Category: 1985

First Division. The picture has two faces: one before and during the season and another after its end, when the Communist Party interfered with its draconian decree. First of all, there were new changes to the rules introduced. No points were given, if a match ended scoreless 0-0. The main objective for this rule was an aim of increasing scoring, which steadily fell down after 1971. How wise was such rule should be considered after seeing the final table. The other change was abolishing the short-lived promotion/relegation play-offs between those just above relegation zone and the second-placed teams in the Second Division. On the surface, the change made some sense after the reorganization of Second Division from 2 groups to one league. Behind the facade, it looked like that the grumbling over ‘operation saving Slavia’, which took place at the end of the previous season was taken into account and without fuss the old rule was abolished. That was all about the new design of the championship. Four new teams joined the top league for this season as a result of the effort to keep Slavia out of relegation – all of them were well-known former members of first division, but their strength was somewhat dubious. As a general observation, there were almost no surprises during the season and the championship was dominated as usual by Levski-Spartak and CSKA. Scoring jumped up, but how much the new rule contributed to it was questionable – first of all, Levski, CSKA, and Trakia had formidable strikers and scored a lot, thus increasing the goals-per-game average. The new rule ‘encouraging’ scoring by itself could not do much: one needs scorers. Very few games ended 0-0, so only few points were lost – just one team, Cherno more (Varna) ended 3 matches 0-0 and only three teams ended with a scoreless tie twice, Trakia (Plovdiv), Minyor (Pernik) and Spartak (Pleven). There was one casualty of the rule – Minyor (Pernik) ended relegated just because lost 2 points on scoreless ties. On the other hand, Etar (Veliko Tirnovo) mastered the new rule: they won 14 games and lost 15. Their single tie was scoreless, so no point for it, but there was no danger with such record, but secure mid-table position. It was painfully clear what the danger of losing points did: play to win at home, and to the devil with away games. Not a new approach, but now something was added to it: a silent understanding between the clubs that whoever hosts a match should win it. You give me 2 points now, I give you 2 points later. Nobody can prove fixing ever. All that mattered little because of the great war between Levski and CSKA for supremacy.

Chernomoretz (Burgas) was the league’s outsider this season – somewhat, the bright squad of few years back stalled and instead of going up, went down. Last with 21 points.

Newcomer Minyor (Pernik) ended next to last with 25 points. True, the squad was shaky, but they lost 2 points to scoreless ties and that did them – in normal counting, they would have been just above relegation zone.

ZSK Spartak (Varna) were lucky – thanks to the misfortune of Minyor, they survived with 26 points. Now, that was the team much praised only a short time before, which went to play againt Manchester United in the European competitions… what went wrong? What went wrong was the simple fact that the club had no home-grown talent and heavily depended on good, but aging players, lured from other clubs. It was clearly short-term policy, ready to misfire: veterans call it a day, no similar players available to replace the retirees and the end comes. Point in case: if Diev, Gyorev, and Smilkov were really good, they would have been regulars in their former clubs.

Dunav (Russe), a newcomer like Minyor – 2nd-placed in the Second Division the previous year and promoted only thanks to the strange relegation/promotion play-offs – was hardly a team for top-league football, so they struggled, looked like going back to where they came from, and eventually were lucky to survive with 26 points (they lost 1 point). New rule or not, 10 teams were largely concerned with avoiding relegation this season, especially in the spring half of it, so Dunav was among the happy survivors.

And so was Beroe (Stara Zagora) – they finished 10th with 26 points (1 point lost to scoreless tie). Their great star Petko Petkov coached them right after retiring as a player and he was sacked after the end of the season. Of course, it was impossible to see the future at the time, but it is mind boggling now: this very squad was entirely different in the next season. Weird ups and downs were typical for Beroe, but to go from barely avoiding relegation to the title was too much of a transformation.

Sliven (Sliven) went down – 3rd in the previous season, although thanks to late penalty of Botev (Vratza), which awarded them 2 extra points after the season finished, now they plummeted down to fighting for survival. Same squad, though… Their captain, Nikolay Arabov – crouching 2nd from right – was regular national team players and the only star. The traditional help from CSKA remained as well – three former CSKA players were here. The rest was middle of the road players, still young, but already with massive experience.

Cherno more (Varna) – 10the with 26 points (1 point lost to scoreless tie). Barely escaping relegation the previous year and largely thanks to the operation for saving Slavia and no better this year. Still suffering from the corruption scandal two years ago, which banished half of their team.

Spartak (Pleven) – 9th with 27 points (2 points lost to scoreless ties). Newcomers and doing relatively well, but… they were expelled, when found guilty of bribing two years ago. Unlike Cherno more, they did not lose players – the club was bribing others, its players were not involved – and this was perhaps the best squad Spartak ever had. Came back to top division right away and, frankly, expected to be stronger. So, a bit of disappointing season – especially for a team led by one of the greatest stars of the 1980s, Plamen Getov, and coached by one of the best coaches the country ever had, Georgy Vassilev. Sitting from left: V. Sabotinov, Kr. Lazarov, Pl. Getov, G. Vassilev – coach, V. Daskalov, Bl. Krastanov, F. Spassov.

Middle row: St. Velichkov – assistant coach, D. Todorov, Tzv. Tzvetkov, Tzv. Krastev, R. Christov, Ml. Angelov, V. Spayiisky, Kirchev, Al. Chenkov – assistant coach.

Top row: St. Parchanov, Kutyanov, Ochev, Tz. Gavazov, M. Gavrilov, Bl. Petkov, V. Nikolov.

