Category: 1986

The Cup final was a Brugge derby – FC Brugge vs Cercle Brugge. Cercle Brugge was playing second consecutive final – they lost the previous year, so now was the time to win. And to beat the big-name city rivals… but they were too strong and too hungry. Class on their side and no matter how motivated Cercle Brugge were, FC Brugge won 3-0.

Most unfortunate – Cercle Brugge won the Cup the year before and would have been great to win a second, especially against their city rivals. But Cercle Brugge was a modest club, not matching their big neighbours in anything and miracle did not happen.

FC Brugge triumphed as expected and the season ended fine – with a trophy in hand. Would have been much sweeter if they won a double, but still fine. This was their 4th Cup. It was also their first trophy since 1980 – FC Brugge was coming back from somewhat secondary position in this decade.

First Division. No real outsiders, fairly equal league, and two outstanding teams, entangled in dramatic battle.

K. Lierse SK – last and relegated with 21 points.

K. Waterschei SV Thor (Genk) – 17th with 22 points.

RFC Seresien – or FC Seraing – 16th with 25 points.

KV Kortrijk – 15th with 25 points.

KSC Lokeren – 14th with 26 points.

RWD Molenbeek (Bruxelles) – 13th with 27 points.

R. Charleroi SC – or Sporting Charleroi – 12th with 28 points.

KV Mechelen – 11th with 31 points.

KSV Cercle Brugge – 10th with 34 points.

Royal Antwerp FC – 9th with 35 points. Vladimir Petrovic, however, was not in the team this year – he moved to France.

KSW Waregem – 8th with 35 points.

Beerschot VAV – 7th with 37 points.

RFC Liege – 6th with 39 points.

SK Beveren – 5th with 40 points.

KAA Gent – or La Gantoise, or ARA Gantoise… 4th with 41 points.

Standard (Liege) – 3rd with 42 points.

FC Brugge – 2nd with 52 points. Lost the championship on worse goal-difference. Top row from left: Jean-Pierre Papin, Tew Mamadou, Birger Jensen, Luc Vanwalleghem, Dwight Decert, Alex Querter.

Middle row: Eddy Warrinnier – kinesiologist, Didier Bargibant, Franky van der Elst, Rene Verheyen, Hugo Broos, Jan Ceulemans, Phillipe vande Walle, Raymond Mertens – assistant coach.

Sitting: Willy Wellens, Gino Maes, Marc Degryse, Henk Houwaart – coach, Stefan Vereycken, Antoine Cly, Leo van der Elst.

Anderlecht clinched the title with 7-goal better goal-difference than FC Brugge. 22 wins, 8 ties, 4 losses, 84-33 goal-difference, 52 points. Everything else equal with FC Brugge, but at the end – victory for Anderlecht.

Not a squad to be brushed away – everybody here was a national team player at some time: 7 players still playing for Belgium, 2 regulars for Denmark, one for Iceland, Peruzovic- no longer involved, but played regularly for Yugoslavia in the past.

 

Belgium. Goal-difference decided the champion this year. Down in Third Division FC Assent won Group B and was promoted.

KV Oostende was 3rd in Group A with 42 points.

KRC Harelbeke won Group A with 45 points.

Second Division. Three-team race for the top position.

RAEC Mons – last and out with 21 points.

R. Union St,-Gilloise – 15th with 24 points.

FC Verbroedering Geel – 14th with 25 points.

KRC Mechelen – 13th with 27 points.

FC Diest – 12th with 28 points.

St. Truiedense VV – 11th with 28 points.

Beringen FC – 10th with 29 points.

K. Boom FC – 9th with 29 points

KSC Hasselt – 8th with 29 points.

Patro Eisden – 7th with 32 points.

FC Winterslag – 6th with 33 points.

SK Tongeren – 5th with 33 points.

K, St.Niklase SK – 4th with 33 points.

KSC Eendracht Aalst – 3rd with 35 points.

Racing Jet – 2nd with 36 points.

Berchem Sport clinched 1st place with 38 points – 13 wins, 12 ties, 5 losses, 48-25 goal-difference and 38 points.

The second promotion was decided in the post-season tournament between the 4 teams right bellow the winner – but, curiously, Winterstag, 6th, played instead of the 5th, Tongeren. Did not help: Winterslag finished last with 3 points. Eendracht Aalst – 3rd with 4 points.

St.- Niklaase SK – 2nd with 6 points.

