Football Journey

The Cup final opposed Olympiakos to OFI Crete. A chance for Olympiakos to save face, but they played against one of the steadiest clubs outside Athens-Piraeus-Thesaloniki during the 1980s, a team perfectly capable to disturb a big club. But not this time – OFI tried, but lost 2-4.
OFI Crete lost the final and with that the chance to play in Europe again – too bad, but the chances were against them anyway: ambition was one thing, reality another.
Olympiakos saved the season by winning the Cup for 18th time. It was also winning it after considerable gap – their 17th Cup was won in 1980-81, so it was fine to get it again. But the season as whole was weak… Olympiakos made the news by buying the Hungarian star Lajos Detari from Eintracht (Frankfurt), yet, the massive transfer fee paid did not bring the desired returns. The erratic Detari perhaps was more of a problem and certainly no solution: there was no other foreigner in the squad at this time – perhaps Detari’s transfer left no money for other imports. What was envisioned as a great and dominant project with Detari in the heart of it became a great failure – a cup was fine, but still a consolation prize and actually Olympiakos had rapidly to start significant and expensive changes: it would not do to stay in the dust behind Panathinaikos.

First Division. The usual suspects way above the rest, but no big clash between Panathinaikos and Olympiakos this season.
Ethnikos (Piraeus) – last with 20 points and relegated.
Ethnikos Olympiakos (Volos) – 17th with 22 points and relegated.
Apollon Kalamarias (Thesaloniki) – 16th with 27 points and relegated.
Apollon Smyrnis (Athens) – 15th with 28 points.
Ionikos – 14th with 28 points.
Levadiakos – 13th with 28 points. Penalized with 4 points deduction, though.
Panserraikos – 12th with 29 points.
Xanthi – 11th with 29 points.
Doxa (Drama) – 10th with 29 points. Doxa depended on Bulgarian imports during the 1980s and the tradition remained: aging Mikhail Valchev and Plamen Tzvetkov, formerly of Levski (Sofia), played this season.
Panionios – 9th with 30 points.
Larissa – 8th with 34 points.
Aris (Thesaloniki) – 7th with 35 points.
OFI Crete – 6th with 36 points.
Iraklis (Thesaloniki) – 5th with 39 points.
Olympiakos (Piraeus) – 4th with 45 points. Of course, Olympiakos was much stronger than most teams and there was no way to drop down the table, but it was a weak season by their standards: not a title contender.
PAOK (Thesaloniki) – 3rd with 46 points. Like Olympiakos, not a title contender.
AEK (Athens) – tried hard, but ended 3 points behind the champions: 2nd with 50 points. Coached by their former Yugoslavian star striker Dusan Bajevic, who proved to be as able a coach as he was a player, but it was a bit strange to see a team coached by prolific goal-scorer to excel in defense – AEK permitted only 18 goals in the 34 championship games in their net.
Well, hardly a news… Panathinaikos won the championship with 53 points from 21 wins, 11 ties, only 2 lost games, and 75-35 scoring record. Like the other leading clubs, Panathinaikos depended on Eastern Europeans – Olympiakos was coached by Imre Komora (Hungary), AEK by Dusan Bajevic (Yugoslavia), Panathinaikos had the greatest Bulgarian midfielder in the 1970s Christo Bonev at the helm. Young, well educated in West Germany, up and coming ambitious coach, well known in Greece, for he played there in the early 1980s. However, not for Panathinaikos, but, ironically, for their current rival AEK. Bonev depended on another Bulgarian – Christo Kolev, very well known to the coach, for Kolev was a product of the same club which made Bonev once upon a time – Lokomotiv (Plovdiv) – and it was more than co-incidence both coach and player had the same first name: Kolev was an attacking midfielder like Bonev, he was more or less discovered by Bonev and even played a bit like Bonev. Unlike Bonev, who arrived to play a bit in Greece at the end of his career, Kolev was at his prime. The other important foreigner in the team was the Polish striker Krzystztof Warzycha, a great scorer, who will be a key star of Panathinaikos for years – whether by chance of by design, Bonev had in his hands better players than the other leading Greek clubs at the moment. There were 3 more foreigners in the squad – 3 young Australians, who were somewhat an investment for the future: Lou Hristodoulou (22 years old midfielder), Chris Kalantzis (21 years, midfield), Jason Polak (21 years, midfield). The Greek descent of at least two of the trio permitted them to play as domestic players, which benefited Bonev. Of course, there were Greek stars as well and as ever – notably, Dimitris Saravakos. Between the goalposts was very young goalkeeper, Antonis Nikopolidis, barely 19 years old, who after many, many years will be European champion – who would believe it in 1989-90? For the moment, Panathinaikos had the strongest and best balanced squad and won its 15th title. Ironically or not, the battle of former AEK star players now couching the rivals ended with AEK’s loss.

