Czechoslovakia. This year marked the beginning of new dominance, which carried on after the fall of Communism. Of course, this is visible only from the distance of time, but started with a bang. Apart from that – nothing new, Czech football ruled and continued to rule.
Second Division continued in the established format of two leagues, Czech and Slovak and their winners were promoted to the top combined league.
Česká národní fotbalová liga. 16 teams, 8 of which used to play top league football at one or another point. The most famous club was TJ Zbrojovka (Brno), now down on their luck and seemingly unable to restore its position. Most of the league members, including some former top league teams, were little known, so their names sound exotic. Clubs like TJ Zelezarny (Prostejov), TJ Motorlet (Prague), TJ VOKD (Poruba). In such company, Zbrojovka could not do bad.
Zbrojovka finished 2nd with 35 points. Not good at all… Zbrojovka did not lose a race for the first place – it was not a runner at all.
TJ Sigma ZTS (Olomouc) dominated the championship, finishing with 23 wins, 4 ties, 3 losses, 74-18 goal-difference and 50 points. The gap between them and Zbrojovka was massive: 15 points. Sigma went up after incredibly strong season.
1. slovenská národní fotbalová liga, also with 16 teams, had slightly more drama than their Czech equals: 2 teams competed for the top place. But here was different: practically, only one former First Division member played here – ZTS Kosice. Previoulsy known as VSS Kosice. They were pretty much the same as Zbrojovka at the moment – unable to run for promotion, although finishing well: 3rd in their case, with 31 points.
Newcomer Tesla (Stropkov) ended last with 21 points.
Another newcomer Gumarne (Puchov) did better – 9th with 28 points. The full name is Gumarne 1. maya, in fact, and provides the important information about most of the club names not just in second division: they were not exactly club names, but the names of various industrial plants the teams were attached to. What exactly this industrial plant was is hard to say without research, but before mentioned Tesal made home electronic devices. What was the nature of Zbrojovka was hardly a secret: the firm is famous for its rifles and guns. And so on… what was behind Vagonka (Poprad), for instance? The name tells it: railroad cars. Yet, some names remain a mystery:
DAC Pol’nohospodar (Dunajska Streda). The name means something like ‘full owner’. There was another club with this kind of name in the league: Slavoj Pol’nohospodar (Trebisov). A co-op of a kind? May be agricultural, something rural? Does not matter all that much, for the club will be known mostly as DAC – it was ascending club, one to be more than just heard of in the next years. They were building strenght already and run for the first place. Finished 2nd with 45 points – 4 points behind the winners.
As for the winners – they were doing well by their own standards. ZTS Petrzalka was aiming at one more try playing top league football. The third club of Bratislava -that is, suburban Bratislava – succeeded: 24 wins, 3 ties, 3 losses, 80-19 goal-difference, 49 points. Perhaps having 2 former Czechoslovakian big stars helped: Dusan Gallis and Marian Masny played their last years for Petrzalka. Both played their bit for the greatest Czechoslovakian success: the 1976 European championship. Gallis had modest role, Masny was key player of the team winning the title. But that was in the past – now the players were old, yet, still capable of making the difference between winners and losers.