Racing Jet (Bruxelles) won the 1st place and was promoted with 11 points. Great achievement for the small club from the capital.

The Cup. The final was a Lisbon derby – Benfica vs Belenenses. Some hope for faded club to come back, but it was mostly a dream, placed against harsh reality. Benfica won 2-0.

Belenenses lost the final – by now, they were just modest team, mostly trying to keep place in the top league. Standing from left: Hélder, Jaime, Sambinha, Jorge Martins, Paulo Monteiro, Joel Ademar. First row: Artur Fonte, «Djão», Sobrinho, Kostov.

A title could be better, but still Benfica ended the season with a trophy.

First Division. Three-team race for the title and at the opposite end of the table – another three teams competed for the safe 12th place. The last 4 were relegated and 2 of them were outsiders.

Sporting Covilha was last and out with 17 points.

FC Penafiel – 15th with 18 points and relegated.

Vitoria Setubal was really down on their luck – they ended with 22 points, the same as their two other rivals, and had better goal-difference than them, but… head-to-head record plunged them down to 14th position and relegation. Quite a surprise – Setubal was not an usual candidate for relegation.

CD Aves managed to finish ahead of Setubal, but head-to-head record placed them behind Maritimo – if goal-difference was counted, they again would have been behind Maritimo, but also a place lower. No escape… they were relegated.

CS Maritimo was lucky and survived with 22 points, but best head-to-head record – 12th.

SC Salgueiros – 11th with 25 points.

Academica Coimbra – 10th with 25 points.

Sporting Braga – 9th with 26 points.

CF Belenenses – 8th with 28 points. Masters of ties – 14 out of 30 games total, the league record.

Portimonense – 7th with 28 points.

GD Chaves – 6th with 29 points. Rarely successful season – may be a bit lucky to be there, but only final positions count.

Boavista – 5th with 36 points. Well, they were too small of a club to be able to rub shoulders with the grands for long, but they were still of a much higher level than most of the league.

Vitoria Guimaraes – 4th with 40 points. Consistent, but forming somewhat a second category with Boavista of clubs too weak to challenge the leaders, yet, too strong for the rest of the league.

Sporting Lisbon eventually lost the race and settled at third place with 46 points.

Benfica bested their city rivals by a point, but still ended behind the enemy from Porto – 2nd with 47 points.

FC Porto clinched the title with 49 points – 2 points ahead of Benfica. It was a matter of single match difference: they won 1 game more than Benfica, which lost 1 game more than FC Porto. It was tough battle, nobody giving up and Porto was a bit luckier than Sporting and Benfica. Which, if anything, suggested further reinforcement of the squad – and that was done after the title was won. It was second consecutive title and 12th altogether.

Portugal. Good period for the Portuguese football, but even at the best times it was a matter of three clubs – and Benfica, Sporting Lisbon, and FC Porto competed with each and nobody else. The picture completely changed in the second level – it was almost another world. Tiny venues, often games played on sand – not on grass. But nothings stopped the game.

Second Division was still divided into 3 zones and the winners were directly promoted. The second-best in each zone competed between themselves for the last promotional spot.

Norte. Nothing much – one team dominated the championship.

Rio Ave had excellent season – they did not lose even a single match! 19 wins and 11 ties, 52-19 goal-difference, 49 points. The nearest pursuer was 7 points behind. Standing from left: Carvalho, Santana, Sérgio, Brito, Duarte. Front: Álvaro, Juanico, Rui Lopes, Pinto, Pires, Alberto. Going back to top level football, but it was eternal struggle – going up, then down, then up again.

Varzim finished 2nd with 42 points and had a chance to get promoted.

Centro. The only competitive second division zone – 3 teams battled for 1st place.

Down the table there was a team with ‘perfect’ record: Mangualde finished 7th with 10 wins, 10 ties, 10 losses, and 33-33 goal-difference.

The three-team race ended somewhat surprising: Feirense missed a step or two and finished 3rd with 40 points. Agueda was 2nd with 42 points and had only to hope for the last qualification spot.

O Elvas clinched the first place with 43 points. Unheard of outside Portugal club, modest and small, which depended on tight defense and eventually won the championship. Getting promoted was perhaps wildest dreams coming true, but the boys made it with 18 wins, 7 ties, 5 losses, 42-15 goal-difference.

Sul. One team dominated, even more so than the winner of Norte.

