Football Journey

Norway. Ranked 26th. 3 points for a win. The last 2 in First Division directly relegated and the 10th going to promotion/relegation play-off against the winner in the play-off between the second-placed Second Division teams. The Second Division group winners – directly promoted up and the bottom 3 teams in each group relegated to third level.
Second Division. Two groups of 12 teams each. Naturally, most names meant nothing outside Norway, like
Sandefjord BK – 6th in Group B.
Few, like
Mjondalen IF – 3rd in Group B – were somewhat familiar thanks to playing top-league football in the past.
The only important thing was promotion: Eik finished 2nd in Group B – dramatically so, for they ended 2nd only on worse goal-difference – and qualified to first promotion play-off.
Lyn clinched the top position with 45 from 14 wins, 3 ties and 5 losses. Scored 50 goals and received 23 and that gave them +27 goal-difference: 4 goals better than Eik’s and direct promotion as group champion. Top row from left: Tom Sundby, Simen Agdestein, Finn Tore Pettersen, Dag Roar
Austmo, Gisle Sørlie, Ole Dyrstad, Thomas Kristiansen. Middle row: Arnt Kortgaard, Erling Hokstad, Bernt Haugen, Lars Stamnes, Frode Thomassen,Trond Sundby, Nils Aas, Jo Lunder, Lasse Holm, Tor Halvor Viik. Front: Reidar Hartmann, Tom Fodstad, Magne Kofoed, Tor Olav Bogen, Trond
Lien, Atle Ulrichsen, Sture Fladmark, Jan Tore Amundsen.
Group A: Bryne finished 2nd with 44 points and went to promotion play-off.
Sogndal won the group with 48 points: 15 wins, 3 ties, 4 losses, 42-23. Promoted up, or rather, returning to top flight, like Lyn.
No Second Division second-placed team managed to earn promotion eventually.
First Division: Four teams had were strong and aiming at the title. At the bottom – 2 outsiders.
Moss ended last with 13 points and VIF Fotball – 11th with 16 points. Those were the relegated this season.
Lillestrom finished 10th with 25 points and went to promotion/relegation play-off – but they won it and remained in the league.
Stromgodset Drammen finished 9th with 27 points. Top row from left: Harald Ramsfjell (trener), Juro Kuvicek, Halvor Storskogen, Arne Erlandsen, Odd Johnsen, Olav Gjesteby, Jan Wendelborg, Einar Sigmundstad (trener). Middle row:Odd Kirkebø (materialforvalter), Glenn Knutsen, Frode Johannessen, Vegard Hansen, Bård Wiggen, Ole Viggo Walseth, Frank Hovland (oppmann).
Front row: Trond Nordeide, Arne Gustavsen, Ronny Hvambsal, Terje Dokken (sportslig leder), Gabor Valo, Ulf Camitz, Stefan Jambo.
Kongsvinger – 8th with 27 points, Fyllingen – 7th with 28 points,
Start – 6th with 31 points.
Viking – 5th with 35 points.
Brann – 4th with 39 points. Top row from left: Rune Enehaug (fysioterapeut), Erling Mikkelsen (Seksjon Fotball A-SFA), Tor Helmik Raaheim Olsen (SFA), Bjørn Helge Lilleskare (SFA), Steinar Aase (SFA), Kjell Jensen (SFA), John E. Reigstad (SFA), Jan-Erik Larsen (daglig leder), Jon Schjeldrerup (lege). Middle row: Trygve Larsen (keepertrener), Arne Wilhelmsen (materialforvalter), Joachim Björklund, Marek Motyka, Per Egil Ahlsen, Mons Ivar Mjelde, Ketil Elvenes, Henrik Bjørnestad, Thomas Gill, Marek Filipczak, Atle Torvanger, Roy Wassberg, Teitur Thordarson (trener). Crouching: Cato Grønnern, Per Hilmar Nybø, Tore Hadler-Olsen, Olafur Thordarson, Einar Arne Roth, Gjert Rein Berntsen, Jan Eivind Brudvik, Redouane Drici, Lars Moldestad.

Molde – 3rd with 40 points, Tromso – 2nd with 42 points, and above them:
Rosenborg – champions with 44 points from 13 wins, 5 ties, and 4 losses and 60-24 scoring record. Attack was their key to success – they outscored the all other teams by far (Viking, the 2nd highest scorers, finished with 41 goals) and that gave them the edge over the competion.
Rosenborg also reached the Cup final and there they really showed their rising supremacy: Fyllingen was not much of an opponent, but still the result was telling: 5-0 Rosenborg.
If there was ever a happy loser, that might be Fyllingen. Nothing much in the championship, perhaps mostly concerned with avoiding relegation, and utterly destroyed at the Cup final. But… they reached the Cup final and stronger teams did not and they got to play in the Cup Winners Cup.
Rosenborg triumphed with a double this season, improving their records: 6th title, 5th Cup and 3rd double. Numbers were quite modest, but this season suggested more than Norwegian success: Rosenborg was on the road to become the best known and respected Norwegian club. They opened a new chapter in the country’s football, becoming the prime movers and shakers of rapid elevation of Norwegian football from obscurity to much higher and stronger position in European football. Rosenborg was truly professional in that.

The Cup final opposed two leading clubs again: Besiktas vs Trabzonspor. Besiktas was flying and won 2-0.

Naturally, Trabzonspor was disappointed – they finished the season with empty hands. It would have been great if Jean-Marie Pfaff collected one more trophy, but no luck – the goals in the final were scored in his net. Still Trabzonspor maintained leading position and that mattered more. Perhaps.
Simply the best – not only Besiktas won its 3rd Cup, a trophy they won much more rarely than championship titles, but they confirmed that they were the strongest team at the moment. One of their best season and historic one as well, for this was the first time Besiktas won a double. Something to remember.

First Division. The usual 4 teams in separate battle between themselves at the top, followed by one team quite weaker than the leaders, yet, much stronger than the rest of the league. Three outsiders at the bottom and the remaining 9 clubs practically trying to avoid relegation – the difference between the 6th and the relegated 14th was only 3 points in championship giving 3 points for a win! Five teams relegated this season because of reduction of the top league to 16 teams for the next one.
Sakaryaspor – last with 21 points and relegated.
Adana Demirspor – 17th with 23 points and out.
Samsunspor – 16th with 27 points and relegated.
Altay – 15th with 35 points and relegated.

Malatyaspor – 14th with 44 points and relegated. What a cruel fate for Brazilian goalkeeper Carlos: from playing World Cup finals in 1986 to relegation in Turkey.
Boluspor – 13th with 45 points.
Adanaspor – 12th with 45 points.
Genclerbirligi – 11th with 45 points. Not an impressive season, but there was something interesting: their foreigners were Argentines and if Claudio Zacarias and Jorge Rinaldi did not ring any bells, Adrian Domenech was different case – the 30-years defender was key part of the rise of Argentinos Juniors in the late 1970s and later captained them to their greatest success. Played along Diego Maradona at first, achieved success without him. Now Turkish football was eyeing not only Europeans, but was also in position to hire good South Americans too.
Zeytinburnuspor – 10th with 45 points.
MKE Ankaragucu – 9th with 46 points.
Karsiyaka – 8th with 46 points.
Konyaspor – 7th with 46 points.
Bursaspor – 6th with 47 points. Perhaps never in real danger of relegation, but… one wrong step and instead of honorable 6th place they would have been going down to Second Division.
Sariyer – 5th with 59 points. Wonderful season, but in its own terms – much stronger than those below, Sariyer was was below the leaders too.
Galatasaray – 4th with 63 points and therefore not a season to brag about… Standing from left: Zoran Simovic, Ismail Demiriz, Savas Koc, Cuneyt Tanman, Erhan Onal, Semih Yuvakuran. Front: Mirsad Kovacevic, Metin Yildiz, Tanju Colak, Ugur Tutuneker, Xhevat Prekazi. Not only with three worthy Yugoslavians – Simovic, Prekazi, and Kovacevic – but having the greatest Turkish player at this period: Tanju Colak. The former West German star Sigi Held coached them.
Trabzonspor – now firmly established as one of the 4 leading clubs, they finished 3rd with 68 points this season. With 36-years old Jean-Marie Pfaff between the goalposts and Yugoslavian midfielder Miodrag Jesic coached by Belgian Urbain Braems.
Fenerbahce – eventually lost the battle for the title and finished 2nd with 70 points. Todor Veselinovic coached the national team of Yugoslavia a few years back and captain Toni Schumacher, now 35 years old, does not need an introduction. The new recruit came from USSR – Ivan Vishnevsky. The 32-years old defender shortly before reached the national team of USSR and on the strength of that got Fenerbahce interested. There were two more foreigners in the squad: Danish national team striker Henrik Nielsen and young midfielder from West Germany: Mustafa Kurt. As his name suggests, he was ethnic Turk, although born and raised in West Germany – ‘oriundo’, easy to naturalize and present as domestic player.
Besiktas not only managed to prevail over their rivals, but also succeeded in building a good cushion – they finished 5 points ahead of Fenerbahce. 23 wins, 6 ties, 5 losses, 77-20 scoring record and 75 points. Best in everything: most wins, most goals scored, the best defensive record , astonishing goal-difference. And that achieved with foreign help seemingly on lower order compared to the imports of the others: the Englsih coach Gordon Milne brought with himself British players: 31-years old Scotish defender Ian Wilson and 33-years old English midfielder Alan Walsh. The Yugoslavian goalkeeper Rade Zalad, already 33-years, was with the club for some years now, but his place in the first team was no longer secure as the photo shows: seemingly, still 2 foreign players were allowed to play in Turkey and Besiktas had one too many. But that was minor problem, if a problem at all – Milne lead determined and motivated team and won the championship.
This squad won the 13th title for Besiktas, but as the photo shows, that was not all.