Etar (Veliko Tirnovo) – 8th with 28 points (1 point lost to scoreless tie). Solid or clever – 14 wins, 1 tie, 15 losses. Not really in danger, not very strong either… nothing remarkable. Future greats – Krassimir Balakov and Trifon Ivanov – were already playing. Balakov was regular, Ivanov just a humble beginner, playing rarely.

Slavia (Sofia) – 7th with 29 points (1 point lost to scoreless tie). Of course, nobody would officially say that rules were hastily changed to save them from relegation the previous season, but the club knew it was in trouble and tried to improve the fading squad. It was not a rebuilding, though – just a patch-work. All hopes were placed on three veterans – Tchavdar Tzvetkov agreed to play one more years as playing assistant coach; Andrey Zhelyazkov returned from Feyenoord, and another illustrious veteran also came from foreign spell – Tzvetan Yonchev, who made his name as CSKA winger. Frankly, there was no future in the trio, but they had big names and as names go – at least the regular eleven looked descent. Really, the future was much to desired for: only two promising young players, not enough for a core of new strong squad – the goalkeeper Antonio Ananiev and center-forward Petar Aleksandrov.

Sitting from left: Mladen Radkov, Zheko Andreev, Zefir Badiev, Ilian Aldev, Ivan Khaydarliev, Tzvetan Yonchev, Ivan Piskov, Pavlin Dimitrov, Dr. Mikhail Iliev – doctor.

Middle row:Trendafil Terziisky – conditional coach, Plamen Petkov, Antonio Ananiev, Svetlin Kalistratov, Georgy Iliev, Andrey Zhelyazkov, Petar Aleksandrov, Ivaylo Venkov, Yordan Kostov, Slavcho Niklenov, Kostadin Krastanov, Aleksandar Shalamanov – coach.

The season was so-so at best and Slavia finished it with 14 wins, 14 losses, and 2 ties, one of them scoreless. Not as bad as the previous year, but without much promise either – the veterans helped, but it was clear they were goners: Zhelyazkov, the only one of them who was still playing for the national team, was bound to play abroad again; Tzvetkov played his last season; Ivan Iliev was near retirement and very likely to play his last days somewhere else. Aldev and the two former CSKA players, Yonchev and Georgy Iliev, were also too old to build a new team around them. Rebuilding barely started and the immediate goals seemed to be just hanging in the league.

Botev (Vratza) – 6th with 29 points. The previous year they were found guilty of bribing and their match against Sliven was voided and awarded to Sliven – which changed the final table in a scandalous manner: ZSK Spartak was turned back at the final ceremony and the bronze medals given to Sliven. ZSK Spartak protested in vein and the whole issue was solved in 1990, when the old decision was overruled and ZSK Spartak installed back at 3rd place. This season Botev was guilty of nothing, but felt casualty of the Cup final scandal – they had wrong name! A name of historic person. And were renamed. But that was after the season ended, Otherwise, nothing particularly noticeable – relatively good season as far as final position. Crouching from left: Valery Grekov, Valery Tzvetanov, Yulian Emilov, Tzvetan Danov, Ivan Stoyanov, Tzvetan Petrov.

Middle row: Petar Kamenov – coach, Todor Todorov, Todor Mitov, Rossen Sabotinov, Ivan Radoslavov, Ventzislav Lukanov, Nikolay Dobrev, Georgiev, Georgy Kamenov – assistant coach.

Top row: Dr. Petar Kyupriisky – doctor, Danail Marinov, Emil Marinov, Lyudmil Tzvetkov, Ventzislav Bozhilov, Bichovsky, Iliya Valov, Kostov – masseur.

Pirin (Blagoevgrad) performed best of the newly promoted clubs and finished 5th with 31 points. Well, it was not particularly exciting season, but at least the troubles plaguing them since the late 70s appeared to be over: a new team was established, there were no scandals and perhaps the most important factor was that no great young talent emerged, attracting the interest of the big clubs. Petar Mikhtarsky, 19 years old, just started his career and was noticed, but Lady Luck smiled on Pirin – all big clubs had formidable center-forwards at the moment. But the smile was even bigger that that: thanks to the Cup final scandal, Pirin went to represent Bulgaria in the UEFA Cup – ate least statistically and with artificial help, this season became the best ever season in the history of the club.

If Pirin was lucky, thanks to circumstances, Lokomotiv (Sofia) was unlucky, because of the same circumstances. They were seemingly ready with new good squad – few veterans remained, but their role was largely supportive by now and retirements were going on smoothly: Yordan Stoykov retired (and became the assistant coach of the team), but Ventzislav Arssov returned from Cyprus. He, Georgy Bonev, and Boycho Velichkov were only remains of the team of the 70s, but talented youngsters already gathered experience and promised solid, if not great future. Velichkov and goalkeeper Nikolay Donev were national team players and although they were not going to last, their absence was not dangerous. Lokomotiv played strong fall season and finished 2nd, but slowed down and dropped to 4th place by the end of the season. 33 points, finally, losing a point to scoreless tie.

Trakia (Plovdiv) finished 3rd with 33 points (2 points lost to scoreless ties) – ahead of Lokomotiv (Sofia) on better goal-difference. By now, it was expected – arguably the best squad this club ever had was not going to win a championship. It was clear for some years already – as it was clear that they too strong to drop down. Then again, it was a squad worth a title – and they got it, at least for awhile. This is a picture published after the end of the season, mostly illustrating the great confusion the Cup final created: the photo of ‘the champions’ was not actual one at all: the back-up goalkeeper Milan Karatanchev was not a member of the quad this season – he moved to Second Division Arda (Kardzhali). Anyhow, sitting from left: Antim Pekhlivanov, Marin Bakalov, Blagoya Blangev, Kostadin Kostadinov, Petar Zekhtinsky, Trifon Pachev, Vassil Simov.

