b. 1958), and the fantastic scorer Kees Kist (b. 1952). Add two talented imports: Kristen Nygaard (Denmark) and Kurt Welzl (Austria). But one thing was not missed by any careful observer: apart from Kist, AZ’67 did not have home-grown players – all were bought from elsewhere. Thus, the future depended on the ability of the club to sign players of good quality, replacing those who will inevitably move away, for AZ’67 was in a position to prevent neither Dutch giants, nor foreign clubs offering more lucrative contracts. How long would be possible to keep ‘constructing’ teams was the question, leading observers to be cautious about AZ’67. And in the same time it was the only really improving team in Holland and more importantly – the team playing attractive football, close to the standard set by the great Dutch players of the first half of the 1970s.

As good as AZ’67 were, they were still beaten. Ajax finished first with 22 wins, 6 ties, 6 losses – 50 points and 77-41 goal-difference, which was worse than AZ’67’s, but Ajax won 2 more matches than their rivals. Tradition and deeper squad were perhaps the keys to success – Ajax really won the tile away from home: AZ’67 earned 17 points from away games, Ajax – 21. And this was so far the clear shortcoming of AZ’67 – all of the Dutch big clubs were more successful at away matches than the mavericks.

By now, it was even pointless to count Ajax’s titles – some other aspects were more important. There was a single survivor of the great team of the early 1970s – Ruud Krol. This was his last season in white and red, though – more than reminder that new team should have been made since 1975. But so far Ajax struggled – no new version came even close to the earlier standards. Of course, they were too high a hurdle to be easily overcome, but no new team even relatively close to the old Ajax emerged so far. Transition was painful, players were hired and fired, and the only result was that Ajax lost its strong position in international football. This version was neither well-shaped, nor particularly strong – just like every other version since 1974. Without Krol, this team was left with leading veterans like Piet Schrijvers and Pim van Dord – a far cry from the golden days of Cruijff and Keizer. The newcomer was famous and arrived from Real (Madrid) – the Danish star Henning Jensen – but he was one more example of what did not work so far: after Cruijff was sold to Barcelona in 1973, Ajax visibly changed their concept – earlier the formula was finding young promising players either in smaller Ducth clubs, or in their own youth system. After 1973 Ajax was buying well known names, but old – probably hoping to build a new team around them. Results were mixed and certainly not long-lasting. Henning Jensen’s arrival showed continuation of this ill-fated policy – to the point that not many people remember him playing for Ajax. Of course, Ajax had bright talent as ever – Tahamata, La Ling, Schoenaker, Meustege – but none of them ever became a big star and a true leader. To a point, the best discoveries were foreigners – Soren Lerby and Frank Arnesen, both Danish. They were recruited so young and unknown, that they could be considered a product of Ajax, but they were not Dutch… and more importantly, it was unlikely they will stay for long. On one hand, Ajax never changed its policy of selling profitable players; on the other hand – foreigners were naturally less loyal, especially to a club, which lost its veneer. At best, Ajax was strong enough for the domestic championship, especially when PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord were not in great shape.

Decline of Dutch football was detected earlier, but in 1980 it was definite: Holland was just a mediocrity at the European Championship finals. A glance at the season just finished before the finals tells why: the great old generation aged, but it was still the decisive force. The next generation, at its prime by now, lacked similar class, but the most troublesome sign was the absence of talented youngsters. Second Division of any country is hardly an indicator of the health of the game, but the handful recognizable names were all veterans – Joop van Daele (b.1947, Fortuna), Cees van Ierssel (b.1945, Heracles’74), Kalle Oranen (b. 1946, Heracles’74), Dick Helling (b. 1950, Volendam), Gerrie Muhren (b. 1946, Volendam). Even the foreigners, less famous than their Dutch counterparts, were ancient – the Yugoslavians Kristo Mitrovic (b. 1946, Vlaardingen) and Mikan Jokanovic (b. 1946, VVV Venlo). Not a single young player became recognizable name in the future. Ideally, lower divisions should supply the top league with promising players – there were no such here. The few more or less shapely clubs dominated the league – FC Den Bosch, 4th, finished 8 points ahead of Cambuur, 5th. 19th and last was the hopeless outsider, too weak even for a weak league.

SC Amersfoort ended with 19 points – 7 less than FC Vlaardingen, 18th.

At the top of the table everything evolved around promotion rules: the champions moved directly to first division. The following 4 clubs had a final promotional tournament between themselves for the second spot – to a point, this stage was a recognition of the weakness of the lower league: no matter how good season one club may have had, it was not truly stronger than the clubs right after it. Four clubs were superior during the season, but still there no real competition – FC Groningen was far above the rest.

