Month: October 2020

West Germany. Dramatic championship – goal-difference decided the title. Decline of some clubs of prominence and relegation to the regional leagues of 2 formative members of the Bundesliga.

Qualifications for promotion to II Division: the champions of the regional leagues went to their final tournament, competing for 4 promotions. 9 teams, divided into 2 groups – Northern and Southern. That was the formula for many, many years now. However, one regional league champion was not permitted to compete for promotion – most likely for financial reasons.

Wormatia (Worms) was not allowed. Top row from left: Alfred Oehrlein, Ralf Karb, Jozef Adamiec, Heinz Lubanski, Jurgen Klotz, Gunther Birkle – assistant coach, Heiner Ueberle – coach. Middle row: Gunter Reinhardt, Walfried Gunther, Gunter Braun, Michael Wolsiffer, Peter Ritzheim, Bernhard Schwank, Stefan Steinmetz, Heinz-Jurgen Schlosser, Dr. Priester. Sitting: Jurgen Fischer, Lutz Hofmann, Georg Muller, Stephan Kuhnert, Ralph Pfirrmann, Martin Simonis, Dieter Gutzler, Helmut Wagner.

Wormatia was replaced by the 2nd-placed ASC Schöppingen.

Gruppe Nord:

1.  FC St.Pauli   8  5  2 1  16:8  12:4

2. Rot-Weiß Essen 8  5  1  2  16:12 11:5

3. SC Charlottenburg  8  3  3  2  16:9  9:7

4.  VfB Oldenburg  8  2  1  5  12:18  5:11

5.  ASC Schöppingen  8  1  1  6  8:21  3:13

ASC Schöppingen clearly was not up to the task, but the former Bundesliga members were:

Rot Weiss (Essen) and

FC St. Pauli (Hamdurg) were promoted to Second Division. This photo of St Pauli may not be correct, but is from that period at least.

Gruppe Süd:

1.  SSV Ulm 1846  6  3  2  1  11:7  8:4

2. FSV Salmrohr  6  3  2  1  10:7  8:4

3. Kickers Offenbach  6  1  5  0  11:8  7:5

4. 1860 München  6  0  1  5  4:14  1:11

Different story here – the former Bundesliga members failed.

TSV Munchen 1860 was particularly bad and had to return to Bayernliga for at least one more season. How to measure the relative strength of the teams playing in the regional league? Netolicka not long ago played for the national team of Czechoslovakia…

FSV Salmrohr had no well-known players, but achieved great success and was going to debut in the Second Division.

SSV Ulm 1846 won the qualification group and was promoted – great success for them. Top row from left: Thomas Schmidt, Hannes Schuler, Harald Hage, Wolfgang Neipp, Peter Steck, Dieter Simon. Middle row: Kneer – masseur, Gunnar Weiss, Peter Assion, Robert Birner, Peter Kempa, Marcus Kohnle, Werner Nickel – coach. Front row: Hildebrandt, Wolfgang Riecker, Raimund Muller, Frank Ahrens, Christoph Weber, Thomas Richter, Kurt Kalchschmidt, Gunter Berti, Joachim Zeller, Walter Kubanczyk – assistant coach.

SSV Ulm returning to familiar grounds.

Good luck to the winners in the next season.

The Cup final opposed Barcelona to Real Zaragoza. Naturally, Barcelona was seen as the obvious favourite and even playing the final in Madrid was not going to be big problem – at least in imagination. In reality, the tough final produced one goal only – Sosa scored it in the 35th minute and he was not playing for Barcelona. At the end, Real Zaragoza lifted the Cup.

For another club finishing 2nd in championship and playing 2 cup finals – one domestic and one European – would be a great season. For Barcelona was a disaster… ending a season empty-handed, beaten in every tournament and it was hard to tell which loss was the worst. Perhaps the realization that once again Real Madrid superior squad – Barcelona’s somewhat did not measure when compared to the new Real. It was thinner, somewhat older, and there were problems – Venables was somewhat not right and his English inclinations did not work. Schuster was becoming more of a problem than a valuable contributor, Archibald clearly was not going to be a superstar. Relatively small things, but things making sturdy enough squad like Zaragoza not just able to hold its ground, but even prevail.