Turkey. Ranked 25th by UEFA. 3 points for a win and the familiar clash between the 4 leading clubs. The 3-point system created division between the leaders. The top league was going to be reduced from 18 to 16 teams for the next season, so 5 were relegated and 3 promoted from Second Division, which still had 3 groups of 17 teams each. Turkish football was going up largely by having money and thus importing both players and coaches, some of them famous – even if getting old: all 4 leading clubs had foreign coaches from leading schools (West German, English, and Belgian) and among the imported players were Toni Schumacher (Fenerbahce), Jean-Marie Pfaff (Trabzonspor), Carlos (Malatyaspor), Simovic (Galatasaray) – goalkeepers were the greatest foreign stars and the mentioned quartet hardly requires any introduction – longtime national team members of West Germany, Belgium, Brazil, Yugoslavia, with World Cup finals and all kinds of other successes. Money was the key for going up, for sure and Turkish clubs were clearly going to the next step – from importing famous veterans to getting strong and famous stars in their best years. And along them, developing and, most importantly, keeping at home their own talent.
Second Division. 3 groups of 17 teams, the winners promoted and the last 3 in each group relegated. However, there was no intrigue – each group was dominated by a single team.
Group A.
Freshly relegated from First Division Caykur Rizepsor finished 3rd with 47 points. Not bad, but not a contender for promotion. Standing from left: Abdullah, Kemallettin, Memduh, İsmail, Tuncay, Adil. Front: Erol, Nuri, Metin, Turgut, Harun.
Bakirkoyspor was in excellent condition this season and dominated the league: they won it with 70 points from 21 wins, 7 ties, and 4 losses. Scored 74 goals, receiving 35, leaving second-placed Emlak Bankasi Eyupspor 18 points behind. Well deserved promotion.
Group B.
Kusadasispor ended 8th with 44 points. Neither they, nor anybody else managed to challenge the leader.
Aydinspor won the championship and promotion with 74 points after 22 wins, 8 ties, 2 losses, and 66-24 scoring record. The next team – Goztepe (Izmir) – was 11 points behind.
Group C.
A sample of the lower ends of Second Division football: Kahramanmarasspor barely escaped relegation – 14th with 40 points.
At the top end, Gaziantepspor had no rival – they left the nearest pursuer, Petrol Ofisi SK, 17 points behind, finishing with 69 points from 22 wins, 3 ties, and 7 losses. 60-32 scoring record and promoted to the top level.

Albania. Ranked 24th. Political changes started a bit later in Albania than in most of Eastern Europe and for that the football season was more or less as it was before. But it had peculiar formula in the top league: first, there was a limit on yellow/red cards and those who got more than the limit had points deducted in the next season – thus, KS Beselidhja (Lezhe) started this season with -3 points, KS Partizani (Tirana) with -2, and KS Apolonia (Fier) with -1 point. Second, 1 bonus point was awarded for win by 3 or more goals and, correspondingly, 1 point was deducted for loss by 3 or more goals. That made for complicated and confusing table and on top of that there were clubs punished with various deductions of points for undisclosed offenses – in typical Communist manner, to show ‘true vigilance’ the smaller the club, the bigger the punishment. No top league teams were punished (hence, no corruption and other offenses existed there), but plenty of crimes in the Second Division: KS Erzeni (Shijak) had 6 points deducted (and because of that they finished 2nd in Group A), KS Industrial (Lac) – 8 points deducted in the same group, KS Perparimi (Kukes) – 1 point deducted, KS Butrini (Sarande) – 1 point deducted, and finally KS 22 Tetori (Polican) resigned after 12 games in Group C – their 12th match was awarded 0-2 to KS 10 Korriku (Gramsh), but the rest of the games were just voided, yet, KS 22 Tetori was allowed to stand in the final table with just 12 games on record. Of course, they took the last place, but it was weird to give points to one opponent and not to the rest. Lastly, the top league was going to be 14 teams next season, so only one team was relegated from it and the three group winners in the Second Division were promoted – although they played a mini-tournament after the regular season ended to decide the Second Division champion: it happen to be KS Traktori (Lushnje. That was all in nutshell.
Second Division: whatever happened there, KS Kastrioti (Kruje) won Group A with 32 points and was promoted to First Division. Apparently, KS Erzeni and KS Industrial were determined to win their own battle for first place by whatever means, were caught in illegal activities, and the punishment of both by deduction of points benefited KS Kastrioti. KS Skenderbeu (Korce) won Group B without trouble and bother by anybody else with 33 points, and KS Traktori (Lushnje) won Group C dramatically on better goal-difference – they and rival KS Punetori (Patos) finished with 32 points, but Traktori finished with astonishing defensive record, just 7 goals in their net, and that made for much better goal-difference. Albanian clubs are obscure to begin with, but Traktori was hardly heard of outside Albania – yet, this was a club to note, for later, in the new political and economic reality, they suddenly soared to success. For the moment, though – just promoted to the top league and won the title of Second Division champion after coming first in the mini-tournament of the three group winners.
First Division. Four teams were entangled in the battle for escaping relegation and 2 teams were way stronger than the rest of league, fighting for the title between themselves.
KS Beselidhja (Lezhe) ended last with 23 points and was relegated. However, they started with -3 points the season and if not punished for exceeding the limit on red/yellow cards in the previous season, they would have stayed in top flight. Such fate…
KS Labinoti (Elbasan) ended 11th with 24 points and luckily avoided relegation. KS Lokomotiva (Durres) – 10th with 25 points. KS Tomori (Berat) – 9th with 26 points.
KS Besa (Kavaje) had no troubles: 8th with 30 points. Above them: KS Luftetari (Gjirokaster) – 7th with 30 points.
KS Apollonia (Fier) – 6th with 30 points.
KS Vllaznia (Shkoder) – 5th with 33 points, KS 17 Nentori (Tirana) – 4th with 36 points, and KS Flamurtari (Vlore) – 3rd with 39 points.
Above the bulk of the league two usual suspects fought for the title: Partizani and Dinamo. The rules prevented Partizani from winning it: they started with -2 points, punished for exceeding the red/yellow card limit in 1988-89. They also won 4 games by 3 or more goals, thus collecting 4 bomus points, but also lost 1 match by 3 or more goals and got 1 point deducted. Meantime, Dinamo started the season with clean sheet and won 3 games by 3 or more goals without losing any match by result deducting a point. The final calculation gave a lead by 1 point to Dinamo.
KS Partizani (Tirana) finished 2nd with 49 points.

KS Dinamo (Tirana) won the championship with 50 points: 19wins (3 by 3 or more goals), 9 ties, 5 losses, 45-22 scoring record. Quite a lucky victory, but at least their players deserved it, for Dinamo had the brightest Albanian stars at the moment: Strakosha, Demollari, and Vata.
And that was not all: Dinamo reached the Cup final as well, where they met Flamurtari (Vlore) and… dramatically or luckily prevailed again: the regular time ended 0-0, then both teams scored a goal each in the overtime. The penalty shoot-out favoured Dinamo.

Twice lucky, Dinamo, and getting a double. 15th title and 10th Cup – quite a collection. And 6th double. But the political system was already crumbling and changing by the end of the season… and the three stars of the club did not appear in the Cup final, played in early June 1990 – now Albanian players could go to play professional football in other countries and the trio did so. The glory years of Dinamo (Tirana) were coming to an end… without Communist rule, they were going to be a club as any other, no favours and power to them anymore.

