First Division. Two outsiders and nothing much all the way to the very top, where two teams, way ahead of the rest, fought for the title. It was old Budapest rivalry, yet a bit odd and accidental.
Eger SE finished last with 17 points. True, they were last only on worse goal-difference, but even if they had better record, they were still going down.
Dunaujvaros FC bested Eger, but they were also hopeless outsiders and relegated – 15th with 17 points.
Crouching from left: Kiss, Ruppert, Miskovicz, Nemeth, Toro, Dupai, Florian (?), Tobar (?).
Middle row: Kornis (?) – administartor, Csorba, Lengyel, Kalmar, Jokob (?) – assistant coach, A. Kovacs – coach, Vilmos (?) – assistant coach, Ress, Grof, Szulya (?) – doctor.
Top row: Kruk (?), Sagi, Boldoczky, Hollo, Menyhart, E. Kovacs (?), Lehota, Lodis (?) – caretaker.
Both relegated teams just came back from Second Division and slipped down right away.
Videoton SC – 14th with 23 points. Not in danger of relegation, but what a slump… it was ‘only yesterday’ when they played European final. Terrible decline.
Siofoki Banyasz SE – 13th with 27 points. Staying in the league was their usual aim, so the season ended well enough.
Debreceni MVSC – 12th with 28 points.
Zalaegerszegi TE – 11th with 29 points.
Gyori ETO FC – looked like they lost part of their previous name: used to be Raba ETO – was another club in sharp decline: 10th with 29 points.
Szombathelyi Haladas – 9th with 30 points. The usual.
Bekescsabai Elore Spartacus – 8th with 31 points.
Pecsi MSC – 7th with 31 points.
Vasas SC (Budapest) – 6th with 32 points.
Ferencvaros – or Ferencvarosi TC (Budapest) – 5th with 33 points. Weak season, but not surprisingly so.
Honved – or Budapest Honved FC – was only 4th with 35 points. They lost bronze medals on worse goal-difference, but really it was a decline: they looked so firmly established as leaders just a year or two ago and now were entirely outside the race for the title.
Tatabanyai Banasz SC – 3rd with 35 points, beating Honved on goal-difference. Strong period for Tatabanya, which was mostly due to their ability to keep their few stars, particularly Kiprich – not an easy task for a provincial club and may be even more difficult at this time, when the big clubs did not have enough class and in the same time were busily selling players abroad. Of course, Tatabanya was not strong enough to run for the title.
Budapest was leading, apparently recovering from the strong provincial assault in the first half of the 1980s. Familiar rivals – Ujpesti Dosza and MTK – but somewhat not the central rivals. Both teams were way ahead of the rest of the league this season.
Eventually Ujpesti Dosza lost the race and finished 2nd with 40 points.
MTK Hungaria FC – or MTK-VM, or plainly MTK – the oldest Hungarian club won the championship with 43 points: 17 wins, 9 ties, 4 lost games. 52-24 goal-difference – the best scorers in the league. What a joy for the fans – this was the 19th title of their beloved club, but the title came after almost 30 years waiting – the last time MTK was champion in 1958! However, the victory seemed accidental – the team, solid as it was, was not great. The weakness of the other teams – Ujpesti Dosza included – helped MTK considerably. The new champions did not look like a team going to stay on top, but rather like one-time-wonder. And they were… had to wait another 10 years for the next title. But it was sweet, no matter the objective reality, to see the old club winning again.