With 57 points, they left the next team far behind – 6 points behind. No worries for a second. Groningen was relegated from first division in 1973-74 and finally managed to climb back, but whether they would stay among the best or not was another matter – and a problem for the next season.

Volendam, just relegated from top flight, finished 2nd with 51 points. Also with 51 points, but worse goal-difference, Wageningen finished 3rd. FC Den Bosch was 4th with 50 points. These the clearly superior clubs, but he final promotional tournament needed 4 participants, so the 5th placed club by default became one of the top league teams. Cambuur with 42 points, but it was not the points giving them a chance of promotion – Cambuur were lucky to have better goal-difference than De Graafschap. But luck can go only so far when there is no some class. Cambuur played well in the fianl tournament, quite equal to 3 of the participants, yet finished last with 5 points. De Graafschap, having better goal-difference than Cambuur, took the 3rd place. Volendam bested Cambuur and De Graafschap by a point, but it did not matter at all since only the winner got promotion.

FC Wageningen were obviously the best team at the final tournament – they finished with 8 points from 4 wins and 2 losses. Two-point difference does not look a big deal, but one has to consider the number of the teams – when they are only 4, 2 points spells out superiority. The combined record of the lower clubs was 5 wins. Wageningen were the only club with perfect home record – 3 wins. A good season all-together, crowned with promotion to the top league, which they left in 1974-75, finishing at the last place. Like Groningen, Wageningen’s real test would be the next season – happily promoted for the moment. The newly promoted clubs had no players to speak of – the only somewhat classier player was

Sammy Morgan of FC Groningen. Between 1973-75 he played 40 games for Aston Villa – the pinnacle of his career, but keep in mind that Aston Villa was in the second division at that time. He also played 18 matches for Northern Ireland – the last of them in 1978, but that was that for international football, since Morgan was born in 1946. One old and so great even when he was young player for two newly promoted clubs… way too little to hope for miracles in first division.

Not only Hearts had troubles – other well known clubs were in the dark too.

George Best makes a pretty picture, but only a picture… he was not real help for struggling Hibernian.

Perhaps this is the only interesting fact about the team at the time: a rather early and still unusual for Scottish team shirt-adds. And nostalgic reminder of once upon a time famous football gear maker. Rather symbolic… Best and Bukta going down together. And Hibernian too – they finished not only last, but were hopeless this season: 18 points in 36 games, only 6 wins. The club above them had 8 more points!

Which was also nothing. Dundee was only stronger than Hibernian – they had no chance of survival, finishing 7 points less than 8th placed Kilmarnock.

Kilmarnock – 8th at the end, well behind the teams above, but never in danger of relegation.

Dundee had difficulties even before Hearts and the reduced premier league was too small to accommodate a struggling club – Dundee were relegated in 1975-76. Managed to come back after winning the second division in 1978-79, but was too weak a team to secure a place among the best – down they were going one more time.

Another club was in trouble too – Glasgow Rangers. They finished 5th! The last time they were so low in the table was in 1964-65. To a point it a telling comment on the state of Scottish football at the time – seemingly, declining. Which, of course, does not diminish the success of some clubs.

St. Mirren finished with bronze medals. Excellent season for a club without big names and one playing second division football in 1976-77. Their picture is also a telling document of the lax spirit of those years: everybody is dressed in Umbro, except the goalkeeper, sporting not only Adidas, but a jersey originally belonging to the Norwegian national team. The kit makers did not have yet the iron grip in clubs and players. However, as good as St. Mirren were this season, they were not contenders – Celtic finished 5 points ahead of them.

The race for the title was between two club and single point decided it – Celtic was 2nd with 47, but even if they managed 48, they would have stay second because of worse goal-difference. The champions scored more goals and received less than Celtic. It was dramatic victory for a club, which was well known, but… hardly successful. To a point, Scotland had almost a brand new champion – Aberdeen.

Here they are – the exciting new Scottish champions! Their victory was dramatic, but significant, especially from the distance of time. First, it was the 2nd title won by Aberdeen so far – and the first was won in the long gone 1954-55. This was great for club and fans, but there far more important aspects to it. First, Aberdeen had a group of bright emerging stars, who defined Scottish football in the 1980s – Steve Archibald, Gordon Strachan, Willie Miller, Alex McLeish. With such a backbone, Aberdeen started their greatest period of all time. This is the second important point, but it was naturally unknown in 1980. Third, this season could be considered the true beginning of fantastic career of a man who became a legend long time before his retirement – Alex Ferguson was the young and only promising coach and mastermind of the champions. Of course, he was noticed already, so Aberdeen hired him, but Aberdeen – not Celtic or Rangers! And he made them champions instantly. And with him Aberdeen achieved a lot more, and on and on he went to his present godly reputation. This was the true significance of the 1979-80 season – and perhaps the only optimistic sign in Scottish football.