Silves, 14th with 23 points, was one of the 4 relegated teams. That was Second Division though – playing on something like neighbourhood ground for Sunday kick-abouts, no grass at all. Test of character…

Sacavenense did much better on tough surface – 8th with 29 points.

Uniao Madeira finished 2nd with 39 points. Top position was not up to them at all, but still they got a chance to climb up.

Farense reigned supreme – 21 wins, 5 ties, 4 losses, 59-22 goal-difference and 47 points. Uniao was left 8 points behind. It was great to go back to First Division – at least they will play on grass again, if nothing else.

Varzim won the last promotion – for them, it was a rollercoster: one year in second division, then in the first, then again in second… the same on, and on, and on.

The Cup. A bit of surprise, but this surprise also made the final absolutely predictable: RBC Roosendaal reached the final. Nice – the 10th placed Second division team. But the other finalist was Ajax… only miracle could help RBC, but Cruijff was not exactly the man allowing miracles to happen. And on top of everything the final was played at Ajax’s stadium… so 3-0 was perhaps graceful loss for RBC.

RBC Roosendaal had nothing to be ashamed of – the difference of class was so great and there was nothing to do about it. They reached the Cup final and that was may be their greatest achievement ever. Too bad Ajax did not win the championship, but even without European tournament it was wonderful.

Winning the final was not big deal by itself, but winning the Cup was important – Ajax and Cruijff finished the season with a trophy. This squad had only one rival – PSV Eindhoven – and the battle with them was exciting. Most importantly, Ajax seemingly managed to build a team close to the legendary one from the 1970s. Holland was theirs, now it was time for reconquering Europe.

First Division. One outsider and two outstanding leaders, but PSV Eindhoven dominated the season. It was also marked by massive return of those playing in England. Particularly high scoring records at the top of the table.

SC Heracles’74 – last and out with 12 points. They distinguished themselves by winning more away than home games. 2 vs 1.

NEC Nijmegen – 17th with 23 points and relegated.

MVV Maastricht – 16th with 24 points. Relegated as well. Third row from left: Paul Penders, Jean Maas, Arie van Staveren, Chrit Baetsen, Marcel Spa, Huub Driesen, Eric Gerets (short spell, quickly joining PSV Eindhoven), Hans Linders.

Middle row: Frans Schobbe, Cor Bromm – coach, Reginal Thal, Toin van Mierlo, Marcel Adam, Bert van de Poppe, Bert van Marwijk, Gilbert Hautvast, Huub Smeets, Ron Weyzen – assistant coach, John Voorts.

Sitting: Berry Penders, Jos Schmeitz, Eric Merk, Eric van der Luer, Rob Delahey.

Excelsior – 15th with 25 points.

Twente – 14th with 27 points. Top row from left: Henk Eysink – physiotherapeut, Martin Koopman, John Scheve, Evert Bleuming, Willy Carbo, Ron Willems, Andre Paus, Niels Overweg – assistant coach.

Middle row: Jan Steenbeeke – masseur, Dick Schoenaker, Bert-Jan Janssen, Ulrich Wilson, Rene Roord, Theo ten Caat, Fred Rutten, Epi Drost – assistant coach, Fritz Korbach – coach.

Sitting: Michael Birkedal, Manuel Sanchez Torres, Theo Snelders, Marcel Fleer, Patrick Bosch, Martien Vreijsen.

Not enough good players for something better – only Schoenaker, Snelders, and Sanchez Torres.

VVV Venlo – 13th with 27 points. Top row from left: Veggel – masseur, F. Verbeek, P. Berkens, J. Taihuttu, J. Rutten, J. Roux, L. Gilkes, H. Ringels, W. Hooreman.

Middle row: W. Teeuwen – manager, G. Kopp, H. Coort, W. Jacobs, R. Libregts, R. Reynierse, E. van Berge Henegouwen, P. Corbijn, C. burhenne, M. Verlijsdonk, G. Janssen, G. van Rosmalen.

Sitting: J. van Aerts, H. Winkelmolen, F. Nijssen, S. Vergoossen – coach, J. Versleijen – assistant coach, S. Valckx, J. Versleeuwen, W. van den Beek.

FC Utrecht – 12th with 32 points. Third row from left: John v. d. Linden, Jan v. d. Akker, Ton du Chatinier, John van Loen, Ton de Kruyk, Gerrit Plomp, Herman Verrips.

