Category: 1984

Holland. Interesting season – not that much of what happened on the pitch, but around it. It was the last season Cruijff played and, typically, he was controversial to the end. Apart from that, it was the same dog fight between Feyenoord, Ajax, and PSV Eindhoven.

Second Division. The top two teams directly promoted and 4 teams competed for the 3rd promotion after the end of season. No relegation as such, but there was something like promotion from the lower ranks of Dutch football – it was not exactly clear how and why, but there was newly promoted team playing this season – RBC Roosendaal. Technically, that meant only one thing: the club got professional status, for bellow Second Division was the vast seas of amateur football. There was no connection between professional and amateur football, as a rule, but… times were changing. And maintaining professional status was a difficult task – there have been many changes, amalgamations, bankruptcies and near bankruptcies in the past. So, new member of the risky professional football was established – the newcomers did more or less well: 14th in the league of 17 teams this season. But second division leaves little memories, so here will be just a brief glance:

FC Den Haag was 7th with 35 points.

De Graafschap – 6th with 36 points.

Telstar – 5th with 37 points.

Spcl. Cambuur – 4th with 38 points.

NAC Breda – 3rd with 41 points. None of those teams was even near direct promotion.

Twente – 2nd with 47 points. Fought for the first place and lost it, but did not matter: most important was the quick return to top flight and the boys did it. Third row from left: Henk Eysink(physio), Martin Koopman, Billy Ashcroft, Andre van Gerven, Theo Snelders, Andre van Benthem, Evert Bleuming, Jan Steenbeeke(masseur).

Middle row: Epi Drost(assistant-coach), Tonnie Harleman, John Scheve, Jan Pouls, Fred Rutten, Jan Sorensen, Fritz Korbach(coach).

Front row: Michael Birkedal, Rini Plasmans, Martien Vreijsen, Rene Roord, Jan van Gestel.

Far cry from the team of the mid-70s, but too good to rot in second division.

MVV Maasticht – 1st with 48 points. At last. MVV spent some years in second division, which was hardly acceptable. At last they got promoted and it did not hurt to win Second Division too.

So, MVV Maastricht and Twente earned direct promotion and 4 teams moved to the tournament for the third spot – as ever, those 4 were selected on partial merit: the season was divided into 4 sections and the best team of each went to the play-off. NAC Breda, NEC Nijmegen, VVV Venlo, and De Graafschap. The outcome was logical: NAC Breda was 3rd in the final table, thus showing good form at the end of the year and near the promotional tournament. The others meantime dropped down – VVV Venlo finished 10th in the championship. NAC Breda won the tournament quite easily and was the 3rd promoted team his year.

The Cup. A final between Crvena zvezda and Hajduk was a derby, of course, but also a derby between the consistently strong clubs since 1970. No favourite. And after Hajduk won 2-1 in the first leg, still no favourite – everything was possible. Hajduk managed to keep 0-0 at the second leg and Crvena zvezda was denied of double.

Disappointmentq yes, blame – no. Crvena zvezda lost to equally strong opponent, nothing surprising. It was a battle of equals, but the winner can be only one and it was not wasted season at all, for Crvena zvezda won the championship, more important victory. Just double was not in the books this year.

Hajduk had all reasons for satisfaction – won a trophy after beating the most dangerous rival and all was fine. The question who was strongest in the country remained open – Crvena zvezda and Hajduk were still running shoulder to shoulder. If anything, Hajduk had more exciting players than Crvena zvezda – the Vujovic brothers, Gudelj, Sliskovic. A victory both routine and wonderful.

First Division. Four teams fought for the title, which was great. Two highly respected clubs were in decline, which was not great.

Celik (Zenica) finished 18th with 24 points. Never a strong team, their relegation was not surprising.

Olimpija (Ljubljana) – 17th with 28 points. The strongest Slovenian club was never more the mid-table team, but relegation was not in the books. To see them going down was almost shocking.

Sloboda (Tuzla) – one of the clubs most often found in the lower half of the table, largely concerned with survival. They managed to escape relegation this season too – 16th with 31 points.

Vardar (Skopje) – 15th with 31 points. Standing from left: Jovanovski, Grošev, Banković, Setinov, Šterijev, Ringov.

First row: P. Georgievski, Zdravkov, Pančev, Micevski, Urošević.

This is interesting not because of actual time, but when we look back today: normally, Vardar was nothing special and finishing just above relegation zone was expected. But this was also the team which soon will make sensational run for the title, and depending on ‘opinion’, will be Yugoslavian champion – or not. Impossible to imagine at the end of the 1983-84 season. Darko Pancev was making the news already, but he was hardly enough to propel this squad to glory – or shame.

Buducnost (Titograd) – 14th with 31 points. The usual. Standing from left: Ljumović, Ljukovčan, Radović, Martać, Ž.Janović, Ž. Božović,

Crouching: Vlaisavljević, D.Brnović, Hadžiosmanović, Koljenović, Vlahović.

Velez (Mostar) – 13th with 31 points. One of the strongest clubs in the 1970s and not expected to decline, but it looked like real decline, not just a sloppy season. Looked like the stream of excellent players dried out and it was very questionable whether Velez will find new strong players to recover.

Dinamo (Zagreb) 12th with 31 points. Decline it was not, just this terrible inconsistency plaguing Dinamo for quite many years. Hard to imagine a squad full of national team players, some of them the brightest current stars of Yugoslavian football, not running for the title, but dangerously close to relegation.

Dinamo (Vinkovci) – 11th with 32 points. Standing from left: Vukusic, Macan, Budimcevic, Novoselac, Tonkovic, Vitkovic, Mrsic, Skeledzija.

