Month: October 2014

The top group ended as suspected: the bottom three clubs took it easy, Basel more than any other team. They sunk to 6th place after winning 2 matches, tying one, and losing 7. Young Boys did not care much either – they won only one match in the final round and scored the least number of goals – 5. Basel on the other hand scored 18! St. Gallen ended 4th, as disinterested as Basel and Young Boys.

Grasshopper finished third, just as they were in the first stage – slightly better than the lower clubs, slightly worse than the best two, 3 points ahead of St. Gallen, 6 points behind the silver medalists.

Perhaps more was expected from the 1977-78 champions, but they were not yet the really strongest team in Switzerland. National team players are usual indication of strength in a country with small pool of talent: Grasshopper had fewer national team players than the competition and not really big stars. Raimondo Ponte was perhaps the most promising name, added to Sulser and Egli… third place was seemingly the best they can do.

FC Zurich was a bit difficult to measure. They were perhaps the strongest Swiss club of the 1970s and the one which started hopes for a renaissance after playing well in the European club tournaments, but it was clear they reached their peak in 1975-76. No Swiss club was really able to keep big talent and the stars were leaving to play abroad one after another. Yet, it was not a club falling into a crisis. Zurich were the best in the league during the first stage, building a lead of 2 points. It was clear they were going for the title. But they hardly added more strength in the second phase – at best, they looked the same as in the first stage. At the same time Servette really stepped on the pedals… Zurich ended second after losing 1/3 of their final decisive games. They did not even challenge Servette… finishing 6 points behind.

FC Zurich got two important additions before the season – the famous coach Zlatko Cajkovski arrived from AEK (Athens) and Jurica Jerkovic from Hajduk (Split). Jerkovic was voted the best foreign player of the season, but his excellent form was not enough. Nor was the vast experience of Cajkovski – the teams lost steam when it mattered most. With Botteron, Risi, Grob, it was still one of the best Swiss teams, but not exactly a winner.

Clearly divided into two tournaments season invites scrutiny: FC Zurich won the first phase and it looked like that at least two teams would compete for the title, if not the whole six of the final stage. Servette trailed by two points in the opening part. They lost one more game than FC Zurich. It was impossible to predict the final outcome – to a point, it was like entirely new championship, to a point erasing all efforts done during 22 matches, to a point all that mattered were the last ten games. To a point, only the spring matches mattered. Which made five teams looking like fools… only one club was precisely trained to reach the peak of their form in the spring. Servette. They were overwhelming. They won every match they played in the final stage – 10 wins! Scored 23 goals, allowing only 5. They had no rival – FC Zurich lost three matches and finished with 13 points. 7 less than Servette. By rules every team opened the final campaign carrying half of the points they had in the first tournament – this already reduced the lead of FC Zurich from 2 points to one… practically equal start, after which Servette was not even challenged. Total supremacy.

It was the 14th title for the popular club, but the first since 1962 – a big relief, executed in grand manner , but it was not all. Servette was one of the consistently well performing Swiss clubs during the 1970s and finally their time had come. First they won the Swiss Cup in 1977-78, now they did better. And reached the cup final again.

Young Boys (Bern) also reached the final.

The old Young Boys mainly settled to mid-table existence, but occasionally had a good run. Since their means were modest, all depended largely on one player. They had the star Odermatt at the end of his career a few years back – and it was enough for a good season. Now they had another veteran:

Kudi Muller joined the club in 1977. 30-years old, he was already fading, but still a strong addition to otherwise anonymous squad. His presence was not enough for impressive season in the league, but cup format was more suitable and Young Boys reached the final. And had a chance of winning a trophy. The final ended undecided – 1-1 after overtime. The replay was a bit too much for Young Boys – they fought, but at the end the classier opponent won – 3-2. Servette got the Cup for a second consecutive year.

The selection for the final, from left: Gérald Coutaz, Guy Dutoit, Yves Mauron, Jean-Claude Milani, Gianfranco Seramondi, Jean-Luc Martin, Hanspeter Weber, Hansjörg “Joko” Pfister, Umberto Barberis, Piet Hamberg, Marc Schnyder, Jean-Yves Valentini, Franz Peterhans, Lucio Bizzini, Claude “Didi” Andrey, Serge Trinchero, Karl Engel, Gilbert Guyot.