May be Real Zaragoza would have been satisfied even if they lost the final – they were still the underdog, although having great season. It was a triumph of the working man in a sense, because Real had no famous stars and perhaps was even wise enough to build relatively anonymous squad instead to hire some big names and thus attract the unhealthy interest of Real Madrid and Barcelona. Winning the Cup was fantastic – and even better: the team remained relatively uninteresting and no players were going to the big clubs. Positive final of the season in every aspect, the future was secured. And winning a trophy was priceless: this was the first trophy they won since 1966 in the first final they played since 1976. Altogether, their 3rd Cup.

Primera Division. The real thing. Real Zaragoza had uncharacteristic strong season, but Real Madrid’s comeback was something else – they made new incredibly strong squad and dominated the championship by far. At the bottom – one weak outsider. Thus, the drama was somewhat secondary – fights for escaping relegation and winning 2nd place.

Celta was very weak and settled at the bottom early. Last and out with 14 points.

Hercules fought as they could, but was relegated at the end – 17th with 22 points. Mario Kempes was with them this season, but he was already a pale shadow of the great player he was less than 10 years ago.

Ironically, the club which went to the top with Kempes at his prime, went down with him – Valencia was 16th with 25 points. Who would believe it a few years back – Valencia going to Second Division. But somewhat Valencia was unable to maintain strong team when they were successful. Wrong decisions led to gradual weakening and eventual free fall into relegation.

Cadiz, normally a prime candidate for relegation, managed to survive – 15th with 26 points.

Osasuna was also relieved at the end – 14th with 27 points.

Las Palmas also escaped relegation – 13th with 27 points, ahead of Osasuna on better head-to-head record.

Racing Santander – 12th with 31 points.

Espanol – 11th with 31 points.

Real Valladolid – 10th with 32 points.

Sevilla – still a mid-table club. 9th with 34 points. Standing from left: Alvarez, Manolo Zambrano, Serna, Jimenez, Sanabria, Francisco. Crouching: Buyo, Nimo, Estella, Jose Luis Ruda, Carlos Amaro Nadal.

Real Betis – 8th with 35 points. Not a bad season – they reached the Copa de la Liga final and this is the team which faced Barcelona at it. Standing from left: Cervantes, Diego, Calderon, Quico, Alex, Ortega. Front: Parra, Hadzibegic, Gabino, Medina, Romo.

Real Sociedad – their great years ended and slowly going down the scale. 7th with 37 points.

Sporting Gijon – still running strong: 6th with 41 points.

Atletico Madrid – clinched UEFA Cup spot: 5th with 42 points. Overall, good season for a relatively weakened squad – reached the Cup Winners Cup final, but lost it. Not playing larger role in the Spanish championship was another blow – from fan’s perspective. On the other hand… they lost Hugo Sanchez and still managed to stay in the upper part of the league.

Real Zaragoza – 4th with 42 points. Strong and successful season, a revival of a kind after years of relative obscurity.

Athletic Bilbao – strong, but good only for 3rd place with 43 points.

Barcelona – distant 2nd behind the champions with 45 points. Once again, it was slightly weaker team compared to the squad of the arch-enemy.

It is pointless to count Real’s title – more important was their comeback to dominance with new formidable squad, the ‘vulture squadron’. Incredible talent, which garnished domestic success with winning again the UEFA Cup. Real hopes were growing – for coming back to international dominance. The championship strongly nourished such hopes: Barcelona was left 11 points behind and there was not even a point of mentioning other rivals. 26 wins, 4 ties, just 4 lost games, 83-33 scoring record. Outscoring by far all others and also having third-best defensive record, but that mattered little – the main point was that the team was playing attacking football and scored plenty of goals: that was the true Real’s way to the purists.

Segunda Division. The usual 20-team league, but seemingly going to be reduced to 18 – 4 teams relegated and only 2 promoted from third level. The top 3 were promoted to First Division, the second teams of the big clubs were not permitted to go up, of course, but were free to go down. As it happened, there was no B-team among the best, but Atletico Madrilleno (Atletico Madrid B) finished last and was relegated.