Greece. Ranked 17th. The usual leaders and no surprises.
Second Division. 18 teams – the top 3 promoted up, the bottom 4 relegated down.
Sparta – last with 24 points and relegated.
Niki Volos – 17th with 24 points and relegated.
Kallithea (Athens) – 16th with 25 points and relegated.
Naoussa – 15th with 30 points and relegated.
Pierikos – 14th with 33 points.
Atromitos (Athens) – 13th with 33 points. Penalized with 1 point deduction.
Diagoras (Rodos) – 12th with 33 points.
Rethymniakos – 11th with 33 points.
Veria – 10th with 33 points.
Eordaikos – 9th with 34 points.
Korinthos – 8th with 34 points.
Makedonikos (Thessaloniki) – 7th with 35 points.
Charavgiakos – 6th with 36 points.
Edessaikos – 5th with 36 points.
Kastoria – 4th with 39 points. Lost promotion by a point.
PAS Giannina – 3rd with 40 points and promoted back to top flight.
Panachaiki – 2nd with 43 points and promoted. What a roller-coaster the last few years were: first, relegation from the top league, where the club was a solid member for a long time, then barely escaped relegation from Second Division in the previous season, but now going up again.
Athinaikos (Athens) – champion with 46 points: 18 wins, 10 ties, 6 losses, 50-26. Recently, the club was performing well and finally won the Second Division championship. A great success of one of the least known clubs of Athens, which never played top league football before. But ambition paid of.
Brand new champions in their finest moment – a dream came true and perhaps Athinaikos was going to grow some grass on the their field for the debut in the First Division. Lovely and memorable season for the guys sporting yellow and red.

The Cup tournament perhaps was the best example of the rapid and fundamental political changes: for the first time 2 Second Division teams reached the semi-finals and one of them – the final. And when one looks at the whole Cup record the finalists did not appear to the very end, when they suddenly popped-out as if from nowhere. SG Dynamo (Dresden) and SG Dynamo (Schwerin) won the semi-finals, but 1.FC Dynamo (Dresden) and PSV Schwerin (Schwerin) played at the final. Well, the same clubs, but they were renamed in the pause between semi-finals and final. Considering the poor season the team from Schwerin had – they finished 13th in Group 1 of Second Division – the final was between David and Goliath. But the chance to win – and to win big – motivated the lowly club. They opened the score in the 5th minute and only 6 minutes before the end of the game mighty Dresden managed to get the lead, thanks to Kirsten. Dramatic battle in which, just like in the championship, Dresden prevailed however minimally: 2-1.
It would have been great if PSV Schwerin won the Cup, but no luck. No famous players here – naturally – but they came very close to success. The photo also shows the rapid changes in DDR: not only club names were changing during this season, but shirt adds appeared eventually in the second half of it.
1.FC Dynamo (Dresden) won the Cup – with difficulty, but won it. It was their 6th – overall, Dynamo was the second-best East German club in both titles and cups: former Dynamo (Berrlin) had more titles and 1.FC Magdeburg the same number of cups. It was the 3rd double for them. Presently, the team had 11 national team players, but in the new reality was not going to keep them: Matthias Sammer and Ulf Kirsten were going to the West for money and fame.

First Division. In short: clubs were renamed, the ominous Dynamo (Berlin) disappeared not just as name, but as an institution and lost its power, dramatic battle for the title, decided by goal-difference, otherwise the same… 4 outsiders struggled to survive, 3 teams were above pretty much equal middle group of 7 teams – the East German top league remained sharply divided as ever.
BSG Fortschritt (Bischopswerda) – last with 16 points and relegated. Their second top league adventure ended just like the first time: last.
FC Wismut (Aue) – 13th with 18 points. How unlucky – relegated on single goal worse goal-difference.
BSG Stahl (Eisenhuttenstadt) – 12th with 18 points. They won only 2 games this season (5 less than the last in the league!), but made a second record too – 14 ties. Luckily escaped relegation on goal-difference – theirs was 1 goal better than Wismut’s. The debutantes survived almost miracolously and were going to play a second season among the best.
FC Rot-Weiss (Erfurt) – 11th with 19 points.
BSG Stahl (Brandenburg) – 10th with 24 points. Top row from left: Jan Voß, Jens Pahlke, Uwe Hessel, Kay Wenschlag, Tino Scholtissek, Timo Lange, Eberhard Janotta, Trainer Gerd Struppert
Middle row: Mannschaftsleiter Günter Boede, Co-Trainer Helmut Wilk, Frank Jeske, Uwe Schulz, Hubert Gebhardt, Detlef Zimmer, Christian Knoop, Steffen Freund, Mannschaftsarzt Dr. Rainer Wilke, Physiotherapeut Jens Jogwer
Sitting:  Dietmar Bletsch, Falk Zschiedrich, Andreas Schmidt, Jens Pfahl, Roland Gumtz, Andreas Lindner,   Silvio Demuth, Christoph Ringk
HFC Chemie (Halle) – 9th with 24 points.
