Month: June 2023

First Division. Czechoslovakian football was not as great as it used to be in the previous decades – perhaps there was less talent, but the other reason was the increasing export of top players. Practically, the best home-based players were concentrated in Sparta (Prague) – the strongest team during the 1980s. This season they had a rival, but that was all.
Spartak (Hradec Kralove) ended last with 19 points and went down.
Skoda (Plzen) finished 15th with 23 points. Like Spartak, they were used to relegation, so bad luck again. There were years when Slovak teams were weaker than the Czech clubs – now the roles were reversed – not just the relegated teams were Czech.
Bohemians (Prague) – 14th with 24 points. Barely escaped relegation… obviously, their great years ended and the title they won 5 years earlier was becoming a distant memory.
Ruda hvezda (Cheb) – 13th with 24 points.
Spartak (Trnava) – 12th with 27 points.
TJ Vitkovice – 11th with 28 points. The champions of only a few years ago were now near relegation zone.
Sigma (Olomouc) – 10th with 29 points.
Inter (Bratislava) – 9th with 29 points.
Dukla (Banska Bystrica) – 8th with 30 points.
Slovan (Bratislava) – 7th with 30 points. Looked like recovery was going well – they just returned from Second Division.
DAC (Dunajska Streda) – 6th with 31 points. Still amazingly strong and who would believe it? Brave boys representing a tiny town – what a great story they were!
Dukla (Prague) – 5th with 32 points. Hard to tell why Dukla underperformed in the 1980s, but few felt sorry for their steady misfortunes.
Slavia (Prague) – 4th with 33 points. Not a bad season, but they were used to that: not a bad season, building hopes for the future – and then nothing.
Plastika (Nitra) – 3rd with 34 points. Although they only came on top of the bulk more or less equal teams – and with negative goal-difference, 38-40, at that – this was arguably the finest season in their history so far: traditionally, the club from Nitra meandered between First and Second Division, a constant outsider. Now – bronze medals! A great achievement.
Banik (Ostrava) and Sparta (Prague) battled for the title. At the end the classier team prevailed… it was almost inevitable.
Banik (Ostrava) ended 2nd with 42 points. It was great to see them fighting for the title again, but the squad was inferior to Sparta’s and in a long run… losing the race was more than expected.
To the delight of their fans, Sparta (Prague) won the championship with 45 points. 19 wins, 7 ties, 4 losses, 73-26 goal-difference. Thus, they won 3rd consecutive title and their 5th in 6 years. The total? Depends how is counted – if only post-Second World War championships are counted, Sparta still trailed behind Dukla. But if all Czech and Czechoslovak league championships are counted, Sparta already was far ahead from anybody else – this was their 21st title!

Czechoslovakia – ranked 12th. Sparta dominated Czechoslovakian football. This year only 2 teams competed for the title, leaving the rest of the league far behind. Two Czech teams ended at the bottom of First Division, thus only team was relegated from Slovak Second Division and 3 teams from the Czech Second Division. One team returned to top flight after a long absence and the other was a team which never appeared at top level. The country still used classic 2-points for a win system.
Second Division, divided into Czech and Slovak leagues, each of 16 teams. The winners – promoted.
Czech Second Division – Ceska Narodna Futbalova Liga. Two teams fought for the top place. Most teams were little known clubs never playing First Division football.
Slovan (Liberec) was one of the ‘unknown’ clubs – they finished 13th with 24 points, escaping relegation by a point. They became much better known a few years later.
Another long-time member of Second Division: TJ Ostroj (Opawa). Yet, they were also known as Slezsky… if it was the same club and not another. 7th with 33 points.
Former top league members TJ Dynamo (Ceske Budejovice) and TJ Zbrojovka (Brno) left the rest of the league far behind and fought for promotion. Dynamo lost the race – 2nd with 42 points.
TJ Zbrojovka (Brno) won the championship with 46 points: 20 wins, 6 ties, 4 losses, 62-21 goal-difference. After long years of suffering, finally promoted back to First Division. The 1980s were terrible for them, but seemingly things were going much better at last. Well… a decade after they the Czechoslovakian title they won the Second Division.
Slovak Second Division – Slovenska Narodna Futbalova Liga. Similarly to the Czech Division, 2 teams fought for promotion, much stronger than the rest of the league. The newcomers to the league had satisfying season:
Slovan (Duslo Sala) ended 10th with 28 points.
Magnezit (Jelsava) was 8th, also with 28 points, but better goal-difference placed them higher.
ZVL Zilina (Zilina) and ZVL Povazska Bystrica (Povazska Bystrica) were the strongest team this season and fought to the very end for first position. ZVL Zilina was unfortunate – they scored most goals in both Second Division leagues this season, 70, but lost first place by a single point, finishing with 44 points.
TJ ZVL Povazska Bystrica became champion of Slovakia with 45 points. 20 wins, 5 ties, 5 losses, 64-23 goal-difference. Dramatic victory, but what great success – this club never finished 1st before. They never played top league football either. This was the best ever season and going to debut in First Division was wonderful. Good luck to them!

