The Czecholsovak Cup. As ever, it was played between the winners of the Czech and the Slovak cups – Sparta won the Czech, beating twice Dukla at the final. Inter (Bratislava) won the Slovak cup. Inter was hardly a match to Sparta at the moment and lost 2-4.
Nice effort, but the difference in class was too big and Inter had to be satisfied with little.
Sparta, with a double, made a clear statement that they were going to lead in the following years. It was strong squad, made of current and rising stars – Straka, Hasek, Griga, Berger, Stejskal, Jarolim, Chovanec. As usual, Vaclav Jezek did good work at the helm of the team. Sparta came back with a bang, but how long they would be at the top? Perhaps in 1984 it was impossible to imagine that Sparta would be leading not only to the end of the 1980s, but much further. Hard to tell what exactly changed: old clubs like Sparta and Slavia were not favoured by the Communist state – unless there was some official influence, it was difficult to imagine Sparta staying strong for long. It could have been some shift in official circles in their favour, it could be some heavy ‘sponsor’, difficult to ignore. However, most important was the make of the squad: a big group of quite young talented players. Nobody else such talent, including Dukla. Keeping them at home was easy: Sparta was a club from the capital – provincial clubs were not a competition at all. No reason for key Sparta players to go to Dukla, Slavia, or Bohemians either – at best, the competition could match Sparta’s offer and then why leaving a winning team? Sparta did not just restored its solid position, but became the team to lead Czechoslovakian football in the 1980s.
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