Category: 1988

The Cup finals opposed the archenemies, both eager to salvage the season and win a trophy. Panathinaikos vs Olympiakos – always promising high drama. It was not not equal to the epic events in the championship, but it was dramatic final. Panathinaikos took the lead from a penalty in the first half, but early in the second half Olympiakos equalized also from a penalty. There was no winner at the end of regular time. In the extra-time the roles reversed – now Olympiakos came ahead, scoring yet another penalty, but Panathinaikos equalized – the only goal scored from actual playing situation in this final. No winner at the end of extra-time and penalty shoot-out was inevitable. Olympiakos missed 2 penalties and Panathinaikos won 4-3.
Complete humiliation of Olympiakos – miserable season and at the end losing the Cup to the archenemy. Chancy loss, but still a loss… Frankly, not a great squad of Olympiakos this year.
Lucky Panathinaikos, but they won the Cup and thus somewhat remedied otherwise poor season. No matter how, it was always great to beat Olympiakos, but the Cup victory would not really mask underperforming – this was arguably the strongest squad in Greece, full of national team players among which Saravakos was the current biggest star. Add the strong and stable Yugoslavian Zajec and well-established in Greece for years Rocha – even with the imports Panathinaikos had the edge over all other teams. All that and only a Cup won with difficulty and good luck…

First Division. Well, in few words: 6 teams fought for survival at the bottom. At the top there was no Panathinaikos and Olympiakos – the only season both teams dropped bellow 4th position. One team had slight advantage over two rivals and eventually won the championship, but not without a great Greek drama. It started on March 16, 1988 and lasted five days before the government intervened. Consequently, Greece ended with new champion, which made history and still remains unique. The drama started when a player of AEL Larissa was tested positive for doping and sports court ruled a penalty for the club of 4 points. That infuriated the whole city of Larissa, people not just went out on the streets to protest, but blocked the intercity highways and erected barricades and mock border check-points on them. Why doping test provoked such wild response? The guilty player – the rarely used Bulgarian striker Georgi Tzingov – first of all was a reserve,who did not play in the match for which he was tested. Second, the prohibited substance was Codeine, a drug widely used in flu medicines and not at all increasing the performance of football players, rather, the opposite. Tzingov claimed he had a flu and took the pills for that, not knowing they were made with some Codeine. Many supporters of AEL believed that the whole thing was rigged by powerful opposition, because they had a chance to win the title. And blocked the highways, and, somewhat ironically, placed banners at the barricades that all incoming traffic if about to enter Bulgaria and needs a visa. Thus, the whole scandal became a national crisis, for the country was effectively cut in two and commercial traffic was blocked. The stand off with rebelius city ended only when the Minister of sports voided the court decision and changed the rule for doping. From March 28 on, clubs were no longer responsible for doped players. The deducted points were restored, but the scandal boosted local support for AEL and on the wings of enthusiasm and fanatical support the team kept top position to the end and won the title. When the dust settled, this was the final picture:
Panachaiki – last with 20 points and relegated. They had 1 point deducted for some crime committed, but even if this point was restored they were going to be last.
Panserraikos – 15th with 21 points and relegated.
Veria – 14th with 23 points. Worse goal-difference relegated them.
Levadiakos – 13th with 23 points. Survived on better goal-difference.
Diagoras (Rodos) – 12th with 23 points and lucky to survive on goal-difference.
May be a picture of this season of Apollon Kalamarias (Thessaloniki) – they left little certain pictorial evidence this time, but luckily escaped relegation: 11th with 24 points.
Panionios – 10th with 26 points.
Aris (Thessaloniki) – 9th with 27 points.
Olympiakos (Piraeus) – 8th with 31 points. Terrible season for them, even ending with negative goal-difference of -2.
Ethnikos (Piraeus) – 7th with 32 points. Ahead of their mighty neighbours was a triumph. Standing from left: Vassilis Xanthi, Michael Gerothodoros, ?, Daniel Batista, D. Doxakis, Takis Kampolis.
First row: Dimitris Chortsas, Panagiotis Kotidis, Yiannis Antonopoulos, Claus Papachristou, ? – Sofianos maybe.
Iraklis (Thessaloniki) – 6th with 34 points.
Panathinaikos – 5th with 36 points. Poor season, which is surprising, for PAO seemingly had the best squad in the country.
OFI (Crete, Iraklion) – 4th with 37 points.

