DDR. In the UEFA club ranking of the year, East Germany was 12th, a high place not really corresponding to the general level of this country’s football. But it was also confirmation of the internal divides – 2 or 3 clubs were able to concentrate the best players in their squads and perform well on international stage. That has been for years and nothing changed, inlcluding the champion. But at lower level the season was quite extraordinary: the newcomers to the top division played unusually well and there was brand new second division champion – a club which never played top league football before. Meantime, the other second division group was won by a team, which could not be promoted – the second team of Dynamo (Berlin) – so the second-placed team was promoted instead.
Second Division, Group A. TSG Bau (Rostock) was last,
Stahl Walzwerk (Hettstedt) – 17th, and BSG Aktivist (Brieske-Senftenberg) – 16th. These were the relegated teams. Fairly gradual and equal situation up the table to the very top.
BSG Chemie (Leipzig) ended 3rd with 43 points. BFC Dynamo II (East Berlin) won the championship wiyh 46 points – but as a second team, they were ineligible for promotion.
Which was great for BSG Energie (Cottbus) – they lost the batle for 1st place by one point, finished 2nd and were promoted. It was strong season for them anyway: they won most games in the league – 20 – and also finished with best defensive record, allowing only 30 goals in 34 games. Going back to top flight after their relegation in 1981-82.
Second Division, Group B. No drama here – one team was clearly stronger than the rest. Freshly relegated BSG Motor (Suhl) continued to be weak and finished 14th, nearly relegated even further down. Still, they survived – down to third level went BSG Wismut II (Aue) – last, Motor F.H. (Karl-Marx-Stadt) – 17th, and FC Rot-Weiss II (Erfurt) – 16th. The second team of Rot-Weiss lost its second division place on worse goal-difference.
At the top, BSG Chemie (Bohlen) was very distant 3rd with 39 points.
HFC Chemie (Halle) was comfortable 2nd with 47 points. But they did not challenge the leader.
The group winner was a surprise – traditionally, freshly relegated from First Division teams got quick promotion back to top flight, but this season was different: BSG Fortschritt (Bischofswerda) dominated the championship and winning it with 52 points from 23 wins, 6 ties, 5 losses, and 61-23 goal-difference. The team attached to and named after tractor-making factory never played in the First Division. So far, they had been stable second-division team – most often finishing in the upper half of the table, but never among the best. It was great for them, of course, to go up. And their victory completed unusual second-division season – both groups had new winners and they were not former top-league members. Of course, the second team of Dynamo (East Berlin) could not be promoted, so by default Fortschritt was to be the only debutante in top flight next season.
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