A double! Great triumph for Servette, which looked like establishing a period of dominance. The team was ripe and, at the moment, much better than any other in Switzerland – Basel already aged and was trying to build a new team; FC Zurich was reaching the point of crisis – aging or departing stars, without much new blood. Grasshopper appeared a bit plain and unfinished. Servette was just right : the current Swiss stars were here – Pfister, Barberis, Guyot, Engel, Weber, plus up and coming talent like Seramondi and well respected players like Bizzini. The team was boosted by the presence of Martin Chivers the previous year, which ended with winning the cup. Now the English veteran star was gone, but the squad was very strong. The foreign addition was not bad – Piet Hamberg was unknown Dutch player, acquired from FC Utrecht, but Dutch players were dependable representatives of the most advanced modern football. The striker played well – well enough to attract the interest of Ajax, where he went to play in 1980. Perhaps the real honour should be atributed to the coach. Peter Pazmandy, born 1938, was the apparent maker of the team – a relatively unknown name, able to outdo the bulk of foreign coaches working with Swiss clubs (Zlatko Cajkovski – FC Zurich, the German Helmuth Johannsen – Grasshopper, Miroslav Blazevic – Lausanne-Sports, Timo Konietzka, also German – Young Boys). Pazmandy was not a Swiss too – at least not by birth. Back in 1956 a 20-years player of Vasas (Budapest) run away from supressed Hungary like many of his compatriots, including footballers. He settled and played in Switzerland and after retirement became a coach. Hungarians made good coaches and he was not exception: he lead Servette to glory – winning the cup in 1978 and now a double. It really looked like Pazmandy made a team going to dominate Swiss football – and the era seemingly already began. The final run of 10 wins in the second stage of the championship was more than impressive – he future belonged to Geneva. So were the signs in the spring of 1979. Signs happened to be false ones, but for the moment it was excellent: a double, crowning two very strong seasons.

 

Switzerland – changing the format of the championship again. The formula of the last two seasons was played for the last time and the first division was scheduled to increase the next year to 14 clubs. Thus, only one team was relegated this season from the top and three clubs were going up from second tier. The change hardly spurred most second-league clubs’ ambition: four clubs left the other 12 teams far behind, but 4 clubs were one too many. They finished tightly packed:

FC La Chaux-de-Fonds ended first with 43 points.

FC Luzern was second also with 43 points, but worse goal-difference.

Pastoral picture of FC Luzern, so indifferently peaceful, it was hard to believe these boys were going up – but they did, perhaps determined to prove the area was not just cows and grass. Returning to top flight, but not a team going the play a major role.

Third and forth were FC Lugano and FC Winterthur, both with 41 points. Winterthur had better goal-difference, but it did not count. Play-off match was scheduled instead. The regular time did not change anything and only in the extra-time Lugano scored a single golden goal. They went up at the expense of Winterthur.

Nothing new about the promoted clubs: all of them played first division football for years and were merely returning to their usual league.

Nationalliga A was another matter. Still the formula was of two-parts: a standard two-legged phase at first, followed by second stage when the top 6 of the first part played round robin championship for the title and the bottom 6 – the same, deciding relegation. All clubs carried half of the points they earned in the first stage to the second. The negative side of such formula was already observed – most clubs put a big effort in the first phase, trying to secure position among the top six. Then took it easy, just going through the motions. The relegation group was no different: at least two clubs started with too many points to really worry and at least had too few to really had a chance for escape. The idea of more competitive and exciting championship did not materialize, but it was difficult to run long championship with only 12 clubs – standard formula provided only 22 games a season. The 10 matches played in the second stage added games, but since most clubs were disinterested it was meaningless effort. Classic championship between 14 teams provided 26 matches, which was acceptable option. At hand was the current formula, though, and some things became clear in the first stage – four clubs sunk to the bottom early: Lausanne-Sports, Chiasso, Nordstern, and Sion. Chenois ended 8th, 7 points ahead of Lausanne-Sports, and Xamax was 7th, 2 points ahead of Chenois. Since only one team would be relegated, it was clear that not 6, but 4 clubs were to play seriously in the final stage.

The upper half was not different, only there the fight was to be for the title. Looked like Basel, Young Boys, and St. Gallen were not interested. Grasshopper disappointed a bit during the first stage – they were 3rd, but 3 points bellow the second. Servette finished second, with the best scoring record so far, but still trailing Zurich by 2 points. It looked like the final race will be between 2 and a half clubs… Zurich and Servette for sure and may be Grasshopper. There was illusion for more competitive final, though: entering with half of first stage points made all six quite equal starters: Zurich ended with 6 points more than the last three clubs in the first stage, but the difference was reduced to three for the start of second phase. Zurich entered with 16 points, Servette with 15, Grasshopper with 14 (benefiting by the rule of rounding to the higher number – they finished with 27 points the first stage), and the rest – with 13 points each. Everybody had a chance… on paper.