The other relegated were CD Tenerife – 19th, Deportivo Aragon – 18th, and

Albacete Balompie – 17th.

CD Logrones survived – 16th with 33 points. 2 points ahead of Albacete and curiously for so lowly team, with positive goal-difference.

Up the table, it was dog-fight as usual – practically 8 teams fought to the end for 2 promotional spots, yet, without really challenging the leading club of the season. As for B teams, they were not concerned with promotion – their role was only to develop possible young players for the prime squad, but their names were a bit confusing, for by this time they appeared with slightly changed names of the the mother club, but not in every source. Barcelona Athletic (Barcelona B) was 13th, Castilla CF (Real Madrid B) – 12th, Bilbao Athletic (Athletic Bilbao B) – 7th. The rest of the league played as they could at the moment.

CD Malaga finished 11th with 37 points. Nothing to brag about.

Sestao, perhaps the least known club in the league, finished 10th with 39 points and had something to brag about: for such small club, they had wonderful season in Second Division, ending in the middle of it and right behind the teams fighting for promotion.

Ahead of Sestao was compact group of teams entertaining hopes for promotion to various degrees, but to the end. Well, all except Bilbao Athletic, which even if winning the league could not be promoted. 4 points divided 2nd from 9th at the end of the season.

Recreativo Huelva was 9th with 42 points.

Real Oviedo – 8th with 44 points.

Above them – Bilbao Athletic also with 44 points.

Deportivo La Coruna – 6th with 45 points.

CD Castellon – 5th with 45 points. Recognizable names started to appear in the upper part of the league – Botubot and the Hungarian Dunai were in this squad, for instance.

Elche CF – 4th with 45 points, ahead of Castellon thanks to better head-to-head record, but still missing the targeted promotion.

RCD Mallorca clinched 3rd place with 46 points and was very happy at the end of the season – they were going up to the top league.

CE Sabadell FC also finished with 46 points and took second place, but what really mattered was not that much coming ahead of Mallorca, but getting promoted. It was prevailing in the dog-fight what mattered and they did it.

One team was so strong this season, it was hardly concerned with the dog-fight bellow – Real Murcia was really dominant, finishing 6 points ahead of the other candidates for promotion. Comfortable champions of Second Division with 52 points from 22 wins, 8 ties, and 8 losses. Their dominance perhaps shows best in their scoring record: 66-30. Best strikers, best defenders, astonishing for doggy Spanish second level +36 goal-difference.

Real Murcia really deserves a second picture – here they are the 1985-86 champions of Segunda Division A.

 

 

Spain. Looked like the third level was going to be reorganized – the number of relegated clubs at the of the season was enormous: 13 of 20 teams playing in each group of the league were going down. Mostly likely money was the issue: one club dissolved – Palencia, 7th in Group A – and another was relegated because of financial problems – Alaves, 5th in Group A. Perhaps the season was more important in terms of survival than anything else, but really promotion up was the real aim – or should have been, for there was no big battle for the first place in any group.

Group A. At a glance, well known Salamanca and Real Burgos should have been the leaders – and they were in a way.

Salamanca finished 3rd and

Real Burgos ended 2nd. Both teams were with 48 points and head-to-head results decided final standings, but these teams did not really challenged the group winner at all.

Figueres, hardly heard of club, won the championship with 55 points. Third division, true, but still Figueres had remarkable season: they won 22 games and scored 71 goals – the best in the whole Segunda Division B! Well deserved promotion and one may only hope they were not one-time wonder, but made it in the Second Division next year.

Group B. Like in Group A, former top league members were seemingly the leaders – Xerez and Cordoba. They stayed at the top of the table, but did not appear to be particularly strong, challenged by Linense, Ceuta, and Alcoyano.

At the end, Alcoyano (pictured here) was 5th with 42 points. Ceuta – 4th with 43 points, Cordoba – 3rd also with 43 points, and Linense – having won most games and ending with best goal-difference in the group – was unfortunate 2nd with 46 points.

