Football Journey

Another quiet season in Sweden – no scandals, no big news. Yet, there were changes – some long-lasting. Sweden was going towards full professionalism without fuss. Some big names already were lured back. Foreign players were arriving – still in tiny numbers, but coming. A realistic approach – Sweden was in a position to develop really big clubs and keep her best players in the domestic league. So, the development was to be modest, emphasizing on home grown talent. The second division was relatively weaker, so the winners there were not expected to shake up the upper league.

IS Halmia won the Southern Second Division. An old club, as Swedish clubs usually are, founded in 1907, but hardly known. Their best years were in deep past – between 1944 and 1950. ‘Success’ really meant steady playing in first division… after 1950 the club was mostly playing second division football. The second and smaller club in their home town, Halmstad. Halmstads BK were bigger and more successful, but the local derby was mostly called that in jest: Halmstads BK and IS Halmia were seldom in the same division. They were to be in 1979, after IS Halmia won promotion.

The winner of the Northern Second Division was another small club:

IFK Sundsvall. If there was a club from this city playing top league football, it was usually GIF Sundsvall. Now they were also in second division and finished 6th, 10 points behind their city rivals. Unlike the Southern group, which was either more competitive or just the clubs were of relatively same strength, only 2 clubs competed in the North – IFK and IK Brage. Brage lost by a point.

Good for IFK Sundsvall and perhaps a rare moment of finishing much better than the city rivals, but a typical second-tier team. They were to face the test of their survival skills the next year. It was clear that cities like Sundsvall and many others were not able to build strong and successful teams – two or more clubs were just too many for the limited local resources, but like Poland, Sweden did not fancy amalgamations. The Swedes obviously preferred tradition – better two small clubs than one perhaps better off, but lacking identity.

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Yet, Polish football was not in great shape – the overwhelming leaders of the championship did not excel in the Cup tournament. The impression of relative, but low-quality parity was confirmed by the Cup finalists. No current or even former big name there. No leaders. Zaglebie (Sosnowiec) were 9^th in the league. But they at least were first division club – the other finalist was almost unheard of second division club. Piast (Gliwice). 9^th in the weaker Northern Second Division league. Good for them, surely, but… a club so weak reaching the final? Does not speak favourably for Polish club football. True, there had been even lowlier Cup finalist – the reserve team of ROW Rybnik – which did not win the Cup, but still got to play in the European Cup Winners Cup.

Piast (Gliwice) had the chance of European appearance only if winning the Cup – the opponents were lowly enough, so the losing finalist had no chance of participation in the Cup Winners Cup. Piast had a chance to win – before the final was played. Zaglebie was not much, but still was first division club. They won 2-0.

Zaglebie was not much 1977-78, but they had good past – it was not their first trophy. They never won the championship, but the Cup was already theirs three times – the last time was the previous year. 4^th Cups, two consecutive – not bad? Not bad for an old club, established in 1906 , but in town better known for ice-hockey?

Not bad… but the squad was too modest. Mazur was the star player – a local star, no more. Miracle happened not once, but twice, yet one cannot depend on miracles. This was the last trophy won by Zaglebie. May be a local legendary squad, but that was all. A nice final victory of underdogs.

First league table shows an interesting picture: 12 clubs were very close to each other – 4 points divided the 4th from the 15th placed. The last clubs were either way above or bellow the bulk of the league. It was not much different the previous years, so nothing new. Occasional slip or lucky strike seemed to be decisive factors. Fairly equal clubs, which could be easily at the top one round and in relegation zone the next. Not very strong teams, unfortunately – those at the top were not so much strong, but rather happy to survive. The outsider was unusual club:

Gornik (Zabrze) were among the favourites a couple of years ago. They were perhaps the closest to a truly dominant team Polish football ever produced – the successful squad of 1966-72. Decline settled after that, at first unnoticed, but inevitable. Aging slowly reduced the number of the stars and no new talent stepped in. Szarmach moved to Stal (Mielec) in 1976. By 1977 only Jerzy Gorgon remained from the old great squad. Still, to see Gornik at the bottom of the league was shocking – somewhat, it was sudden collapse. They earned only 23 points, winning just 6 matches. However, their goal-difference was unusual for rock bottom team: 25-30. Polish league was strange… not much goals were scored, the results were minimal and the records were similar to Gurnik’s.

Jerzy Gorgon in 1970, just getting noticed as an young talent in the very talented Gornik of that time. Top defender, national team regular, one of the few internationally known Polish players before 1974, and going to his second World Cup finals with Poland in 1978. However, unable to save his club from relegation… must have been very disappointing and frustrating season for the 28-years old star. Going to second division and the World Cup finals at the same time.

Zawisza (Bydgoszcz) took the 15th place and joined Gornik on the way down. Zawisza finishing low was no surprise – unlike Gornik, they were lowly club. Unlucky too – four clubs finished with 27 points. If goal-difference was the decisive factor, Zawisza would have been safe – Szombierki (Bytom) had the worst goal-difference in the league (25-35). But it was head-to-head record deciding the position of those with equal points. Szombierki finished 12th and Zawisza 15th.

Just above them ended surprising club – Ruch (Chorzow), one of the best Polish clubs in the 1970s. Champions or near-champions… they were expected to be among the contenders, even more so than Gornik. Instead, Ruch barely survived. Like Gornik, they were unable to find strong replacement of aging stars, who either retired or went to play abroad. Unlike Gornik, whose decline was slow and long, Ruch suddenly plunged down. Which may have been better for the club – so great a shock required urgent measures to be taken.