The relegation group proceeded as expected… the endangered clubs played seriously, those starting with vast advantage went through the motions, and one team proved too weak to last. Chenois did not lose a single match, but 7 of their 10 games ended tied. Lausanne-Sports, Chiasso, and Sion pulled themselves together and secured their safety.

Perhaps the most intriguing about these clubs was Jose Altafini – the 1958 World champion, now 40 years old, was leading the attack of Chiasso. May be that was why the modest club was able to stay in first division. The veteran arrived in 1976 from Juventus and still was not thinking of retirement: he stayed one more year with Chiasso, then moved to another Swiss club to play 2 more years.

Xamax did not care… they earned only 5 points and finished next to last. Not for a second they were in danger – they started with 12 points, which was twice the points Nordstern carried from the first stage.

First division football was too much for the small club from Basel. The city had not the size and the culture to support two strong clubs and inevitably Nordstern was a pariah. They did their best during the first stage and their best was good only for 11th place. No strength was left for the final stage… Nordstern managed to win a single match and tie one more. Three points… 9 in total. Xamax really did not have to get even a point to stay above. The brief encounter with top flight football ended miserably for Nordstern – they were going back to second league after a single season in first.

To a point, the Cup final showed the precarious state of the Ujpesti Dosza – supreme in the championship, they did not reach the final. Raba Eto and Ferencvaros did – the rising clubs. For Ferencvaros, winning the cup was of prime importance: not that much to show they were not just ‘also runs’, but to get a trophy, as their tradition demanded. Save the season by winning the Cup.

They had the argument – much stronger squad full of current members of the national team, Nyilasi – a star of European caliber. The provincials had no chance at all… But Ferencvaros did not score and the provincials did. They scored only once, yet, it was enough – 1-0 and the Cup went to Raba ETO. Otto Szabo was the goal-scoring hero of the final.

A great victory, of course – Raba ETO had lukewarm season, finishing 6th thanks only to better goal-difference and far behind the 5th placed Honved. They did not count as a force for a long time too. Raba ETO had few trophies – historically, not even a slight match for Ferencvaros. But they won and left Ferencvaros entirely emptyhanded.

Standing from left: Józsa Zoltán – coach, Palla Antal, Pozsgai Lajos, Pásztor Ferenc, Horváth Dénes, Magyar Lajos, Horváth László, Koós pályaedző, Kovács Imre – assistant coach.

Crouching: Pénzes Mihály, Szabó Ottó, Füzi Géza, Szíjártó László, Onhausz Tibor, Glázer Róbert, Pölöskei Gábor, Lipót Gyula.

Proudly posing with the Cup. It was the 4th Cup and 5th trophy for Raba ETO. It was also a sign of revival – so far, the best period in the club’s history was the 1960s, when they won the title in 1963 and added three cups – 1965, 1966, and 1967. But nothing after that – the club, until roughly 1975, was just typical mid-table provincial team. After 1975 they were slowly getting better, becoming one of the rising provincial clubs, although not as promising as Videoton was. Now they won a trophy after 10 years of drought. And it did not look like accidental victory – the squad was good and promissing: Pozsgai, Pasztor, Szabo, Szijarto, Onhausz, Poloskei were more than noticed. If the club was able to keep the best players and add some more for fine tuning, it would be something. Exactly this happened – with the 1979 Cup victory started arguably the best ever period of the club.

First division seemingly settled into old pattern this season – the outsiders firmly took the last three places, endangering nobody else. Then 10 clubs were packed closely – 6 points was the difference between the 6th and the 15th – satisfied with easy life, and five clubs stayed on top of the pyramid. High above the bulk of the league, but also divided into three groups – three clubs scrambled for the bronze medals, then lone candidate for silver, but unable to put a fight for the title. Boring division really, but only on the surface – there were few interesting things: first of them, in the relegation zone. The last place was taken by Vasas Izzo (Budapest), modest newcomers, clearly not up to the challenge of first division footballs. No surprise… with 14 points they ended not only last, but 9 points behind the 17th placed Haladas VSE. Not much of a surprise in their relegation either – one of the modest clubs, Haladas played hide and seek with relegation almost every year. Two points better than Haladas and 16th were Csepel SC.

Now this was a news: old, strong and successful in the past, Csepel sunk to 6th place in the ranking Budapest clubs long time ago too. A real mid-table club for years and without chances for anything else – but never really weak. Nobody expected them to win a title, but nobody was expecting them to sunk either. Well, they sunk this season and badly too – it was not a matter of bad luck, losing by a point or two. Their relegation was even unpleasant news, registering a deep and may be irreversible crisis. Sad to see old revered club going to the dogs. It was not the only dangerous sign – MTK (Budapest) finished 14th. Looked like there were no enough players, or money, or both, to keep all big Budapest clubs strong – and the first victims or new reality appeared. Another club finished at lower place than their usual – Videoton ended 9th.