OFI deserves a second look not only because of their great ascent and good performance in Europe, but also for a counterpoint to the big clubs: having largely domestic second stringers, OFI managed very well, even playing better than the big clubs, which had squads studded with national team players and foreigners.
PAOK (Thessaloniki) – 3rd with 39 points. Strong season, a title contenders – at least to some late point of championship. They scored most goals in the league – 60 – and finished with the best goal-difference of +33.
AEK (Athens) – 2nd with 40 points. The best playing team from Athens, but it is hard to judge them – perhaps, major disappointment and frustration, for Larissa’s punishment put them on top. But the ruling was voided and they finished second. Then again… the drama happened well before the last rounds of the championship and after it Larissa played with even bigger enthusiasm. Purely on records, AEK ended 3 points behind the champions – hard to make a case of victimization.

AEL (Larissa), most often written just Larissa, made history. They were champions with 43 points from18 wins, 7 ties, 5 losses, and 51-22 goal-difference.
The title was massively celebrated and there was too many reasons for wild joy – not just the drama and the revolt of the city. Not just that Larissa won its first – and only – title. It was great victory of David vs Goliath: for the first time provincial club broke the monopoly of Athens-Piraeus-Thessaloniki. It is also the only time small provincials won the Greek championship. It was more than football victory – it was a victory of provincials against mighty big cities, and end of yoke and dominance, a matter of social justice, a triumph of the underprivileged, a people’s power and revolt. More than just football. Yet, it was football. And still against the odds in sporting terms.
Such rare winners really deserve more than one picture. The new champions standing from left: Christos Mikhail, Kostas Kolomitrousis, Jiannis Gkalitsios, Ioannis Alexoulis, Michalis Ziogas, Jiorgos Mitsibonas.
Crouching: Lazaros Kyrilidis, Thodoros Voutiritsas, Vassilis Karapialis, Jiannis Valaoras, Sakis Tsiolis.
Looking at the regulars… rather modest squad, even by Greek measures. True, AEL was doing very well recently, even winning the Cup, but at the beginning of the season only lunatic dreamers would see them as champions – the team lost more than gained: their Polish imports of the previous seasons were already gone. One of their best players in the previous seasons – Plitsis – was snatched by Olympiakos. Two other regulars did not sign new contracts. Their replacements were rather inferior: The Bulgarian winger Georgi Tzingov was not a big name in his home country and, worse, did not adjust to the team and played rarely. Not a starter at all, only becoming known because of the doping scandal. The other new import – the Zairian midfielder Caniemba – was even more anonymous and also not a starter. The Greek new recruits came from smallish clubs and were only reserves – it suffice to say that of all newcomers ill-famed Tzingov played most games: 11 in which scored 4 goals. AEL depended on the team established in the previous years and the great coach they had – the Polish well known Jacek Gmoch. He replaced another Polish coach before this season and continued the good job started by his predecessor. Doing more with less – a testimony of great coaching. If anything, the team was stable and already experienced, even tasting success by winning the Greek Cup. True, the big clubs were in shaky situation, but that was not AEL’s fault and they took full advantage of weakened opposition. Moral was further boosted by the city’s revolt in their support – the boys would not fail a city standing up for them to the effect of creating a national crisis.
To a point AEL (Larissa) overperformed and surely had not the making of a team to establish a dynasty, but they won the title and firmly placed themselves in history as the first and so far the only regional club to win the Greek title.