The Cup final was only continuation of the clash between Dinamo and Steaua. Hagi scored the only goal of the final and Dinamo was beaten again.

Very frustrating, indeed – once again ending with nothing. One may feel sorry for those excellent players – year after year without a trophy. And an intriguing point: transfers between bitter rivals were hardly permitted in the Communist world – yet, practically at the same time Ilie Dumitrescu played for both Steaua and Dinamo. True, he was not yet first rate star, but how was possible to transfer from the Police to the Army – or the other way around, for photos of this period are somewhat blurred and one can’t be sure of the exact time?

Once again triumphal Steaua. Well, here is Ilie Dumitrescu again… Never mind. Steaua was just slightly stronger team than Dinamo as far as players are compared one by one. At least on this level their victorious march was just. Third consecutive title, third consecutive Cup, third consecutive double… increasing their total records to 14 titles and 17 Cups. Apart form all political scheming and tricks, Steaua was really one of the greatest teams in the world at this time.

First Division. Strange reality – highly talented generation, with Hagi leading the pack, but concentrated in only 2 teams, both representing powerful, even ominous institutions, which fought between themselves by every legal and illegal mean. As a result, the picture is distorted and difficult to judge: let say, a team practically consisting of half of the national team would be much superior to most of the league members and players like Hagi and Lacatus could score many goals. But it was already known around Europe that goal-scoring in Romania was fixed… and how many games a leading team won by football means and how many their ‘sponsors’ fixed in backrooms? And can we speak of ‘fixing’ when it was pretty much enough just to know that one has a match against the team of the son of the dictator of a totalitarian state? There was hardly any need to use ‘muscle’… The final table was quite curious as a result: two teams way above the rest and entangled in fight for the title, one team – which was barely disguised second team of one of the leading clubs – had nothing to do with the title, but left the rest of league behind by far, then 13 teams almost equal in strength, but inferior to the top three, and finally absolutely weak team, which finished with 6 points. Suspect final table, but… speculations are only speculations. Yet… how not speculate – only 4 teams ended with positive goal-difference?
ASA (Targu Mures) – hopelessly last with 6 points. 2 wins, 2 ties, 30 losses. Scored 23 goals, received 101! Terrible… and they an Army team… just giving easy points to Steaua would not explain such a miserable season. So easy to slip into speculations… the fact, though is they were last and relegated.

Rapid (Bucharest) – 17th with 23 points. Very weak and relegated. The 1980s were terrible decade for Rapid, yet, one may wonder why they were so bad… but let not go into speculations.
Otelul (Galati) 16th with 28 points and relegated. Weak, no doubt, but not so weak – rather, they ended at the bottom of the big group or relatively equal teams – they finished with just 8 points less than the 4th team in the final table.