Middle row: Gijs v. d. Bidt, Gert Kruys, Peter v. d. Waart, Edwin Godee, Jan-Willem van Ede, Jan Lecker, Wim Rijsbergen, Ben Rietveld, Martin Ockhuyzen.

Henk Vonk – assistant coach, Fred Tuinman, Johan v. d. Hooft, Nol de Ruiter – coach.

Wim Rijsbergen playing his last days here – and, seemingly, helping enough.

Haarlem – 11th with 32 points. Top row from left: P. Keur, J. Bockling, C. Baas, C. Verkaik, M. Metgod.

Middle row: J. van Doorneveld – coach, R. Talan, R. Moniz, R. Hesp, L. Nijholt, M. Liesdek, Th. Immers – assistant coach.

Sitting: W. Balm, R. Attefveld, R. Collewijn, E. Metgod, K. Masefield, A. Leysner, R. Matthaei.

Go Ahead Eagles – 10th with 33 points.

AZ’67 – 9th with 34 points. Sinking… There still were few well-known players, but nothing like what Alkmaar had at its great days – Kees Kist (33 years old), Peter Arntz (32 years old), Gerrie Kleton (32 years old). It was much lower lever, no doubt – the English import David Loggie used to play for York City…

Fortuna – 8th with 34 points. Top row from left: H. A. Jessen, Mario Eleveld, Wim Koevermans, Anne Evers, Roger Houtackers, John Linford, P. Bruls.

Middle row: Dick Voom – assistant coach, Wilbert Suvrijn, Theo van Well, Tiny Ruys, Rene Maessen, Gerrie Schrijnemakers, Jos Nordang, Roger Reijners, Frans Thijssen, Bert Jacobs – coach.

Sitting: Wouter Holverda, willy Boessen, Andre van Gerven, Chris Korver, Arthur Hoyer, Rob Philippen.

Frans Thijssen back from Englsih glory and getting too old now.

Sparta – 7th with 37 points. Top row: Oomen, Schuurhuizen, v.d. Weel, Noortwijk, Dilberto, De Kant, Veldhoen.

Middle row: Nijmen, Klamer, Andriessen, De Goey, Fraser, Lengbeek, van Gaal, Vonk.

Sitting: Schmidt, Blind, Olde Riekernik, Eijer, Tiktak, v. Polanen, Tebbens.

Van Gaal was still playing along with bright young talent Blind and de Goey. One will retire soon and become famous coach, the other will move to the big clubs and also become stars. Sparta was just a donor, unfortunately.

FC Den Bosch – 6th with 37 points. Most famous was their coach Rinus Israel. On the field – Hans Gilhaus was great promise, but still too young.

Roda JC – 5th with 39 points. Third row from left: Norbert Keulen, Hennie Meijer, Marco Grassi, R. Frolichs, Jos Daerden, Rene Trost, Jimmy Calderwood.

Middle road: Frans Korver – coach, John de Jong, Hans Cremer, Ron Jans, Jan Nederburgh, Harry Klein, Martin van Geel, Peter van de Veen.

Sitting: Eugene Hanssen, Edwin Gorter, Rene Hofman, Jos Smits, Pierre Blatter, Rinie Verwest, Michel Haan.

Their best years, but such a squad could no go really high – the Englishman Calderwood was the their most recognizable player.

FC Groningen – 4th with 40 points. Top row from left: Jan Jaap Kooistra, Ron van den Berg, Stoffer Bakker, John de Wolf, Mark Verkuyl, Adri van Tiggelen.

Middle row: Han Berger – coach, Paul Mason, Johan de Kock, Pieter Beuzenberg, Edwin Bakker, Pieter Huistra, Harris Huizingh, Sief Ronde – assistant coach.

Sitting: Henk Hagenauw, Rob McDonald, Sjaak Storm, Steve Goble, Jos Roossien, Jan van Dijk, John Visser.

Wonderful season, but to keep even this level – good, but far from challenging the big clubs – they needed the impossible: to keep players like van Tiggelen and de Wolf. To keep their imports too.. Rob McDonald may not have been great player in the large scheme, but attractive enough for PSV Eindhoven to grab him.