Greece. Ranked 18th. Greek football was surely going up and this was one of the most memorable – and also curious – seasons. Oh, not because some great football was played. It was the first season Panathinaikos and Olympiakos finished bellow top 4 – never before both mighty clubs were so low. Take it as you wish – as a general improvement of football, canceling the dominance of the most powerful and popular, or as weakening of same clubs, thus leveling the league somewhat, but only by lowering class. Yet, this was minor point – not only the champion was a big surprise, but it was one more example of backroom decisions. Just recently the Yugoslavian championship was decided in court – the Greeks topped that: the championship was decided by a city revolt, blocking traffic by erecting barricades on highways, even building temporary ‘border crossing’. The government, via the Minister of sports, had to step in and provide solution. The remedy in a way was more dangerous than the original problem – since the trouble started with doping case, the new rule hastily established made clubs not responsible for doping cases from now on. Given various scheming, bribing, backroom deals and heavy use of influence and clout in Greek football, such ruling could only increase off-field meddling and tampering with impunity. In case such a statement is objected, let’s point out that this season 2 clubs were found guilty of infringements and punished with deduction of points. The third club had its punishment revoked after the revolt. There were hardly any innocents and that for many years and it is really difficult to either blame or excuse anybody – Greek football had deeply embedded corruption. But the game went on.
Second Division. 18 teams, the top 3 promoted, the last 4 relegated. PAS Giannina had 5 points deducted for their wrongdoings. However, they still had enough points for 12th place. On the top head-to-head records decided those taking 2-4 places – promotions were at stake and one team was unfortunate. By the numbers: A.S. Chalkida (18th), A.O. Trikala (17th), Acharnaikos Menidi (Athens,16th), and Edessaikos A.O. (Edessa, 15th) were relegated.

G.S. Kallithea (Athens) survived by a point – 14th.
P.A.S. Giannina ended 12th. Point deduction placed near relegation, but they survived. After the deduction they were left with 32 points – one more than Edessaikos and Acharnaikos Menidi.
Overall, little excitement up the table.
May be a photo of this season of Pierikos (Katerini) – they were 8th with 34 points.
Athinaikos Vironas (Athens) finished 7th with 35 points. Somewhat difficult to judge – Athinaikos was slowly improving and recently was one of the better teams in the Second Division. Yet, they finished with only 4 points more than relegated Edessaikos and Acharnaikos Menidi.
Charavgiakos (Athens) was perhaps the pleasant surprise this season – they finished 5th with 38 points. Missing promotion up by very little. One of the many clubs in the Greek capital, but practically unheard of – they hardly played any Second Division previously and suddenly performed very well. Only the future could tell would they go up or down.
A.O. Kastoria lost its attempt to get promoted on head-to-head records. They took 4th place with 39 points.
Apollonas Smyrni – better known abroad as Apollon (Athens) – clinched 3rd place with 39 points, but better head-to-head record than Kastoria. Promotion was a huge relief: this was club accustomed to play top league football and not just making the numbers there.
Olympiakos (Volos) took 2nd place – they had the best head-to-head record among the teams with 39 points. Happily promoted up.
A possible picture of the Second Division champions – at least it is from that period, if not from this season. Like Apollon (Athens), A.S. Doxa (Drama) was used to play First Division football. No wonder they were eager to return to it and achieved it quite comfortably: 20 wins, 4 ties, 10 losses, 68-36, and 44 points. Five point ahead of the nearest pursuers.

Wales. Ranked 17th. Weird rating and also not mattering at all – it was based solely on Cup Winners Cup performance, the only European tournament Wales participated in. Since the UEFA ranking existed largely for the UEFA Cup allotments, how high or low Wales would be made no difference to anybody. Whatever championship Wales organized was strictly local affair – only the Cup mattered as the real Welsh competition, as strange as it was with all kinds of English clubs playing in it. Which was often a problem when English club won the Cup and could not represent Wales in the Cup Winners Cup, but not this season: both finalists were properly Welsh and also two of the better known professional clubs, playing in the English leagues – Cardiff City vs Wrexham. Cardiff City won the final 2-0.
Presently, both finalists were down on their luck, playing in the English Forth Division and thus wanting badly some victory, some trophy, to boost moral. As the saying goes, the better team won.
Cardiff City ended a good season – they earned promotion to Third Division and won their 20th Welsh Cup. Going to play in Europe in the fall – there was no country where 4th level team could reach participation in European tournament, but here it was, the sheer oddity. More important is the great round record of Cardiff City – how many clubs could say they won the national cup that many times? Great round number, which can only get higher.