Corvinul (Hunedoara) – lucky 15th with 29 points. Survived.
Universitatea (Cluj) – 14th with 30 points.
Arges (Pitesti) -13th with 30 points.
SC Bacau – 12th with 30 points.
Inter (Sibiu) – 11th with 31 points.
FCM Brasov (Brasov) – 10th with 31 points.
Farul (Constanta) – 9th with 32 points.
Olt (Scornicesti) – 8th with 32 points. Here they are again… of course, not a team to compete for the title, but… can the team of Ceausescu’s birthplace fail? There was a string of interesting players through the years… now former national team goalkeeper Stangaciu. Fresh from Steaua… and one wonders again: why such a player did not join Rapid, but a village team located in the great nowhere?
Bihor (Oradea) – 7th with 32 points.
Sportul Studentesc (Bucharest) – 6th with 34 points.
Universitatea (Craiova) – 5th with 36 points. Nothing special now… and how could be otherwise? The national team regular goalkeeper for years Lung was no longer with them… did he moved on his own to Steaua? Of course best players want to play for the best clubs, but why he did not move 7-8 years ago then?
Flacara (Moreni) – 4th with 36 points. The best among the bulk of ‘equal’ teams. One of the only four teams with positive goal-difference. Their best success so far – frankly, if there was a pleasant story in Romanian football, it was theirs: only a few years before they hardly heard of Second Division team. Now going to play in the UEFA Cup – and done without ‘sponsor’.
Victoria (Bucharest) – 3rd with 45 points. A team entirely on its own… nothing to do with the race for the title, nothing to do with general bulk of the league either – 9 points ahead of Flacara. Great success of a team which popped up recently. Then again… such a team should not have been in First Division at all – they were originally the second team of Dinamo, hastily renamed after promotion to show independence. But were they independent? After all, in very near future they were the club to pay most heavily for the ills of political football – most likely they continued to serve their real masters. Hence, stronger than most, because they still received ‘help’.
May be Victoria served the purpose to battle Steaua, but as a second Dinamo, they would not be permitted to go higher – the duel was only between Steaua and Dinamo, the classic Army vs Police battle in the Communist countries with Romanian additional flavour: the club of the dictator’s son, Steaua, vs the club of the Secret Police, serving by now the power and security of the dictator. One hand of Ceausescu vs the other hand of Ceausescu – there was no love between the two hands. There was war… and in war everything goes. Yet… when one looks at the squads of the bitter enemies… may be it was exciting to watch? The best coaches and players of the country – all of them major international stars already and even more during the 1990s. The whole exciting Romanian team fought among itself for domestic superiority… Hard to tell how much was great football and how much political ‘muscle’.

Dinamo (Bucharest) finished with 62 points from 30 wins, 2 ties, and only 2 lost games. Goal-difference: 130-30. They scored 130 goals in 34 games! The squad, including their coach, does not any introduction… Dorin Mateut scored 43 goals and won the Golden Boot and, since Romanians were already under heavy suspicion of fixing scoring records, his achievement contributed to the destruction of the European scoring award. Yes, Mateut was wonderful player, but… why he and not his teammate Rodion Camataru, who won the 1987 Golden Shoe with 44 goals? Hm… Camataru was a high scoring striker for years – Mateut was a midfielder… and right behind Mateut in the European ranking of the season came Karas of Victoria (Bucharest) with 36 goals. Funny business… and on top of it, not helping Dinamo. Was it humanly possible to beat their record? Yes, it was… Dinamo finished 2nd.
Steaua (Bucharest) did not lose any game this season, winning 31 and tying 3. Scored 121 goals, permitted only 28 in their net. With 65 points, they bested the arch-enemy by 3 points and grabbed the title again. Looking at this starting team… well, everything clear and simple – so formidable. Can prevail over Dinamo. Can score a lot. Then again, would they be so invincible without ‘help’? And why Belodedici disappeared?
Questions or no questions, Steaua won 3rd consecutive title and in the Romanian context they much preferable champion than Securitate’s Dinamo for many. And Hagi was playing for Steaua, one more bonus and point of public sympathy.

Romania. Ranked 13th. The next chapter of the battle between Steaua and Dinamo, which reached new level – Steaua not losing a match and Dinamo finishing with goal-difference of +100 – but at the end repeated the previous seasons. The rest of Romanian football did not count. The political overtones of the duel eventually got a casualty: Belodedici disappeared sometime in 1989 from Steaua and the national team – and reappeared in Yugoslavia. The country still used the traditional 2-points for a win system.
Second Division. The usual 3 groups of 18 teams each, the winners promoted to First Division, the last 4 in each group relegated to Third Division. Every group had a single dominant team, so nothing dramatic and worth mentioning. Better known former top league teams and almost anonymous clubs – in general, only a brief glimpse would do.
UTA (Arad) – 2nd in Serie III with 47 points. A very distant second.
AS Paroseni Vulcan – 16th in Serie III with 27 points and relegated.