Xerez clinched the first place with 47 points and was promoted – the aim of returning to second level was achieved, but it was not convincing victory. Third division teams hardly have players worth mentioning, yet there is a famous person in the picture – the most famous fan in the world at the time: Manolo with his drum. His support worked so far. As for the future… good luck to both Xerez in the Second Division next season.

 

 

The Italian Cup final opposed Roma to Sampdoria. Sampdoria won the first leg at home 2-1. Roma prevailed in the second 2-0 and won the trophy.

So close, but no luck. Sampdoria was not ready yet for serious success – a good team, but underachievers… so far.

Roma was running strong – 2nd in the championship and winning the Cup. This is not the cup-winning squad, but close enough. Standing from left: Boniek, Pruzzo, Graziani, Righetti, Ancelotti, Tancredi. Front row: Oddi, Nela, Gerolim, Di Carlo, Desideri.

Roma won its 6th Cup and it was not going to be their last, but the sense of great period coming to end was there – the key players were dangerously aging. From that perspective, it was great they won.

Forth Division – Serie C/2. The usual 4 groups of 18 teams each, the top 2 teams of every group promoted to the corresponding Serie C/1 group. The last 3 – relegated to 5th level. A brief look at 4th level:

Girone A.

Derthona – 13th with 31 points.

Torres – 9th with 35 points.

Entella Bacezza – 5th with 40 points.

Alessandria – 4th with 41 points.

Pistoiese – 3rd with 41 points.

Spezia – 2nd with 43 points and promoted to Girone A, Serie C/1.

Lucchese – group champions with 46 points and promoted to Girone A, Serie C/1.

Girone B.

Leffe – 17th with 24 points and relegated to 5th level.

Fanfulla 1874 – 16th with 29 points and relegated to 5th level.

Treviso – 10th with 33 points.

Novara – 7th with 35 points.

Ospitaletto – 3rd with 41 points. Missed promotion on worse goal-difference.

Mantova – 2nd with 41 points, above Ospitaletto on better goal-difference and thus promoted to Girone A, Serie C/1.

Centese – group champions with 42 points and promoted to Girone A, Serie C/1.

Girone C.

Foligno – 16th with 30 points and relegated to 5th level.

Fidelis Andria – 15th with 31 points.

Francavilla – 7th with 34 points.

Matera – 5th with 35 points.

Martina Franca – 2nd with 45 points and promoted to Girone B, Serie C/1.

Teramo – group champions with 46 points and promoted to Girone B, Serie C/1.

Girone D.

Trapani – 12th with 32 points.

Ercolanese – 10th with 33 points.

Siracusa – 9th with 33 points.

Reggina – 2nd with 45 points and promoted to Girone B, Serie C/1.

Nocerina – group champions with 47 points and promoted to Girone B, Serie C/1.

Well, good luck to the promoted teams in the next year.

Girone B.

Ternana – last with 27 points and out.

Benevento – 17th with 27 points and relegated. Well, relegated at first and then, strangely, reinstated – that because Pescara was not relegated from Serie B. Why Benevento benefited and not the team which finished above them?

Casarano – 16th with 30 points. Relegated for having worse head-to-head record against Livorno.

Livorno barely survived – 15th with 30 points, but the place itself did not mean survival this year. However, a much higher-placed team went down after the end of the season and Livorno was good for another year.

Monopoli – 14th with 31 points.

Cosenza – 13th with 31 points.

Licata – 12th with 31 points.

Brindisi – 11th with 32 points.

Campania – 10th with 32 points.

Sorrento – 9th with 32 points.

Foggia – 8th with 34 points.

Salernitana – 7th with 35 points.

Casertana – 6th with 36 points.

Cavese – 5th with 36 points and… relegated. For some reason they were ranked last by C.A.F., thus, relegated to Serie C/2. The team with best defensive record this season went down – they allowed only 19 goals in 34 games.

Siena – 4th with 38 points.

Barletta – 3rd with 41 points.

Taranto – 2nd with 44 points and promoted to Serie B.