The Cup. Dynamo (East Berlin) vs Carl Zeiss (Jena). Dynamo played Cup finals before and lost them – strangely, their fantastic dominance never made it to winning a Cup. So, they were wanted victory. But so wanted it Carl Zeiss… Regular time ended scoreless. Dynamo scored 2 goals in extra-time, perhaps inevitably, for their squad was more powerful than Carl Zeiss’.

Perhaps not just Carl Zeiss fans were disappointed by the loss, but what can you do… not a bad squad, but not as powerful as Dynamo’s.
BFC Dynamo (East Berlin) won their 2nd ever Cup and their 1st double. There is a bit of irony in that – when they really dominated and were at their peak, they never managed to win the Cup. Now, beyond their peak and already heavily challenged they won. A swan song of a kind. A double extracted with difficulty, without supremacy, by better goal-difference and goals scored in extra-time. But a double!

First Division. For years the top league was divided into distinct groups, but this time was different. Three teams were stronger than the rest, one was an outsider. The rest were relatively equal, which mostly made the season one of fighting for survival. More significantly, the dominance of Dynamo (Berlin) was challenged and there was exciting battle at the top – at the end it was still Dynamo best, but only on goal-difference.
BSG Stahl (Riesa) – hopelessly last with 16 points. They were promoted in 1982-83, so this time they went down after a long first division spell – by their standards, for the best place they reached was 11th in 1983-84.
FC Vorwaerts (Frankfurt/Oder) – 13th with 21 points. Their good years, suggesting revival of the once-upon a time strong Army club were also long gone by now. They were sinking for quite some time, naturally hitting the bottom – relegated, if only on worse goal-difference.
FC Rot-Weiss (Erfurt) – 12th with 21 points. Normally, insignificant mid-table team, but hardly ever in danger of relegation. This season they barely escaped – only on one-goal better goal-difference than Vorwaerts.
1. FC Union (East Berlin) – 11th with 22 points. They may see themselves as perpetual victims, but the bare fact was not a strong team, fighting only for survival. This time – successfully.
BSG Wismut (Aue) – 10th with 23 points. Hardly anything new – may be only that they were very close to relegation this season.
FC Hansa (Rostock) – 9th with 23 points. Just coming back from Second Division, so not bad? Well, they managed to survive – that was all.
FC Karl-Marx-Stadt (Karl-Marx-Stadt) – 8th with 25 points. Nothing special for many years, nothing new this season. Perhaps close to the relegation zone than usual.
1. FC Magdeburg (Magdeburg) – 7th with 25 points. Lost its edge some time ago and seemingly going into big decline: near relegation zone was absolutely untypical, but then again Magdeburg never had anonymous squad before. Perhaps Joachim Streich as a coach was a far cry from the player he was, but with squad like that it is hard to point at him.
FC Carl Zeiss (Jena) – 6th with 26 points. In a shaky situation recently, but looks like the crisis was over. Not a full recovery, but there was promise for better days.
HFC Chemie (Halle) – 5th with 26 points. Very promising return from Second Division, even if they were not really outside the danger of relegation through the season.
BSG Stahl (Brandenburg) – 4th with 29 points. Now, they were a pleasant surprise – unlikely club to finish that high, but they were played solid since promoted in 1983-84. Top row from left: Eberhard Janotta, Frank Jeske, Jan Voß, Uwe Ferl, Lutz Schwerinski, Jens Pahlke, Ingolf Pfahl, Timo Lange, Roland Keibel.
Middle row:Trainer Peter Kohl, Uwe Schulz, Hubert Gebhardt, Detlef Zimmer, Andre Hennig, Ralf Steinat, Co-Trainer Helmut Wilk.
Sitting:Bernd Kubowitz, Andreas Lindner, Karsten Winkel, Guido Euen, Roland Gumtz, Silvio Demuth,     Christoph Ringk.
Iron name – iron team.
SG Dynamo (Dresden) – 3rd with 33 points. Keeping their level, even if they were not title contenders this season.
1. FC Locomotive (Leipzig) – 2nd with 37 points. Strong for years and perhaps having their best season ever, for in the past they were not really a title contender. This season, however, they were and not only challenged mighty Dynamo, but lost the title only on goal-difference. Too bad, frankly… not only because everybody in East Germany was tired from Dynamo’s dominance and the ominous power behind them, but mostly because Lokomotive had excellent team, lead by the best East German player in the last two years – the national team goalkeeper and captain Rene Muller.
BFC Dynamo (East Berlin) clinched the title on better goal-difference only: 15 wins, 7 ties, 4 losses, 59-30 and 37 points. +29 vs +21 put them above Lokomotive. Bottom row from left: Jörg Fügner, Thomas Grether, Bodo Rudwaleit, Marco Kostmann, Marco Köller, Heiko Brestrich.
Middle row: assistant-coah Jürgen Bogs, Waldemar Ksienzyk, Hendrik Herzog, Frank Rohde, Thomas Doll, Andreas Thom, Eike Küttner, Christian Backs, coach Joachim Hall.
Top row: Bernd Schulz, Rainer Ernst, Burkhard Reich, Dirk Anders, Michael Schulz, Frank Pastor, Norbert Trieloff, Rainer Troppa.
10 titles in a row is something rare and significant and must be mentioned. The talent of the squad is not to be denied, but also it was a team to hate. Yet, it looked like they were no longer as strong as they were – for the first time they won only on goal-difference. Strong team with future stars of unified Germany, but as a team they seemingly reached their peak a year or two ago. Then again, it all depended on the their Stassi masters…