Aberdeen won the title, but were they to stay on top? Were they really strong or just one-time wonder? So far, they were not overwhelming – won the title with difficulty, and… lost the League Cup final.

Aberdeen reached the final like they did in 1976-77 and faced Dundee United, having so-so season so far. Both finalists had curiously weak opponents in the semi-finals – Dundee United destroyed second division Hamilton Academical 6-2, but Aberdeen struggled against a team which was not a member of the professional leagues – Greenock Morton. The future champions eventually prevailed 2-1. At the final, on December 8, 1979, Aberdeen was met by equally ambitious foe and after overtime the result was 0-0. A replay was scheduled for December 12 and this time Aberdeen was thrashed 0-3.

Dundee United were not bad, but hardly strong – they were merely better and more stable than most league members, which is not much to say about a league of 10 members. But a cup final, especially on British Isles, was entirely different matter and Dundee United naturally had no fear. ‘The Arabs’ had quite a lot at stake – they never won a trophy before and now felt they had a good chance. This was a time later named the ‘Jim McLean era’ – under his coaching, the club was quietly improving and finally the efforts brought real results and more joyous events were yet to come, but 1979-80 season was rightly a historic one: at last, the club won a trophy.

The FA Cup final opposed the big eternal enemies. Aberdeen lost the semifinal 0-1 to Glasgow Rangers, proving that no matter how good, they were not really superior – or at least not yet. Celtic had it easy – they hosted Hibernian, and the outcome was no brainer: 5-0. A final between the arch-rivals needed no speculations, introductions, and predictions. Rangers, having a weak season, were perhaps hungrier, but this would have been a factor against other opponent, not Celtic. Naturally, the atmosphere was great – if about 55 000 (combined) attended the League Cup finals, over 70 000 came to support their clubs at Hampden Park. Regular time ended scoreless and only in overtime a single goal was scored – McCluskey drove the nail in the coffin of Rangers.

Rangers really had an awful season – the previous two years they won the five trophies shown on their picture – 1 title and 4 cup. This year – nothing!

As for Celtic, joy at last.

Of course, club and fans expected trophies, but to a point they just saved face. Celtic lost the title, was not a factor in the League Cup – by the usual standards, disappointing season. So the FA Cup was a must. To overcome the arch-enemy was another motivating point, so it was not so bad at the end. Both Scottish giants were not in great shape, and compared to raising Aberdeen and Dundee United looked dangerously stagnated, but the Scottish predicament was such that no matter how good smaller clubs were, they would be at par with the big two at best. Celtic was in better shape than Rangers – perhaps this was more important.

Scotland had two big news in the 1979-80 season – one at the beginning and the other at the end of the season.

George Best signed with Hibernian. Exciting? Well, ten years ago this would have been the news of the world – not it was just a ‘big local news’. Best himself evaluated this contract just as one more club trying to cash on his name in his autobiography. Perhaps he was not far from the truth, considering the agreement: he was free to live in London, catch a plane to Edinburgh to train with the team on Friday, play the next day, and fly back to London right after the match finished. The result of such agreement was predictable… often Best did not show up at all. His total record with Hibernian is 17 matches and 3 goals. But this was not all – as many other British players at the time, he was really under double contract: with Hibernian and after April 1980 with San Jose Earthquakes of NASL. Schedules of two leagues overlapped, creating immediately a conflict: Best moved back to USA before the end of Scottish season, then he was late for the start of the next Scottish season. The second return of Best to British Isles was one more fiasco, but under the circumstances predictable one: Hibernian got full gates a match or two, but since Best was not really part of the team, the excitement dried up just as quickly. One more sad chapter in the life of self-destructive genius and no benefits for the game. The other news was much better – it was the actual beginning of a legend, but all in good time.

The Scottish Division Two – the third level – was won by same city rivals:

East Stirlingshire, fonded in 1881 and based in Falkirk, finished 2nd with 49 points. A point better than them was Falkirk FC.

