1980
The round year – the end of a decade and a beginning of new one. Ten years earlier optimism was in the air. It was justified optimism – the first half of the 1970s was great. Then the exciting advance of total football halted and the game started changing in not so great way. The end of the 70s was not optimistic at all, yet, it was nothing compared to what laid ahead: in the 1980s football was alarming and disappointing. Not only the game, but the whole culture surrounding the sport. One English journalist summed it with this verdict: ‘If this is football, let it die.’ And to death marched the game… quite literally. But not in 1980. 1980 was expected with excitement: the European championship with new formula was the bright sign. It was to be a mini-version of the world cup. More matches to be seen, more drama – the whole state of the tournament was suddenly elevated. So far, for the most part of the campaign interest was local. Only the final round – ½ finals and the final attracted vaster interest, largely via television. 1976 was perhaps the greatest success of the tournament – the great drama of overtime and shoot-outs to the end. 1980 was expected to beat that: now there were 8 finalists, divided into 2 round-robin groups. Many expected Euro finals to be stronger and better than the World Cup. And some feared that the new formula may kill the World Cup altogether by becoming the stronger and more interesting to watch championship. Hopes and predictions.
Campionato Europeo di Calcio was not the only big news this year – the other two also came from Italy. The one was the big Totonero scandal – players and clubs fixed matches to accommodate betting. Investigation found 7 clubs from Serie A and Serie B plus various players and managers guilty. Corruption was nothing new in Italian football, but this time there were stiff penalties even for the ‘untouchables’: Milan, the champions of 1978-79, were relegated along with Lazio to second division when the 1979-80 season ended. The new superstar Paolo Rossi was banned from the game for 3 years. Later his suspension was reduced to 2 years. As often is the case, only few players really suffered: the veteran goalkeeper Albertosi had to quit. He was suspended for 4 years – at his age, it was entirely unlikely he could come back well over 40 years of age and he just retired. The scandal itself was largely important because this time the Italians appeared determined to really investigate and punish. The third big news was the lifting of the ban on foreign players in Italy – it was in effect since 1964. The big clubs did not like the ban and lobbied against it for years. They even tried to curtail it, but the Federation stayed firm. In 1980 the market was open at last – one foreigner was permitted at first and unlike the Spanish, who always bought more foreigners than the number allowed to play, the Italian clubs stuck to the limit. Still it was exciting race for foreign stars and Italy quickly edged Spain – money were not a problem somewhat and in short time the bigger names were going to Italy, not Spain.
The last big event was not strictly football – the Olympic games were staged in Moscow and boycotted by USA and many other countries. A big news with its political overtones and noise. As for the football at the Olympics, it was hardly affected – the Olympics were still largely important for the Communist countries and dominated by them. The rest of the world cared little for Olympic football.