Messina – winners of Girone B with 45 points. Promoted, of course and happy with their 3rd Division title. Apart from that, they outscored everybody in their league by far: Messina scored 53 goals – Licata was second-best with 40.

Third Division – Serie C/1. Two groups of 18 teams, the top 2 teams in each group – promoted; the last 3 – relegated. Eventually, relegation became more complicated because of various events.

Girone A.

Sanremese – last with 17 points and relegated.

Varese – 17th with 26 points and relegated.

Pavia – 16th with 27 points and relegated.

Rimini – 15th with 30 points, but because of worse head-to-head results against Fano. Relegated originally, but because Perugia was directly relegated from 2nd to 4th Division, Rimini was reinstated. Lucky survival.

Fano – 14th with 30 points, thanks to better head-to-head results against Rimini.

Carrarese – 13th with 31 points.

R. M. Firenze – 12th with 31 points.

Legnano – 11th with 31 points.

Trento – 10th with 31 points.

Prato – 9th with 33 points.

Ancona – 8th with 33 points.

Padova – 7th with 36 points.

SPAL – 6th with 38 points.

Virescit – 5th with 39 points.

Reggiana – 4th with 40 points.

Piacenza – 3rd with 45 points.

Modena – 2nd with 47 points and promoted to Serie B.

Parma – champions of Serie C/1 Girone A with 47 points. Goal-difference placed them above Modena and they won the championship, but it was of little import at that time. Yet, this was the beginning of the climb of Parma to eventual world fame. Hard to imagine at the real time.

Second Division. Here the aftermath of the match-fixing affair was still felt. Lazio was the prime sufferer, for they went into really dark times, but also L.R. Vicenza – they were denied promotion this year. Meantime Trieastina had 1 point deducted and Empoli benefited from all that. There was some bigger irregularity at the bottom of the table and Perugia was relegated not to Third Division, but to the 4th Division as a result. Well, it was not easy to clean Italian football.

Monza – last with 26 points and relegated.

Catanzaro – 19th with 30 points and relegated.

Perugia – 18th with 32 points. Whatever they did to elevate themselves from the the relegation zone did not work – only instead of going to 3rd Division, they were punished with relegation to 4th Division.

Pescara – 17th with 33 points and relegated.

Palermo survived – barely, but survived. 16th with 34 points. 20 of them came from ties – nobody tied more games in the division: 20 out of 38 total!

Cagliari – apart from their intriguing kit, nothing to be proud of: 15th with 35 points. This club was Italian champion full of exciting stars once – and now barely escaping relegation from Second Division.

Sambenedettese – 14th with 35 points. Good for another season in the second level – pretty much all they dreamed of.

Catania – 13th with 36 points.

Lazio – 12th with 36 points. Bad times, troubled times.

Arezzo – 11th with 36 points.

Campobasso – 10th with 37 points. Not bad, considering the names bellow them.

Cremonese – 9th with 37 points,

Cesena – 8th with 39 points.

Genoa – 7th with 40. Perhaps around that time they lost their original position as the leading club of the city.

Bologna – another team down on its luck and not doing well at all. 6th with 41 points.

Triestina – 5th with 44 points. Lost promotion because of deducted point – without that point, they dropped from 4th to 5th place.

Empoli – really lucky guys. They were 5th with their 45 points, just behind Triestina on worse goal-difference. Then L.R. Vicenza was not admitted to the top league, Triestina was punished and suddenly Empoli was 4th and promoted instead of Vicenza. Lucky, indeed.

L. R. Vicenza was trying hard to recover its position – the glorious days of the late 1970s were still fresh in memory. But also fresh was their participation in the match-fixing affair. They finished 3rd with 46 points and clinched promotional spot, but they were not permitted to join First Division, still penalized.

Brescia – 2nd with 47 points. Going up again for another try among the best. It was never ending struggle… up and down, up and down, now it was going up, so it was fine.

Ascoli had wonderful season, winning Serie B with 50 points. 17 wins, 16 ties, 5 losses, 56-33 goal-difference. They were the only team not losing home match in the league. Scored most goals by far. A somewhat lesser version of Brescia – a team meandering between first and second division – so, winning Serie B was great success.