Middle row: Ivan Glukhchev – coach, Georgy Georgiev, Ivaylo Stoynov, Zapryan Ivanov (this player deserves a note: during the years he appeared under three different names – Nikolov, then Ivanov, and finally Rakov) , Slavcho Khorozov, Dimitar Mladenov, Boris Khvoynev, Lyubomir Dobrev – doctor, Nikola Dafinsky – assistant coach.

Top row: Atanas Pashev, Dimitar Vichev, Roumen Yurukov, Todor Zaytzev, Kosta Tanev, Simeon Batakliev, Milan Karatanchev, Mincho Minchev.

The importance and influence of the players here is not to be denied – stretching from 1980 to the end of the 1990s, players of this squad had key roles in Bulgarian football. At least 13 of them played for the national team. Yet, as a squad, there was always something missing. May be they were unfortunate in some way, but they were no champions. Not with performance.

CSKA ‘Septemvriisko zname’ – 2nd with 36 points (1 point lost to scoreless tie). It was not their season – in a sense, CSKA lost the battle for the championship in the fall: they 3rd in half-season, lagging 5 points behind Levski. Levski played well in the spring and nothing changed: one round before the end of the season CSKA had no way of catching up. Even if the stupid rule was not in place, they lost the title – with full record and assuming they won their last match, they would have 39 points. Levski had 40, even if the rule for scoreless ties applied only to them and they lost their last match. No matter what, CSKA was second. However, the Cup final scandal happened before the last round and both top teams were expelled and disbanded. They did not play their last games and victories were awarded to their opponents – in the case of CSKA, they had to play with Dunav (Russe). Dunav benefited greatly from the penalization of CSKA: they got 2 points for nothing and escaped relegation thanks to that. If the match was played, Dunav certainly was going to be relegated – they were too weak an opponent for CSKA and it was highly unlikely CSKA would go to make some deal to save them – or at least try to save them, for Levski also had nothing to play for anymore and could give the match to Beroe, which, having better goal-difference than Dunav would be still 14th and Dunav out.

Levski-Spartak led the championship from start to finish and won the championship one round before its end. The picture was taken then, clearly for publication as soon as the championship was over: this seasons champions. Then the Cup final was played with the horrible aftermath and the photo was published 7 years later, when justice was restored. This was the great squad of Levski of mid-80s, which was destroyed. Not completely, but one can only wonder what could have been, if this team was not so severely penalized, if only for awhile: it was highly talented team, rapidly climbing up, but not yet at its peak. It could be argued, that they never reached their potential because their ascent was stopped, coach and players suspended. Frankly, when suspensions were lifted, something was missing – crucial time was lost, spirit broken down a bit. It was really a shame to kill this team, but time cannot be reversed and nothing could be changed. Anyhow, these were the champions, a second season in a row. And they were not champions…

Instead of the previous picture, this one was hastily published. It says, as if nothing happened, that this is the new champion of Bulgaria – Trakia (Plovdiv). Standing from left: Iv. Glukhchev – coach, Z. Ivanov, M. Yanev, Sl. Khorozov, Iv. Kochev, D. Vichev, G. Georgiev, K. Tanev, N. Dafinsky – assistant coach.

Middle row: L. Vlassov – masseur, Tr. Pachev, V. Simov, P. Zekhtinsky, K. Kostadinov, R. Yurukov, At. Pashev, L. Dobrev – doctor.

Sitting: R. Bayrev, Y. Dinev, M. Bakalov, D. Mladenov, A. Pekhlivanov, B. Blangev.

Here is much better photo of the champions by default. Unlike the one published in Bulgaria, the Slovak magazine published a real one of the champions – there is no Milan Karatanchev, but the actual back-up goalkeeper Mavri Yanev. He had a single appearance and disappeared without a trace, but this is just a novelty. Really important is the mood – the new champions do not look happy, certainly knowing that the title is not really theirs. It was rumored then that a new star of the Party, coming from Plovdiv schemed heavily to make Trakia champions by whatever means and seized the opportunity of the scandal to push his own agenda, thus, arguing for the strongest possible penalties for CSKA and Levski. Now this line is forgotten and the scandal heavily mythologized, focusing only on CSKA and Levski – everything else is out of the picture: the bribery scandal in the Second Division, the scheming of the functionary from Plovdiv, the unfair escape from relegation of Dunav (Russe), the renaming of whole bunch of clubs, which irritated their supporters, since they were innocent casualties of a scandal in which they had no involvement at all, the stupid rule for scoreless ties, breeding corruption. Neither Botev Plovdiv as a club – which played under the name of Trakia at the time, although they were forcibly renamed in a much earlier campaign, in the 1960s – nor their fans, not even individual players of the team, got ever much pride of the awarded title, but they got to play in the European Champions Cup – the only point of satisfaction. Then 1990 came and the artificial title was taken away and restored to Levski.

Second Division. One league of 22 teams. It was still too large league, but it was reduced by 14 teams. The season was tough for few former first-division members, notably Marek (Stanke Dimitrov), Rozova dolina (Kazanlik), Yantra (Gabrovo), and Belasitza (Petrich). The decline of Yantra was going on for years, now hitting the bottom. The problems of the other three were similar – their cities were small. Once out of the top league, neither club had chances for strong recruits. Just the opposite – players left them. Marek had fantastic years with very small team, which aged without any additional players of worth.