1.FC Lokomotive (Leipzig) – 8th with 25 points.
BSG Energie (Cottbus) – 7th with 27 points.
FC Hansa (Rostock) – 6th with 27 points. Standing from left: Jens Wahl, Gernot Alms, Volker Röhrich, Frank Rillich, Axel Rietentiet, Thomas Gansauge, Andreas Babendererde, Juri Schulz und Rainer Jahros. Vordere Reihe: stehend v.l.n.r. Trainer Werner Voigt, Trainer Jürgen Decker, Mannschaftsarzt Dr. Wolfgang Anft.
Sitting: Jens Dowe, Artur Ullrich, Hilmar Weilandt, David Hoffmann (Torwart), Henri Fuchs, Jens Kunath (Torwart), Jens Leonhardt, Axel Schulz, Florian Weichert, stehend v.l.n.r. Physiotherapeut Günter Blum, Trainer Hans Albrecht und Mannschaftsleiter Herbert Maron.
FC Carl Zeiss (Jena) – 5th with 30 points.
FC Berlin (Berlin) – 4th with 30 points. 11 national team players, Thom and Doll among them, but political changes shook the club. Losing political power and renamed, the former mighty Dynamo immediately lost its long supremacy. The best players certainly were looking for lucrative contracts with West German clubs.
1.FC Magdeburg (Magdeburg) – 3rd with 34 points. Battled for the title, but unsuccessfully.
Dramatic race for the title, which was decided by goal-difference. Perhaps politics were largely on the minds of the East German population and football was somewhat secondary even for the players, but still there was big drama.
Usually modest FC Karl-Marx-Stadt (Karl-Marx-Stadt) suddenly became a title contender, fought bravely to the end, but ended 2nd on worse goal-difference. 13 wins, 10 ties, 3 losses, 35-20, 36 points. It would have been ironic if they won – in the year of the fall of Communism a team with the most Communist name to win the championship. Almost happened, but almost and soon there was no more a city and a club with such a name – it was reversed to the original Chemnitz.
SG Dynamo (Dresden) clinched the title thanks to 12 wins, 12 ties, only 2 losses, and 47-26 scoring record. Like their challengers, Dynamo finished with 36 points, but with +21 goal-difference – FC Karl-Marx-Stadt had +15. Objectively, Dynamo had much stronger squad, but political turmoil was perhaps the big equalizer. Still, Dynamo prevailed and won its 8th – and, as it turned out, last title.

DDR. Ranked 16th. Perhaps the biggest change happening in the Eastern Europe – the Berlin Wall fell down in mid-season, so the football season started in one kind of reality and ended in different kind. The process of unification of Germany spelled out the end of East German football as separate entity, but that took time and there was one more season to be played yet. However, there were changes happening during the season, some of them confusing. The first one was scheduled earlier and had nothing to do with politics: it was decided that the second teams of top league clubs would no longer be able to play in the Second Division: this decision affected only 2 teams – the second teams of Dynamo (Berlin) and Dynamo (Dresden), which were excluded from Second Division and replaced by other clubs before the season started. The the Berlin Wall unleashed more significant changes – the process was stretched in time from early 1990 to the end of the 1990-91 season and basically was a process of re-organization of clubs from state-run to ‘independent’ professional clubs, which included often change of names. In most cases the change is barely noticeable: East German clubs mostly had combined names of some abbreviation and the popular name. Since the abbreviation was popularly excluded, a change of it did not confuse anyone, yet… in the records the DDR champion of 1989-90 is SG Dynamo (Dresden), but the Cup winner 1.FC Dynamo (Dresden). Same well known club, but it changed its name between the end of the championship and the Cup final. More problematic was the other Cup finalist – its name is nowhere to be found in the early stages of the competition and in the same time one semi-final winner suddenly disappeared: that’s because the club changed its name between the semifinals and the final and in more radical manner than Dynamo (Dresden). The change was also made before the end of the championship, so in the final tables the club was under its new name. The biggest changes affected 2 well-known clubs and they were practically the earliest changes in East German football: on January 30, 1990 BSG Sachsenring (Zwickau) changed its name to FSV Zwickau (Zwickau) and on Feburary 19, 1990 the hated Stassi club BFC Dynamo (Berlin) became FC Berlin (Berlin). The first changes represented a problem faced everywhere in East Europe: desire to get rid of Communist yoke and symbols and restoration of original names, often confronted by the popularity of the Communist name among fans. The early East-German changes represented both tendencies: in Zwickau original name was restored. In Berlin there was no original club, so no old name to go back to – a new one had to be created. For the moment, re-naming the club signifying entirely Communist oppression seemed enough and final, largely because it was hated club with few fans, But, like elsewhere in Eastern Europe, with time it turned out that the hated club still had enough supporters, even new ones, perhaps