Czechoslovakia

New page was opened in Czechoslovakia, however, with some difficulties. 1980 was double-edged edged year: international success of the national teams at the European Championship and the Olympic games, but at home it was not so great season, marked by inevitable aging of the great 1976 heroes, the sharp decline of the Slovak clubs Slovan (Bratislava) and Spartak (Trnava), and the lack of really strong current club. Dukla (Prague) seemingly had the squad to dominate the league, but had a weak season. There was no other well-rounded team in the league – the better ones had no more than 5-6 classy players. To a point, the aging stars of 1976 still determined positions – who had them, performed quite well. The best example was Bohemians (Prague), which started their perhaps greatest period – they had Antonin Panenka (32 years old by now) for years, but since 1977 few more veterans were added: Karol Dobias (33, formerly of the excellent Spartak Trnava team), Frantisek Vesely (37, who spent his best years with Slavia Prague) and Premysl Bicovsky (30, formerly of Sklo Union Teplice). They, plus few formerly promising, but failing to become stars players – like Dusan Herda (29), formerly of Slavia (Prague) – amalgamated into one of the best teams at this time. It should be noted that 1979-80 was the last season for Panenka and Vesely – in the summer of 1980 the Czechoslovakian Federation started exporting players, a new trend in East Europe – USSR made its first transfer of player abroad, Bulgaria and Romania also did so. Hungary started a year earlier. It was one and the same pattern everywhere: players, well into their 30-s , nearing retirement and no longer needed for the national teams were permitted to play abroad in small numbers. Panenka and Vesely were among the first transferred abroad after the brief ‘Prague Spring’ period in the late 1960s. The new opportunity perhaps boosted the moral of aging stars, who found new reason to keep top form, but the problem was that they and not yet the younger generations shaped Czechoslovakian football.

At the lower level – no sign of change. Sklo Union (Teplice) and Spartak (Hradec Kralove) won the two groups of the Czech Second Division.

Sklo Union had no rival in their group, leaving the next team 7 points behind and seemingly ready to return to to flight. But they lost the play-off against Spartak 1-1 and 0-1.

Spartak (Hradec Kralove) were Czechoslovakian champions once upon a time – 20 years ago. After that they declined and spent most of the 1970s in the second division. Perhaps they were coming back?

The Slovak Second division had a bit of variety – DAC Dunajska Streda, unheard of previously club won one of the groups and painfully moving up and down Tatran (Presov) was the other group winner.

Well done by DAC, but that was all. Tatran won the promotional play-off. However, this team should be taken into account for the future: they failed this time, but the 1980s were their glory years.

As for Tatran, it was painfully familiar success. It was difficult even to count how many times they were promoted only to be relegated again. A typical ‘unsettled’ club – too strong for the second division, yet, too weak for the first. None of the promoted was expected to shake the top league – they would be lucky to escape relegation next year.

The unlucky ones, going down were not a surprise – two of small fry, which were clearly below the rest of the league in 1979-80.

Skoda (Plzen) finished last with 19 points.

Jednota (Trencin) was 15th with 20 points. Dukla (Banska Bystrica) was safe at the 14th place with 26 points. Most of the league was fairly equal and hardly exciting.

Ruda Hvezda (Cheb) was one of the ‘bulk’ – it could be said that they had a good year… finishing 12th with 28 points. Lucky to survive? Perhaps, but they were not that far away from the bronze medalists – 6 points difference. They deserve mentioning for another reason, though: the name. By now, such strongly ideological names were all but gone in Czechoslovakia – since the mid-1960s. Ruda Hvezda means Red Star were a strange remnant of the Stalinist 1950s. Eventually, they changed the name too.

Dukla (Prague) for some reason had a weak year and were out of the championship race, finishing 4th with 33 points. Without them, the top spots were open for those with relatively stronger squads. Bohemians (Prague) got the bronze medals – a success for the club, which ranked distant 4th among Prague’s clubs, playing at tiny stadium. The title was beyond their reach, however.

Zbrojovka (Brno) finished with silver medals, capitalizing on the weakness of others, particularly Dukla. These were strong years for the club, but they had no really great squad – after winning the title in 1978, they did not add new strong players. It was still the same team with the same limitations – 5-6 strong players and the rest were journeymen. Zbrojovka did not really fought for the title in 1979-80 – they ended 5 points behind the champions.

One horse race, then. The winners were one of the strongest Czechoslovakian teams in the 1970s – Banik (Ostrava).

It was easy sailing: 16 wins, 9 ties, 5 losses, 47-23 goal-difference, and 41 points – 5 points more than Zbrojovka. Banik was not troubled at all and won its 2nd title.

The champions were not a great team – to a point, their success came because of the decline or relative weakness of the competition. Vojacek and Knapp were the long-time stars and the goalkeeper Michalik was also now and then playing for the national team. Next to them were the rising stars, the next generation of national team regulars – Radimec, Licka, and Rygel. This group, in good form, was enough to make the difference in a league without any well-balanced team studded with stars. Objective circumstances helped indeed, but no reason to deny the success of Banik – this was the best period in the history of the club. Champions in 1976, Cup winners in 1979, second title in 1980 – and it was not over yet.

The Czechoslovakian Cup final opposed the Cup winners of Czechia and Slovakia – Sparta (Prague) and ZTS Kosice. Neither club was strong at the time – Sparta finished 10th and Kosice – 13th in the league. Both clubs were in a special moment: trying to restore their positions after some lean years. Both clubs ‘enjoyed’ second division not long ago.

Kosice, under slightly different name – VSS, instead of ZTS – was quite strong in the first half of the 1970s, but as a provincial club, they had no chance to maintain strong squad for long. Eventually, they suffered decline after 1975, failed behind their city rival Lokomotiva (Kosice), dropped to second division, and at the turn of the decade were just trying to re-establish themselves in the top league. The Cup final was a rare and chancy opportunity for some success. Alas, they lost the final 0-2.

Sparta won the Cup, which sounds normal, given the history of the club – one of the most successful and famous Czech clubs. But the familiarity with the name hides the truth: the 1970s were perhaps the lowest point in the long history of the club. They were even relegated to the second division. Ironically, the only trophy Sparta won was as a member of the second division – the Cup. Making history, however, for this was the only time a second division club won the Cup in the history of the country. They won promotion the same season, but so far they stayed in the lower half the league table, slowly trying to build a stronger team. Miroslav Starek, Josef Jarolim, and aging Jaroslav Pollak, ironically, the star player of Kosice during its good years, were the bone of not made yet team. Frantisek Straka was the promise for better days: already included in the national team. Sparta had enough classy players to overcome weaker ZTS Kosice and started the 1980s brightly: winning the Cup suggested a team rising. It was still uncertain affair, but at last Sparta had some good players and a chance to improve.