DDR. Ranked 16th. In brief, 10th consecutive title for Dynamo (Berlin), but this time with differences: this time Dynamo won also the Cup, making it the first double during their long dominant years. Yet, the iron grip of Dynamo on East German football was loosening – a double, but neither title, nor Cup were won confidently – the championship was clinched on better goal-difference and in the Cup final they managed to prevail only in extra-time. Bellow the top league little to report. Typically.
6 teams were promoted from Third Level, going to the two groups making the Second Division: BSG Aktivist (Borna), Dynamo (Eisleben), KWO Berlin (East Berlin), Motor F.H. (Karl-Marx-Stadt), BSG Schiffahrt/Hafen (Rostock), and
BSG Stahl (Hennigsdorf).
Second Division. One team dominated each group, so there was little excitement – former top league clubs dominated and got promoted. BSG Lokomotive (Stendal) was lucky – they ended in the relegation zone of Group A, but FC Vorwaerts (Frankfurt/Oder) was relegated from First Division and because of that their second team was relegated from Second Division instead of BSG Lokomotive (Stendal).
FC Vorwaerts II (Frankfurt/Oder) – 14th with 28 points on Group A, but went down for two teams of the same club could not play in the same league.
Second Division teams usually left next to nothing pictorial:
Motor (Babelsberg) was 11th with 31 points in Group A. Top row from left: Jürgen Nachtwey, Steffen Piehl, Heiner Martens, Norbert Rudolph, Matthias Kakoschky, Detlef Uecker, Thomas Müller, Ronny Eichelbaum
Middle row.: Ingo Nachtigall, Frank Schulz, Marcus Petsch, Klaus Herber, Rainer Köpnick, Peter Mett, Frank Edeling (Kapitän), Karsten Bosecker
Front: Uwe Patz, Andreas Prohn, Lutz Kerper, Jens Clemen, Ingolf Matthes.
BSG Chemie (Leipzig) – finished 6th with 41 points in Group B.
And there was little reason to make team photos – in both groups one team ruled. BSG Sachsenring (Zwickau) won Group B with 50 points from 20 wins, 10 ties, 4 losses, 66-34. They finished 8 points ahead of second-placed BSG Stahl (Thale).
Similarly, BSG Energie (Cottbus) topped Group A with 20 wins, 10 ties, 4 losses and 69-24. Ending with 50 points, they were 6 points clear from second-placed BSG Rotation (East Berlin).
BSG Sachsenring was relegated from First Division in 1985-86; BSG Energie – in 1986-87. They did not stay in Second Division long, but they did not last in the top league before their last relegation, so… it was the painfully familiar East German story: a handful of clubs meandering between first and second division, too strong for the lower level and too weak for the upper.