Crouching: Vujicic, S.Lusic,Tunjic, Secer, Halilovic.

Great season for the debutantes, but one can say that it was driven on excitement. The next year will be the true test, whether Dinamo belonged to the top league or were they just accidental. The team needed reinforcements, for there was not much to it: Budimcevic played for Hajduk (Split) a little bit before and did not establish himself there. It was hard to believe players like him could keep Dinamo among the best.

Vojvodina (Novi Sad), pictured here before a friendly with ‘mother club’ Slavia Prague (on the left). Not only Slavia inspired the founding of Vojvodina, but the Yugoslav club took the exact colours and kit design from Slavia. Relations remained, but never mind that – Vojvodina was just mid-table team for years – stable enough not to be in danger. 10th with 32 points.

FC Sarajevo – 9th with 32 points. Standing from left: Jozic,Radeljas, Kapetanovic, D.Bozovic, Janjus, Ferhatovic.

First row: Svrakic, Janjos, Musemic, Vukicevic, B. Bozovic.

An interesting squad, but still in making and not at its prime yet.

Pristina – 8th with 33 points. The golden period of the club, which normally played second division football and had no chance of recruiting strong players from elsewhere. It was the other way… of there were good players in Pristina, most likely they would be snatched by the big clubs – Vokkri, in this squad, was surely going to be taken. So, enjoy as long as good days last.

Radnicki (Nis) – 7th with 33 points. This was the best period in the history of the club, but it was also safe to say that they were running already on inertia: the proximity to Belgrade gave them no chance – good players were noticed quickly and taken, that was the sour predicament. Standing from left: ?, Gavrilović, Džinović, Drizić, Milenković, Nikolić.

Crouching: Bojović, Milošević, Mitošević, Stojković, Aleksić.

Osijek – 6th with 34 points. Great season for the small club, normally concerned only with escaping relegation and that if they played first division football at all.

Hajduk – 5th with 39 points. Not in the title race this year – or dropping out of the title race at one point – but nevertheless an amazing club showing no sign of fatigue. Constantly among the best. Constantly having great team. Constantly able to replace leaving stars with new bright talent. The future was good, no doubt – there were still remains from the great squad of the first half of the 1970s – Rozic and Salov, there were players who were young and pushing the regulars at that time – Katalinic and Jerolimov, there were current Yugoslavian leading stars – Zlatko and Zoran Vujovic, and there was already the next generation of which the world will here years after this season – Asanovic and Spanic. Excellent management and vision, assuring continuity. May be playing smaller role this season, but title contenders as a whole.

Rijeka – 4th with 42 points. Running for the title and losing it by 2 points. They scored most goals this season, though – 53. Amazing run and perhaps the peak of the greatest period in the history of this otherwise small club. They won cups, they climbed up and mingled with the best teams in the country, now they even run for the title – and all that with quite a modest squad. Not only that, but if some strong players developed, they were immediately grabbed by Dinamo Zagreb or Hajduk Split. Yet, they continued to play with great spirit against the odds, true darlings, and it was only too unfortunate they were unable to earn 3 more points. But it was good anyway and no regrets.

Zeljeznicar (Sarajevo) – 3rd with 42 points. Standing from left: Bazdarevic, Skrba, Komsic, ? , Cilic

Crouching: Grabo, Gutovic, Paprica, Nikic, Curic.

Running for the title only a short time after playing in second division – looked like great recovery, and to a point, it was. But compared to local rivals FK Sarajevo, it was poorer squad – Bazdarevic was the great star, but he was alone and destined to leave and play abroad. In the long run, Zeljeznicar had modest prospects: perhaps able of occasional strong season, otherwise – mid-table. So, this season had to be cherished, even with the disappointment of losing the title.

Partizan – 2nd with 42 points. Standing from left: Dragi Kaličanin, Ljubomir Radanović, Slobodan Rojević, Miodrag Ješić, Ranko Stojić, Admir Smajić.

Couching: Mića Radović, Čava Dimitrijević, Dragan Mance, Rade Radulović, Kujtim Šalja.

On the surface – the usual bitter battle between Crvena zvezda and Partizan, lost by Partizan. In reality, they were 2nd only because of better goal-difference and the championship was not the famous Belgrade duel, but a knot of 4 clubs – may be even 5. What was strange, however, was that Partizan for years had weaker squad compared not only to their arch-rivals, but to Hajduk and even other clubs. Not that many national team players, as the others had, and hardly any first-rate stars. Why was that is hard to say, but Partizan maintained strong leading position and was a worthy contender for the title.

Anybody surprised? Crvena zvezda winning the title… nothing new. Not an easy victory, the battle was exciting, and Zvezda prevailed – 17 wons, 10 ties, 7 losses, 52-26 goal-difference, 54 points. Not an easy victory, therefore, much sweeter. Good form was perhaps not the whole reason for winning – most likely Crvena zvezda prevailed thanks to deeper squad, compared to the teams of the rivals. And plenty of experience. The title was not everything – Crvena zvezda had a chance to win a double. Not just a chance, they had the appetite too – as ever.

Eastern Second Division. Slightly different than the Western league – here too most of the clubs were fairly equal, making them concerned with relegation and not at all with promotion, but 2 teams competed for the 1st place. And, luckily, only 3 teams were relegated, because only Western clubs came down from First Division.

GIK Ramiz Sadiku (Pristina) was last with 24 points.

Timok (Zajecar) – 17th with 26 points.

Teteks (Tetovo) – 16th with 26 points. Those were the relegated teams.