Denmark. Ranked 23rd. This was the last season of the traditional football structure: major reform was introduced for the next season, so it was the last time First Division was the top tier and had 14 teams. New Danish Superliga of 10 teams was going to be the top tier after this season and for that there was no direct promotion this season. Instead, the the top 8 teams remained, the next 2 went to promotion/relegation play-offs against the two top team in the Second Division, and the last 4 were directly relegated to… First Division. The old name remained, but in the future the First Division was going to be second level and Second Division – third level. The big change did not affect the season much: Brondby IF was way too strong to allow anybody else near. In the same time it was clear that many of the old ‘traditional’ clubs were fading, unable to adjust to proefessional football for some reasons:
B93, for instance, ended 13th in the Second Division and thus sunk even further from sight, going to third level. Standing from left: Kurt Olsen (holdleder), Tom Jensen (manager), Tonni Jensen, Chris Hansen, Thomas Olsen, Kim Valentin, Per Andersen, Jan Hansen, Arne Nielsen (træner).
Front: : Michael Petersen, Jens Nørager, Frank Husum, Per Rasmussen, Frederik W. Nielsen, René Johansson, Leif Funcke Nielsen.
The last 4 relegated to second level: Viborg FF – 14th with 14 points, KB – 13th with 14 points, Herfolge BK – 12th with 17 points, and Naestved IF – 11th with 22 points.
Promotion/relegation play-offs: Aalborg BK – 10th with 26 points faced the winner of Second Division B1909 and kept its place among the best after winning both legs: 4-0 and 6-5. Vejle BK – 9th with 26 points met the 2nd in Second Division B1913 and also prevailed, but after some drama: Vejle won the first leg, playing away 1-0 and then lost at home 0-1. Penalty shoot-out saved their skins: 4-3. Thus, no Second Division teams managed to get promoted to the new Superliga.
The top 8 stayed in the new top flight: Odense BK – 8th with 27 points, Aarhus GF – 7th with 28 points, Lyngby BK – 6th with 28 points, BK Frem – 5th with 29 points, Silkeborg IF – 4th with 30 points, Ikast fS – 3rd with 30 points, and B1903 – 2nd with 31 points.
Brondby IF had no rival at all and sailed through the season: 17 wins, 8 ties, only 1 lost match, 50-16 scoring record, and 42 points. Brondby IF clearly emerged as the leading club of Denmark in the 1980s – this was their 4th title, but all were won in the second half of the decade. Obviously, the club adapted best to the professional football introduced in the late 1970s and steadily harvested the fruits of good work. Although to the foreign eye the big name here was their coach Morten Olsen, not long ago still playing, the squad was full of players very soon to become well known and respected: the Nigerian defender Ushe Okechukwu, Kim Vilfort, Kim Kristofte, and others. But Peter Schmeichel was on the road not of mere stardom, but of superstardom. Of course, no Danish club, professional or not, was able to keep its best players, but it was quite certain that Brondby will use the money received for its best players to buy new good ones. The future was very bright and the 4th title surely was not going to be the last.
The Cup final opposed Lyngby BK to Aarhus GF and ended without a winner: 0-0 after overtime. A second match was scheduled and it was nothing like the first – Lyngby destroyed Aarhus 6-1.
Aarhus GF ended without a trophy and rightly so.

As for Lyngby BK, they somewhat mirrored Brondby IF, seemingly, the second club well adjusting to fully professional football: this was their 3rd Cup, all victories achieved in the last few years.

Still two cup-tournaments, but the faded Soviet Army Cup had its last issue – although the former national cup tournament lost importance as soon as true national cup was introduced on UEFA’s insistence, the collapse of Communism ended the days of it. For whatever it was worth, its last final was somewhat symbolic of dying era: it was between CSKA and Botev (Plovdiv), two clubs belonging to the Army only a few months before and symbolizing greatly the Communist rule. The final somewhat represented exactly the ‘good old days’ – the ‘coronels’ were not going to oppose ‘the ‘generals’, Botev lost. But not without a fight: only 1-2. Of course, this is just on symbolic level: in reality CSKA was too strong at the moment. As for the trophy… it was more a matter of pride, for the tournament was not important at all.
Trakia started the competition, but by the time of final it was already Botev for months. Sitting from left: B. Khvoynev, T. Zaytzev, P. Zekhtinski, At. Pashev, Tz. Dermendzhiev, ?, Tzvetkov. Middle row: D. Dermendzhiev – coach, P. Shopov, A. Pekhlivanov, T. Pachev, P. Kartev, Ya. Petrov, Chr. Kirilov, N. Dafinski – assistant coach. Top row: I. Stoynov, Z. Rakov, Il. Nikolov, Iv. Kunchev, Iv. Terziyski, O. Yosifov, Sl. Khorozov.
So unimportant the Soviet Army Cup was, there is no photo of the winners, so let present CSKA just by their regular 11 – the regulars at least in part of the season, for the photo is seemingly from mid-season winter training camp and the club is still named CFCA Sredetz. Standing from left: Petar Zhekov – assistant coach, Roumen Apostolov, Dimitar Mladenov, Georgi Georgiev, Roumen Stoyanov, Ivaylo Kirov, Dimitar Penev – coach. Front: Stefan Bachev, Kiril Kachamanov, Trifon Ivanov, Petar Vitanov, Christo Stoichkov, Marin Bakalov.
The Bulgarian Cup final presented a chance for CSKA to make a treble. If one looks for the symbolism of the transitional season… CSKA opposed Sliven, a no brainer: if in the very recent past the Soviet Army Cup final was ‘generals’ vs ‘coronels’, this one was ‘generals’ vs ‘captains’. Sliven was even more sub-ordinated to CSKA in the Army system than Trakia/Botev. And this final was important. But times changed and if the Soviet Army Cup could be seen as the last, however stubborn, gasp of the Communist days, this final represented the new reality: Sliven, free from the Army now, not only opposed, but prevailed over CSKA. Quite confidently too: 2-0. Valkov and Yordan Lechkov scored the goals. Perhaps CSKA underestimated their opponents – Stoichkov was not among the starters and came out in the second half – but more important was the brave game Sliven played against the strongest by far Bulgarian team.
CSKA was unable to win a treble and although this is not a photo from the Cup final, it is representative of the new reality and also new problems: the club is already CSKA, not CFCA Sredetz; there are sponsor adds on the shirts; Stoichkov a captain. Champions; Trifon Ivanov sporting a beard, which was just unthinkable only a year ago, but not Cup winners. Front form left: Illiya Valov, Dimitar Mladenov, Marin Bakalov, Trifon Ivanov, Christo Stoichkov, Kostadin Yanchev, Kiril Kachamanov, Emil Kostadinov. Middle row: Petar Vitanov, Emil Dimitrov, Georgi Georgiev, Roumen Apostolov, Roumen Stoyanov, Slavcho Illiev, Stefan Bachev, Marius Urukov.
What a triumph for Sliven (Sliven) – they never won a trophy before! For years the fate of Sliven depended largely on CSKA – on coaches and players coming from the big Army club to the smaller one. Sliven mostly reminded one of a farm-club of CSKA in the manner of NHL hockey clubs, except they played in the same league as their mother-club, thus providing easy points to CSKA and taking away points from CSKA’s rivals. Success was not in the books, not even in the dreams of hard-core fans. But now… free at last, eager, and finally successful. First ever trophy!
Cup winners crouching from left: Penev, Petar Ivanov, Valeri Valkov, Ivan Vassilev, Ivan Mitev, Veliyan Parushev, Mutafchiev, Valentin Stefanov. Second row: T. Stoyanov, Marinov, D. Vassilev, Yordan Lechkov, Lyudmil Goranov – coach, Vassil Tinchev – captain, Kiril Kirilov, Kr. Illiev, Dancho Yorgov.
If anything, Sliven was experienced – the core players played together for years already and that includes the remain of the tightly-connected to CSKA past – Vassil Tinchev. A bit of a scandal at the beginning of the season – Mutafchiev was one of the 4 players who applied for transfers to 2 clubs simultaneously (along with Balakov) and more or less typical mid-table season. Good and well respected coach – Lyudmil Goranov. It was good that Sliven managed to keep their squad, but it was also not so good, for those players were already used to middle-of-the road performance, already reached the peak of their abilities and were quite cynical in their expectations instead of ambitious. Even Lechkov – 23-years old at the time, but with already 125 games and 37 goals in the First Division – most likely would have settled for sedate life with Sliven if the political changes did not happen: so far, he did not attract the interest of CSKA, just like his teammates from the team of the 1980s. Now, however, there was a chance – a chance to get better pay, a chance to play abroad, or if not yet, at least to go to big Bulgarian club, because the stars were rapidly leaving the country and somebody had to replace them. Lechkov was noticed already, but he was not a major star – perhaps the Cup final was the new starting point for him and for the whole team: with success, better things could happen to every player individually. At least in his case, this was the moment he took the road to stardom: soon after the Cup victory he joined CSKA, which already lost a number of top players, so he had again a chance to shine – which he did, but that is in the future. Presently, he enjoyed with his teammates and the whole city of Sliven their greatest historic moment – they snatched the Cup away from Stoichkov and company, their first ever trophy. And also their last… Miracles happen only ones.
So, let take one more look at the 1989-90 Cup winning squad, for that is all remaining from the miracle. Today the club does not even exist.