Feyenoord – 3rd with 44 points. Too strong for the rest of the league, but in the same time much weaker than the other two big clubs. The last title came with Cruijff, who was never accepted by Feyenoord fans, and was often booed – the sign of weakness was in continuing using former Ajax stars: there were three of them this season – Johnny Rep, Tscheu La Ling, and Simon Tahamata. Perhaps the fans were not hostile to them, but it was a story of inability to either bring up own talent or hire stars from elsewhere – to keep up, Feyennord had to look to Ajax’s veterans… In general, it was aging team – including the 3 Danish national team players Nielsen, Eriksen, and Sorensen.

Ajax – 2nd with 52 points. Officially, Spitz Kohn was the coach – in reality, it was Cruijff, whose lack of proper credentials needed a bit of trickery – he had different position on paper. The team was wonderful and there was direct link with the greatest Ajax – Cruijff and van Dord coaching and Arnold Muhren back from England. Enough for inspiration, it seems – Ajax scored astonishing 120 goals this season. But it was good only for distant second place with 52 points.

PSV Eindhoven won the championship without letting any challenge: 27 wins, 6 ties, only 1 lost match, 100-22 goal-difference, and 60 points. Massive gap between them and Ajax – 8 points! Great scorers, best defenders, well-rounded, still having live link with the great squad from the 1970s – Willy van de Kerkhof, fresh great recruits – van Breukelen, Gerets, and most importantly Gullit. The advantage the had over Ajax was not that much talent, but experience – PSV was wonderfully coming to its peak as team and that was coming along with the peaks of their key players.

 

Holland. After the decline of late 70-s and early 80s, Dutch football was rapidly coming back – with talented young generation of players, talented crop of coaches, and two strong teams, playing exciting football. And scoring spectacular number of goals.

Second Division. Promotion was the only important thing – two teams directly and the third: the winner of promotional tournament after the end of the regular season.

Spcl. Cambuur – 19th with 19 points. Last.

Emmen – 18th with 24 points.

SC Heerenveen – 17th with 27 points.

FC Eindhoven – 16th with 29 points.

DS’79 Dordrecht – 15th with 29 points.

FC Wageningen – 14th with 30 points.

NAC Breda – 13th with 32 points.

Helmond Sport – 12th with 32 points.

SVV Schiedam – 11th with 33 points.

RBC Roosendaal – 10th with 33 points.

De Graafschap – 9th with 33 points.

Vitesse – 8th with 38 points.

FC Volendam – 7th with 40 points.

Telstar – 6th with 41 points.

Willem II – 5th with 42 points.

SC Veendam – 4th with 44 points.

RKC Waalwijk – 3rd with 45 points.

PEC Zwolle – 2nd with 51 points. Way stronger then most of the league and promoted as a result.

FC Den Haag – 1st with 62 points. Dominant and impressive champions: they did mot lose even one match! 26 wins, 10 ties, 0 losses, 85-33 goal-difference. They left the second-best team 11 points behind. Was it really important or not, but FC Den Haag had the only player with well established name in the whole league: Martin Jol, now 30-years old and back from successful career in West Germany and England.

The third promoted team had to be decided in the traditional small tournament after the season between 4 teams, qualifying by performance in different stages of the regular championship. Probably ambition played biggest role at this stage.

Vitesse was last just 2 points. RKC Waalwijk – 3rd with 3 points. Willem II – 2nd with 7 points. Veendam played perfect tournament – 6 games-6 wins – and won the last promotion to First Division.

The Cup final opposed Bordeaux to Marseille. Now, cup tournaments escape common wisdom and logic, but there were also critical signs to the current state of affairs there: Marseille, at its current state, was big outsider – Bordeaux had the best squad in the country. Yes, Bordeaux won, but it was only 2-1 and they prevailed only near the end of the overtime. The first half ended with Marseille leading 1-0 and in regular time Bordeuax managed only to equalize. That was the rub: against quite mediocre Marseille, mighty Bordeaux prevailed with great difficulty. Age… the signs of dangerous aging were there.

Nothing surprising Marseille lost – after all, they had only one high-class players and he was the goalkeeper. But even the loss was no big deal – it brought new confidence, something to step on and build on. Of course, losing a trophy was no fun, but determination to do better was probably freshly fueled.

Bordeaux was still on top – lost the championship, but won the Cup. And this was not just a small consolation for failing in the championship: this was only the 2nd Cup Bordeaux won and the first time was in ancient 1941. May be not confident victory, but still a great victory! That was also a third year in a row the team won a trophy – two titles, now the Cup. They were still best, still running fast, still focused and eager for more. Aging? But they were winning, so who cares? Well, it was not the end. Not this year.