Rozova dolina (on the right, before starting home match against Lokomotiv Plovdiv in white) eventually recovered in the spring half of the season and finished 10th at the end, but the other three were relegated. Plus tiny Sportist (General Toshevo). Marek started the season with its traditional name – Marek – but the final table gives different name: Dupnitza. Yes, they have been renamed after the end of the season, when the Party decreed its weird will. It may be confusing but… the original name of the city is Dupnitza and that is the name today as well. But the Communist renamed it Stanke Dimitrov, after one of their heroes, a Soviet terrorist,which was killed once upon a time. His conspiratorial name was Marek – given to the club. But now clubs cannot use names of historic persons, so it was renamed, perhaps with some defiance of authority, to the old name of the city. The upfront was eventually spotted and the club was renamed again – this time to the mountain, surrounding the town – Rila. Fast forward to the present: today the city is again Dupnitza and the club – Marek. Mind boggling? Should be – this is Communism after all. Cannot have a club named after historic person – unless this person is Spartacus. All clubs with name Spartak were not renamed. So, there was Spartak (Plovdiv), freshly reincarnated, in the Second Divison – they finished 6th.

Because of the big scandal at the Cup final, a lot of other things were hardly mentioned and remain a mystery: most second division teams were tightly packed – 6 points divide Dupnitza (or Marek), 19th and relegated, and 5th-placed Svetkavitza (Targovishte), but for whatever unmentioned and plainly forgotten crimes, 15 teams had points deducted. Dupnitza, in fact, earned 44 points and should have been 5th, but 7 points were taken out, thus, 19th. The lucky team was Arda (Kardzhaly), the only one bellow the top 6 without deducted points – thanks to the penalization of Dupnitza, they survived, ending 18th with 38 points. Equal clubs – either that, or rampant match-fixing took place – but the league was sharply divided between 4 strong teams and insignificant bulk. Either that, or… corruption again: new rule was enforced this season in the first division and possibly for the second division as well – if a match ends with scoreless tie, 0-0, nobody gets points. Fine, although hardly making sense rule, until one looks again at the final table – the leading 4 teams lost no points. Only two other teams did not lose points, but they hardly had any ties – Svetkavitza, 5th, had only 1 tie, and Arda – 4. Shell we speculate a little? A agreement of the whole league – let score one each every game and start the really playing after that. USSR used similar rule with the same agreement back in the 1970s. Corruption or not? Well… two teams were expelled after the end of the season for corruption… suspicion is valid. Prove is another matter – who is caught pays, who is not – smiles and claims innocence, high morals, etc. Prove depends mostly on not very moral actions in football – if we remember the West German match-fixing scandal in the early 70s: the movers and shakers of the scheme ‘uncovered’ it when it did not work for them.

Osam (Lovech) was 17th with 38 points.

Neftokhimik (Burgas) – 12th with 39 points.

Septemvriiska slava (Mikhailovgrad, today Montana) – 11th with 39 points.

Dobrudzha (Tolbukhin, today Dobrich) – 9th with 39 points. And so it went.

But what mattered here was the race for promotion, involving 4 teams. All former first-division members. They battled to the very end, but the teams who stepped on the pedals in the spring-half of the championship won. Haskovo and Shumen were on top after the fall-half finished, but they had no real lead and small mistakes rather than great performance changed the positions in the spring. Haskovo (Haskovo) finished 4th with 51 points – 8 points ahead of the 5th placed Svetkavitza (Targovishte), just to give you a taste of the difference between these 4 leaders and the rest. Shumen (Shumen) took 3rd place with 53 points. Goal-difference defied them – Lokomotiv (Plovidv), the best scorers of the championship, clinched 2nd place. Shumen most likely fixed a game or two in order to get promoted and were caught. They and Pirin (Gotze Delchev), 7th in the final table. It was rather obvious – Shumen needed to win by any means; Pirin, secure in mid-table and playing for nothing, did not mind getting some cash from those in need of points. Hardly the only clubs using illegal means, but they were caught somehow and expelled from the league after the end of the season. Oh, well… justice for big fish and for small fish: no mercy for small fry like Shumen and Pirin (and conveniently, the too-large division was reduce to 20 teams). CSKA and Levski, though, remained in the same division they were expelled with massive noise from.

Lokomotiv (Plovdiv) clinched 2nd place with 53 points and better goal-difference than Shumen, and got promoted. Sitting from left: Roumen Staykov, Fedya Mikov, Eduard Eranosyan, Anyo Sadkov, Georgy Andreev – chairman of the club, Khristo Sotirov, Ivan Bedelev, Krassimir Kostov, Georgy Karushev.

Middle row: Slavcho Hadzhiev – masseur, Khristo Kolev, Georgy Tashev, Emil Illiev, Lyubomir Burnarsky, Khristo Bonev – coach, Stefan Draganov, Lyubomir Koradov, Bogomil Tilev, Georgy Popov, Vassil Ankov – assistant coach.

Top row: Dimitar Kalkanov, Ivan Georgiev, Racho Kilapov, Atanas Marinov, Georgy Dimitrov, Georgy Tenev, Lachezar Mitzin.