Looked like they were not going to challenge the status quo and giving up the ghost after few promising seasons. Typical provincials, one may say… but it was not really that. Videoton was only a point behind the 6th placed team and if they were not among the top, they were not really going down either – rather, taking a brake… their climb was going to continue and reach its peak in the 1980s.

Tatabanya finiched 7th – a rare strong season for uneven club.

Third row, from left: Magyar György edző, Csepecz, Dupai, Monostori Tivadar vezetőedző, Nagy I., Szabó György csapatkapitány, Dombai, Sándor Imre gyúró.

Middle row: Lakatos, Arany, Udvardi, Néder, Csapó, Gálhidi.

Bottom row: Schmidt, Zsidó, Barabás, Tamás, Kisteleki, Knapik, Hegyi.

The only interesting thing about this team was the picture itself: nice in the snow.

Honved was at 5th place.

Standing: TICHY LAJOS – coach,PÁJER, PÁL, PARÓCZAI, KOCSIS, LUKÁCS, WEIMPER, VARGA II, VARGA I, NAGY ANTAL, GUJDÁR, TÁRNOK ISTVÁN – assistant coach.

Crouching: GYIMESI, BODONYI, GEIGER, KARALYOS, FEJES, HORVÁTH, PINTÉR, PÓCZIK.

Honved was still not capable to run for the title. It was coming back, like Dukla in Czechoslovakia, but not ready yet.

A place above finished Vasas.

A little bit of decline was sensed – Vasas was trying to keep its place, but it was mostly on inertia. Good squad, but the core players were with the team for years and getting past their peak.

Honved and Vasas fought for third place, but the winners were Diósgyőri VTK (Miskolc).

An old club, always associated with Diosgyor Ironworks, but as most provincial clubs, winning nothing. Regular member of first division, but mid-table club. Did not give any signs of improvement in the recent years, so they were a bit of a surprise.

No stars here – second-stringers at best – but they contributed to the trend of rising provinsial clubs: proved to be at equal footing with the top clubs and players, and holded their ground. The title was out of their reach, but they edged Hoved and Vasas, taking bronze medals. 2 points ahead of Vasas, second-best defence in the league (only Raba ETO received fewer goals), and 4th best striking line. Not bad, overall, but in local terms it was something else: the best season to date was 1976-77, when DVTK won the Cup for the first time. It was their only trophy… They preserved the winning squad and the boys continued to play well. The third place was of historic proportions – it was the highest place of the club in the league. Highest ever, it turned out: DVTK never reached such hights. Thus, the team is legendary and also the season. And the coach Geza Szabo is rigthtly creditid with the success – he made the greatest team in the history of the club, guiding it to success between 1974 and 1981. Significant season in every aspect – the club scored its 1000th goal in first division; played its 800th match in the league. A season to remember.

As good as Diosgyor were, they were not a match for Ferencvaros. Yes, the obvious suspect, but also the club wnich was somewhat unable to master a great team during the 1970s.

Full of national team players, lead by Laszlo Balint and Tibor Nyilasi, younger than aging Ujpesti Dosza , but there was a little something missing… Ofr course, Fradi stayed at the top, but… not really winning. And this year they were firmly second – above the rest of the league, and bellow the arch-rivals. Quite bellow – 5 points behind at the end. Silver medals do not count for Ferencvaros.

Ujpesti Dosza won their 18th title. Easily, judging by the final standings.

It was a victory true to the club’s style in the 1970s – attacking and high scoring football. It also looked like Lilak managed to avoid the dreadful slump usually coming with inevitably aging squad – since 1975 the team was clearly over the hill, and change of generations was expected to make trouble – but Ujpesti Dosza managed to stay on top and continued winning. Looked like they were dodging crisis and the critical moment was over by now. Looked like…

The champions still had 9 players of the squad reaching its peak around 1975. Some were getting old (Zambo, Rothermel, Dunai), others already had reached their potential and were no longer promising material (Kolar, Kellner, Fekete). New stars emerged and by now were top Hungarian players – Torocsik, Kerekes, Kardos – but still the team was dominated by the old guard. To a point, the case of Ujpesti Dosza illuminated the state of Hungarian football in the 1970s: talent was scarce and no matter what, the older generation was getting the upper hand at least domestically. Pal Varhidi was very good coach and managed not only to outfox the rest of the league, but to keep his boys well above anybody else. Looked like… looked like Ujpesti Dosza would be constant winner. The future had a bitter surprise for the club and its fans – this title was their last for the next 10 years.