attracted largely by its history of success, and the abolished name was restored – today Dynamo (Berlin) exists. Few other clubs changed radically their names before the end of the season – neither attracted big interest, for they were all smallish Second Division clubs and even politics were played on mellower scale than in the cases of Dynamo and Sachsenring: Dynamo (Eisleben) changed to MSV Eisleben (Eisleben), SG Dynamo (Schwerin) changed to PSV Schwerin (Schwerin), ASV Vorwaerts (Stralsund) changed to TSV 1860 Stralsund (Stralsund), and Vorwaerts (Dessau) became SG 1898 Dessau (Dessau). Actually, Dessau’s club changed name earlier – in the 1988-89 season, which may have been because the Army opted to exclude this team from their system. If one pays attention to the names, the problems – and solutions – become clear: as elsewhere in Eastern Europe, Police and Army clubs played leading role during Communist rule and also represented exactly that rule – in DDR Police clubs were named Dynamo, Army clubs – Vorwaerts. Changing their names into something else was practically getting rid of Communist rule, but it was mostly symbolic gesture when it came to secondary clubs in smaller town without rival clubs in them. Dynamo (Berlin) really represented ominous oppression, not Dynamo (Eisleben). Forget the Second Division small fry, even Dynamo (Dresden), the original Police club of DDR, did not symbolize oppression for a long time – Dynamo (Berlin) became that, changing the whole picture – from a club signifying ominous state power Dynamo (Dresden) was seen as a club resisting it, confronting Dynamo (Berlin). As for the Army, looks like the Police took the upper hand in the invisible struggle between Communist powerful structures and Army clubs faded since 1970. In 1990 renaming of Army clubs perhaps was not that much a drive to get rid of Communist symbols, but rather the Army getting rid of expensive baggage in entirely new reality. Especially in smallish cities there was no question of folding the Communist club – locals needed their own club, change the name and keep it, one symbolic gesture is enough. And the new reality already presented its own problems – money first of all – so the revamped SG 1898 Dessau disappeared just as quickly as it apperead: Vorwaerts (Dessau) started the 1989-90 season, SG 1898 Dessau finished it, but FC Anhalt (Dessau) started the 1990-91 season – between seasons SG 1898 Dessau merged with SG Waggonbau’05 (Dessau) into FC Anhalt. Thus, radical name changes affected only Army and Police clubs in the second half of 1989-90 season, the only different case was Zwickau, which was getting rid of the Communist club no matter what its name and to which institution it belonged (Sachsenring belonged, or attached, or financed, or represented the large automotive plant in Zwickau) and restore the name of the club existing before the Communist took power. Then again Zwickau was provincial city with one club – Berlin quickly developed complications, for there were ‘split’ clubs existing under same names in both East and West Berlin, both claiming to be the original club and thus unwilling to fold, rename, even amalgamate.
It was not only a matter of names and ownership: freedom shook the season – there was uncertainty, other things on the minds than football, lost financing, and perhaps the most important problem: out of the blue East German players could go and play for real money in West Germany. Now in the minds of players was not that much the championship, but getting lucrative contract with rich and famous Bundesliga club. There was no doubt where Sammer, Doll, Thom, Kirsten will be in the next year. There was also little doubt that even if not wanting to go to the Bundesliga a long established players like Bodo Rudwaleit will change clubs for the once they played many years for were no longer able to pay them enough. It was a season of both hopes and despair, a season of turmoil. And in the same time it looked the same as before…
Apart from name-changes there was nothing to distinct this season from any other before in the Second Division: former top-league clubs were stronger than the rest and if there was any battle for promotion, it was was between 2-3 of those. There was no battle at all, however. Perhaps the only important thing was to mention clubs which did not appear in the next season – relegation is relegation, but few clubs simply disappeared. Judging by tradition, 7 teams were possible candidates for top positions and promotion and only one of them slipped down the table. Still, as it often happened before one teams was dominant leader in each Second Division group.
In Group A TSV 1860 Stralsund (which started the season under the name Vorwaerts (Stralsund) was weak and finished 10th – the only former member of First Division which was weak this season. 5 teams did not appear in the league next season: Motor (Schonebeck) – last and relegated anyway, Motor (Ludwigsfelde) – 17th and also relegated, KWO Berlin (Berlin) – 15th, Dynamo (Furstenwalde) – 12th, and BSG Chemie (Velten) – 3rd. Apart from them keep in mind PSV Schwerin, which started as SG Dynamo (Schwerin) and finished 13th.