Napredak (Krusevac) – 15th with 30 points. Lucky boys… Like Borac (Banja Luka), instead of favourites trying to return to first division, they were fighting for mere survival in the second division – and failing. Under normal circumstances, they would be relegated – sheer luck left them in the league for another year.

Radnicki (Pirot) – 14th with 30 points.

Rad (Belgrade) – 13th with 31 points.

Bor – playing top league football was distant memory by now. 12th with 31 points. Standing from left: trener Perišić, Sakić, M.Z.Nikolić, M.V.Nikolić, Brkić, Anđelković, Preljević, Mijucić, Vladić, Mujkanović, Kotlajić, Branković, Milošević, Dr Ranković, trener Radulović.

Crouching: Banduka, G.Golubović, Đokić, Mitić, Popović, Bjelić, Ivanov, Lončarević, B.Golubović, maser Janković.

Ivangrad – 11th with 32 points.

Trepca – 10th with 32 points. Standing from left: Mrkić, Bajrami, Seferi ,Mašić, Smailagić, Turku.

First row: Stolić, Prekazi, Golubica, Rahmani, Šubarić.

Kolubara – 9th with 32 points. Standing from left: Boban Stojanović, Baniša Grčić, Dragan Grčić, Dragan Jevtić, Zoran Ristović, Vlada Grujičić, Milovan Mihić, Miško Veselinović, Vlada Simić, Mika Obradović.

First row: Zoran Stašević, Radmilo Đurđević, Miloje Arsenijević, Saša Đurđević, Dragan Vasiljević, Ljubodrag Marić, Dražen Aleksić, Nebojša Brajević, Mirko Mijović.

Laying down in front: Mile Mitrović Đango.

Vlaznimi (Dakovica) – 8th with 33 points.

Borac (Cacak) – 7th with 34 points.

Belasica (Strumica) – 6th with 34 points.

Galenika (Zemun) – 5th with 34 points.

Sloboda (Titovo Uzice) – 4th with 37 points.

Pelister (Bitolja) – 3rd with 42 points. Much stronger than the bulk of the league, but far weaker than the leaders.

OFK Beograd – expected to run for promotion and doing so, but at the end they lost the battle by 2 points. 2nd with 51 points.

Sutjeska (Niksic) won the race for 1st place and promotion: 23 wins, 7 ties, 4 losses, 62-22 goal-difference, 53 points. Well done.

Yugoslavia. Dramatic championship, but the second level was nothing like first division. Second Division had 2 groups of 18 teams each, as usual. The winners were promoted and lowest 4 teams – relegated. That depended on geography: in case two teams of the same region went down in First Division, more teams were relegated in the group they were going to and less in the other.

Western Second Division. One leader without any rivals, but different at the bottom: as luck had it, 5 teams were relegated at the end of the season.

Slovan (Ljubljana) was last with 14 points, the absolute outsider. Standing from left: Kapidžić, Magič, Hegler, Pavlinič, Jeglič, Beširović, Šuštaršič, Matijaš, Kavčič, Maver, Oblak.

Sitting: Mandič, Pejović, Hasanagić, Kršić, Štok, Jerina, Poljanšek, Đekić, Kolarič.

NK Zagreb – 17th with 22 points. Very weak this year – hard to believe they were often top league members.

A bit confusing team – sometimes the name is given as TSC, sometimes as AIK. The club from Backa Topola changed name at one point, but not exactly in relation with this championship. This is at least a squad from the period, if not of the actual year. 16th with 32 points and going down.

Sloga (Doboj) – 15th with 32 points. Normally, they managed to reach safety on better goal-difference, but first league relegation voided their efforts and they also went down. Standing from left: Saračević, Šerifović, Salkić, Đulbić, Pranjić, Hadžić, trener Spahić;

First row: Turkić, Buljubašić, Dijamant, Krajina, Kalabić, Mujkanović.

Varteks (Varazdin) was also unlucky – 14th with 34 points, but relegated. If they scored 5 more goals… of got 1 more point…

Radnik (Bjelina) was good for another year – 13th with 34 points.

Borac (Banja Luka) – terrible period: relegated from top league and now barely escaping relegation from Second Division. 12th with 34 points.

Jedinstvo (Bihac) – 11th with 34 points.

Vrbas – 10th with 35 points.

Kikinda – 9th with 35 points.

Novi Sad – 8th with 35 points.

Jedinstvo (Brcko) – 7th with 35 points.

Leotar (Trebinje) – 6th with 35 points.

GOSK Jug (Dubrovnik) – 5th with 36 points.

Sibenik – 4th with 36 points. Top row from left: Jovicic, Vidacek, Matic, Maretic, Pralija, Capin, Mavric, Sorgic,Vrcic.

Middle row: trener Marenzi, Pauk, Marenzi, Atlija, Jurisic, Jurin, Ljubicic, Mikulincic, Damjanic, fiz. Mikelin;

Sitting: Bonacic, Nikezic, Gudelj, trener Kedzo, Pesic, Petkovic, Setka.

Proleter (Zrenjanin) – more was expected from them, but… 3rd with 37 points. Standing from left: Žarko Soldo, Jožef Ezveđ, Milorad Zorić, Srđan Čolak, Predrag Luburić, trener Radivoje Drašković. First row: Đuro Ivančević, Slobodan Dubajić, Zoran Pleše, Jovan Geca, Vladimir Ćurčić, Dragutin Đorđević.

Spartak (Subotica) – 2nd with 42 points. Spartak was clearly stronger than quite equal league, but only that. First place was beyond their reach. By far.