AS Gaz Metan Medias – 11th in Serie II with 33 points.
FCM Caracal – 4th in Serie II with 39 points. Standing from left: Băleanu, V. Roşca, Mogoşanu, Dicut, Veleanu, T. Nicu .
Middle row: St. Cheranoiu (coach), Gâsca ( maseor ), Răducu, Stan, Ciurea, Crăciunescu, Moraru, Terteci, M. Vasilescu (assistant coach)
Sitting: Dabu, I. Pătru, R. Popa, Plotoagă, Ciucă, Bărbulescu.
Anyhow, the winners:
FC Petrolul (Ploesti) won Serie I with 47 points – 20 wins, 7 ties, 7 losses, 62-26 goal-difference. Left second-placed Progresul (Braila) 8 points behind and happily promoted. Actually, returning to First Division. An interesting name here: Ilie Barbulescu. Won the European Champions Cup with Steaua. One may wonder why he was now in Second Division.
Jiul (Petrosani) – champion of Serie II with 47 points: 20 wins, 7 ties, 7 losses, 64-23 goal-difference. Left the nearest pursuer – Chimia (Ramnicu Valcea) – 6 points behind. Promoted back to top flight, their more familiar grounds.
Politehnica (Timisoara) – won Serie III with 55 points: 24 wins, 7 ties, 3 losses, 91-37 goal-difference. Left UTA (Arad) 8 points behind and also were the winner with the best record this season. Like the others, climbing back to First Division, where they mostly played anyway.
All newly promoted teams had long First Division history and were only returning to it – thus, nothing new or surprising.

The Cup final opposed Olympique Marseille to Monaco: two of the strongest French teams at the moment, the champion of 1988 vs the champion of 1989. The battle was worth every minute: 7 goals, really tied fight. Marseille prevailed 4-3.
Monaco ended the season without a trophy. A good season, but losing both championship and Cup was bitter.
And here are the fresh Cup winners! Dramatic victory, but it was theirs to enjoy. Standing from left: Gaëtan Huard, Yvon Le Roux, Franck Sauzée, Bruno Germain, Eric Di Meco, Karlheinz Förster
Crouching: Frédéric Meyrieu, Klaus Allofs, Jean-Pierre Papin, Philippe Vercruysse, Philippe Thys.
Almost a great team. On the verge of becoming a great team – a little polishing, 2-3 new classier players and sky would be the limit. Not an aging team either, so the future looked very bright, especially after a season which matched ambition with results – a double does not come everyday. It was a round record 10th Cup for Marseille and their 2nd double. The first double was achieved in 1971-72, the last great season of their wonderful team from the late 1960s and early 1970s. It was their first Cup after 1975-76 – the last season they won any trophy. So, now they had 6 titles, 10 Cups, 2 doubles! After so many years of suffering – back on top and how! Marseille was going to be like the great team of the late 1960s and early 1970s – the similarity was evident: once again, a team of stars and money to buy more. The future was ensured, guaranteed and looked very optimistic – at least, at that moment in time, before dirty laundry was uncovered. At this moment not just Marseille recovered glory – the whole French football was on optimistic track, for it looked like Marseille was building a team capable to impress Europe, as St. Etienne did in the mid-1970s.