First Division. In purely football matters, not much to say – two outsiders and one dominant leader: CSKA. But it was truly transitional season in which the past was still strong and the new only taking roots with uncertainty. Thus, the season started in one reality and ended in another – 4 clubs started with one names and finished with different one. Getting rid of Communism was difficult even in football – names, for example, were restored, but what was behind such acts? Getting rid of Communist yoke… it was not so simple. Four clubs, four different cases. The easiest one was Botev (Vratza) – they were renamed to Vratza (Vratza) in mid-80s by Party decree: nominally, to change the names of clubs using historic figures, for it was offensive to chant mockery of national heroes. Since Botev was the original name of the club, it was a simple matter of restoring the original name once the Party lost its grip – there were no complications and conflicting interest. The Plovdiv case was a bit different: back in mid-60s the Party decided to make a super-club in the city and amalgamated Spartak and Botev under the name Trakia. The new concoction never stayed well with the fans, particularly the more numerous supporters of Botev, who rebeliously chanted ‘Botev’ and never ‘Trakia’. However, Spartak was re-created about the mid-80s and in 1990 there was no more conflict of interests between the original clubs – it was easy to change Trakia to the ‘original’ Botev, even if the origins of Trakia was a merger between Botev and Spartak. More difficult was to erase the taint both Trakia and Botev had: they were an Army club for many years and thus quite subordinated to CSKA – that was the core of the massive hatred between the fans of Botev and Levski (Sofia) with a pinch of irony in it: the national heroes Levski and Botev had been friends and worked together for the same cause – not so from the fan’s perspective: Botev was serving CSKA, they always played their hardest against Levski and were quite meek against CSKA, which also grabbed whoever they fancied from Botev without the slightest objection (one player decided to move in the other direction and join Levski – and he was immediately suspended by the Football Federation!) From Plovdiv’s perspective – Levski was the hateful Police. Anyhow, Botev not only had to restore its name, but also to get rid of the Army – luckily, at this time the Army was quite willing to let loose its secondary clubs. Levski (Sofia) was really complicated case: the Party named it Vitosha, but this was only the newest change of name – in 1985 not Levski, but Levski-Spartak was renamed to Vitosha. And Levski-Spartak itself came into existence by Party’s decision in the middle of the 1968-69 season – then clubs were merged and renamed. Levski was merged with Spartak (Sofia) and Sportist (Kremikovtzi) into Levski-Spartak. Sportist was not important and was restored eventually without fuss, but Spartak belonged to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and thus Levski suddenly became the club of the Police – this did not stay well not only with enemies, but with the fans. The new name was never accepted and fans chanted only ‘Levski’ to the irritation of large part of the political powers. Restoring the original name was not so simple – what about Spartak, then? Restoration of one club or two? Luckily, Spartak, largely by the fact they were the club of the Police, did not fans, so the problem was and is munched only by supporters of other clubs, mostly of CSKA. But belonging to the Police meant also money, influence and power and that the club was not so happy to give up, especially the financial part. True, nobody said it openly, but it took petition from Minyor (Pernik), supported by other smaller club, to separate Levski, CSKA, Slavia, and Lokomotiv Sofia from the institutions ‘owening’ them. To this very day the existence of Levski is objected by fans of other clubs – they consider the change in 1990 as usurpation of Spartak’s past. But at least the roots of Levski were old and not Communist and the club managed to keep the name as much as it depended on the club: Levski was forcefully amalgamated with few small clubs after 1944, but kept its name. In the early 1950s it was forcefully renamed Dynamo, but in 1956, when de-stalinization started, the original name was restored. Belonging to the Communist Police was not the fans wanted ever, it was forced. Now, with the complications, Levski was back again and free from the Police – just what the fans wanted. CSKA was the most complicated: they lost their name in 1985 along with Levski and other clubs by decision of the Communist Party and were named Sredetz. Which was changed to CFCA Sredetz soon after (contrary to the initial Party decree the club to be separated from the Army – and Levski from the Police – the same Party restored the ties of the both clubs without saying so officially). Of course, the fans did not accept this name and chanted ‘CSKA’, so now the original name was restored. The original name of the original club? In 1985 CSKA ‘Septemvriisko zname’ was renamed Sredetz. This long name came in the middle of 1968-6 season, when, just ‘to make look right’ in the opinion of many, the Party merged CSKA ‘Cherveno zname’ with Septemvri (Sofia) – this merger was most suspicious because unlike the other clubs forcefully merged, CSKA ended with its strong team when everybody else faced chaos of too many players difficult to match and often even in conflict with each other. Septemvri was playing in the Second Division at the time and had no great players, so CSKA continued with the same well-oiled squad – all others had to start with building practically new teams. But it was not the first merger of CSKA – at about 1960 they merged with Cherveno zname (Sofia), thus becoming CSKA ‘Cherveno zname’. And it was the first time the abbreviation CSKA came into life: before this merger, it was CDNA. Means ‘Central Home of the People’s Army’ – and changed to ‘Central Club of the People’s Army’ – CSKA. As for ‘Cerveno zname’, it translates to ‘Red Banner’, changed after the merger with ‘Septemvi’ into ‘September’s Banner’, referring to the September Revolt, 1923, a major thing in the Communist history, so there were – and are – many clubs named ‘Septemvri’ in honour of this this revolt in Bulgaria. All of them came into life after 1944 when the Communist took power and with time the people got used to such names as natural. So, Septemvri (Sofia) exists without trouble today, but they were merged with CSKA not once, but twice: the first time was soon after the Army club was founded in 1948 under the name ‘Septemvri pri CDNV’ – ‘September at the Central Home of the People’s Army’. The motivation was to make the newly created Communist club strong – Septemvri had strong team, so ‘the merger’… Anyhow, the original club was entirely created by the Communist power with the purpose to be the leading club of the regime, therefore, in Soviet manner, it was an Army club. And it was the flagship of Bulgarian football during the Communist rule – and because it was made the strongest, it became popular. By 1990 its fanship was hardly Communist, but origins were strong… The club did not restore its ‘original’ name – very likely most younger fans do not even know the original name – but restored the most