First Division. In short: clubs were renamed, the ominous Dynamo (Berlin) disappeared not just as name, but as an institution and lost its power, dramatic battle for the title, decided by goal-difference, otherwise the same… 4 outsiders struggled to survive, 3 teams were above pretty much equal middle group of 7 teams – the East German top league remained sharply divided as ever.
BSG Fortschritt (Bischopswerda) – last with 16 points and relegated. Their second top league adventure ended just like the first time: last.
FC Wismut (Aue) – 13th with 18 points. How unlucky – relegated on single goal worse goal-difference.
BSG Stahl (Eisenhuttenstadt) – 12th with 18 points. They won only 2 games this season (5 less than the last in the league!), but made a second record too – 14 ties. Luckily escaped relegation on goal-difference – theirs was 1 goal better than Wismut’s. The debutantes survived almost miracolously and were going to play a second season among the best.
FC Rot-Weiss (Erfurt) – 11th with 19 points.
BSG Stahl (Brandenburg) – 10th with 24 points. Top row from left: Jan Voß, Jens Pahlke, Uwe Hessel, Kay Wenschlag, Tino Scholtissek, Timo Lange, Eberhard Janotta, Trainer Gerd Struppert
Middle row: Mannschaftsleiter Günter Boede, Co-Trainer Helmut Wilk, Frank Jeske, Uwe Schulz, Hubert Gebhardt, Detlef Zimmer, Christian Knoop, Steffen Freund, Mannschaftsarzt Dr. Rainer Wilke, Physiotherapeut Jens Jogwer
Sitting: Dietmar Bletsch, Falk Zschiedrich, Andreas Schmidt, Jens Pfahl, Roland Gumtz, Andreas Lindner, Silvio Demuth, Christoph Ringk
HFC Chemie (Halle) – 9th with 24 points.
1.FC Lokomotive (Leipzig) – 8th with 25 points.
BSG Energie (Cottbus) – 7th with 27 points.
FC Hansa (Rostock) – 6th with 27 points. Standing from left: Jens Wahl, Gernot Alms, Volker Röhrich, Frank Rillich, Axel Rietentiet, Thomas Gansauge, Andreas Babendererde, Juri Schulz und Rainer Jahros. Vordere Reihe: stehend v.l.n.r. Trainer Werner Voigt, Trainer Jürgen Decker, Mannschaftsarzt Dr. Wolfgang Anft.
Sitting: Jens Dowe, Artur Ullrich, Hilmar Weilandt, David Hoffmann (Torwart), Henri Fuchs, Jens Kunath (Torwart), Jens Leonhardt, Axel Schulz, Florian Weichert, stehend v.l.n.r. Physiotherapeut Günter Blum, Trainer Hans Albrecht und Mannschaftsleiter Herbert Maron.
FC Carl Zeiss (Jena) – 5th with 30 points.
FC Berlin (Berlin) – 4th with 30 points. 11 national team players, Thom and Doll among them, but political changes shook the club. Losing political power and renamed, the former mighty Dynamo immediately lost its long supremacy. The best players certainly were looking for lucrative contracts with West German clubs.
1.FC Magdeburg (Magdeburg) – 3rd with 34 points. Battled for the title, but unsuccessfully.
Dramatic race for the title, which was decided by goal-difference. Perhaps politics were largely on the minds of the East German population and football was somewhat secondary even for the players, but still there was big drama.
Usually modest FC Karl-Marx-Stadt (Karl-Marx-Stadt) suddenly became a title contender, fought bravely to the end, but ended 2nd on worse goal-difference. 13 wins, 10 ties, 3 losses, 35-20, 36 points. It would have been ironic if they won – in the year of the fall of Communism a team with the most Communist name to win the championship. Almost happened, but almost and soon there was no more a city and a club with such a name – it was reversed to the original Chemnitz.
SG Dynamo (Dresden) clinched the title thanks to 12 wins, 12 ties, only 2 losses, and 47-26 scoring record. Like their challengers, Dynamo finished with 36 points, but with +21 goal-difference – FC Karl-Marx-Stadt had +15. Objectively, Dynamo had much stronger squad, but political turmoil was perhaps the big equalizer. Still, Dynamo prevailed and won its 8th – and, as it turned out, last title.
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