First Division. The ambitions of Bernard Tappie were big and fulfilled. His club would have been victorious even under the old 2-point system, although they were not dominant and prevailed over three rivals. In any case new era came in France.
Lens was the outsider this season – last with 17 points. Relegated.
Laval – 19th with 35 points. Twice more points than Lens, but relegated.
RC Strasbourg – 18th with 39 points. Worse goal-difference put them in the relegation zone – still, they were not directly going down and had a chance to survive. But Brest won the promotion/relegation play-off and Strasbourg sunk to Second Division.
Matra Racing (Paris) – 17th with 39 points. Escaped relegation zone only on better goal-difference. Frustrating season… a team coached by Jorge and having Francescoli, Fernandez, Bossis, Silooy, Guerin, Krimau, Anziani, Ginola, Olmeta should have been much higher in the table, if not a title contender. Yet, they were only fighting for survival… could be that the team was still new to First Division and not polished yet – after all, rebuilding started only a few years ago.
Caen – 16th with 40 points. For a modest, almost anonymous squad, the boys did rather well – escaped relegation.
Metz – 15th with 47 points. Low position, but they played much better than those bellow and not in danger of relegation.
St. Etienne – 14th with 48 points. Only Danish defender Sivebaek and goalkeeper Castaneda were familiar names in this squad. Herbin had hard time – current reality was so different than the 1970s and he was unable to build formidable team. Staying in the top league and hoping for brighter future was all.
Bordeaux – 13th with 49 points. Weak and alarming season – Bordeaux urgently needed rebuilding. Key stars aged dangerously – Tigana, Genghini, Dropsy. The team was strong on paper, but not in reality – it aged as team and if Jacquet did not do something fast, Bordeaux was in danger of following the terrible decline of Marseille, St. Etienne, Lyon witnessed in the 1980s.
Cannes – 12th with 50 points. Not bad for a team depending on cluster of aging stars. If anything, Cannes was a sign of the future: right now 3 foreigners was becoming the norm, but they had 4 – the Yugoslavs Vujovic, Savic, and Primorac, and the Dutch Poortvliet. They were the prime example of aging players, who kept Cannes in mid-table – rotations helped the old feet and the club.
Toulon – 11th with 50 points. One more modest team which did rather well.
Toulouse – 10th with 51 points. Only two stars – aged Rocheteau and Soviet defender Khidiatoulin. Seemingly, enough for mid-table.
Montpellier – 9th with 52 points. A team to keep in mind for the future: traditionally, Montpellier was nothing much, but now they had Carlos Valderrama, Brazilian national team defender Julio Cesar and few aging, but still dependable French stars – Bellone, Rust, Larios. Or, and Laurent Blanc of the emerging new talent.
Lille – 8th with 56 points. Belgian tainted – coached by Heylens and having Desmet and Vandenbergh on the field. Plus young French talent – Lama and Boli. If Lille was able to keep their French youngsters, may be a solid team could be arranged, but… it was difficult to keep great talent in smallish club.
Nantes – 7th with 57 points. Signs of decline were already detected and it was questionable whether measures to stop the downfall would work. On paper, it was not bad… Blazevic coaching Burruchaga, Mo Johnston, Desaille, Kombouare, Ayache, Rio, Amisse, Vercauteren, Ferri, Deschamps…
Better look at this starting 11: no Burruchaga and most of the old stars. Three names were only promising youngsters, they will be big stars later, in the 1990s. Not a title contender team…
Nice – 6th with 57 points. They were coming back after the decline? One may only hoping… judging by the squad, more likely a singular good season.
Auxerre – 5th with 63 points. Already established themselves among the top French teams and not going down at all. Highly talented team.
Sochaux – 4th with 68 points. The 1980s were their best decade. Apparently, the Yugoslavs were doing great job for the club – coach Takac and players Hadzibegic and Bazdarevic. Rather modest squad as a whole, so it was great that Sochaux was able to stay among the top French teams with ‘inferior’ players. Almost a miracle, for they were doing that for years already.
Monaco – 3rd with 68 points. Unable to win a second title in a row, but that was typical Monaco and not a big concern. Wenger was building reputation and may be his way to England, for he liked English players – Glen Hoddle and Mark Hateley were his choices.
Money is everything; money is nothing… Paris St. Germain was 2nd with 70 points. ‘As ever’, they had expensive squad. As ever, they failed to win the championship… perhaps, their failure is indicated best by their scoring record: only 45 goals in 38 games! That was all Susic, Calderon, Bibard, Xuereb, Couriol could do… a pity.
Olympique Marseille won the title with 73 points: 20 wins, 13 ties, 5 lost games, 56-35 goal-difference. It was not a easy victory – Marseille fought 3 other teams and managed to prevail. The plan for bringing back Marseille to success worked so far – hiring Michel Hidalgo to manage the team was very wise decision and produced results. Of course, money was not a problem, so the team very solid: Foerster, Allofs, Papin, Le Roux, Vercruysse, Cantona, Sauzee, Di Meco – German steel, famous stars, bright talented youngsters, excellent mix. The squad was not perfect yet, but had motivation and if anything, it was not weaker than Paris SG and Monaco and much stronger than Sochaux. Money was decisive factor in beating Auxerre: Cantona went to Marseille and there was no question something similar to happen in the opposite direction. For Marseille the season was fantastic: they won the title for the first time since 1971-72, they were back on top after so many years of decline and humiliation – and seemingly were going to stay on top in the future.