BSG Chemie (Velten) finished 3rd with 40 points – 7 points behind the second-placed.
1.FC Union (Berlin) was 2nd with 47 points. Much stronger than the rest of the league, yet, not a real challenge to the winners.
Vorwaerts (Frankfurt/Oder) won the championship with 53 points from 22 wins, 9 ties, 3 losses and 80-30 scoring record. They dominated the championship and climbed back to First Division from which were relegated in 1987-88. Once upon a time a leading DDR club, Vorwaerts faded away long time ago and even their brief revival during the 1980s was very short. Hard to tell what the future of the number one team of the Army would be in entirely different reality – seemingly they were going up with new confidence, but there was also big uncertainty, judging by this team photo, dated alternatively 1989-90 and 1990-91.
Group 2. 4 teams did not appear in the next season: Union (Muhlhausen) – last and possibly relegated, Aufbau ddk Scharfenstein/Krumher. – 16th, MSV Eisleben (Eisleben) – 15th, and BSG Chemie Buna (Schkopau) – 14th. The former First Division clubs were all at the top of the table, but there was only one dominant team. FSV Zwickau (Zwickau) may have been the earliest and most rebellious club in DDR, but changing their name from Sachsenring to FSV Zwickau did not help their strenght: relegated in the previous season, now they ended 4th. BSG Stahl (Riesa) was 3rd and BSG Chemie (Leipzig) – 2nd with 39 points. They clinched second place by a point, but first place was not even a dream. However, sometimes even no-dreams become reality…
BSG Chemie (Bohlen) dominated the season and won the championship with 51 points: 22 wins, 7 ties, 4 losses, 77-35 scoring record. In the beginning of the 1980s they had a brief strong period, meaning, they got promoted to First Division a few times never lasting more than a season among the best. Now they got a new wind for another try. Dominant this season and promoted, but… they were not going to play top league football: just before the start of the 1990-91 season they disappeared in a matter of 4 days: on July 27 they changed their name to FSV Bohlen and on August 1st they merged with FC Grun-Weiss 1990 (Leipzig) – as BSG Chemie (Leipzig) renamed itself right after the 1989-90 season – to form FC Sachsen (Leipzig). And this club played in the First Division. At least geographically not Chemie (Bohlen), but the team they left 12 points behind moved to First Division.

The Cup final repeated the championship battle: Steaua vs Dinamo. And Dinamo took the upper hand again, beating Steaua 6-4.
Steaua lost twice to the arch-enemy this season. May be the political troubles on everybody’s mind, may be the repetitious nature of the time, but it is very difficult to establish team pictures of this period. Same photos are labeled 1989, 1986, and so on… So, this may be a picture of this season. And also may be not. In any case, Steaua had nothing at the end of season, Hagi or no Hagi. And the minds of Hagi & Co was already on lucrative contracts abroad.
Politics aside, a great season for Dinamo – a double. It was their 7th Cup and 4th double. A memorable season for sure.
To a point, the duel between Steaua and Dinamo was an inside battle of the Romanian national team – half of it played for Steaua, the other half for Dinamo. If Steaua had Hagi, Lacatus, Dumitrescu, Petrescu, Lung, Rotariu, Balint, Stoica, Dinamo had Rednic, Lupescu, Klein, Mateut, Sabau, Camataru, Andone, Lupu, Stelea. As talent goes, pretty much equal squads and since Steaua had the upper hand domestically and international success during the 1980s, it was only just Dinamo broke their dominance at last. At least in the purely football realm it appeared fair.

First Division. Two outstanding leaders and two outsiders – somewhat, a 50-50 representation of political changes and stubborn status quo. 3 teams relegated.
Olt (Scornicesti) – last with 12 points and relegated. And soon after that – dissolved, or at least that was what looked like, for the club was not in Second Division the next season.
Victoria (Bucharest) – 17th with 21 points. The club was dissolved after the Romanian Revolution – that was stands today in regard of ill-born Victoria, only a few years ago the second team of Dinamo (Bucharest). This club was never restored, unlike Olt.
Flacara (Moreni) – 16th with 28 points and relegated. Such a fate… they did very well in the previous season and qualified to play in the UEFA Cup. So, in the season they met FC Porto they also went down domestically.
SC Bacau (Bacau) – barely survived: 15th with 29 points.
Jiul (Petrosani) – lucky to escape relegation: 14th with 29 points.
Universitatea (Cluj) – also lucky: 13th with 29 points.