Return to top league football was the aim, so well done and everybody happy, but Lokomotiv suffered from imbalance for almost a decade. It had been a squad of two parts and remained so, unfortunately – Sadkov and Eranosyan were national team players and Khristo Kolev was going to join them soon. Atanas Marinov was also no stranger to the national team, but suffered of heavy injuries and played little. Tenev was highly praised goalkeeper of the junior national team. Sotirov, Karushev, Dimitrov, Draganov, Koradov were also noted for their abilities and much was expected from them in near future. Most of the squad was home grown, coming from the youth system of the club, but as a while, most of the players were very young and inexperienced. Their game was uneven, the team was plagued by injuries and suspensions. Yes, they won the Soviet Army Cup a year ago, but even winning Second Division was too much for them. The legendary Christo Bonev captained them on the way to the Cup and called it a day after that to become the coach of team. An young coach, without much experience yet – eventually, the former great player will become very good coach, but this was his beginning and it was not all that fantastic. The near future did not look very bright – observers had strong reservations, noting many shortcomings of the team, especially when playing against tight defenses and under pressure. The talent was there, but the mentality was not right. Lokomotiv depended mostly on its strikers, the defense was weak and fragile, and it was pretty much a gambling of outscoring the opponents – all or nothing. Even in second division this was not very successful approach – true, Lokomotiv scored most goals in the league, but relegated Dupnitza allowed fewer goals in their net; Lokomotiv lost 11 games and the best they could do was 2nd place and that just on slightly better goal-difference. If the stars – Sadkov, Eranosyan, and Kolev – left for stronger teams and Atanas Marinov did not recover… better not think about it. Lokomotiv was still paying heavy price for the grave mistake made in the middle of the 1970s – a group of veterans, Bonev included, were kept way too long, the team became divided into very old players and bunch of inexperienced youngsters, who never had a chance to take leading positions and dispirited left one after another the team. Then the old simply became too old and quit, and there was nobody else. So far, the division remained, it was not a homogenous squad, there was no balance and no worthy substitutes – the reserves, almost half the team, were not top league material. Mind, pretty much the same squad, with the same imbalance, was relegated the previous year from first division, lasting only one season.

Akademik (Svishtov) won the championship with 54 points from 23 wins, 9 ties, and 10 losses. Scored 67 goals, received 32 – the best defensive record this year, but 4 teams scored more goals than them. Sitting from left: Petrov, Ilchev, Ivanov, Venkov, Metodiev, Trenchev, Redzhev, Moskov.

Middle row: Atanassov – assistant coach, Andreev, E. Assenov, L. Assenov, Gelov – coach, Borissov, Russinov, Marinov, Donchev – masseur.

Top row: Toskov, Botev, Staykov, Georgiev, Filev, Peychev, Mateev.

Difficult victory, given the circumstances – it could have gone another way. But it was also fair, again, under the circumstances: Shumen was caught red-handed. For Akademik, it was a second time they won promotion to the top league – a wonderful success, but their predicament worked against them. This was ‘students’ club, attached somewhat to the local University of Economics. The University had good reputation, but the city was small and money were far from great. The main attraction was relatively easy given degree and profession, which appealed to few football players. As a students club, the squad was never very strong and also very unstable – players came from afar, stayed a few years until getting degree and left. It was structural problem more than anything – all ‘students’ clubs had no way of keeping players after they finished education, it was somewhat against the rules. That was why Akademik lasted only two seasons the first time they moved up to the top league and there was no reason to believe this time would be different: the squad had no resemblance of the team playing in the first division only a few years back. It was entirely different, yet, of the same make: mostly little known players. Nine players had top league experience, but they were mostly second-raters at best. Some showed promise years ago, like the full-back Ivan Ilchev, formerly of Chernomoretz (Burgas), but later stalled and seemingly decided to take it easy and get education instead. It was very experienced team, but from second division perspective. Of course, there were interesting names – the goalkeeper Kiril Peychev, formerly of Trakia (Plovdiv) played for the national team, but had heavy competition in Trakia and spent many years on the bench. The mid-field dynamo Lozan Trenchev, a late-bloomer, had been the motor of Belasitza (Petrich), but when his former club was quite unfairly relegated, he decided to make the best in the few years left to play and moved to Akademik – he was already 32 years old. Ilchev, of course, was also a player with good reputation. There were few promising youngsters – Iliya Redzhev, formerly of Pirin (Blagoevgrad), the Assenov brothers, formerly of Botev (Vratza) – but players like Roland Georgiev were the norm: once upon a time he was seen as promising junior and moved to the first team of Levski (Sofia). It was short encounter with top league football – he played only one match in the first division, then meandered through various small second-division clubs until joining Akademik. Now he was approaching 30 and only the team captain Nikola Moskov (who never played in the first division) and Lozan Trenchev had more second-division games than him. Nice squad, but not a first-division squad and it was clear that new recruits were needed, including a new coach, for Yanko Gelov was similar to his team – plenty of experience, but largely second-division experience with smallish clubs. It was also clear that the inevitable newcomers would not be very strong names, but various discards from other clubs.

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.

 

The Cup. It was different story, deliberate or not. The final was reached by teams outside the battles for the title. AIK was unfortunate and missed the final championship stage, but Osters IF was not even close to such a possibility this year. May be they put all their efforts in the Cup tournament and AIK, once out of the championship, also aimed at winning. At the final, ambition drove both candidates and no winner emerged in regular and extra-time: 1-1. Penalty shoot-out is always chancy, but this time it looked like justice prevailed: overall, AIK was better team this year. They clinched victory 3-2.

Unlucky Osters IF, but it was only fair they lost the final. At least their dignity was intact – they did their best at the final. No shame losing a penalty shoot-out. Yet, their season was weak and in terms of fairness, they had to lose. If football has anything to do with fairness, of course.

Must have been a great moment for AIK – they lost a chance to fight for the title only on goal-difference and were one of the strongest Swedish squads this year. Winning the Cup was more than compensation. Not an easy win, perhaps even a bit lucky, but they have been unlucky in the championship, so it was fine. It was the 4th Cup for AIK and the first after 1976 – had to weight almost 10 years for another trophy, but it was theirs again. The title was out of their reach since 1937, so the Cup was perhaps more important for the club – given the circumstances, they had no chance competing with IFK Goteborg and Malmo FF. As a Stockholm-based club, they had strong local competition for available top players and no chance of building really strong team. Perhaps the numbers of won cups appear small, but the reason for it is the Swedish Cup was introduced only in 1941 – the championship exists since 1896. AIK could not compete with Malmo FF in terms of Cup winning, but with this victory they climbed to 2nd position, leaving IFK Norrkoping and IFK Goteborg behind.