The Cup final opposed PSV Eindhoven to lowly Roda JC. Was it Roda really lowly? Yes, they had weak season and lucky to escape relegation, but the team was not all that bad and gave tons of trouble to the studded with stars PSV – twice they came ahead with goals scored by the Smeets brothers and it was 2-2 at the end of regular time. It was only in extra-time PSV clinched the victory – interrestingly, all goal were scored by their oldish greats: Gerets scored both goals in regular time and Lerby the winning goal in overtime. This is also telling – so much trouble was Roda JC that it took defensive players to turn the game over for PSV! A matter of grit and determination.
Roda JC fought greatly at the final, but still lost. Too bad, yet, it was expected – in the long run, PSV was much stronger. Can’t blame the boys in yellow, though – they tried hard and it took everything PSV had to overcome them. Top row from left: Petri Kolkanen, Michel Broeders, René Trost, Ernie Brandts, Huub Smeets, Marco Grassi, Piet Wildschut, Jos Smits.
Middle row: B. Jongen, Eric van der Luer, Michel Haan, Michel Boerebach, Martin van Geel, Wilbert Suvrijn, Silvio Diliberto, Moti Iwanier, Jan Versleijen (ass.)
Sitting: Eugène Hanssen, Raymond Smeets, Pierre Blatter, Rob Baan (trainer), Paul Jansen, John de Jong, Alfons Groenedijk.
Must have been painful for Ernie Brandts to see the victory going to the other side – he spent his best years playing for PSV, but now was too old for his former club. Still, Roda JC was not left with entirely empty hands – since PSV won the championship and also the European Champions Cup, Roda JC was going to represent Holland in the 1988-89 Cup Winners Cup. International football was not happening to Roda JC very often, so it was great! Instead of playing Second Division, they were going to play in Europe. Consolation of a kind.
Not a photo of Cup winning team, but still a fair sample of wealth of players in the stables of PSV. Look above at the full squad and count the great players who were not present in this starting eleven. So much power, so it was almost impossible to beat PSV – Roda tried hard, but class prevailed at the end. And PSV really proved its greatness by winning everything: the Dutch Cup, the championship, the European Champions Cup, and finally half of the team won the European Championship for good measure. Arguably, the best ever season in the history of PSV Eindhoven and the most successful team the club ever had. A point of curiosity more than anything, but when Cruijff left Ajax in 1973, the great team collapsed – no such thing after Gullit went to Italy, on the contrary: PSV had their best season right after his departure.

First Division. A bit of irony this season: very strong Ajax, but not a match at all to fantastic PSV Eindhoven. May be if Cruijff stayed… be this could be only wishful speculation. This two clubs dominated Dutch football and rightly so. Feyenoord was still in the dark and AZ’67 Alkmaar paid high price for their years of success – since the club get strong on the risky concept of hiring old stars, it could not really last more than few years. Once there were no more veterans, there was nothing… and the moment of nothingness arrived.
DS’79 (Dordrecht) – absolute outsiders. Last with just 12 points and relegated. Won only twice this season and received 100 goals!
FC Den Haag – very weak too. 17th with 22 points and relegated.
AZ’67 (Alkmaar) – may be a bit unlucky, but they hit the bottom inevitably. 16th with 28 points and relegated on worse goal-difference, but looking at the squad, it was only right: at the turn of the decade the team was full of famous names – old, but famous, and along them few current stars emerged. The veterans retired and the young stars were sold mostly abroad, and now there was nothing. Very young beginner, Michel Vonk, aging Kees Tol, and English journeyman David Loggie – that was all…
Roda JC – 15th with 28 points. Lucky to escape relegation on better goal-difference, but having great year in the Cup tournament. Their terrible performance in the championship was a bit curious – the squad, compared to perhaps half of the league teams was quite decent. Perhaps they underperformed, perhaps put their stakes on the Cup. Bitter-sweet season.
FC Volendam – 14th with 29 points.
PEC Zwolle – 13th with 29 points.
Sparta (Rotterdam) – 12th with 32 points.