popular name they chanted: ‘CSKA’. As if getting rid of ‘September Banner’ or ‘Red Banner’ would be enough to eradicate the Communist past… it was still Central Club of the People’s Army’, although the very Army changed its name from ‘People’s Army’ to ‘Bulgarian Army’ and the club changed the name of its stadium also from ‘People’s Army’ to ‘Bulgarian Army’. There were some efforts to find a non-Communist name for the club, but the fans did not want that. There were efforts to change the club’s emblem, which is pure Communist symbolism and design, but the fans also rejected that. And down in their hearts they wanted to stay attached to the Army – for what could be ‘Central Army Club’ otherwise? Power and money were so deeply embedded in folklore of CSKA that it is only ‘natural’ for them to be the strongest, the best, with most power and attached to the state, so to stay strong, powerful and rich. The contradiction reaches fantastic level: anti-Communist fans want their club, a Communist creation, to be just as it was when the Communist Party ruled and showered its club with every privilege. Hence, new mythology of ‘resistance’ during Communist rule was weaved, but it is laughable one and not interesting here. The main point is that to restore its ‘original’ name and philosophy CSKA had to concoct entirely new name and mythology – for the original was Communist in every aspect and the reality was no longer Communist. So after changing its name so many times and from start, finally in 1990 CSKA came to its ‘original’ name… but no more Ministry of Defense to provide money, players at will, no more sub-ordinated Army clubs to provide easy wins and take points from rivals. CSKA survived the political change on popularity. Getting rid of the Communist baggage was – and is – impossible: it was already in the mentality, so for CSKA’a fans losing a championship even now is ‘a conspiracy against them’ at play. Enormous conspiracy – Levski, the Federation, the state, the political parties, the referees – foreign and domestic, the West, UEFA, FIFA, everybody everywhere conspires against them. In 1989-90 CSKA dominated the championship, so no complains – at least no major ones. Only this” vicious UEFA abolished the Golden Shoe award – or kind of abolished it: clearly, a move not against manipulated scoring, but only to deny the honour to Christo Stoichkov.
And so it goes.
Last was Botev (Vratza) – which started as Vratza (Vratza) – with 15 points. Very weak season for whatever reason. Relegated.
Cherno more (Varna) – 15th with 16 points and relegated. Top row from left: Todor Velikov – coach, Tinko Vazharov, Venelin Nikolov, Emil Boyadzhiev, Kharalambi Kharalambiev, Ognyan Radev, Georgi Stoychev, Rouslan Mikhaylov, Valeri Karov, Kevork Takhmisyan – assistant coach. Sitting in the middle: Nayden Naydenov, Plamen Deliyski, Aleksandar Aleksandrov, Yuliyan Neychev, Evgeni Andonov, Vassil Petrov. Front: Illian Illiev, Kalin Topuzakov, Ivan Petrov, Christo Kotev, Petar Petrov.
Hebar (Pazardzhik) – 14th with 25 points and relegated. The debutantes tried hard to survive, but lost the battle and went back to second level right away. Sitting from left: Krum Kantarev, Dimitar Metodiev, Ivan Chorlev, Spas Kuzov, Ivan Tankov, Rayko Dimitrov. Middle row: Dimitar Milev – coach, Dimitar Penchev – masseur, Vassil Ivanov, Petar Kovachev, Georgi Gadzhev, Sayran Osipov (USSR), Dr. Stefan Dabev – doctor, Dimitar Sharankov – assistant coach. Top row: Christo Toshev, Kiril Vassilev, Stoil Petrov, Kalin Pekhlivanski, Kalin Ivanov, Lazar Dimitrov, Vassil Yordanov.
Tough luck, but Hebar made history anyway: they were the first club to include a foreign player – Sayran Osipov. Histoically, Osipov was not the first foreigner in Bulgarian football, but in the past – very deep past by now, ending in the 1950s – the foreigners did not come to Bulgaria to play football, but to work, study, or settle. And the game was not professional back then. Osipov was the first imported professional player and Hebar was the first club to look outside Bulgaria for reinforcement, taking advantage from the existing since the summer of 1989 permission to use 2 foreign players. Osipov did not play much – only 9 games – and left the club and Bulgaria after the end of the season, joining Armenian Ararat (Erevan).
Lokomotiv (Plovdiv) barely survived – 13th with 27 points. Top row from left: Dimitar Kalkanov, Stoyan Lulchev, Borislav Ivanov, Mikhail Yumerski, Atanas Stamatov, Lazar Trapchev, Christo Trifonov, Radi Raykovski, Stefan Draganov. Middle row: Mikhail Georgiev – coach, Dr. Ivan Belev – doctor, Bozhidar Bonev, Valentin Minchev, Kostadin Vidolov, Yulian Dzhevizov, Yavor Kossev, Angel Chavdarov, Georgi Dimitrov, Lyuben Zhilkov, Yanko Kushev, Dantor Damyanov – masseur, Chavdar Muratev – assistant coach. Sitting: Georgi Tashev, Kiril Andonov, Miroslav Titev, Plamen Krastev, Zhivko Galibardov, Ivan Bedelev, Valentin Valchev, Georgi Karushev.
Dunav (Rousse) – 12th with 27 points. Standing from left: Roumen Venkov, Dimitar Totev, Dragomir Enchev, Petar Voynov, Nikolay Boyanov, Petar Karadaliev, Borislav Bogomilov. Front: Eshref Suleymanov, Sasho Todorov, ?, Plamen Petkov.
Chernomoretz (Bourgas) – 11th with 29 points. Top row from left: Lyubomir Borissov – assistant coach, Valentin Deliminkov, Georgi Stanchev – chairman of the club, Lyubomir Sheytanov, Toma Tomov – vice-chairman of the club, Vladimir Stoyanov, Vassil Zhelev – coach. Middle row: Christo Gotzkov, Dimitar Stoychev, Nikolay Russev, Konstantin Kostenski, Ivaylo Kotzev, Aleksi Zhelyazkov, Todor Raykov. Front: Miroslav Kralev, Zhelyazko Markov, Ivan Yovchev, Valentin Peev, Ivan Aleksandrov, Georgi Illiev.
Beroe (Stara Zagora) – 10th with 29 points.
Sliven (Sliven) – 9th with 29 points.
Lokomotiv (Gorna Oryakhovitza) – 8th with 29 points.
Botev (Plovdiv) – which started the season as Trakia (Plovdiv) – 7th with 33 points.
Pirin (Blagoevgrad) – 6th with 34 points.
Lokomotiv (Sofia) – 5th with 35 points. Sitting from left: Aleksandar Bonchev, Aleksandar Dudov, Plamen Nikolov, Gosho Petkov, Antoni Zdravkov, Boris Manolkov, Georgi Christov, Pavel Dochev. Middle row: Ventzislav Arsov – coach, Georgi Bozhurov, Kiril Metkov, Anton Velkov, Nikolay Todorov, Krassimir Nakov, Petar Kurdov, Traycho Sokolov – assistant coach. Top row: Dr. Noncho Borimechkov – doctor, Nako Doychev, Ognyan Milanov, Dimitar Vassev, Roumen Ralinski, Assen Arsov, Mladen Lazarov, Gavrilov – masseur.
Levski (Sofia) – started the season as Vitosha (Sofia) – 4th with 35 points. This is the squad starting the season and it went through some changes along with the change of name: different coach finished the championship and Bozhidar Iskrenov went to play abroad. Sitting from left: Dr. Georgi Illiev – doctor, Vladko Shalamanov, Stoil Georgiev, Krassimir Koev, Dinko Gospodinov, Illiya Gruev, Kiril Vangelov, Lyudmil Atanassov – masseur. Middle row: Dobromir Zhechev – coach, Rossen Krumov, Petar Mikhtarski, Georgi Yordanov, Bozhidar Iskrenov, Velko Yotov, Georgi Tzvetkov – assistant coach. Top row: Georgi Donkov, Zdravko Zdravkov, Preslav Getov, Georgi Slavchev, Petar Khoubchev, Dimitar Popov, Bogomil Savov.