First Division. The formula of the championship was slightly changed this season: it was still two-phased championship, but instead of the top 8 going to the second phase, only the top 4 were going ahead this year. Of course, there are old and unsolvable problems with many-phased championships: a small league, like the Swedish, needs a way for playing more games, especially for the leading clubs. But second phase makes the regular part of the season quite meaningless: it is enough for a team to qualify. A smart, but otherwise limited team can do just that, saving strength for what really counts. They don’t need to finish first or second – 8th place would be enough and such a team can go all the way to the title after the first phase. In a league of just 12 teams a tactic like that means that pretty much one of the outsiders may end up champion. Even in honest countries like Sweden scheming can be used – it is not corruption after all, just a tactical matter. Of course, the case is largely theoretical – weak teams hardly ever can go very far – but the real problem remained anyway: the regular part of the championship was almost playing for nothing and it was even stupid to put much effort in it, risking tiredness and injuries. So, it was just the top 4 from the regular championship going ahead this year, opening immediately the other problem: most teams of the league had nothing to play for at all, once getting enough points for survival. Short season and long vacation. In a way, 8 of the 12 teams had to play a bit just to avoid relegation. And if there were weak outsiders, it was just playing the motions for good number of clubs.

There was such outsider this championship:

Trelleborgs FF had no bite and was at the bottom the whole time – 12th with 12 points.

Two other teams battled between themselves for survival.

Mjallby AIF lost the battle – 11th with 15 points. Along with Trelleborgs, they were relegated.

IFK Norrkoping survived – 10th with 17 points. Lucky boys.

IK Brage celebrated its 60th birthday with keeping place in the top division. Nothing more to brag about, though – looked like they managed managed to earn enough points for survival early and the rest was pretty much a vacation. 9th with 19 points.

Similar to Brage were Osters IF – taking it easy at the championship, but concentrating on the Cup tournament. 8th with 20 points.

Halmstads BK was satisfied with easy season too – 7th with 21 points.

Hammarby IF was perhaps more ambitious, but not strong enough: 6th with 24 points.

AIK was unlucky – they fought for top place and going ahead, but lost the battle on goal-difference – three teams ended with 26 points; AIK had the worse goal-difference and took 5th place.

The top four at the end of the regular part of the championship went ahead: IFK Goteborg – 4th with 26 points; Orgryte IS – 3rd with 26 points; Kalmar FF – 2nd with 28 points; and Malmo FF – 1st with 30 points.

On the surface, Malmo FF seemed like prime candidate for the title – strong in the first phase, outplaying all. But then again… IFK Goteborg, arguably the strongest Swedish squad at this time, played just enough, barely enough, to reach the second stage. And Malmo FF had to face them in the semi-final.

Face to face, the leading Swedish teams had nothing to hold back. Fresher IFK Goteborg won both legs – 2-1 at home and 2-0 in Malmo.

Malmo FF was out, seemingly, just to prove how stupid was to win meaningless phase of a championship. May be even to prove how stupid is to have English coach, for the English played seriously and without tactical schemes from start to end. Thus, the team was tired when it really mattered and the opponent – fresher.

Kalmar FF proved the same as Malmo FF – whatever strength they had, they spent in the first phase. Second best then, but so what? Orgryte IS was in high gear now and beat them twice – 4-2 and 3-1.

There was no small final for the bronze medals – Malmo FF and Kalmar FF had to sulk and lick their wounds without any chance for consolatory victory.

IFK Goteborg and Orgryte IS met to decide the championship – a final between 3th and 4th in the opening phase, both teams barely qualifying for the semi-finals, but once they achieved that, they were in top form. Or may be not… at least, IFK Goteborg was liable to misstep. They lost the first leg of the final at home 2-4. They lost badly and, seemingly, everything was over. But they came back in the second leg and won it 3-2. It was high drama, but it was not enough for the best Swedish team: Orgryte still prevailed by a goal.

Title lost, but it was not so bad after all: the team was wonderful – so far, the bigger loss was the coach, who made this squad – Sven Goran Eriksson. But he had good replacement – Lennart Johansson. The top players were not sold yet, so it was just a matter of slight adjustment, perhaps a bit of fine tuning of form. That was Sweden after all – no big tragedy because the team finished second.

Orgryte IS played their cards right and truimphed. A good example of timing and sober evaluation of priorities – the team struggled a bit at first, but once they reached the final stages, they were just fine and fought with great spirit to the very end. The 1985 champions of Sweden, third row from left: Raymond Carlsson (lagledare), Anders Carlsson, Conny Karlsson, Åke Johansson, Henrik Svartborn, Anders Holmvén, Sören Börjesson,Agne Simonsson (Tränare)

Middle row: Dennis Olsson, Jan Gidebratt, Jan Hellström, Glenn Martindahl, Piter Esberg, Tony Ohlsson, Gunnar Samuelsson, Anders Andersson

Sitting: Hans Prytz, Peter Rodin, Sonny Åberg, Sven Andersson, Lars Andersson, Göran Ramstedt, Dennis Skånberg (ass,tränare).

