Politics made big mess of Bulgarian cup tournaments – on paper, the old Soviet Army Cup had to be preserved as the number tournament. But nobody was fooled – the new Bulgarian Cup was the real tournament. It gave Cup Winners Cup spot. Levski-Spartak failed to reach the final – ZSK Spartak (Varna) eliminated them in the semi-finals. CSKA was the other finalist, but there was no contest – the final, played in Plovdiv was easily won by CSKA 4-0.
No matter how good ZSK Spartak was, it was clear to anyone that they were no match to CSKA. Very likely the club and its players had no illusions and may be even did not put much of an effort – it was the finest moment for them anyway. Traditionally small club without any success, that was the best season for them, win or lose. They lost, but went to play in the Cup Winners Cup, for CSKA won the championship soon after winning the Cup.
For CSKA, it was the first trophy this year and at the time they won it, it could have been the only one – they lost their chance to win the other cup and the title was quite uncertain possibility yet. The picture is not from the time of victory, but from the early days of the season in the fall of 1982 – Asparoukh Nikodimov was still the coach. His boys finished the season with a double; he – with nothing. The irony of the sport.
However, CSKA lost the semi-final of the Soviet Army Cup – they eliminated the arch-enemy Levski-Spartak in the quarter-finals and the semifinal seemed an easy task after that: they met the second division Lokomotiv (Plovdiv). Not only second-division opponent, but one struggling at the time. The match was played in the small city of Ikhtiman and against the odds CSKA lost 2-3. That was big surprise, for CSKA was expected to bag this cup without any trouble – all other semi-finalists happened to be second division members and Lokomotiv was the strongest among them. Now it was going to be entirely second division final – an unique event without precedent. Also a clear sign that the first division clubs were no longer interested in this tournament, it was rapidly losing its former importance, so why bother? The other semi-final was also a surprise, but of much lesser proportion: Dunav (Rousse) was expected to win, but did not. Tiny Chirpan (Chirpan) confidently won 3-1 and went to the final, played in Sofia. Sympolism was very thin by now: the ‘number one’ Cup was contested in the ‘number one’ city. The ‘number two’ Cup – in the ‘number two’ city. The main result was attendance – neither final was greatly attended and the one in Sofia got largely supporters of the finalist, attracted by the fact that their teams never won anything. The opponents were hardly equal, though – Lokomotiv had 7 seasoned stars, Chirpan had none and class prevailed 3-1.
Getting the Soviet Army Cup – well, it was more than impressive line passing the Cup from one to another from left to right – Christo Bonev, Stefan Staykov, Ayan Sadakov, Eduard Eranosyan – two big stars of the 1970s, who played at the so far last Bulgarian World Cup finals in 1974, then current national team regular Sadakov, then young goalscorer Eranosyan, who also became a member of the national team.
Lokomotiv made the customary round around the stadium cheered by happy fans.
Standing from left: Atanas Dramov – coach, Ivan Bedelev, Stefan Staykov, Christo Sotirov, Georgy Fidanov, Ivan Naydenov, Nikolay Kurbanov, Eduard Eranosyan, Vassil Ankov – assistant coach, Dimitar Zharov.
Crouching: Lyubomir Burnarsky, Petko Stankov, Christo Bonev, Ayan Sadakov, Plamen Nikolov, Fedya Mikov, Iliya Anchev, Angel Tringov, Silatin Khalidov – masseur.
The pattern was already established – in the country, nobody cared who and why won a secondary trophy. But for Lokomotiv and its supporters it was still the real Bulgarian cup. They never won anything before and it was important not just for club and fans, but for individual players too: it was the only trophy with his beloved club for Christo Bonev, the only Bulgarian recognized internationally as world class in the 1970s (he was once Bulgarian champion, but only be default – when he played briefly and without any desire part of a season for CSKA, as a soldier). Nikolay Kurbanov, also national team player in the 1970s, won his only trophy too. As well as Sadakov and Eranosyan – they still had many years to play, but that was their only trophy. Staykov was familiar with trophies, but as players of Levski-Spartak – for him, this was his last. Overall, it was great and important victory, for the team was unable even to win indirect promotion to the top league (the story had a happy end, when Spartak (Pleven) was expelled and Lokomotiv won the hastily made extra-play-off, so it manage to return to first division). It was great historic moment, but the team had big problems – Atanas Dramov was emerging quickly as young talented coach, but the squad was rough. It still suffered from the problem, which brought them to second division – a core of great, but getting very old players, no middle generation, and some young, but inexperienced talent. Bonev actually played his last official match – he retired and replaced Dramov at the coaching position in the next season. Fidanov left the club – it was the old tension between him and Bonev. Kurbanov was over 30 now and no longer exciting striker, but moved back to play libero. Stefan Staykov, also old, was brought here only because Lokomotiv had no reliable goalkeeper – it was clear that he was well beyond his prime and only a temporary solution. Thus, the future depended only on Sadakov, Eranosyan, and possibly Sotirov. The rest… in the whole truth, they belonged to second division. Lokomotiv practically had to build a team from scratch and it is a miracle that Sadakov and Eranosyan did not join some Sofia-based club. But problems or not, the team won the first trophy for the club. Which is lovely.