Group B. Three teams fought for promotion, 4 teams were relegated.
Le Puy – last with 25 points and relegated.
Clermont-Ferrand FC – 17th with 31 points and out. Szarmach was not used to going down as a player, but coaching was another thing.
Rodez – 16th with 33 points and relegated.
Sete – 15th with 38 points and relegated. Unfortunate… if they were in Group A, they would have been safe. Here… going down and on goal-difference on top of it.
Chamois Niort – 14th with 38 points. Lucky survivors – they had 3-goals better goal-difference than Sete, the difference between life and death.
Istres – 13th with 39 points.
Annecy – 12th with 42 points.
Grenoble – 11th with 42 points.
Orleans – 10th with 43 points.
Montceau – 9th with 43 points.
Olympique Ales – 8th with 46 points.
Cuiseaux-Louhans – 7th with 47 points.
Dijon – 6th with 49 points.
Bastia – 5th with 51 points.
Martiques – 4th with 58 points.
Le Havre – tried hard to return to the top division, but at the end no luck – 3rd with 65 points.
Nimes Olympique – one of the three strong teams, entangled in the battle for promotion, but no luck – 2nd with 66 points.
Olympique Lyon – clinched 1st place with 68 points. 19 wins, 11 ties, 4 losses, 66-22 goal-difference. Under the old point system they would have been also 1st, so it was just victory by all accounts. Seemingly, the terrible decline ended and Lyon was going back to their familiar top league environment. The squad needed significant reinforcement, but former stars Raymond Domenech and Bernard Lacombe did good job as coaches.

Second Division. Group A. Dramatic battle for top position between 2 teams, which was decided by 1 point, both leaders ending with the same goal-difference. The last 2 teams – relegated. Champion -directly promote, 2nd – going to promotion/relegation play-off.
Le Mans – last with 24 points and relegated.
Le Touquet – 17th with 24 points and relegated.
La Roche sur Yon – 16th with 36 points.
Beauvais – 15th with 38 points.
Gueugnon – 14th with 38 points.
Abbeville – 13th with 39 points.
Angers – 12th with 39 points.
Rouen – 11th with 40 points.
Creteil-Lusitanos – 10th with 41 points.
Stade Reims – 9th with 43 points.
Dunkerque – 8th with 44 points.
Valenciennes – 7th with 44 points.
En Avant Guingamp – 6th with 45 points.
Nancy – 5th with 59 points.
Stade Quimperois – 4th with 65 points.
Stade Rennais – 3rd with 65 points.
Stade Brest – 2nd with 75 points. Lost the top place by a single point, but still had a chance to get promoted. Sitting from left: Bouquet, Salaun, Binic, Yvinec (président), Vanucci (sponsor), Coiffier, Guégan, Danielou, Muslin (directeur sportif).
Middle row: Le Hir (kiné), Fouillen (cadre tech.), Pierre, Mauxion, Cabanas, Pabois, Le Ny, Cloarec, Martins, Maligorne (entraîneur), Roux (ostéopathe).
Third row: Roch, Kane, Le Guen, Sorin, Le Blan, Etame, Colleter, Barrabe.
Mulhouse triumphed with 76 points. Dramatic victory, thanks to 24 wins, 4 ties, 6 losses, and 66-28 goal-difference. Thanks to the introduction of 3-point rule – under the old rules, they would have been 2nd, losing the first place by a point. Great success for Mulhouse and direct promotion to the First Division.
At the end Stade Brest triumphed too – they won the promotion/relegation play-off against the 18th in the First Division – RC Starsbourg – and climbed up.

France. Ranked 14th. The first season France used 3-points for a win. Ambitious project brought back on top Olympique (Marseille) – a project, which turned sour a fey years later.
Promoted from Third Division this year were:
Chaumont FC
Tours FC
AC Avignon
AS St Seurin
Red Star (Paris) – standing from left: Touati, Charles, Renaut, Ousfane, Bonneval, Clément, Morin, Brucato, Roselmac, Yazmadjian, De Rocco, Tally, Edders, Gudimard, Liendo, Amours, Fanzel, Heaulmé, Fiatte, Girard. Front: Patrice Lecornu (assistant coach), Philippe Troussier (coach)
FC Lorient