Iskra (Bigojno) was a leader without a rival, way above the rest of the league. 21 wins, 8 ties, only 5 losses, 65-33 goal-difference (+32. The next best was +16!) and 50 points. Fantastic season, the best in the history of the club, for they were promoted for the first time to the top league. Such season is never forgotten.

The Cup. Zenit had a chance for a double this year, although in actual time it was not even a slight possibility: the Cup final was played in July, which is just in the middle of the spring-fall Soviet championship. At the time Zenit was 5th and quite distant from the leaders. Back than it looked like familiar race for the title – Spartak (Moscow) vs Dinamo (Kiev) – and the most a team like Zenit could hope for was the second trophy. And they had every reason to hope for victory: their opponent was Dinamo (Moscow), at the time last in the championship and seemingly heading for relegation. Dinamo had a lot at stake – this was their only chance to remedy a terrible season, perhaps their worst ever. And they had an advantage – Cup finals traditionally are played in Moscow, that is at home turf and in front of home crowd for Dinamo. This more or less equalized the situation: Zenit had a very strong season and their team was well oiled, but if player by player were compared, Dinamo had the same number of strong players and capable of standing their ground in one game, no matter what. Thus, the final proceeded with Zenit attacking and Dinamo defending relatively well and looking for counter-attacks. Aftre 20 minutes the game was pretty much equal, if not very exciting. No goals were scored to the end – 0-0. In the extra time Dinamo prevailed:

Valery Gazzaev scored in the 97th minute and

Aleksandr Borodyuk sealed the victory the 116th minute.

The rest is as they say ‘history’- Alekasndr Novikov received the trophy. History is also novelty – back in 1977 Novikov was part of the last Dinamo team winning the Cup. The coach back then was Sevidov. Now the coach was again Sevidov and Novikov captained the team winning the 6th Cup for Dinamo. Not bad.

Zenit failed to win a second cup, but their loss was perhaps more interesting to look at at the end of the season, when they were the new champions: Dinamo tamed them in about 20 minutes. Forced out of their own style and pressed hard, Zenit shrunk. No wonder: they were good, but not great team. Perhaps their best player – Larionov – missed the final and the team immediately suffered. But for the moment Zenit was just unhappy with missing a rare chance, not yet envisioning championship title. At the end of season they were champions and the lost Cup final was only a minor thing – they gained much more. For the records: Zenit had a chance for a double, but was unable to get it.

Happy winners. Standing from left: I. Bulanov, A. Yardoshvili – doctor, V. Matyunin, A. Maksimenkov – assistant coach, S. Krestenenko, A. Uvarov, A. Prudnikov, A. Golovnya, A. Sevidov – coach, V. Fomichev, I. Mozer – team chief, Yu. Mentyukov.

Front row: R. Ataullin, V. Gazzaev, A. Borodyuk, E. Mileshkin, V. Karataev, A. Khapsalis, A. Novikov.

Well, 6th Cup – not bad at all. Not bad at all, considering the state of team at the moment. Thanks to this victory the worst season was not looking all that bad at the end of the year. Of course, the poor play was explained with the usual excuses: too many new young arrivals. It was shaky time of rebuilding, then. Very likely, but this was poor squad. Novikov was getting old. So was, to a point, Khapsalis, already discarded from Dinamo (Kiev) and recently transformed from striker to defender. Borodyuk and Gazzaev, the stars of this vintage, were never more than second-rate players – talented, yes, eyed by national team coaches, yes, but big stars? Not really. Gazzaev was constantly criticized for missing scoring opportunities and almost narcissistic individualism. The rest was of generally much lower quality: true, both goalkeepers eventually donned the national team jersey, but presently Uvarov was too young and a reserve. Prudnikov joined Dinamo this year after spending some time warming the bench in Spartak (Moscow) – good, bad, he had zero chance there, because of Dassaev. Here he was practically starting from scratch. Golovnya suffered from injuries, Karataev and Ataullin were young promising players and that was all. Poor squad… That made this victory truly great – Zenit may have been far from great team, but they were in perfect form and among the leaders. Dinamo was David facing Goliath and managed to win over. So, let them be happy with the trophy, for frankly, the future of this squad was going to be troublesome – unless major changes were quickly made.

First Division. Let summarize the Soviet championship like that: the most stable team was stable indeed – never first. In the strange vacuum surprise winners were coming one after another. It could be that the exciting generation amounted to about 50 players – not wide enough to boost the league as a whole and when spread among 5-6 clubs none was truly great. 7 teams preoccupied with escaping relegation.

CSKA (Moscow) was last 19 points. Absolute outsider and no surprise: they had a few strong players, but were unable to recruit more of the same class. Instead of rebuilding and recovering lost ground – relegation.

Pakhtakor (Tashkent) – 17th with 25 points. They fought for survival and may be a bit unlucky, for they were just short of a point or two, but it was logical ending of long process. To begin with, Pakhtakor was never a strong leading club and the 1979 disaster, killing the whole squad, had its long tall – rebuilding was painful and not really successful. The club was exempted from relegation for awhile, but this period ended. Most of the post-disaster years depended largely from brought from outside players, generally on the oldish side, so even they could not help for long. The previous season was not bad, but the lack of reinforcements was predictably dangerous. And now Pakhtakor faced the music… going down to second division. It was inevitable, no matter lucky or unlucky.

Dinamo (Moscow) – 16th with 26 points. Barely saving their skins… well, the decline of Moscow football was noted years ago and seemingly there was no change. Was the mighty Dinamo going to follow the miserable steps of Spartak and CSKA and join the second division? They were terribly close already. Top row, from left: E. Mileshkin (?), A. Molodtzov, S. Nikulin, A. Minaev, V. Gazzaev, N. Latysh, A. Golovnya, A. Novikov, A.Molodtzov (?).