Etar (Veliko Tirnovo) – finished with 35 points, but clinched bronze medals thanks to 1-goal better goal-difference than Levski. This was the best ever season of Etar so far, thanks to the excellent work of their coach (and former player) Georgi Vassilev. He was already among the best coaches of Bulgaria, eventually becoming the best one of the 1990s. There was a scandal as well – Krassimir Balakov (along with 3 other players) violated the transfer rules, applying to join 2 different clubs at the same time. At the end, he remained with Etar. Lastly, Etar was the second club to hire foreign player – like Hebar, they got a Soviet player, Igor Kislov. Sitting from left: Stefan Denev – doctor, Miroslav Baychev, Gencho Genchev, Boncho Genchev, Illiyan Kiryakov, Krassimir Balakov, Tzanko Tzvetanov, Petar Shabarkov – masseur. Middle row: Georgi Vassilev – coach, Angel Chervenkov, Tzvetomir Parvanov, Georgi Popivanov, Igor Kislov (USSR), Dimitar Bozhilov, Aleksandar Aleksandrov, Stoyan Petrov – assistant coach. To row: Aleksandar Dimov, Dragomir Doshkov, Kaloyan Chakarov, Sasho Christov, Andrian Gaydarski, Nikolay Donev, Petar Georgiev, Ivo Balakov.
Slavia (Sofia) – 2nd with 36 points. Perhaps the club with the biggest hopes that the political change will restore the glory of their pre-1944 history. Free from the Army at last and one of clubs which appeared better oriented what and how to do in ‘free market’ reality – they got quickly sponsorship, which was changed for something looking grand (on paper) – a sponsorship contract with the publishing international giant Maxwell. Having not only leading coach, but a master of backroom manipulations as well, also promised bright future – but Ivan Vutzov was not going to stay, for he was appointed again coach of the national team. And the players he recruited were looking to play abroad – pretty much as everybody not just in Bulgaria, but in the whole former Communist Europe. Reality quickly clashed with hopes, so the solid looking squad was just temporary. Sitting from left: Velislav Vutzov, Krassimir Denev, Anatoly Nankov, Illiya Karadaliev, Miroslav Mironov, Sasho Nachev, Ognyan Radev. Middle row: Assen Milushev – assistant coach, Nikolay Kostov, Aleksandar Markov, Ivelin Penev, Ivan Vutzov – coach, Plamen Simeonov, Illiya Dyakov, Evgeni Marinov, Petar Miladinov – assistant coach. Top row: Tzvetan Zdravkov, Valentin Ignatov, Blagoy Aleksandrov, Georgi Karamanov, Georgi Dimitrov, Zarko Machev, Antonio Ananiev.
Things changed very quickly in the transitional season, thus projecting what will be the norm in the future: rapid changes in one season of coaches, players, sponsors… Above is Slavia in the first half of the season and this is the one at the end of the season: Ivan Vutzov gone, long time captain of the national team and CSKA legend Georgi Dimitrov gone, national team goalkeeper Antonio Ananiev gone, other players gone, original sponsor replaced by Maxwell, even different kit (perhaps to the irritation of the fans, for Slavia traditionally plays entirely in white and the black shorts appear to mirror the dark and hated days of the forced merger with Lokomotiv Sofia at the end of the 1960s) . A sample not just of Slavia, but of the new reality of all clubs. Crouching from left: Nikolay Kostov, Illiya Dyakov, Krassimir Denev, Slavcho Pavlov, Emil Kremenliev, Aleksandar Dimov, Aleksandar Markov. Middle row: Petar Miladinov – coach, Velislav Vutzov, Ivelin Penev, Blagoy Aleksandrov, Roumen Nenov, Plamen Petkov, Tzvetan Zdravkov, Ivaylo Venkov, Sasho Hachev, Evgeni Marinov, Stoyan Kotzev – assistant coach. Top row: Antonio Nanov, Rossen Krumov, Kiril Kachamanov, Zarko Machev, Valentin Ignatov, Deyan Angelov, Nasko Kirov, Ivko Ganchev.
CSKA (Sofia) totally dominated the season and won it with 45 points. 18 wins, 9 ties, 3 losses, 85-30 scoring record. Christo Stoichkov scored 38 goals – almost half of CSKA’s total – becoming (jointly with Hugo Sanchez, Real Madrid) the number one scorer of Europe and beating the Bulgarian record, jointly belonging to Petar Zhekov and Nasko Sirakov, by 2 goals.
Well, CSKA won its 26th title and the two identical photos of the squad only illustrate the changes happening this season: on the first picture the club is still CFCA Sredetz – conveniently ‘Sredetz’ is omitted – and the second is a photo of CSKA, the ‘restored name’ which never properly existed and also becoming immediately an anomaly, for the ‘Central Sport Club of the Army’ was no longer attached to the Army on one hand and technically no longer all-sports club (as the name suggests), but only professional football club. And since this photo is from early stage of the season, there is no sponsor’s add on the shirts. The squad is also early version – Kiril Kachamanov, for instance, could be seen in the second photo of Slavia above. Yet, at last CSKA could be seen as a normal professional club and not as a monster taking whoever they want whenever they want: yes, CSKA boasted home-made team, but it was just a very brief moment right after the Communist Party renamed them and separated them from the Army in 1985 – losing power, they were, however briefly, unable not only to get stars from other clubs, but the players at hand moved away. At that moment juniors were introduced as a last resort, but a year later everything was back to ‘normal’ and quickly top players from other clubs were recruited. The political changes during the 1989-90 season, however, changed the whole image of that: now it was just standard way of running professional football: players are bought and sold, depending on needs and money. CSKA had plenty of talent to sell abroad, which, in turn, gave them the financial muscle to buy good players to replace those sold and keep strong team. So the squad, full of national team players ready to go abroad: sitting from left: Marin Bakalov, Kostadin Yanchev, Petar Vitanov, Christo Stoichkov, Emil Kostadinov, Lyuboslav Penev – team captain (not Stoichkov!), Trifon Ivanov, Slavcho Illiev. Middle row: Marius Urukov, Emil Dimitrov, Georgi Georgiev, Dimitar Penev – coach, Doncho Donev, Ivaylo Kirov, Adalbert Zafirov. Top row: Stoil Trankov – assistant coach, Biser Godinyachki, Roumen Apostolov, Stefan Bachev, Illiya Valov, Kiril Kachamanov, Petar Zhekov – assistant coach. Just against the mythology of ‘home grown team’ here are the regulars who were recruited from elsewhere after the mythical creation of ‘home-grown team’: Bakalov, Mladenov, Georgiev (from Trakia-Botev Plovdiv), Trifon Ivanov and Emil Dimitrov (from Etar), Donev (from Dimitrovgrad), Valov (from Vratza-Botev Vratza), Urukov (from Spartak Pleven). Stoichkov, Yanchev, Kirov are also from elsewhere, although they came earlier. So… home-grown of the regulars are only Emil Kostadinov and Lyuboslav Penev. But that was already history – from now on it was to be normal professional transfers. Which were not so normal yet, for the transitional period was one of uncertainty and professional norms were not yet clearly understood, as the case of Krassimir Balakov showed: he applied for transfer to two clubs simultaneously, one of them CSKA, which is the club of his heart, apparently. This violated the transfer rules of the Federation at the moment and he remained in Etar, from where he transferred to the West and never played for club he claims to be a fan of. Fan or not, in the transitional time professional desires of better contract clashed with ‘the heart’ and money became the prime factor – but at least this was understandable motivation in professional sport.