Why the pots with some green stuff would be anybody’s guess, but Falkirk were champions of Division 2. Both clubs of the city were moving up to Division 1, replacing the losers of this season:

Clyde FC finished last, 14th, and

Arbroath FC – 13th. Both clubs were relegated, of course. Better things at the other side of the table, but for only two clubs – the second level championship was not competitive this year. Two clubs were way above the rest, assuring their promotion and concerned only with the first place as a matter of a pride.

Airdrieonians -commonly shortened to Airdrie – lost the race for the top place. They finished with 51 points, 7 more than 3rd-placed Ayr United. Airdrie lost their first division place when the top league was reformed and reduced to 10 teams in 1976 – this was the first time they were moving back to the top league since. Well done, even without finishing first.

Airdrie was bested by 2 points – Heart of Midlothian ended champions of Division 1. 20 wins, 13 ties, 6 losses, and 58-39 goal-difference.

A second division champions, but champions nevertheless – the trophy counts. Hearts were relegated the previous season, but were too strong for the lower level, and managed to go up right away. As for staying in the top league… it was a worrying question. Since the reduction of the top division, the club was relegated in 1976-77, promoted in 1977-78, relegated again in 1978-79, and now – promoted one more time, but those were bleak years for the club. And far from over yet.

The Cup final opposed the losers of the championship: Benfica vs FC Porto. Bronze vs silver, both teams ambitious to win a trophy. As often is the case between equal rivals, the final was tight and won minimally by Benfica 1-0.

FC Porto ended well the season – second in both championship and cup tournament. But second is not first… they lost twice minimally. A good team, but not great and perhaps not polished yet. But FC Porto established firmly itself among the very best Portuguese clubs and clearly was going to be a constant factor.

Benfica won the Cup and thus saved the season, but they fooled no one: the team was not so great, it needed new and better players, if Benfica wanted to live up to its reputation. At the moment, they were losing steam in Portugal and were not a leading club on European scale. As a whole, Benfica, FC Porto, and Lisbon shared the same problem – very few stars. Portugal needed a new strong generation of players and so far there were none.

1979-80 season was nothing special – the Portuguese First Division was sharply divided into two groups: the top 4 clubs and the rest. The top itself was divided into three distinct parts, which tells enough about competitiveness. A bit of trivia, then. Sporting (Lisbon) won all home games they played. FC Porto finished the season with unique record: they allowed only 9 goals in 30 matches! And interestingly they received less goals on away matches – 4. Benfica was the highest scoring team by far – 79 goals, 12 more than Sporting. Varzim was the only team without a win away from home. Ties were not in vogue – only 4 clubs tied 10 or more matches, Estoril had the most – 11.

One club seemingly improved this year.

Belenenses (Lisbon) finished 5th, suggesting perhaps recovery, but was the club going to recover its once upon a time strong place remained to be seen.

One club was a hopeless outsider, finishing last was 13 points – Rio Ave.

Rio Ave – dead last in the league.

The battle for survival went between 4 clubs Beira Mar, Estoril, Leiria, and Vitoria (Setubal).

Usually, Setubal was found in the upper half of the table, but they had weak season and fought for survival – lucky to escape relegation with 23 points, which placed the 12th. The other three participants in the race for survival joined Rio Ave in relegation.

Leiria – 13th with 21 points.

Estoril – 14th, also with 21 points, but worse goal-difference. This team distinguish itself with the worst scoring record in the league – 18 goals.

Beira Mar – 15th with 20 points.

At the top of the league, Boavista continued its good run – late 1970s were great years for the club and the 1980s started well.

Boavista finished 4th with 37 points – 3 points ahead of Belenenses and thus separated from the bulk of the league, but 8 points behind the bronze medalists. Apparently, Boavista was unable to build and maintain really strong squad, but nevertheless helped shaping the new Portuguese establishment: the opposition between Lisbon and Porto.

Benfica got the bronze medals – a miserable season by their standards. They ended 8 points ahead of Boavista, and had the highest scoring strikers in the league, but finished 5 points behind the silver medalists.

Two clubs contested the title and the pursuit was close to the end. Curiously, home record separated the winner from the loser. FC Porto won 13 home matches and tied 2 – and lost the title by 2 points, for Sporting Lisbon had perfect home record – 15 wins. Both teams had the same away records.

Standing from left: Eurico, Fraguito, Jordão, Barão, Meneses, Bastos, Vaz.

First row: Marinho, Manoel, José Eduardo, Manuel Fernandes (captain).

Great victory for Sporting, but it was not a great squad – Jordao and Eurico were practically the only stars.

One more look at the champions, this time at their full squad – they deserve it, for Sporting was out of the spotlights for the most of the 1970s.