Middle row: A. Prudnikov, Yu. Pudyshev, Krupenin – administrator, A. Golodetz – assistant coach, A. Sevidov – coach, A. Maksimenkov – assistant coach, Gassov – masseur, Salnikov – masseur, N. Gontar.

Sitting: V. Matyunin, Yu. Mentyukov, N. Tolstykh, I. Bulanov, M. Chesnokov (?), A. Uvarov, A. Khapsalis, V. Demidov, A. Borodyuk, V. Kapustin (?).

If names win games, Dinamo should have been much higher in the table. Names… some were gatting too old, others already reached their peaks and limits, yet some others were still too young and not at their prime.

Neftchi (Baku) – 15th with 26 points. Managed to survive, that was pretty much their traditional unchanging aim. Good for another season, relieve.

SKA (Rostov) – 14th with 27 points. They won the cup not long ago, they played in the second division not long ago, they were… never a great promise. Fighting for survival, the usual…

Shakhter (Donetzk) – 13th with 29 points. Weak season, fighting to keep place in the league. However, they won the new cup played between champions and cup winners of the previous year – ‘The Cup of the Season’. Meaningless and misleading trophy, for the title suggests something great: the top team in the country. The real question was different: was Shakhter in crisis, how deep was the crisis, and was there quick way out of it.

Standing from left: Yu. Fishelev – administrator, S. Popovich, S. Pokidin, V. Rudakov, A. Radenko, A. Sopko, V. Gavrilov, S. Kravchenko, V. Goshkoderya, O. Glubokov- doctor, M. Kalinin – team chief, V. Nossov – coach.

Crouching: M. Sokolovsky, V. Elinskas, I. Vassilyuk, A. Shturlak, S. Morozov, S. Akimenko.

Metallist (Kharkov) – 12th with 29 point. They were the pleasant surprise in the previous year, but it was expected to get tougher this season – and it was: it was really a matter of establishing a place and adjusting to the top league. They were in danger, but escaped relegation. It was a season for building confidence and the future was not gloomy at all.

Ararat (Erevan) – 11th with 31 points. Predictable performance and hopefully they were going to stay like that in the future – there was no doubt the great early 1970s were not going to be repeated: Armenia was too small for producing big enough number of strong players.

Dinamo (Kiev) 10th with 34 points. They were terrible the previous season – 7th – and Lobanovsky urgently was brought back to coach them, only to sink even lower. Strange, considering that most of national team players came from Dinamo and for years Kiev had the biggest stars in its ranks. And ruthlessly recruited more, ravishing the other Ukrainian clubs. Well, the usual excuse was that the stars played too many games, combining club and national team duties. That was lame excuse at best – rather, the team was a bit uneven, having too many youngsters not quite good enough to pressure the regulars. And Lobanovsky, with his heavy-handed policies, was brewing conflicts – Leonid Buryak lock horns with the coach and left – or was dismissed – at the end of the season.

Zhalguiris (Kaunas) – 9th with 34 points. Now, that was a team going up and looked at as an optimistic sign. They climbed quite rapidly from nowhere, but were not a Cinderella story: it was clear they were going not just to stay in the league, but make an impact. Still developing and gaining experience, still not at the peak of their potential. A team for the future, doing well presently.

Kayrat (Alma-Ata) – 8th with 34 points. Wonderful season for them, but more or less accidental one. Back row from left: K. Sarsekov, V. Masoudov, I. Zaytzev, V. Agarkov – video operator, O. Dodonov, I. Kuzin – doctor, K. Ordabaev – team chief, S. Burakov, Yu. Naydovsky, A. Kuklev, Yu. Shadiev, S. Volgin, M. Kossanov, S. Bayshakov – assistant coach.

Middle row: E. Son, B. Evdokimov, S. Kirillov, V. Skulkin – assistant coach, L. Ostroushko – coach, E. Kuznetzov – assistant coach, V. Nikitenko, S. Stukashov, F. Salimov.

Crouching: I. Suvorin – masseur, B. Dzhumanov, A. Shokh, A. Ubykin, Yu. Konkov, S. Ledovskikh, K. Imanbaev, S. Savin.

Dinamo (Tbilisi) – 7th with 36 points. Declining and slowly going down.

Torpedo (Moscow) – on the left and against the outsiders CSKA, right – 6th with 40 points. Not bad, but nothing special.

Dinamo (Minsk) – 5th with 40 points. Still running strong on inertia, for it was clear already – this boys will not be champions again. The same team as two years ago, only two years older…

Sitting from left: I. Gurinovich, S. Gotzmanov, M. Vergeenko – assistant coach, L. Garay – team chief, V. Arzamastzev – coach, I. Savostikov – assistant coach, Yu. Kurnenin, P. Vassilevsky.

Middle row: V. Melnikov, O. Alekseenko, Yu. Trukhan, A. Batalov, Yu. Kurbyko, S. Aleynikov, V. Yanushevsky, L. Rumbutis, A. Zygmantovich.

Top row: L. Vassilevsky – administrator, S. Borovsky, V. Shishkin, G. Kondratyev, V. Dmitrakov – doctor, I. Belov, Yu. Pudyshev, V. Sokol, A. Usenko – masseur.

Frankly, it was really surprising they were able to keep their stars given the troubles Dinamo (Moscow) had. Dinamo (Kiev) not so much, but also was a potential predator – yet, Gurinovich, Gotzmanov, Borovsky, Zygmantovich, and Kondratyev were not stolen.

