Denmark. Ranked 23rd. This was the last season of the traditional football structure: major reform was introduced for the next season, so it was the last time First Division was the top tier and had 14 teams. New Danish Superliga of 10 teams was going to be the top tier after this season and for that there was no direct promotion this season. Instead, the the top 8 teams remained, the next 2 went to promotion/relegation play-offs against the two top team in the Second Division, and the last 4 were directly relegated to… First Division. The old name remained, but in the future the First Division was going to be second level and Second Division – third level. The big change did not affect the season much: Brondby IF was way too strong to allow anybody else near. In the same time it was clear that many of the old ‘traditional’ clubs were fading, unable to adjust to proefessional football for some reasons:
B93, for instance, ended 13th in the Second Division and thus sunk even further from sight, going to third level. Standing from left: Kurt Olsen (holdleder), Tom Jensen (manager), Tonni Jensen, Chris Hansen, Thomas Olsen, Kim Valentin, Per Andersen, Jan Hansen, Arne Nielsen (træner).
Front: : Michael Petersen, Jens Nørager, Frank Husum, Per Rasmussen, Frederik W. Nielsen, René Johansson, Leif Funcke Nielsen.
The last 4 relegated to second level: Viborg FF – 14th with 14 points, KB – 13th with 14 points, Herfolge BK – 12th with 17 points, and Naestved IF – 11th with 22 points.
Promotion/relegation play-offs: Aalborg BK – 10th with 26 points faced the winner of Second Division B1909 and kept its place among the best after winning both legs: 4-0 and 6-5. Vejle BK – 9th with 26 points met the 2nd in Second Division B1913 and also prevailed, but after some drama: Vejle won the first leg, playing away 1-0 and then lost at home 0-1. Penalty shoot-out saved their skins: 4-3. Thus, no Second Division teams managed to get promoted to the new Superliga.
The top 8 stayed in the new top flight: Odense BK – 8th with 27 points, Aarhus GF – 7th with 28 points, Lyngby BK – 6th with 28 points, BK Frem – 5th with 29 points, Silkeborg IF – 4th with 30 points, Ikast fS – 3rd with 30 points, and B1903 – 2nd with 31 points.
Brondby IF had no rival at all and sailed through the season: 17 wins, 8 ties, only 1 lost match, 50-16 scoring record, and 42 points. Brondby IF clearly emerged as the leading club of Denmark in the 1980s – this was their 4th title, but all were won in the second half of the decade. Obviously, the club adapted best to the professional football introduced in the late 1970s and steadily harvested the fruits of good work. Although to the foreign eye the big name here was their coach Morten Olsen, not long ago still playing, the squad was full of players very soon to become well known and respected: the Nigerian defender Ushe Okechukwu, Kim Vilfort, Kim Kristofte, and others. But Peter Schmeichel was on the road not of mere stardom, but of superstardom. Of course, no Danish club, professional or not, was able to keep its best players, but it was quite certain that Brondby will use the money received for its best players to buy new good ones. The future was very bright and the 4th title surely was not going to be the last.
The Cup final opposed Lyngby BK to Aarhus GF and ended without a winner: 0-0 after overtime. A second match was scheduled and it was nothing like the first – Lyngby destroyed Aarhus 6-1.
Aarhus GF ended without a trophy and rightly so.
As for Lyngby BK, they somewhat mirrored Brondby IF, seemingly, the second club well adjusting to fully professional football: this was their 3rd Cup, all victories achieved in the last few years.