Arges (Pitesti) – one more happy survivor: 12th with 29 points.
Sportul Studentesc (Bucharest) – 11th with 30 points. Up: C.Pană, Lucaci, Cristea, Voicilă, Simionov, Răduță, Buțerchi, M.Popa
Middle: Mihale, Ciucă, Ion V.Ionescu (coach), V.Kraus (assistant coach), V.Zamfir (gk coach),
N.Andreescu (doctor), L.Buluș (maseur), V.Andrei (maseur), V.Iorgulescu, S.Răducanu
Bellow: Șumudică, A.Popa, Olteanu, Stănici, R.Lucescu, Manu, S.Dobre, G.Prodan, M.Mihail, Țârlea
Bihor (Oradea) – 10th with 30 points. Interesting scoring record: 61-61.
Top row from left: BALAJ CALIN ,ARPAD BUCICO ,VLADIMIR TAMAS ,TOMA IVAN ,VIOREL VANCEA ,PETER BERETCKI
Middle row: PAUL POPOVICI ,CHEREGI ,GABRIEL BRUCHENTAL ,MIRCEA BOLBA,ROBERT COSMOC,NICOLAE MURESAN,DANUT BABA ,TONI WEISEMBACHER ,DRAGAN DINU
Sitting: SERBAN CRAIU ,OVIDIU LAZAR ,ANDRAS BISZOK,ALEXANDRU TERHES, DUMITRU JIPA .
Farul (Constanta) – 9th with 31 points.
Corvinul (Hunedoara) – 8th with 32 points.
FCM Brasov (Brasov) – 7th with 35 points.
Inter (Sibiu) – 6th with 36 points.
Politehnica (Timisoara) – 5th with 41 points.
Petrolul (Ploesti) – 4th with 41 points.
Universitatea (Craiova) – 3rd with 44 points. Strong season, confirming their established leading status, but not near the battle for the title.
Dinamo and Steaua once again fought for supremacy and no wonder why: they had the best and already famous Romanian players.
Steaua (Bucharest) lost the championship by one point – 2nd with 56 points.
Dinamo (Bucharest) clinched the title with 57 points: 26 wins, 5 ties, 3 losses, 96-23. It was their 13th title. The squad surely deserved it. Their fans were happy, despite the ironic fact that they supported the club of the most hated Communist institution.

Romania. Ranked 15th presently. If Czechoslovakia had a ‘Velvet Revolution’, the fall of Communism in Romania was bloody. Football perhaps was not in the minds of most people, but it went on and from the distance of time presents a dry record looking absolutely normal. But behind the statistics the picture was quite turbulent, even fantastic. In a nutshell, Romania had talented and already well known abroad talented generation of players – now they were going to play in West in flocks. Miodrag Belodedici’s case was reversed – his sentence for running away from Romania voided, everything ‘normal’, he would not only go back to Romania without fear, but included again in the national team. Two clubs were severely punished as the sourest cases of Communist meddling in the sport, yet, the battle for the trophies in this championship was still between Steaua and Dinamo and one should pause here when speaking of political reforms and football. Yes, those were the leading Romanian clubs and from this angle nothing surprising the due was still head and shoulders above all other teams. But the leading clubs also were the most representative of Communist rule with all it’s twists and turns: Steaua belonged to the Army, but during the 1980s became almost a private toy of Nicolae Ceausescu’s son – reminding one of the early 1950s, when Stalin’s son made almost a private club of VVS (Moscow). Dinamo belonged to the Police – naturally, not to the Traffic Police, but the top layer of Police – the Securitate, the Romanian analogue of KGB. Both clubs, like everywhere in the Communist Europe, represented the most powerful and ominous Communist institutions. The rivalry between the institutions were large, vicious, behind the scene, and football was just another aspect of this battles for upper hand. In Romania, it was almost ironic, for Securitate served Nicolae Ceausescu and his family, the whole rule was based on the Secret Police, but since the son of the ruler ‘owned’ Steaua it was not easy at all to put down the rival club. So, both clubs fought perhaps more behind the scene than on the football field – using power, influence, intimidation, every dirty trick to top the rival. The picture of corruption was quite hidden, thanks to gifted generation of players in both clubs and real success, especially the international triumphs of Steaua. It was classic dilemma: everybody knew how corrupt and manipulated Romanian football was, yet, international success excused that, because success was a matter of national pride. The list of abuse and falsifications was so long and gross, it is almost impossible to say which element was the worst: the goal-scoring manipulations so a Romanian to get the Golden Shoe or the inclusion of Dinamo’s second team in the First Division, hastily re-naming it Victoria in order to play in the UEFA Cup. Or may be the sudden rise of Olt – representing the village where Ceausescu was born and supplying it was quite a big stadium as well.