FC Groningen – 11th with 32 points. Third row from left: Mark Verkuyl – René Eijkelkamp – John de Wolf – Edwin Bakker – Hans Reussing – Jurrie Koolhof – Erik Manders
Middle row: Jan van Dijk – Dick Koster – Claus Boekweg – Foeke Booy – Paul Mason – Edwin Olde Riekerink – Gary Brooke – Marco Waslander
Sitting:Jos Roossien – Sjaak Storm – Rob Jacobs (trainer) – Johan Tukker – Frans Thijssen.
FC Utrecht – 10th with 33 points.
HFC Haarlem -10th with 34 points. Dick Advocaat coaching – not the famous coach yet, but rather at the starting point of the road to fame.
Fortuna (Sittard) – 8th with 35 points.
FC Den Bosch – 7th with 36 points.
Feyenoord – 6th with 36 points. Rinus Israel coached the team, but very often famous players fail as coaches – this was poor season of poor squad. Ben Wijnstekers (36 years old now), Sjaak Troost, Keje Molenaar (hardly a big star when playing for Ajax and now pushing 30, like Troost), Joop Hiele (the only player in this team called to the national team, but only as a back-up goalkeeper). Regi Blinker was only 19-years old hopeful, the older Rene Monkou, hardly a top-class… even the imports were quite anonymous (Dane Lars Elstrup and Australian David Mitchell, who played a bit for Glasgow Rangers and… Seiko Hong Kong). Feyenoord seemingly was getting worse, not better – there was very little at the present and even less for the future.
VVV (Venlo) – 5th with 38 points. Top row from left: Patrick van der Hoeven, Frans Verbeek, Edwin van Berge Henegouwen, Jos Rutten, Remy Reynierse, Raymond Libregts, Rene Eyer.
Middle row: ass.trainer Nico Neele, Frank Berghuis, Chris Burhenne, John Lammers, Bert Berhagen, Jos Luhukay, verzorger Ton van Veggel.
Sitting in front: Robert Janssen, John Roux, Stan Valckx, trainer Jan Reker, manager Wiel Teeuwen, Gerrie van Rosmalen, Rick Laurs, Frans Nijssen.
Perhaps a silent commentary on the Feyenoord crisis: VVV ahead of the famed club! Having Valckx, Verbeek and Libregts practically matched the players Feyenoord had…
Willem II – 4th with 38 points. A rare strong season for the boys from Tilburg.
FC Twente (Enschede) – 3rd with 41 points. Twente coming back to their great 1970s? Not very likely with the current crop of players – apart from Theo Snelders, hardly anybody with exceptional talent. Very good season, indeed, but they finished 9 points behind Ajax.
Ajax – 2nd with 50 points. Third row from left: Dennis Bergkamp, Sonny Silooy, Rob de Wit, Stanley Menzo, Ronald Spelbos, Erik de Haan, Arnold Scholten, Jan Sorensen, Frank Verlaat.
Middle row: Barry Hulshoff (ent.), Spitz Kohn (ent.), Dick de Groot (ent.), Cees Koppelaar (ent.), Alastair Dick, Petri Tiainen, Hennie Meijer, Aron Winter, Danny Blind, Erik Regtop, Peter Boeve, Ton Bruis Slot (coordinateur technique), Frans Hoek (ent. gardiens), Bobby Haarms (ent.).
Sitting: Pim van Dord (physiothérapeute), Edo Ophof, Arnold Mühren, Frank Rijkaard, Johnny Bosman, Johan Cruijff (directeur technique), Frank Stapleton, Johnny van’t Schip, Jan Wouters, Rob Witschge, Sjaak Wolfs (intendant).
What a squad – Frank Stapleton not even a starter! Ronald Spelbos also largely kept the bench warm. But Cruijff left shortly after the picture was taken and Rijkaard went to Spain even before Cruijff, largely leaving the club because of conflict with Cruijff. Ajax a rather big number of foreigners – Stapleton, Dick, Sorensen, Tiainen – and none was a regular. Which speaks volumes of the talent of the Dutch players at hand. Yet, they were outshined and left far behind… Ajax was not a title contender and this could be attributed to a point to conflicts, rather hasty departure of key figures, and nobody able to replace Cruijff at the helm – since all the trouble started pretty much at the start of the season, there was nothing to be done to remedy the situation. Eventually, Barry Hulshoff finished the season as a coach, but he was a far cry from Cruijff at the helm.
PSV Eindhoven dominated the championship, finishing 9 points ahead of Ajax. 27 wins, 5 ties, only 2 lost games, 117-28, and 59 points. The goal-difference of +89 pretty much sums up the great season PSV had. This was the peak of Guus Hiddink excellent squad and they won everything possible this year. There is hardly any need even to mention the stars playing for PSV – it is enough to point that Willy van de Kerkhof was just a rarely used reserve in this squad. Yes, he was very old by now, but he was also one of the all-time greats of the club and a legend. Compared to Ajax, PSV had one quite obvious advantage: experience. It was better mixed team – old grizzled stars, players at the prime of their careers, and talented youngsters. And surely the make of a great team – such teams usually had more than 11 former and current national team players and so did PSV. A triumphal season and confident champions.