Chernomoretz (Odessa) – 4th with 41 points. A season almost as good as the one a decade ago, when they finished 3rd. However, the team was heavily criticized for uneven play and lack of ambition. Young players were blamed for already looking for other options. Of course, the critics missed the real big point – Chernomoretz was in the usual hunting grounds of Dinamo (Kiev) and just like always was seen as mere supply team for the mighty Dinamo – naturally, Igor Belanov was marked and even if he wanted to stay it would not have been possible. And not only he.

Crouching from left: N. Romanchuk, I. Sokolovsky, I. Belanov, I. Nakonechny, G. Psomiadi, A. Bagapov, A. Shterbakov, O. Sych, V. Pokonin, V. Ploskina.

Standing: V. Leshtuk – team chief, V. Prokopenko – coach, S. Tretyak, I. Shary, V. Fink, A. Skripnik, Yu. Smotrich, V. Sakhno, Yu. Romensky, S. Zharkov, V. Pasulko, V. Ishtak, S. Altman – assistant coach, V. Nechaev – assistant coach.

Dnepr (Dneproptrovsk) – 3rd with 42 points. Dnepr was fine and among the leaders most of the time. There was a slight chance for a consecutive title and they had the two best players in the league – the goal-scoring machine Protasov and the player of the year Litovchenko, but… it was the make up. Dnepr, having no chance of recruiting and keeping aces, developed a sturdy, physical, and constantly running team. No first-raters, though. Hardly even second-raters. Take away Litovchenko and Protasov and Dnepr was suddenly just an ordinary team. No wonder they dropped out of the championship race at the end of season – stamina they had, skills – not enough.

Spartak (Moscow) – 2nd with 45 points. Standing from left: E. Sidorov, G. Adzhoev, V. Sochnov, A. Bubnov, K. Beskov – coach, S. Rodionov, Yu. Gavrilov, G. Morozov, S. Shavlo.

Sitting: E. Kuznetzov, E. Milevsky, R. Dassaev, S. Cherchesov, S. Shvetzov, S. Shulgin, M. Rusyaev.

Spartak boasts that they were the most stable team in the league – 6 years in the top three already. But no titles. This year they were second a bit before the actual end of the season, one more disappointment, based on sluggish start and long drop of form for a stretch of 8 games – then they plummeted from 1st place to 6th. The final sprint was fine, but they were unable to catch the leaders. The problem was obvious: Spartak was not deep enough, they squad was somewhat always short and unable to recruit really strong reinforcements – from 6 newcomers 2 were former Spartak players coming back home after military service (Spartak was probably the most suffering club from that – for years there were key players taken away for army service), 1 was also belonging to Spartak, but temporarily loaned. From the 3 really new players only one managed to make the first team. It was familiar story by now… and at the same time better players left, the bigger loss was the inspirational captain Oleg Romantzev, who had to quit football prematurely plagued by injuries. When Cherenkov was out because of injury, the play of the team suffered immediately – Shavlo, after spending army time in second division, was no former self and contributed little. The most stable team may be, but second again.

And USSR had a new champion: Zenit (Leningrad). A good team, noticed for improvement in the recent years, but were they champion material? Let’s face it: the champions had 2 national team players and even at the peak of their form no other players caught the eye and were invited to play for USSR. It was not they took the championship by storm – they won largely because they were most consistent. Not at the top for good part of the championship, but near. When other teams had ups and downs, Zenit quietly added a point here, two points there, eventually arrived at the top of the league and stayed to the very end, keeping others at bay and even winning the title a bit before the last games of the season. It was steady work and fine tuning, credited to the their youngish coach Pavel Sadyrin. No matter what shortcomings Zenit had, it was historic victory – so far Zenit only one 1 Cup and that during the Second World War. Back than it was more of a propaganda thing – the whole staging of something like cup tournament, culminating with symbolic final, conveniently played between the Red Army and the heroic Leningrad. Nothing else Zenit ever won and not only that, but traditionally they were mid-table club at best – although rarely in danger of relegation. At last they triumphed and the squad became instant legend at home. Leningrad had to enjoy the moment to the fullest, because it was highly unlikely Zenit could win again. From a hindsight, it was true – Zenit became strong leading club only after the fall of USSR.

 

Second Division. Two things stand out this season, both confirming the sense of uncertainty: for the first time a champion of USSR was relegated from Second Division, sinking down to the Third. In the same time the promoted teams were found wanting – and wanting quite a lot. Second Division was under criticism for years, but there was also a push for ‘improvement’, which translated into enlargement. 40 teams were proposed to play second level football – a doubling of size. Reality, however, spoke strongly against: there were few teams trying to get promoted. There was a bulk of clubs comfortably settled in mid-table and not wanting to aim higher. There were clubs too weak, fighting for survival at best. A glance at the final table clearly spoke the bitter truth: only two clubs went for promotional spots – which were 2. 10 clubs – out of 22 total – only tried to escape relegation. Not different from most previous seasons. Not many players worthy of going to first division clubs either. The only thing which appeared to work was the limit on ties – the plague of going for 1 point and forget about the risks of trying to win somewhat decreased. Scoring was not getting better, though. So, the league was not going to be increased after all.

Irtish (Omsk) finished last with 26 points. Nothing was expected from the debutantes, so they even produced a mild surprise earning that many points. But last and out.

Tavria (Simferopol) was 21st with 35 points. This team went heavy criticism at the end: just a few years back they went to play top league football, but rapidly declined after that and now were going to Third Division. But the club was in shambles and may be in such shape precisely because they overreached and went up.

