France. Change of guard completed – the current leaders of French football were Bordeaux, Nantes, Monaco, and Auxerre. Big decline of Marseille, struggling just to stay in the top league, St. Etienne and Lyon, not able to come back from Second Division. Nantes was the only stable and consistent leading club – successful for a 3rd consecutive decade. Second Division should be mentioned as well: there was an amazing concentration of famous foreign names in it this season – Wlodzimierz Lubanski (Quimper), Ruud Krol (Cannes), Hugo Bargas (Cuiseaux-Louhans), Zdenek Nehoda (Grenoble), Zombori (Montpellier), Poortvliet and Nygaard (Nimes), Kupcewicz and Roger Milla (St. Etienne), Anton Ondrus (Thonon), Carlos Bianchi (Reims). A review of the glorious 70s – the wonderful years of Ajax and AZ’67, the Olympics of 1972, the European finals of 1976 and 1980, the World Cups of 1974, 1978, and 1982. The stars were old for sure, but such concentration of famous names in second division was perhaps unique, never happening before or after anywhere in the world. As for the season, let start with the Second Division – following the tradition, the two leagues here were heavily shuffled after the end of the previous season and again after this season ended – the reason for moving almost the whole leagues from one group to the other is somewhat mysterious, for it looked more like naming Group A Group B in one year and naming it back Group A the next. Promoted and relegated teams apart, only Red Star remained in Group A for the next season and only FC Limoges in Group B – it would have been simpler just to shuffle to group’s names than to give a long list of clubs moved from A to B and from B to A. Apart from that, there was rather strange promotion of Rennes instead of FC Mulhouse. Both groups had two leaders fighting for top position and one outsider.
Group A.
Berrichonne Chateauroux – last with 15 points and out. Third row from left: Legros (secrétaire), Verrier, Auger, Godinet, Bougras, Mattielo, Desrutins, Nieroba (entraîneur).
Middle row: Mérigot, Lestratt, Bernardeau, Vidal, Besset.
Front: Sinson, Larigauderie, Tricoche, Billaine.
SC Amiens – 17th with 20 points. Lost the battle for survival on goal-difference and relegated. Top row from left: Xantippe, Abraham, Peltier, Bala, Kedie, Kebir, Wiencierz, Bemer.
Middle row: Boudet, Ouzara, Quertier, Claeys, Bortolotti, Pujadas, Desmenez (entraîneur), Barbet.
Sitting: Pouchain, Bonalaire, Cayey, Beaugrand, Ravail, Prefaci, Turquet, M’Baye.
FC Angers – lucky 16th with 20 points. However, the survival of Angers was not that much because of better goal-difference, but thanks to the promotion of a second team from the group, thus reducing the relegated teams from 3 to 2. Angers changed its name as well.
SC Abbeville – 15th with 25 points.
US Dunkerque – 14th with 25 points.
Stade Francais (Paris) – 13th with 29 points.
Stade Reims – 12th with 32 points.
Stade Malherbe Caen – 11th with 33 points.
Red Star (Paris) – 10th with 33 points. The only team to stay in Group A the next season.
Stade Quimper – 9th with 33 points.
CS Sedan-Ardennes – 8th with 36 points.
RCFC Besancon – 7th with 36 points.
US Valenciennes – 6th with 40 points.
En Avant Guingamp – 5th with 42 points.
US Orleans – 4th with 43 points.
Stade Rennes – 3rd with 46 points. Normally, 3rd place team is out of any possibility for promotion and on top of that Rennes was not even a contender this season – but, for some reason, they went to promotional play-off and got promoted. Lucky boys. Standing from left: Linarès, Robert, Hiard, Rio, Marais, Le Goff, Samson.
Middle row: Loncle, Rampillon, Martin, Morin, Relmy, Muller, Charrier, Mosca.
First row: Marin, Zajaczkowski, Doaré, Ninot, Mazur, Bezaz, Bousdira.
FC Mulhouse – 2nd with 50 points. Lost the battle for first place by 2 points, but should have still a chance. Why Rennes went up instead of them is a matter of speculation – perhaps they were punished for some infringements or for financial reasons. Bitter finish – Mulhouse tried hard to win and earn promotion, but remained in the second league instead.
AC Le Havre won the championship after 24 wins, 4 ties, 6 losses, 69-20 goal-difference and 52 points. They emerged victorious against tough opponent. Well deserved victory, of course, and happy return to top level football.