Playing their cards right was the whole secret – this is a modest squad, especially compared to IFK Goteborg and Malmo FF. Conny Carlsson was more or less the only familiar name. There was some good talent, but nobody with a name yet. Sturdy team, depending on collective effort and good timing, but nothing special. It was nice to see them win, though – Orgryte was the underdog. It was the 14th title for Orgryte, but their first after 1928! A 15th title was unlikely in the visible future, though, so it was truly a big moment to be cherished. Even more than that: Orgryte IS was still the most successful Swedish club – Malmo FF had 12 titles at the moment, IFK Norrkoping – 11, and IFK Goteborg – 10.

Second Division Nodra.

Falu BS – the weakest team in the whole second division. Unable to win even a single match. Only 3 ties gave them points. 3 points.

Tyreso FF – 13th with 19 points.

Karlslunds IF – 12th with 21 points and the third relegated team this year.

Ope IF – 11th with 23 points.

IFK Vasteras – 10th with 25 points.

Vasalunds IF – 9th with 25 points.

Sandvikens IF – 8th with 26 points.

IF Brommapojkarna – 7th with 26 points.

Lulea FF – 6th with 27 points.

IFK Eskilstuna – 5th with 28 points.

Orebro SK – 4th with 28 points.

Like the other group, three teams were high above the rest of the league, battling for the top two positions, giving chance for promotion.

Gefle IF lost the battle – 3rd with 35 points.

Vasteras SK settled for 2nd place with 38 points.

With 40 points, Djurgardens IF won the championship. 16 wins, 8 ties, 2 losses, 50-20. Vasteras SK scored more goals and had much better goal-difference, but Djurgardens ended with more points.

The promotion play-offs opposed a group winner to the second-best in the other group. Two legs were played. Djurgardens IF and GAIS proved to be equally matched – both legs ended 0-0, goals were scored at last in the extra-time, but still there was no winner: 1-1. Penalty shoot-out favoured Djurgardens IF – 4-2.

No such drama in the other play-off. In fact, no drama at all: IF Elfsborg destroyed Vasteras SK at their home turf 5-2 and the second leg was mere formality. At home, Elfsborg simply won again, this time 4-0.

The group winners – Djurgardens IF and IF Elfsborg – were promoted to the top division. For both teams, it was a return to familiar league.

Sweden. The championship structure remained the same as in the previous years. Two teams promoted from Second Division, but those were the play-off winners after the regular season. The best two teams of each Second Division group played between themselves for promotion. The bottom three of each group were relegated. The top league was still a combination of regular season, continued with direct elimination rounds until the champion was decided.

Second Division Sodra.

IS Halmia was last and out with 11 points. And -56 goal-difference, which was quite a lot for a season of 26 games.

IFK Malmo – 13th with 16 points and relegated. Once upon a time this club was champion of Sweden.

Jonkopings Sodra IF was the third relegated team – 12th with 20 points.

Myresjo IF – escaped relegation. 11th with 22 points.

Degerfors IF – 10th with 23 points.

Markaryds IF – 9th with 24 points.

BK Hacken – 8th with 26 points.

Kalmar AIK – 7th with 26 points.

Vastra Frolunda IF – 6th with 26 points.

Norrby IF – 5th with 28 points.

Helsingborgs IF – 4th with 29 points.

Atvidabergs FF – 3rd with 35 points. Much stronger than most of the league, but failed to reach top spot.

GAIS – 2nd with 37 points. Good season and having a chance for promotion. Yet, unable to really challenge the group leader.

IF Elfsborg – champion of Sodra, after 17 wins, 7 ties, and only 2 lost games. Excellent goal-difference: 54-14. GAIS scored more goals than them, but none had a defensive record even remotely close to Elfsborg’s. 41 points, confident winners, but promotion was still a step away.

The Cup. Tatabanya Banyasz reached the final, a big achievement for pedestrian squad, mostly trying to remain the first division. Of course, they wanted to win the Cup – unfortunately, Honved also reached the final and meant business: Tatabanya lost 0-5!

After such terrible defeat, little positive can be said about the losers. But let give them some credit: Honved was mighty force at this time and Tatabanya was very modest squad. Short of a miracle, they had no chance – no chance of relative parity. Yet, nothing to be ashamed of: as a losing finalists, they were going to play in Cup Winners Cup. Not bad at all. They did than most Hungarian clubs this season, particularly the grands.

Honved won a double – it was inevitable, for they were really without rivals. It looked like this club will dominate Hungarian football for some years – they had long team, inevitable departures ti foreign clubs of key players would not be fatal. Unless the rivals rapidly develop new teams and Honved fails to recruit the crème of young talent.

 

First Division. Well, Hungary was leading Eastern Europe in implementing professional elements to its football: it was the first Communist country to introduce sponsor names on team shirts. First, if not counting Yugoslavia. Not every club had a sponsor, but this was understandable – even liberal Communist regimes were slow and careful when introducing Western ways. There were also some practical difficulties: current leading clubs tended to belong to quite big local firms, so advertisement of foreign products seemed unlikely. One can see why the champions can get sponsors and popular, but presently weak, clubs would not, but still there was curious discrepancy – lowly Tatabanya was one of the first teams advertising foreign firms. Novelties apart, the season was not much: one team dominated everything; traditional powerhouses were desperately trying to avoid relegation and no new promising team emerged. The final table is a bit misleading, when looked at many years after: the relegated teams were exactly those expected to be relegated.

Well, no mystery about the last in the table – SZEOL AK were the hopeless outsider this season, ending with just 14 points. 15th was Eger SE, a team expected to be relegated as well, but they had 25 points and weak as they were, they were only one of 6-7 similarly weak teams. Anyhow, SZEOL and Eger went down.
MTK-VM (Budapest) survived: 14th with 27 points. True, they lost the leading role in Hungarian football long time ago, but who would thing they will stay so low? At least their decline was familiar.

