First Division. The usual suspects way above the rest, but no big clash between Panathinaikos and Olympiakos this season.
Ethnikos (Piraeus) – last with 20 points and relegated.
Ethnikos Olympiakos (Volos) – 17th with 22 points and relegated.
Apollon Kalamarias (Thesaloniki) – 16th with 27 points and relegated.
Apollon Smyrnis (Athens) – 15th with 28 points.
Ionikos – 14th with 28 points.
Levadiakos – 13th with 28 points. Penalized with 4 points deduction, though.
Panserraikos – 12th with 29 points.
Xanthi – 11th with 29 points.
Doxa (Drama) – 10th with 29 points. Doxa depended on Bulgarian imports during the 1980s and the tradition remained: aging Mikhail Valchev and Plamen Tzvetkov, formerly of Levski (Sofia), played this season.
Panionios – 9th with 30 points.
Larissa – 8th with 34 points.
Aris (Thesaloniki) – 7th with 35 points.
OFI Crete – 6th with 36 points.
Iraklis (Thesaloniki) – 5th with 39 points.
Olympiakos (Piraeus) – 4th with 45 points. Of course, Olympiakos was much stronger than most teams and there was no way to drop down the table, but it was a weak season by their standards: not a title contender.
PAOK (Thesaloniki) – 3rd with 46 points. Like Olympiakos, not a title contender.
AEK (Athens) – tried hard, but ended 3 points behind the champions: 2nd with 50 points. Coached by their former Yugoslavian star striker Dusan Bajevic, who proved to be as able a coach as he was a player, but it was a bit strange to see a team coached by prolific goal-scorer to excel in defense – AEK permitted only 18 goals in the 34 championship games in their net.
Well, hardly a news… Panathinaikos won the championship with 53 points from 21 wins, 11 ties, only 2 lost games, and 75-35 scoring record. Like the other leading clubs, Panathinaikos depended on Eastern Europeans – Olympiakos was coached by Imre Komora (Hungary), AEK by Dusan Bajevic (Yugoslavia), Panathinaikos had the greatest Bulgarian midfielder in the 1970s Christo Bonev at the helm. Young, well educated in West Germany, up and coming ambitious coach, well known in Greece, for he played there in the early 1980s. However, not for Panathinaikos, but, ironically, for their current rival AEK. Bonev depended on another Bulgarian – Christo Kolev, very well known to the coach, for Kolev was a product of the same club which made Bonev once upon a time – Lokomotiv (Plovdiv) – and it was more than co-incidence both coach and player had the same first name: Kolev was an attacking midfielder like Bonev, he was more or less discovered by Bonev and even played a bit like Bonev. Unlike Bonev, who arrived to play a bit in Greece at the end of his career, Kolev was at his prime. The other important foreigner in the team was the Polish striker Krzystztof Warzycha, a great scorer, who will be a key star of Panathinaikos for years – whether by chance of by design, Bonev had in his hands better players than the other leading Greek clubs at the moment. There were 3 more foreigners in the squad – 3 young Australians, who were somewhat an investment for the future: Lou Hristodoulou (22 years old midfielder), Chris Kalantzis (21 years, midfield), Jason Polak (21 years, midfield). The Greek descent of at least two of the trio permitted them to play as domestic players, which benefited Bonev. Of course, there were Greek stars as well and as ever – notably, Dimitris Saravakos. Between the goalposts was very young goalkeeper, Antonis Nikopolidis, barely 19 years old, who after many, many years will be European champion – who would believe it in 1989-90? For the moment, Panathinaikos had the strongest and best balanced squad and won its 15th title. Ironically or not, the battle of former AEK star players now couching the rivals ended with AEK’s loss.
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