Bulgaria. The 1984-85 season was remarkably dark episode in the football history of the country. Once again the state – that is the Communist Party – interfered, taking draconian measures. As if documents and arbitrary penalties could do miracles: there was an ‘epochal’ guidance coming down in the summer of 1984 to the tune of decreeing ‘a sharp turn in the football development’. Nothing changed, of course, but the big scandal at the Bulgarian Cup final in 1985 brought the wrath of the Party. It was hardly the most scandalous match between CSKA and Levski, but let not forget that these clubs belonged to the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, that is the Army and the Police, and both institutions had powerful Party men at their helms. It was more than football battle – it was a battle between different Party factions and their interests. So, the Party decided – not for the first time, by the way – to crash these battles. The Cup final was voided. Both clubs were dissolved and, curiously, expelled from the just finished championship. Out of the blue, the third-placed club became champion of the country. Various officials, coaches, and players were banished. Along with the big scandal, more casualties came along, which hardly made big impression and today they are mostly forgotten. On the surface, the Party’s intervention appeared ‘principled’, but that was far from reality, clear from the moment the new decree was announced: it was rumored that a relatively new and rapidly climbing up the ranks Party darling used the opportunity to push ahead his own agenda. There was a blow against the fans, as usual – it was considered that names of historic persons are not suitable for club names, for opposing fans chant against them, thus showing disrespect. A whole bunch of clubs were given new names to the displeasure of their fans, but the renaming did not go all the way down – it affected only the members of the top three levels of the football pyramid. CSKA and Levski were no more, but… only in football terms: since Bulgarian clubs were all-sport organizations, only the football sections were separated and renamed. Theoretically, neither club was belonging to its powerful sponsor, but colours, stadiums, history, achievements remained intact. Even the squads were the same – minus the suspended players and coaches. Quick backtracking followed the initial barrage of penalties: the teams were expelled from the league for 1984-85 season and their records stripped, but they, under their new names, were back in the 1985-86 season. The suspended players were also rather quickly brought back to the game – the national team was suddenly without a bunch of its key players and the 1986 World Cup final were coming. For the interests of the country… bring the boys back. In a nut shell, the results were: some clubs lost their historic names, Levski lost the title, CSKA lost the Cup, two players lost lucrative foreign contracts, the hopes of the last team in the championship that they will remain since Levski and CSKA were ‘expelled’ were not fulfilled, two Second Division teams were expelled for bribery and game-fixing (this was formulated with the usual murky bullshit: ‘for infringement of rules for financial, spiritual and material stimulating of the teams of First and Second divisions’) and the Second Division was reduced from 22 to 20 teams as a result. Curiously, Levski was stripped from the championship title, but CSKA was not stripped from Soviet Army Cup, which they won this season. The whole thing looked like vendetta rather than an effort to punish disgraceful behavior and corrupt practices. However, there was and is confusion because of the penalties: after 1989, the real picture was immediately restored – Levski got back the title and CSKA the Cup, but that left Trakia (Botev) Plovdiv bitter, for they were announced champions in 1984-85. That is mostly statistical confusion, especially for foreigners. More about the scandalous final, triggering the Party wrath later.
Third Division. Experiments ended – for the moment, at least. No more B-teams of First Division clubs, but some age-restrictions remained. After the reorganization of Second Division a lot of former second-level clubs were playing here and naturally they were the leading teams.
Teams like Maritza (Plovdiv), with long second-division history and even some seasons in the top league. Maritza finished 4th in the South-Eastern zone of Third Division.
Third Division was structured geographically into 4 groups or zones of 16 teams each. The winners got promoted to Second Division and although many former second-level teams played here, only 6 teams were really strong this year. Which meant that battle for top position happened only in two of the zones – Bdin (Vidin) and Lokomotiv (Gorna Oryakhovitza) fought in the North-Western group and Dimitrovgrad (Dimitrovgrad) and Tundzha (Yambol) in the South-Eastern group. No other team came even close to the leaders in all zones. Lokomotiv (Gorna Oryakhovitza) prevailed in North-Western group with 46 points. Bdin was 2nd with 44 points. Teteven (Teteven) was 3rd with 36 points. Dorostol (Silistra) won the North-Eastern group with 44 points. Preslav (Preslav) finished 2nd with 37 points. Rilski sportist (Samokov) won the South-Western group with 42 points. Akademik (Sofia) was 2nd with 36 points. Dimitrovgrad (Dimitrovgrad) clinched 1st place in South-Eastern group with 49 points. Tundzha (Yambol) ended 2nd with 48 points and Metalik (Sopot) was 3rd with 39 points. All of the winners were former Second Division members, just returning where they came from.