Second Division. 20 teams, 2 points for a win. The newcomers this season were Spartak (Pleven) and Minyor (Pernik), relegated from First Division, and Septemvriiska slava (Mikhailovgrad), Rozova dolina (Kazanlak), Svetkavitza (Targovishte), and Velbazhd (Kyustendil) from Third Division. No debutantes – all newcomers had long Second Division history. The case of Tundzha (Yambol) remains unclear – fans protest restored them to the league, yet, it is unclear why and when they were out of it: Tundzha finished 12th in the previous season, that is, outside the relegation zone. This season 6 teams were going to be relegated – looked like the league was going to be reduced, but 5 teams were going to be promoted from Third Division, so the whole idea is a mystery – the important thing is 6 teams relegated and the top 3 promoted to First Division. The wisdom of the 3-team exchange between First and Second Division is questionable, but rules are rules. As it happened, 4 teams at the bottom were either too weak or just gave up the fight at one point, so the real battle was trying to escape 2 relegation spots – the other 4 were already occupied by the outsiders. 5 teams fought for to positions, which seems interesting from a time distance, but in reality spoke more of current weaknesses than strength even among the leaders.
Shumen (Shumen) finished last with 18 points and was relegated.
Tundzha (Yambol) – whatever their case provoking fans into demonstrations demanding admittance of the club in the league, games are won on pitch, not on the streets: Tundzha finished 19th with 23 points and was relegated.
Lokomotiv (Stara Zagora) – 18th with 28 points and relegated.
Vihren (Sandanski) – 17th with 28 points and relegated.
Marek (Dupnitza) – 16th with 34 points and relegated. Well, the team never recovered after its great team from the 1979s aged and one by one retired (although there were still 2 or 3 remaining members of the great squad, very old by now). Marek played under the name Rila in the previous season and now restored its popular original name Marek. Not everybody was doing that, though – neither Shumen, nor Tundzha, nor some other clubs attempted name changes presently. As a general note, a transitional season presented even by the mixture of names: some get rid of Communist names, others did not, some restored old popular names, others were looking for new ones to replace Communist ones.
Ludogoretz (Razgrad) – 15th with 36 points and relegated.
Cherveno zname (Pavlikeni) 14th with 38 points. Here is one example for keeping the Communist name of the club – at least for the moment. ‘Cherveno zname’ translates as ‘Red banner’.
Dobrudzha (Tolbukhin) – 13th with 38 points. Perhaps the last season with this name – not of the club, which is politically neutral, but of the city – soon it will restore its original name of Dobrich, but currently still named after the Soviet Second World Marshal Tolbukhin. Top row from left: Ivan Atanassov, Sergey Dimitrov, Atanas Stefanov, Dobrin Dobrev, ?, Tony Zlatkov, Svetozar Dzhilyanov. Middle row: Patzi Kirov – coach, Sasho Trifonov, Georgi Ivanov, Svetoslav Filev, Mladen Stoyanov, Roumen Slavov, Ivan Georgiev, Ivan Manolov – assistant coach. Sitting: Roumen Boev, Valentin Peychev, Doncho Spassov – masseur, Nikola Konanov, Ivan Durev.
Spartak (Pleven) – 12th with 38 points. Freshly relegated from First Division, but despite having a number of good players – the long time national team staple Nikolay Arabov, for instance – and coached by arguably the best Bulgarian coach in the late 70s and the 80s Vassil Metodiev, Spartak was weak. Sitting from left: Angel Marinov, Yury Vassev, Milko Gavrilov, Georgi Tzvetanov, Stefan Kutov, Krassimir Bislimov, Blagovest Petkov. Middle row: Blagoy Krastanov – assistant coach, Dimitar Todorov, Krassimir Traykov, Evgeni Ignatov, Vassil Metodiev – coach, Boyko Tzvetkov, Nikolay Popov, Roumen Monev, Vladimir Popov – assistant coach. Top row: Milen Nikolov, Iliyan Tzankov, Vassil Dyakov, Vesselin Gerov, Krassimir Dossev, Tikhomir Tikhomirov, Svetlin Gatinski, Nikolay Arabov, Boyko Bozhinov.
Velbazhd (Kyustendil) – 11th with 39 points.
Rozova dolina (Kazanlak) – 10th with 39 points.
Akademik (Svishtov) – 9th with 39 points.
Spetemvriiska slava (Mikhailovgrad) – 8th with 39 points. Soon both the city and its club will be renamed to Montana (Montana). It was difficult and conflicting change: the name of the city was Ferdinand, named after the Bulgarian King, who was forced to abdicate at the end of First World War, and after 1944, when the Communist took power, they named the city after one of their own ‘heroes’ – thus, in 1990 both current and old name of the city faced massive objections and the new name was chosen from deep historic past.
Osam (Lovech) – 7th with 39 points. No problem with the club name as such, but the new reality made itself known in another way: the club soon after this season was acquired by business enterprise, which named the club after itself. It was short lived and the club went into different ownership and another name change, but that happened a few years later.
Svetkavitza (Targovishte) – 6th with 39 points.
The top 5 teams were quite above the rest in strength and fought between themselves for the 3 promotions.
Bdin (Vidin) – 5th with 45 points. Very good season, but the squad was somewhat weaker than the other strong teams – perhaps overachieving, thanks to the coaching of Stefan Grozdanov, who became one of the leading Bulgarian coaches in the 1990s. 4th in the middle row is a player just starting his career, but making big impression right away: Daniel Borimirov. Like the coach, he was not going to stay with Bdin.
Spartak (Varna) – 4th with 48 points. Aimed at promotion, but missed.
Haskovo (Haskovo) – clinched 3rd place with 50 points. It was last minute success – away victory against Rozova dolina (Kazanlak) in the last round. Thus, Haskovo was promoted for third time to the top division – did not last in both earlier attempts, so the hope was not just to play again among the best, but to settle there. Sitting from left: Stefan Metodiev, Vesselin Vassilev, Dimcho Markov, Georgi Kumanov, Marian Metlarov, Lyubomir Burnarski, Lyubomir Illiev, Stamen Belchev. Middle row: Christo Christov, Racho Kilapov, Rostislav Grozdanov, Yordan Petkov, Todor Dafchev – coach, Krassimir Illiev, Georgi Stoychev, Stanimir Stoilov, Kostadin Latinov – assistant coach. Third row: Dr. Valentin Marinov – doctor, Todor Yanev, Miroslav Zlatanski, Georgi Petrov, Dimitar Dimitrov – technical organizer, Nayden Spassov, Vlado Delchev, Zapryan Paskov – masseur.
Haskovo depended on mix of local players and experienced names from elsewhere, notably players connected with Levski (Sofia) – that was the formula used before and it did not work quite well, but on its resources Haskovo was unable to build strong enough team – in part, its geographic location was the handicap: too close to Plovdiv, but Plovdiv was surrounded by towns ever closer: thus, local talent was lured to move to Plovdiv, but players from Plovdiv were likelier to chose another team, where they could play for it without even moving out of town, just commuting. So, here were Burnarski and Kilapov, largely known as Lokomotiv (Plovdiv) players, and the group associated with Levski (Sofia) one way or another: Delchev, Markov, Grozdanov, and Stoilov (in his case Levski was in the future). Stoilov was the only promising player of the group – the others were experienced, but with limited potential, which they already reached. Vlado Delchev, in particular, was criticized for lacking ambition: he was part of Levski for almost a decade and when he played he immediately reached the national team, but he rarely played, satisfied to sit on the reserves bench. Haskovo was hoping to stay in the top division, but with such squad it was unlikely.
Minyor (Pernik) – 2nd with 50 points. Just relegated from First Division, they managed to return to it immediately. Crouching from left: Stoyan Petrov, Andrey Asparoukhov, Roumen Andonov – captain, Valeri Stoyanov, Valentin Lazarov, Lyuben Zhelev, Volodya Stavrev. Middle row: Evlogi Banchev – coach, Valentin Zakhariev, Alyosha Andonov, Petar Petrov, Simeon Kostadinov, Grigor Grigorov, Mikhail Assenov, Raycho Raychev, Valeri Illiev – assistant coach. Top: Christo Trifonov – masseur, Ivaylo Yonchev, Vercho Mitov, Simeon Borissov, Slavcho Pavlov, Emil Boyanov, Ivaylo Venkov, Dr. Tzetzko Ignatov – doctor.
Minyor came back right away, but the club meandered between First and Second Division for years and there was little to suggest different this time: relatively strong team for second level, exeperienced enough and having a few well known, but aging players. Because of the close proximity to Sofia, there were always players from the capital no needed by the big clubs – they provided some class, but they were also looking to go back to their home town as quickly as possible and it was practically impossible to look for long term commitments from them. Meantime, the best local talent was most certainly going to join a big Sofia club – the veterans Borissov and Grigorov were point in case: they played for the national team, but as players of CSKA and Levski. Now, at their last playing years, they came back home and eventually retire sooner than later. Such as the predicament of Minyor, so there was no way to build a long-lasting good team with Zakhariev, Andrey Asparoukhov – the son of the arguably the best ever Bulgarian player Georgi Asparoukhov, Pavlov, Zhelev. And on top of the traditional problems, the new reality introduced a new huge one: money. Minyor found itself suddenly impoverished: the mining industrial complex in the city get rid of the club, the city administration did not provide a helping hand, especially since the club did not want to contract the stadium, belonging to the city. Give-aways were gone, the new reality demanded business sponsors and there were none. Going up to the top league was looking dark: unless sponsorship was attracted by a club playing in the highest tier – the only, although passive, hope for the club – mere survival was in the books. Not survival in the top league, but physical survival of the club. Some future…
Yantra (Gabrovo) won the championship with 52 points. 22 wins, 8 ties, 8 losses, 68-35 scoring record. Hard victory, largely due to the good work of experienced coach Dimitar Aleksiev. Like Haskovo, Yantra earned promotion for a third time, but their achievements were in the first half of the 1970s – after 1975 the club sunk into sedated life in the Second Division. Back then, during their best years, they not only used different name – Chardafon-Orlovetz – but were also involved into financial scandals (largely paying their players under the table – many clubs did that, for the official ‘amateurism’ of sport provided no legal way to pay effectively professional players. Yantra as a small provincial club was a prime example of Communist ‘vigilant justice’ – punish them to show that the system is ‘just’ and never touch the big and influential. Presently, Yantra got ambitious again, but their squad was nothing special, following the old formula of Second Division clubs for stability: get a cluster of experienced relatively well known names – enough to stay in the second tier and with some luck may be climbing up. Yantra had 7 players with top league experience, the best known of them Yordan Murlev (Pirin Blagoevgrad, CSKA, Levski) and also 7 players with vast Second Division experience. In this, the champions were similar to the other two promoted teams: they had rather weak team by top league standards and the the next season depended largely on what players they could get between seasons from elsewhere. Yet, Yantra was in somewhat better position than Haskovo and Minyor – they had no players attractive for bigger clubs and thus more likely to keep the best of the their winning team. As money… it was anybody’s guess what the future will give or take.
Well, that was it: Haskovo, Minyor, and Yantra were going to First Division for yet another try to stay there. Good luck.

