At a glance, the Romanian final table suggests adventurous attacking football – only one team finishe with less than 10 wins and tied matches were few. Nothing like ultra-careful Italian or Soviet league, where the rule was to get a point from a fixture. But nothing like German or English football either – the Romanian approach was play for a win at home and when visiting – whatever happens. Win at home, lose away – no surprises. Scoring was not high, which is typical for such approach. More than half of the league was really trying to escape relegation as a result – 5 points divided at the end the 7th placed SC Bacau from the 17th. From the fretting bulk the happiest perhaps was the newcomer from the home village of Causeuscu:
Standing from left: A. Mincu, Lică, Ciocioană, Dumitru Anescu ( coach ), Nedea, Anghel, I. Carciumarescu ( assistant coach ), Stanciu, Badea, Martinescu.
Sitting : Voiculet, Fl. Dumitrescu, P. Manea, Palea, Ghe. Manea, Soarece, Florea.
There was little doubt that this club soared thanks to political support – the club was found in 1973 and in 1978 won promotion to first division. In 5 years it climbed from the lowest possible league to the top. The debutant changed its name for the occasion, playing as FC Scornicesti their first season among the best – the name did not last, may be because Scornicesti was not really a city, but rather the head-quarters of agricultural county Olt, which provided the financial support of the club. Thus, the club represented the area of the ‘kolkhoz’, not a particular town or village. Anyhow, the club was not all that mighty to compete with bigger cities and clubs – the best Scornicesti aimed for was staying in first division. They finished 13th – a point above relegation zone. For newcomers – well done.
It was not so for others. There was one outsider this season:
Gloria (Buzau) earned just 15 points and were the only team with less than 10 wins. No surprise at all – Gloria was never a big club, played rarely in first division, and when they did, they were expected to be on the bottom. And last they finished in 1979-80, going down to their familiar second division.
Above them were two unlucky clubs, which fought for survival, but lost the battle. By very little, but they lost it.
Olimpia (Satu-Mare) finished 17th with 30 points.
CS Tirgoviste (Tirgoviste) took 16th place with 31 points – they finished in the relegation zone on worse goal-difference. ASA (Targu-Mures) also had 31 points, but survived having better goal-difference. As for Tirgoviste, they were traditional outsiders and relegation was expected. Olimpia was not a strong club having a bad season either – usually the occupied the lower half of the table, playing hide and seek with relegation.
The club relatively down this season was Dinamo (Bucharest) – they did not have great squads in the 1970s. Yet, compared to most members of the league, Dinamo was ultimately stronger – they were 5th this season, not in the race for the title, but above most teams nevertheless. ‘Down’ was relative in their case: ‘down’ by the standards of the club and its fans, but still among the top 5-6 clubs. Dinamo edged their Bucharest neighbours Sportul Studentesc on goal-difference and ended only 2 points bellow bronze medalists Arges (Pitesti). Arges won the title the previous year and were still running strong – the 70s was arguably the best years of the club, yet, they never had truly great squad, which explains why they were not title contenders in the season following the title. The title contenders were just two clubs: Steaua and Universitatea (Craiova). Like Arges, Universitatea had great decade – unlike Arges, they managed to establish themselves as permanent force in Romanian football.
Head to head, the two clubs went from start to end, both finishing with 44 points – 5 more than Arges and FC Baia-Mare. Each team finished with 17 wins, 10 ties, and 7 losses. Goal-difference decided the title and it favoured the provincials. Steaua outscored everybody – 74 goals – but they also had leaky defense, allowing 44 goals in their net (6 teams had better defensive record). This tipped the scale – Univeristatea had the best defensive record (31 goals allowed) and second-best attacking record (66 goals scored). Steaus finished with +30 – Universitatea with +35, and the title was theirs.
It was familiar team from previous successful seasons, able to avoid decline because of generational change – rather, younger stars reinforced it. Legendary Ion Oblemenco was no longer playing, becoming assistant coach, but there was enough established and young talent – Balaci, Stefanescu, Camataru from the old guard and Lung and Negrila, who soon became famous, especially the goalkeeper Lung. Difficult victory, but may be because of that even sweeter – topping Steaua by so small margin.