Holland. Ranked 15th. This was arguably the best ever year of Holland and so low ranking? Well, it is combined 5-year record not counting 1988, so there – the first half of the 1980s was terrible for Dutch football. Guus Hiddink’s PSV Eindhoven at its peak, wonderful Ajax too. At the other end of the spectrum – Feyenoord struggling unable to build strong team and the risky project of AZ’67 expired.
Second Division. Still professional football stayed alone, so no relegation. The top 2 of the 19-team league directly promoted and 4 ‘period champions’ competed in final play-off for the last promotion. Long time established formula.

SC Heracles’74 – last with 16 points. A very weak outsider, but without relegation in the league – no danger.
SC Emmen – 18th with 22 points.
NAC Breda – 17th with 25 points.
Helmond Sport – 16th with 25 points.
SVV Schiedam – 15th with 29 points.
FC Wageningen – 14th with 31 points.
Telstar – 13th with 34 points. Top row from left: Walter Smak, René Panhuis, Frans Jansen, Florian Vijent, Koos Kuut, Dennis de Graaf, Mink Verbaan (materiaalman)
Middle row: Jan Spierenburg (verzorger), Mike Helenklaken, Stanley MacDonald, Peter de Ruyter, Edwin Ariesen, René Tesselaar, Peter van der Zwaan, Bert van Duyvenbode, Cees Schoo, Chris van der Zwan (elftalbegeleider), Loek Scholten (directeur sponsor NILO)
sitting: Peter Tania, Matthieu Niesten, Jerry de Jong, Cor van der Hart (trainer), Dick Trock, Peter de Waal (assistent), Ron Pos, Marco Robijn.
Go Ahead Eagles – 12th with 34 points.
SC Cambuur – 11th with 34 points.

SC Heerenveen – 10th with 34 points.
Vitesse – 9th with 36 points, but as one of the ‘period winners’ they were going to promotion play-offs.

Excelsior – 8th with 38 points.
RBC – 7th with 40 points, but going to promotion play-offs as a ‘period winner’.
FC Eindhoven – 6th with 40 points.
NEC Nijmegen – 5th with 42 points.
De Graafschap – 4th with 44 points and going to promotion play-offs as a ‘period winner’.
MVV – 3rd with 44 points and going to promotion play-offs as a ‘period winner’.
SC Veendam – 2nd with 51 points. Strong season, ending with promotion to the top league. Not a title contender, but vastly superior to the rest.
RKC Waalwijk – unchallenged champions of Second Division: 31 wins, 3 ties, 2 losses, 104-30 goal-difference and 65 points. Left SC Veendam 14 points behind, scored astonishing 104 goals – what else is needed to say?
The promotion play-offs after the season between the 4 ‘period winners’ – like in the championship, one team dominated the mini-league.
De Graafschap finished last with 4 points from 6 games.
RBC Roosendaal – 3rd with 5 points.
Vitesse Arnhem – 2nd with 5 points.
MVV Maastricht – way stronger than the other contenders at the final stretch: 5 wins, 0 ties, 1 loss, 17-6 and 10 points. MVV was going back to First Division – not particularly great during the regular season, but won easily the last promotion spot anyway.