Bulgaria. Ranked 22nd. The collapse of Communism affected football – in short, the season started in one political reality and finished in another. Transitional season of transitional period with more difficulties than anything else. New and old clashed on many levels, like everywhere else in Eastern Europe, and the general problems Bulgarian football faced were the problems of the whole Communist Europe. Here are listed the main problems popping up during the season – some old, but unmentionable before, some newly emerging with the new reality. Some clubs restored their old – or ‘original’ – names, thus starting the season with one name and finishing with another: Levski (Sofia), CSKA (Sofia), Botev (Plovdiv), Botev (Vratza), Marek (Dupnitza – in their case not just the club, but the whole city restored its original name: from Rila [Stanke Dimitrov] to Marek [Dupnitza]. There was certain irony in all that, for Stanke ‘Marek’ Dimitrov was a Communist ‘hero’ after whom both city and club were named – the ‘democratic’ change both changed and restored him.) Not every club restored old name – changes continued in the following years. In the case of CSKA, it was not even restoring original name, but restoring the name most popular with their fans. In the case of Levski, some doubt can be raised as well: when the Communist Party named the club ‘Vitosha’, the forced renaming replaced earlier amalgamated name of forced merger – Levski-Spartak. True, Spartak practically had no fans and no fan ever chanted ‘Levski-Spartak’, but only ‘Levski’, yet, the original clubs were 2 and now only one was restored (meek efforts to revive Spartak occurred at least twice later, both very short living). Minyor (Pernik) launched an initiative for cutting of the attachment of CSKA, Levski, Slavia, and Lokomotiv (all from Sofia) to powerful state institutions. Minyor was supported by some other clubs, mostly provincial, and the problem must be explained: practically all clubs belonged to some institution during the Communist rule – the very complainer, Minyor, belonged to the large mining complex (Mini Pernik) in their city. But all that was local – either city or industry. The big 4 from Sofia belonged to the top of the system, to the corresponding ministry – the Ministry of Defense (CSKA), the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Levski), another branch of the Army (Slavia), and the Ministry of Transportation (Lokomotiv). Their positions were powerful on national level, thus placing everybody else in disadvantage. Yes, all those institutions had other clubs as well, but on local and subordinated to the ‘center’ level. The provincials hated the all-powerful central clubs and with good reason, but the newly emerging reality added new element to the picture: locally, ‘sponsors’ were only glad to cut lose the clubs – and in many cases the clubs cut off ties with local institutions. In such cases money were perhaps more important factor than politics: industries and municipalities were only happy to get rid of financial burden. That left the clubs without money – and that applied also to clubs deciding to cut ties with institutions. But the big 4 were not cut off , for they belonged to the highest institutions and therefore, at least in eyes of the provincials, they kept the old hated power on national level, along with financing. The general cry was to make fully professional clubs, independent from the state in everything. Sounded good… even the big 4 supported the idea. The financial problem was addressed by some clubs by looking and finding sponsorship – shirt adds appeared as a result (CSKA, Slavia, Botev Vratza, Spartak Varna, somewhat curiously, the Third Division Lokomotiv (Dryanovo), and gradually other clubs). Meantime scandals finally came to the surface: the Bulgarian Football Federation ‘discovered’ falsified birth dates of players in the Junior National team – as a result, Bulgaria withdrew from the the finals of the European Junior championship and was replaced by Hungary. What was hinted on the streets for years was suddenly ‘discovered’… Scandals were nothing new, but now some things were said openly and no longer classified as ‘isolated local infringements’ – it took demonstrations in front of the Federation in Sofia and Yambol to restore Tundzha (Yambol) to Second Division: they were relegated in 1988-89, but apparently there was something dark in that. The fans protested and their demand was satisfied to a point – to a point, because Tundzha ended the 1989-90 season in the relegation zone again. At the end of the 1988-89 season Chepinetz (Velingrad) and Gorubso (Madan) were found guilty of fixing a match and were expelled to Forth level – thus, the South-Western group of Third Division became from the biggest in 1988-89 with 19 teams to the smallest in 1989-90 with 14 teams. And for good measure at the end of this season Metalurg (Pernik) was expelled, so the group remained reduced in the 1990-91 season as well. That was the situation for years – ‘local’ cases of corruption, as a rule, involving smallish clubs, immediately punished to show how prudent and vigilant the ‘system’ was – but now corruption was spoken of as wide-spread ellement of the Communist system – it was true and also accusations were tailored: ‘the whole system was corrupt, except us and that was why we suffered’. Some laments existed since the 1950s, repeated year after year: lack of professionalism, lack of money, low quality of players and games, diminishing attendance, nothing done to provide for ‘street’ football, outdated and not cared for facilities, mostly for the youth system, but increasingly the whole infrastructure. The only new thing was that until 1990 individual clubs and cities were blamed for that and now the state was blamed – and this lament continues to this very day: the state does not do anything for the sport. However, the state is blamed too when it finances the sport – for favouring some at the expense of others. What really football people want then and now is the state to finance sport lavishly, taking all expenses on itself, but not to interfere in how the money is spent and not to touch profits: ‘profits are ours, expenses and losses – yours’. Anyhow, that were most of the problems and changes during the season of transition, when practically noone knew how to do professional football. Lastly, the Federation permitted the import of players, starting this season – 2 foreigners were permitted per club, the decision was announced after the end of the 1988-89 season, but nobody acted upon it first – still, the first foreign player appeared in the middle of the season, followed by second shortly after. Curious or not, but none of the big clubs looked abroad, but the debutante in the First Division Hebar (Pazardzhik) – they hired little known Soviet striker Sayran Ossipov from second-division Dinamo (Stavropol). Ossipov played 7 games for Hebar and scored 1 goal and departed after this season for Ararat (Erevan). The first foreigners in Bulgaria were from USSR – just like the first foreign player in USSR was Bulgarian: after Ossipov, another Soviet – Igor Kislov – joined Etar (Veliko Tirnovo). That was all for the moment – other sports were quicker in importing players than football. Export, however, was growing – without age restrictions and without a state institution dealing with transfers, everybody wanted to play in the West – like elsewhere in Eastern Europe, the new freedom translated immediately into going West. The clubs needed money and were only happy to sell players – without knowing really how and thus hardly getting the real value of their stars. Now to the season…
Third Division. 4 groups as usual, nominally of 16 teams each. However, the South-Western group was of 14 teams after Chepinetz and Gorubso were expelled for fixing a match between themselves. This affected the next season as well – for some reason this very group had 2 teams promoted, unlike the other 3 groups, where only the winner was promoted. Hard to tell why was that, for that meant 5 teams altogether going up to Second Division, but 6 were relegated from the Second Division. Anyhow, in the Third Division many former Second Division teams played and usually they were the candidates for promotion. Nothing different this season, except one team. No big battle for top position either. 3 points were given for a win.
North-Eastern Group.
Lokomotiv (Rousse) finished 4th with 52 points. Former Second Division member, the second club in the city of Rousse was nothing special this season and perhaps nobody was envisioning the troubles in the future: the club struggles to this very day just to exist, sometimes disappearing for a while.
Chernolometz (Popovo) was 3rd with 60 points. They played top-level football once upon a time… Sportist (General Toshevo) – 2nd with 61 points. Also a club with second division past.
Dorostol (Silistra) won the championship and was promoted: they ended with 65 points, clearly outplaying all the others and climbed back to Second Division, where they played for may, many years. In 1984 Dorostol reached – and lost – the final of the Soviet Army Cup.
North-Western Group.
Lokomotiv (Dryanovo) – 3rd with 58 points. They played some Second Division football before, but more importantly they were one of the first clubs in the country getting sponsorship in professional terms.
Lokomotiv (Mezdra) – 2nd with 59 points. Also a club with Second Division experience, but unable to go up – looking at their season and history, it was hard even to imagine in 1989-90 that one day the club will be in First Division.
Chumerna (Elena) won the championship with 67 points and was promoted to Second Division – they played there before, so it was a return.
South-Eastern Group.
Neftokhimik (Bourgas) – 5th with 48 points. After years in Second Division, Neftokhimik sunk down to third level football and at the moment the second club of Bourgas looked like they will be entirely out of existence soon, for they – as the name suggests – belonged to city’s oil refinery and it was unlikely the enterprise will keep a football club in changing business reality. However, the future proved such expectations wrong. Top row from left: Kyuchukov, Mindov, Mikhov, Banev, Markov, Kostadinov. Middle row: Kiril Stankov – coach, Botev, T. Petkov, Shishkov, T. Tikhomirov, Dobrevski, Kiryakov, Hemi Levi – assistant coach. Sitting: Karpachev, Tzonev, B. Petkov, Kolev, Stoyanov.
Well, hard to believe that in a few years time this club will be among the leading Bulgarian clubs and some of these anonymous players will be very well known, even considered stars – Tzonev, for example. The future is unknown and predictions are very often wrong.
Arda (Kardzhali) ended 2nd with 55 points. Nothing even to hint that this club will play in European tournament one day… so far, their typical modest existence: after years of insignificant Second Division participation, they seemingly were settling for third level football.
Slanchev bryag (Nesebar) won the championship with 59 points and climbed back to Second Division, where they played for numerous years. Gain, nothing to suggest that this club will one day play First Division football – under different name, for to be named after beach resort – a bad idea in the first place – could not last for ever.
South-Western group. Reduced from 19 to only 14 teams for this season, this group also had 2 teams promoted. In a way, the problem was making the numbers for the next season – the current size of Third Division groups was 16 teams. With 2 teams promoted and unknown number of relegated from Second Division teams, the groups could be left with 12 teams after the end of the season – thus, the question of promotion from 4th level and relegation to it. Eventually, 2 teams were relegated from Second Division. The rest is… murky. Metalurg (Pernik) ended 13th with 23 points. In theory, they should have been relegated – if relegation took place. Officially, 2 teams were promoted from 4th level – Svoboda (Peshtera) amd Minyor (Bobov Dol). So… 12 plus 2 relegated from Second Divison, plus 2 promoted from 4th level – makes the required 16 without relegation of anyone. But 3 teams were relegated at the end of the season – Balkan (Botevgrad), last in the table, Metalurg – 13th, and Minyor (Brezhani) – 12th. Yet… Metalurg was seemingly keeping place in the group against records and logic. At least at first they were among the teams for the 1990-91 season – and then they were expelled or denied license and were out, leaving the group with 15 teams for 1990-91. However, it is a mystery how the numbers were made in the first place and on what criteria 3 teams were included. Well, 2 teams, for after all preliminaries the group was again with 14 teams in 1990-91 – but how Strumska slava (Radomir) and Chepinetz (Velingrad) appeared in it? But that’s in the future yet – currently,
Akademik (Sofia) finished 2nd with 52 points. Just relegated from Second Division, they fought to climb back and lost the championship by 1 point. If not for the strange decision to have 2 teams from this group promoted, Akademik would have remained here. But they went up happily.
Pirin (Razlog) clinched 1st place with 53 points. What a historic victory it was – the small club, which was not playing regularly even in Third Division, now went up. Their biggest success so far and also they were the only club not playing second level football before promoted this season.
And here were again the teams promoted to Second Division: Dorostol (Silistra), Chumerna (Elena), Slanchev bryag (Nesebar), Pirin (Razlog), and Akademik (Sofia).