Zarya (Voroshilovgrad) finished 20th with 37 points and was the third relegated club. They were also the first USSR champion to sink to Third Division. Unprecedented and unbelievable, but fact. More than 10 years back they were a bit suspect champions and not exactly expected to maintain leading position for long, but third division was unimaginable. The club declined sharply, however, and there was no stopping of the rapid sinking. Which reached its logical conclusion this season…

Front row, from left: A. Sorokalet, Yu. Bobkov, A. Kuksov, Yu. Kolesnikov, Yu. Yaroshenko, I. Gamula,V. Glukharev – assistant coach, O. Bazilevich – coach, V. Pechenevsky – team chief.

Second row: A. Bashlyk – assistant coach, V. Tarasenko, V. Kobzarev, V. Yurchenko, A. Nikitchenko, A. Malyshenko, A. Samara, V. Skvortzov- doctor, Yu. Rabochy, L. Tkachev – administrator.

Back row: A. Chistyakov, A. Tkachenko, V. Polyakov, S. Yarmolich, N. Fedyushtenko, O. Mozhaev, V. Kirilenko, V. Khromey, V. Zinchenko, A. Kolchenko, A. Cherednichenko.

Well… A. Tkachenko and A. Kuksov were the only players remaining from the champion squad. And Oleg Bazilevich was co-coaching the first great Dinamo (Kiev), the team which won the Cup Winners Cup. Now – going to Third Division. Amazing in entirely negative way.

Kolos (Nikopol) barely survived – 19th with 38 points.

Nistru (Kishinev) – 18th with 38 points. Another former first division now fighting for mere survival. And near folding – it was that bad.

Shinnik (Yaroslavl) – 17th with 38 points. Normally a sleepy, secure, mid-table team, but now in trouble. They survived, though.

Spartak (Ordzhonikidze) – 16th with 38 points. Hard to believe they played first division football – only once, but still.

Rotor (Vogograd) – 15th with 38 points.

SKA (Khabarovsk) – 14th with 39 points. Far-East clubs were normally weak and hardly able to improve, so there was no surprise SKA fought only for survival. But all depends on the standpoint… at the end of the season 14th place was quite good-looking at home. Here we are, proud 14th…

Zvezda (Dzhizak) – 13th with 39 points. Even with worse predicament than SKA, so they ended… very well and high in the table. In their own eyes.

Iskra (Smolensk) – 12th with 40 points. Just happy to play second division football, a rare occasion for them. Iskar occasionally got a player or two from the big Moscow clubs, but the squad is fairly anonymous – more interesting is who else is also on the picture, for it that could be a good comment on attitudes and perhaps the reason why most clubs failed to develop. The photo was made after cup match in Samarkand and really looks like a vacation trip: there are a journalist and his son, the director of the Smolensk stadium, the head of Smolensk regional sports committee, and… the vice-director of the poultry-processing plant in Smolensk. And tour-guide, naturally.

Dinamo (Batoumi) – 11th with 40 points. Not bad for them either. A closer look at the season tells that they were largely preoccupied with escaping relegation, but the final table shows nothing of it – it looks great.

Guria (Lanchkhuti) – 10th with 42 points. Strong Georgian football? To a point, yes – 3 teams in Second Division, playing not so bad: Kutaisi, Batoumi, and Lanchkhuti. Unfortunately, the Georgian republic is small and had no means to support so many clubs.

Kuzbass (Kemerovo) – 9th with 42 points. Business as usual – mid-table, nothing more, nothing less, no worries.

Pamir (Dushanbe) – 8th with 43 points. As ever… despite constant criticism that the club had bigger potential, but no ambition. Why bother to try going up? Look at the fate of Tavria, Nistru, Zarya, and get wise: stay comfortably in the middle of the table.

Daugava (Riga) – 7th with 43 points. Now, that was an optimistic story: the club managed to climb up from the vast unknown of Third Division and was doing very well.

Lokomotiv (Moscow) – 6th with 46 points. Should have been among the leaders fighting for promotion instead of playing rather disinterested football, but they had perfect iron-clad excuse: since they were the smallest Moscow club, they had almost no chance for recruiting and keeping strong players. So… they were rebuilding… and under such objective circumstances it was going to be difficult and long process. Sitting from left: R. Bilyaletdinov, Yu. Shumlin, S. Surov, V. Abramzon, A. Boky, A. Lebedev, V. Zemlin, A. Ilin, V. Safronenko, L. Fedorov.

Second row: V. Peregontzev – coach, V. Koloskov – masseur, R. Gallagberov, P. Bezglyadnov, I. Makarov, S. Baburin, I. Pestretzov, V. Shevchuk, N. Kalaychev, M. Lyuty, A. Kolesnikov, B. Zhuravlev – coach.

Metallurg (Zaporozhie) – 5th with 48 points. One of the eternal mid-table clubs. It looked like they were aiming higher this season for awhile, but eventually got ‘wiser’ and dropped out of the promotional race. Why bother? It was cozy enough where they were.

Kuban (Krasnodar) – 4th with 49 points. They got a taste of top league football and either did not like it, or were not quite ready yet for a second try. One can bet they preferred to be among the top second division teams than in the relegation zone of first division.

SKA Karpaty (Lvov) – not the best period of the club’s history. Karpaty merged with the other club in the city, the Army club SKA, and the combination did not work so well. 3rd with 49 points – but not in the promotional race and not deliberately that: just not good enough.