Ferencvaros (Budapest) – 13th with 28 points. Now, this was a big plunge. Ferencvaros trying to escape relegation? Unbelievable. But fact. Managed to escape, though.

Tatabanya was 12th with 28 points too. This area of the table was painfully familiar to them, nothing new.

Pecsi MSC – 11th with 28 points. Like Tatabanya, they were in their familiar waters.

Ujpesti Dosza (Budapest) – 10th with 28 points. It was goal-difference placing them at the top of the weaklings, but it was a big drop down. They experienced the same crisis as their big rivals Ferencvaros.

Haladas VSE – 9th with 29 points. Nothing new about them, except may be they should having said ‘thank you’ to Ferencvaros and Ujpesti Dosza joining the bottom feeders.

Debreceni MVSC – 8th with 30 points. Mid-table position – traditionally, that was the most they aimed at, so nothing new.

Csepel SC (Budapest) – 7th with 30 points. The smallest and normally weakest of the big Budapest clubs, they rarely were among the title contenders. In view of grand failures of Ferencvaros, Ujpesti Dosza, and MTK, Csepel would be rather satisfied this year.

Bekescsaba – 6th with 30 points. Quite an unusual place for them – typically, they finished in the lower half of the table – but stable season. No better than most below them, except they performed well against direct rivals and benefited by that: if goal-difference counted, they would be 8th.

Vasas (Budapest) – 5th with 31 points. Nothing special. Looked like they recruited some stronger provincial players – no big stars, but given the general level of the league, enough help. Let’s make no mistake here: Vasas was closer to those relegated than to the leading club: they had only 6 points more than the 15th placed.

ZTE (Zalaegerszeg) – 4th with 34 points. Great season for them, but ZTE was unlikely club to stay at the top of the league for long. Scoring was a big problem for them.

Videoton was the European sensation this season, but domestically little was added to their usual performance. A team to be treated with respect for years – they started their climb shortly after 1970 and after 1975 practically became established leading club, but not a title contender. Videoton managed to maintain a good squad for years – but it was a short squad and playing three tournaments was taxing them beyond the limit. No wonder Videoton was able only to fight for second place, but no blame for finishing 3rd: they lost the silver only on goal-difference.

Raba ETO (Gyor) clinched 2nd place – like Videoton, they had 36 points, but better goal-difference. Like Videoton, they broke down the domination of Budapest and like Videoton they were unable to improve on their squad, but only managed to keep it good enough. Top row from left: Rubolt Péter, Menyhárt Ernő, Hlagyvik Gábor, Stark, Somogyi József, Rezi Lajos, Melis Béla, Csikós Lajos.

Middle row: Mészáros Ferenc, Preszeller Tamás, Orosz László gyúró, Kiss László pályaedző, Verebes József vezetőedző, Győrfi László pályaedző, Kiss Zsolt, Ulbert Tibor

Sitting: Csonka Gyula, Szíjártó László, Hannich Péter, Turbék István, Szabó Ottó, Szentes Lázár, Hajszán Gyula, Inczédi, Rugovics Vendel.

It was good season nevertheless – for provincial clubs, 2nd place is never a disappointment or failure.

Honved (Budapest) easily won the championship. They were truly above everybody else, practically without rivals. Most of the best players were concentrated here and the greatest current star of Hungarian football, Lajos Detari, was leading the team. No wonder Honved reigned supreme, even if this team could not compete with the fantastic squad of the 1950s. It was enough, though, that no Hungarian team at the moment could compete with them. The only enemy was export… how long Honved may keep its stars and who could replace them was an open question.

Hungary. A weird season: on one hand, the sensational international success of a club largely unknown outside Hungary. The national team qualified for the 1986 World Cup. Honved was dominant like they were in the great 1950s. On the other scale, the negative one: Ferencvaros and Ujpesti Dosza were in terrible shape. So was MTK. The three old strongholds of Hungarian football were miserable and Honved for all its domination was not a great team. There were few talented players in the country – the national team depended largely on foreign-based professionals, who were quite old. The international sensation had no teeth for more than one tournament and did nothing on the home front. Overall, little hope for a big Hungarian revival.

Three teams clashed for two promotional places in the Second Division, but eventually only one remained consistent. The 20-team league was nothing to brag about – former first division clubs occupied the upper half of the table and the practically anonymous teams – the lower half. No emerging newcomer here. Two teams had 4 points deducted for some infringements – Nyiregyhazi VSSC (9th) and Diosgyori Vasgyarak TK (4th). The penalties disturbed nothing – even with full records, these teams would be out of the promotional race. Vaci Izzo MTE either started late its attack for top spot or lost steam in the spring – they finished 3rd with 49 points. The ended with the best defensive record in the league, but so what?

With 52 points Siofoki Banyasz SE finished 2nd. Of course, it was good period for the club – they won the Hungarian Cup the previous season and now – promotion to the First Division. That was all they aimed for: a return to the top league. Done. Fine.

Volan SC (Budapest) won the championship – 23 wins, 9 ties, 6 losses, 85-49 goal-difference, 55 points. Modest, as they were, it was wonderful season. Scoring goals was their forte, defense was quite weak. Nice to see underdogs winning, but there were 6 other Budapest-based clubs in the top division, all of them much bigger than Volan and there was practically no way Volan could get classy players. May be one or two veterans no longer needed by the big clubs; may be some discarded players, but no real reinforcements. As it was, Volan had fewer chances than Diosgyor for remaining among the best. They had to enjoy winning Second Division in full, for the future was not going to be easy.