First Division. If there was any change, it was negative one. Looked like that at least two clubs just did not care anymore – they dropped down the table, but still were too strong to be in any danger. Even for a time, when massive squad changes were almost unheard of, East German football was an anomaly – quite safely one can say, that there were about 100 good players in the whole country and the rest were plain hopeless. Very few transfers occurred between seasons, some clubs – mighty Dynamo (Berlin) included – even did not bother to release players and recruit new talent: most likely there was not any. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of East German football was the effort to keep with fashion – since the country stubbornly resisted buying foreign gear on ideological grounds, local makers were troubled to make something similar to the designs of West German leaders Adidas and Puma – the kits were colourful, contemporary, but it was a poor-man imitation: two stripes instead of Adidas’ staple, big names of the clubs instead of adds in front of the shirts. Amusing, but nothing to do with the game as such.
Sachsenring (Zwickau) finished last with 9 points. May be their relegation was surprising from aside, but the club depended for years on 2 players – Jurgen Croy and Gert Schellenberg. Arguably the all-time best East German goalkeeper retired and the team, never strong anyway, simply plummeted to the bottom. Not that surprising, really.
Chemie (Bohlen), 13th with 13 points, was the second relegated team. Well, nothing surprising here – they were just promoted and like all newly promoted lasted only one season. Not their first spell with the same result either – they were relegated in 1978-79, then in 1980-81.
What an ambitious newly promoted team could achieve was 12th place – Union (Berlin) managed just that, finishing with 17 points. That was also familiar – a newcomer barely surviving its first season, only to be relegated in the next. But who cares for the next? The important point was that will be one more season among the best. And who knows? May be a miracle will happen. Alas, the squad did not suggest any miracles.
Chemie (Halle) – 11th thanks to better goal-difference. They looked promising mavericks in the mid-70s , but only managed to secure themselves in the first division. Relegation was not likely, but even unlikelier was getting stronger.
Wismut (Aue) – 10th with 20 points. Just registering presence… as ever.
1. FC Karl-Marx-Stadt – the perfect mid-table team: 26 points from 26 games, 41-41 goal-difference. Sedated, secure, disinterested, stable, the same… chose a word.
Hansa (Rostock) – 8th with 28 points. On the surface, well done – they meandered between 1st and 2nd divisions for years, finally stabilizing themselves. Nothing special, though – just establishing themselves in the league.
Dynamo (Dresden) – 7th with 29 points. Very weak season, even a surprise, but probably they just did not bother, knowing well in advance who will win anyway.
The same could be said of 1. FC Magdeburg – 6th with 29 points and ahead of Dresden only on better goal-difference. There was a slight difference, though – Dresden somehow maintained strong squad, but Magdeburg badly needed rebuilding – the core still consisted of the Cup Winners Cup winners, their number shrinking every year, for they were getting older and retiring. And nobody around to replace them.
Rot-Weiss (Erfurt) finished 5th, which looked like a big surprise, but probably fooled no one. Most likely they just took advantage of the relative weakness of Magdeburg and Dynamo (Dresden). They had perhaps the most promising young talent at the moment – Andreas Thon. A blessing and a curse: he helped them soar up; he was not going to stay with the club for long. Even with him the squad was pedestrian.
Lokomotive (Leipzig) was not a surprise – they finished as they usually did: 4th. Not much of a scorers, but with solid defense – second-best this season. However, they 4th with bit of luck, for they not only finished with same points Rot-Weiss had, but both teams had matching goal-difference as well: 45-27. Head-to-head record favored Lokomotive.
Carl Zeiss (Jena) finished with bronze, but like Dresden and Magdeburg perhaps they did not put much of an effort – 34 points in total. Far behind the champions. Top row from left: Lothar Kurbjuweit – Rüdiger Schnuphase – Hans-Ulrich Grapenthin – Karsten Härtel – Thomas Runkewitz – Jürgen Raab – Andreas Krause.
Middle row: Hans-Joachim Meyer(Trainer) – Ulrich Oevermann – Andreas Bielau – Norbert Kahnt – Gerhard Hoppe – Stefan Meixner – Jörg Burow – Helmut Stein(Trainer).
Sitting: Martin Trocha – Matthias Kaiser – Fred Steinborn – Konrad Weise – Uwe Pohl – Wolfgang Schilling.
Hard to tell – the squad suggest bigger potential, strong enough to challenge Dynamo (Berlin). But that could be under normal circumstances and East German football was not normal at all.
Forwaerts (Frankfurt Oder) – silver medalists. It was only thanks to better goal-difference than Carl Zeiss’, but it looked like the former powerhouse was re-established itself at the top after the disastrous 1970s. It also looked like a typical Eastern European set-up: the Army vs the Police. But it was not going to be and that was the last strong season of the Army club – the revival did not happen.
There was no real Army-Police battle: Dynamo (Berlin) was too strong. And just to make sure no accident happens, the Stassi controlled everything – referees, administrators. The champion was known well before the championship started, every attempt to challenge Dynamo was hopeless and no wonder some clubs seemingly gave up. Dynamo did not lose even single match this year – they won 20 and tied 6. They allowed only 22 goals in their net, but scored 72. Vorwaerts and Carl Zeiss finished 12 points behind. There was no challenge at all. But was Dynamo all that strong? They were strong,with their 9 national team players, but Carl Zeiss had pretty much the same number of first-rate stars. But, by now, everybody was familiar with situation and resigned to it – one more title for Dynamo and there will be the same champion next year as well. And the year after that, and so on. It may be unfair to the players if the team to question their real abilities, but why not, since everything was preordained. No fools around: who could believe that the squad was made of humble boys, listed as students and industrial workers? Even this was too much – in other Communist countries players of Police teams were nominally employed as police officers. Here the fake was reaching absurd dimensions – but adding titles.
Clubs yet unknown, like DAC Dunajska Streda.
And clubs like Slezsky Opava, which never became known.
Dukla (Banska Bystrica) won the Slovak league and
SKLO Union (Teplice) won the Czech league. Going up to try again first division life. Or death.