Torpedo (Kutaisi) – 2nd with 55 points. The problems with second division in nutshell: Torpedo did not have very strong team and was not exactly envisioned as potential climber for a good chunk of the season. Yet, they finished far ahead of 3rd placed SKA Karpaty – the potential rivals lost steam, or were not able to sustain even season, or decided to drop out of risky promotion, and at the end Torpedo looked mighty… when one sees the 6-point gap between them and the SKA Karpaty. They played top league football before and wanted to try again, having the same problems they had in the previous campaigns: short squad. They urgently needed strong reinforcements and it was more than doubtful they could get them: the only hope was to get some veterans from Dinamo (Tbilisi). All this happened before…

Fakel (Voronezh) – champions with 57 points. Their greatest season ever. Favourites from start to finish, winning the first place early. Practically, without rivals. Promoted for the first time in their history. A nice story with happy end. Well deserved happy end. However, it was observed that the squad is not exactly up to top league standards and needs additional players. It was wonderful to see Fakel – ‘the Torch’ – on top, but… observers were not exactly raving about them and were particularly pessimistic about the prospects of both Fakel and Torpedo next year.

Unusual champions, so let have one more look at them: Fakel (Voronezh), the Second Division champions. Great season.

 

USSR. This were times of uncertainty – on one hand, there was very talented generation and at least the prospects of the national team looked fine. On the other hand, champions changed every year and although it was great to see new names and faces none of them looked like a long-lasting great team. It was more competitive championship, more goals were scored, the football was more open and adventurous, but… There was third hand too, may be the most important one. Dinamo (Kiev) was not performing well. Spartak (Moscow) was able of no more than finishing second. A bunch of clubs either suffered decline or at least were not developing. Second division was the same as ever, reduced to two-three usually former first division clubs interested in promotion, a large group trying only to escape relegation, and disinterested mid-table clubs going nowhere. Third division produced few quality players, there were coaches openly saying that they have no interest developing talented youngsters, for that was sure way for disaster of the club – the talent would be taken by the big clubs and they will be left with nothing. Some clubs even hided their talented players from the eyes of specialists and various republican and national teams. Not only that, but third division practically disappeared from the central media, it was hardly ever mentioned – and to begin with, the coverage was scarce and limited. It was time of uncertainty because despite the talented generation of players nothing great was happening and some coaches were openly questioning the system and calling for radical changes of it. Never said at the time, but what they meant was professional football and according structure. But it was not to be yet. Not to be truly to the end of the Soviet Union.

Third Division. In the past one can get at least the general picture of this championship, but not this years – practically nothing was said in the central media, even the promotional tournament was not covered. So here it is in few words: 191 clubs played in this division and they were divided into 9 Zones (10, actually, for Zone 6, the Ukrainian zone, had 2 groups of 13 teams each). The numbers differed widely for some reason – 4 zones had 17 teams, 2 zones – 16, but Zone 7 had 21 teams and Zone 4 – only 14. True, it was the Far East zone, where little football was played. The Ukrainian Zone 6 was the largest by far – 26 clubs in it, so it was divided into two groups, the champions of each going for final play-off. All third clubs had to have at least one 18-year old player among the starters and this player could be substituted only with player of the same age. That rule was made with the aim of developing young talent – how useful it was is anybody’s guess. Usually coaches – not just the Soviet ones, but in every country similar rule was tried – were skeptical at best, founding it useless as rule of thumb, and openly hated it, at the worst. At the end of the zonal championships the winners preceeded to promotion tournament for 3 open places in Second Division.

Some of the teams, playing in Third Division:

Krasnaya Presnya (Moscow)

Tzelinnik (Tzelinograd)

Niva (Vinnitza)

 

Chkalovetz (Novosibisrk)

Spartak (Zhitomir)

Lokomotiv (Chita)

What happened during the year perhaps is not particularly important – at the end the winners going up to Second Division were:

Kotaik (Abovyan) – a small Armenian club, which never played Second Division before.

Dinamo (Stavropol) – perhaps that had a bit Second Division experience, but not much, and

Krylya Sovetov (Kyubishev), which after sinking that low, was trying to recover ground – after all, they had been almost regulars of First Division. And they were the kind of club expected to be promoted – former second division member, may be fading, but with long past in higher levels of Soviet football – there were whole bunch of such clubs in Third Division, but only Krylya Sovetov climbed up.

 

The Cup. Here was a chance for Monaco to make if not a double at least to finish the season with a trophy – Metz, as brave as they were, were no match. On paper, that is. At the end of the final reality bit: regular time ended scoreless 0-0 and in the overtime Metz scored twice. Monaco did not and lost 2-0.

Twice unfortunate… keeping head to head, not giving up, not really beaten of weaker, yet, finishing second and consequently – empty handed. Something was lacking, something tiny, but enough to place Monaco second, not first. It was impossible to put a finger at some obvious weakness, unfortunately – to identify a problem, so to fix it. What was there to fix? Lucien Muller was good coach. A team full with national team players at their prime – Bravo, Bellone, Amoros, Ettori, Le Roux, Genghini will be European champions only a month after the end of the French championship. Add Bijotat, Petit, Puel and what more one can ask for? Nothing, but all that talent was good only for second place, no matter how close it came to winning.

Metz triumphed with Cup victory, which was great for a club poor on trophies. Since they did not have starry squad, nobody could blame them for prevailing only in extra-time, that is, winning largely on enthusiasm. It was delightful victory of the underdog and especially important victory for their coach: the former great Polish midfielder Kasperczak was only beginning his coaching career and this victory was very encouraging: the guy was obviously talented and there was strong promise for a great coaching career. All that is just footnotes: this was historic victory for Metz. They won their very trophy! Just imagine the rush of joy.