Back in the 1950s the team of Stalin’s son, VVS (Moscow), was entirely dissolved with the first slight shift of political power – the ‘owner’ eventually went to prison, the top players, recruited by him – to other clubs, and VVS never existed again. During the fall Communism football everywhere in Eastern Europe went to similar ‘punishment’ of clubs created by the Communist rule and representing it. Since the model was Soviet, all such clubs were either belonging to the Police or to the Army and were hated. But… there was ‘but’: it was a problem of popularity. With time such clubs became popular – to a different degree, so the dismantling of Communist sport was tricky and generally unsuccessful, for even hated and not very popular clubs eventually survived. If in the early 1990’s Dynamo (Berlin), Dukla (Prague), Honved (Budapest), Dynamo (Zagreb) were renamed and went into sharp decline, nearing even complete dissolution, today all of them exist with their Communist names – it turned out there were enough supporters to keep them going or the trademark of the name, representing old success, became valuable enough with time. Generations of fans were brought up supporting the Communist name and not any other was able to substitute it – neither new (Dynamo Berlin becoming FC Berlin), nor old pre-Communist one (Honved Budapest revamping the name of the club once upon a time renamed Honved – Kispest Budapest). Many popular clubs simply had no other name, for they created entirely by the Communist rule (Crvena zvezda and Partizan Belgrade, CSKA Sofia) – the Romania case falls into this this category: Steaua and Dinamo were vastly popular, but they were not based on some old pre-Communist clubs. Renaming them would not work – the fans did not want that at all. The irony of life… exactly the leading clubs were the most representative of the hated Communist power, they committed most abuses and violations, yet, they were the most popular and justice… ended then and there. It was enough to remove direct Communist involvement and keep everything else, not even investigating well-known corruption and abuse of power associated with the clubs. So… investigation of crimes was directed elsewhere, for some justice had to be done, demanded to be done. And it was done… Victoria (Bucharest) was dissolved and soon after them Olt (Scornicesti) went down and disappeared… for a while. Victoria was artificial club belonging to Securitate, no doubt about it, but it only there second club – the prime one was Dinamo, which suddenly slipped out of sight, all vitriol directed towards Victoria and ‘justice’ was done, the guilty punished. No problem here – Victoria had no fans, an easy target. In view of the bloody events during the fall of Communism in Romania the perception of Steaua suddenly changed: the Army was ‘innocent’, for blood was spilled by Securitate. ‘Innocense’, with time would be transformed into the myth of resisting Communism – as if Ceausescu’s son resisted Communist power, represented by Securitate, backing up… Ceausescu family and its power over the country. Similar myths popped-up around East Europe – people believing that the arch-representatives of Communist rule and its abuses were actually resisting Communism and were the cradles of anti-Communism. Time played its role in that – the strongest clubs became the most popular clubs, new generations knew nothing else but those particular clubs, by 1990 new fans emerged in the classic manner: the father introduces his son to his club, then the son to his son and so on. Nothing can destroy popular club, only ungainly past will be replaced by plausible myths. So… nothing changed – looking back to already distant 1989-90 season one sees powerful Dinamo and Steaua. The greatest stars were found playing for either one or the other, so ‘objectively’ speaking – yes, those were really and truly the strongest and nothing to do with politics. No dirty laundry. But, yes, there was dirty laundry, Communist dirty laundry… yes, there was, but it belonged to our enemies. We were clean. Everything simplified by myth: Ceausescu’s son? If one supports Steaua, he was a hero making and keeping us strong despite the dirty tricks of Securitate. If one supports Dinamo the story is reversed – Securitate resisted the power hungry shit and his criminal abuses. If one supports another club, than the myth of constant victimization is established – the Communist clubs repressed everybody else and prevented us from glory. This is perhaps the most plausible myth, but it is still largely a myth, for even without totalitarian practices a player like Hagi would not stay with his original club, but move to the strongest. So, turmoil or not, politics or not, football was played in 1990 and the season ended as before: with the two biggest clubs way above the rest and entangled in familiar battle between themselves. The only difference was the ominous doubt that those clubs would stay strong on international level, for now every player was looking to play abroad and there were no more restrictions for doing so. It was still too early the map of Romanian football to change drastically. The top league was still of 18 teams, Second Division – still having 3 leagues of 18 teams each and the only new thing happened at the end of the season when Second Division relegation play-offs were staged, because Victoria (Bucharest) was dissolved, leaving one empty spot to be filled. A bit later another empty spot emerged because of the case of Olt (Scornicesti). Just as historic footnote:
CFR (Cluj), a club with long and successful past, was now out of First and Second Division football. This could be seen as the general decline of clubs related from start to the railroads: Rapid (Bucharest) was in Second Division, as well as other ‘railroad’ clubs – that is, to a point, the ‘genuine working class’ clubs, mostly originating from pre-Communist times.
Second Division. Three leagues of 18 teams, the winners promoted, the last 4 relegated. The old structure, however, not entirely the old one, for Serie III had 16 teams instead of 18 for some reason – very likely a result of political troubles – and only 2 teams were going down from it. Which eventually became only 1 directly team, for those ending 15th in every Second Division league went to relegation play-offs because of the empty spots left by Victoria and Olt. Typically, most clubs playing in the Second Division were obscure and only former to league members fought for top positions, hoping for promotion.
Serie I. Not only in this league one should be careful of the time: from today’s point of view, there were some familiar names – but that is because recently some clubs came to play top league football. Back in 1990 even in Romania nobody counted them for anything – Foresta (Falticeni), for instance. Most teams were absolutely obscure. At real time, only the top 4 ringed a bell because of playing in First Division before: Politehnica (Iasi), Otelul (Galati), Gloria (Buzau), and Progresul (Braila). Of them only two fought for first place – Gloria and Progresul. They ended with equal points and goal-difference decided the top position.
Otelul (Galati) was the best known name in Serie I, but they managed only 3rd place this season.
Progresul (Braila) clinched the first place: like Gloria (Buzau), they finished with 48 points. 22 wins, 4 ties, 8 losses. Gloria had 21 wins, 6 ties, 7 losses. Goal-difference benefited Progresul – their rivals ended with 63-32: +31, but Progresul was much better – 69-19: +50. Thus Progresul was promoted back to First Division after considerable absence from it, so it was great and highly promising season. The club had played under different names, so no wonder they were not really recognizable.
Serie II. Three recognizable names here: CS Targoviste, Chimia (Ramnicu Valcea), and best known club playing in the second level now: Rapid (Bucharest). Like in Serie I, only 2 teams competed for top position. Most clubs were anonymous:
FCM Caracal ended 7th. One of the typical Second Division clubs – entirely unfamiliar outside Romania and nobody paying much attention to them in the country itself.
The battle for first place was between Rapid and lesser known Drobeta.
Drobeta (Turnu Severin) had a great season, considering that they small and insignificant club playing second level football, but they were still not good enough to finish first: 2nd with 45 points. 7 points ahead of 3rd placed Unirea (Alba Iulia), but 4 points behind the winners.

Rapid (Bucharest) won the championship with 49 points: 22 wins, 5 ties, 7 losses, 61-32 scoring record. Not exactly dominating, but they still ended with good lead over their rivals and earned promotion. The return to top flight was relieve and even hope for the future in view of the political changes in the country: unlike Steaua and Dinamo, Rapid was old club which managed to navigate the years of Communsim quite well, which also helped them preserving considerable number of fans. Popular and with non-Communist past, they perhaps presented a chance for real transition – may be the old clubs, not fully tainted by Communism were coming back to ‘their rightful place’. Well, for the moment it was only climbing back to First Division. A start…
Serie III. The smallest league in the Second Division – only 16 teams for some reason – but with the biggest concentration of familiar names: if in the other two leagues only Rapid (Bucharest) was really successful in the past, in Serie III played teams which used to be strong once upon a time: CSM (Resita), UT (Arad), ASA (Turgu Mures), Gloria (Bistrita). Add Maramures (Baia Mare) which also plaued top league football now and then. But there was no drama – one team dominated the championship.
Gloria (Bistrita) dominated and won the championship. Well, it was true to the name… glory to Gloria. They left the next pursuer, UTA (Arad), 6 points behind. 18 wins, 9 ties, 7 losses, 87-40 scoring record, and 45 points.

The Czechoslovak Cup as usual opposed the winners of the Czech Cup and the Slovak Cup: Dukla Prague against Inter Bratislava this years, which somewhat evoked years gone and also gone reality. In a sense, the Communism was not giving up – both opponents were created by the Communist system. But football is still football. And there was nationalism playing bigger role now… This season Inter played stronger than Dukla, but Dukla had stronger squad. The clash ended undecided 1-1 after overtime and penalty shoot-out followed. In it Dukla prevailed 5-4.
Unlucky Inter… such a loss could be both lamented for ever or not lamented at all, but it brings – from the distance of time – a question: it could have been different future for Inter if they won the Cup. May have been… Than again, may not have been. The central thing is that it would have been great if Inter won: they hardly ever won trophies, even when they much stronger than this vintage. No luck.
Dukla Prague was lucky and prevailed. Not many were happy of their victory, especially in 1990, but it was good for the players – after all, there was significant talent in the squad deserving to win something and thus increase their marketing value. As statistics go, Dukla won its 8th Cup, adding one more trophy to their collection.