There was little else of great import across the league – Stal (Mielec) ended 8th with 29 points. Not really a collapse, but somewhat predictable outcome for a club which had just 6-7 really good players in their best seasons. Now they were simply like the most of the league. So were Legia (Warszawa) for few years already – nothing special, an ordinary club. Having Deyna was not making any difference… Gornik had Gorgon and still was relegated. Legia ended 5th with 31 points. Pretty good position in the final table, unless one remembers the points – Legia was only 4 points away from Zawisza (Bydgoszcz). Legia won 12 matches – the 15th placed had 11 wins. Relegation was much closer possibility for Legia than winning the title. LKS (Lodz) edged Legia, thanks to head-to-head matches, taking the 4th place, also with 31 points. Another one-man team… LKS depended on the goalkeeper Jan Tomaszewski.

And three clubs were high above from the whole league. They competed for the title to the end – 2 points was the final difference, deciding who ends where. Two clubs were generally expected to be contenders – Slask (Wroclaw), the champions of the previous season, were at their peak as a team. Wisla (Krakow) were stable for years and among the best. Lech (Poznan) was the newcomer in a sense – a rising team, but still questionable one. They finished 3rd with 37 points. 12 wins, 13 ties, 5 losses. 29-25 scoring record… rather measly for high finisher. Less than a goal per game average.

The squad perhaps explains their rise: a good group of players here – Gut, Chojnacki, Mowlik, Napierala. Other clubs had one or two stars by now – Lech had more and younger ones too, just nearing at their peak. Stars, but no great stars, so the future of the club was still questionable. It did not look like great squad. The potential was strong, but still only a potential. Good season, but the more important was the next one: were they to keep developing or were they just one time wonder? Lech was in the situation of Slask (Wroclaw) of two years ago – impressive season, but the team had to prove itself in the future still.

Slask probably was fully recognized exactly this season: they already won the Cup and the championship, and finishing second was not equal to victories, but this was third strong year already, they were contenders, they remained strong – truly strong.

Yet, Slask remained relatively unknown outside Poland. The reason was the making of the squad –

A good team, well balanced, not getting old yet, but largely for domestic consumption. Only Zmuda was world class. A number of players here played for Poland, but who remembers them now? It was a good squad for that particular time, when Polish football was actually slightly weaker than a few years before. And that is why Lech (Poznan) was not immediately recognized as a strong team – they were similar to Slask. Given the strength of the league, Slask were to stay on top perhaps a few more years.

But not this one – Wisla bested all. It was not a great victory – the champions finished with 39 points. 13 wins, 13 ties – quite conservative approach. Three clubs scored the same as or more goals than the champions – Odra (Opole) was 6th (35 goals – the same as Wisla) and Pogon (Szczecin) was 11th (36 goals). That was the warning sign – the champions were better in attack than the rest of the league. They had the best defensive record, however, receiving only 23 goals.

Not an overwhelming victory, but well deserved nevertheless. Wisla were consistently strong, potential winners for some time, so finally they did what was expected and hoped of them. A good squad by Polish measures – the well known since 1974 A. Szymanowski, K. Kmiecik, and Z. Kapka, all in their prime, plus additional younger talent – Maculewicz and Nawalka. Kazimierz Kmiecik was the league top scorer of the season – he scored only 15 goals, but bested Andrzej Szarmach and Zbigniew Boniek. Wisla was perhaps the club in best position to add new quality to their team – located in big city, perhaps having more money than most clubs, and having bunch of great players who were fun to play with. Wisla was attractive club for talented players located elsewhere, so the chances of Wisla staying strong were big. As for the club, it was the end of long, long suffering – it was their 6th title, but they had to wait 27 years for it. First title since 1951… a few more victories were certainly needed to remedy the dry years. The team looked more than capable of doing just that.

 

 

 

Poland, highly reputed since 1974, qualifying for the 1978 World Cup finals, having a bunch of players well known around the globe – and a weak championship. On a club level the 1960s were seemingly stronger years, but it was interesting championship for it was unpredictable one. A rare case anyway – there were no few powerful clubs dominating the league, the capital city had a minor role, and no club really concentrated the top players whether by government decree or by financial strength. The negative side was lower quality and the trouble was sufficient for concerns. After this season the second division was reorganized because of that: so far it was divided geographically in two groups – Northern and Southern. Seemingly, the Northern was much weaker and the new division was the between East and West, hoping to make the groups more competitive. But this was to happen in the next season. There was no reduction of the number of participants, though. Apart from structural changes, the other interesting thing about Polish club football was the determination of standings of clubs with equal points: unlike the general practice of the time – goal-difference – head-to-head results determined positions in Poland.

The Second Division went through its normal trials and tribulations. Here one more reason for the relative weakness of the Polish clubs could be found: many cities had more than one club. It was surprising in some places, but made understandable why Polish clubs went up and down quite often – resources were not pulled together. Gdansk, for instance, had no representative in First Division, but two clubs – Lechia and Stoczniowiec – played in the second. Lodz had LKS and Widzew in First Division and Start in the Second. So was the case with Warszawa, Krakow, Poznan, but if it appeared normal for big cities, it was unusual for smaller ones: Bydgoszcz, for instance, had Zavisza in top flight and BKS in the second division. Lubin had a second division club – Motor – and another one – Zaglebie – just promoted from Third Division for the next season. Bytom had two clubs if First Division (Szombierki and Polonia) – the only other city with two clubs in the top league was Lodz. Often there was no telling which club was the leading one in their home town – fate changed frequently: Baltyk represented Gdynia in second division and Arka in the first, but roles easily changed. Anyhow, the general situation had little to do with the actual season.

GKS Katowice had no rivals in the Northern Group – they left the nearest one, Gornik (Walbrzych) 6 points behind. GKS were returning to top flight, possibly not briefly, but to be a force. Hutnik (Krakow), not stranger to first division, went the opposite direction – they finished 14th and relegated to Third Division.

The Southern Group duplicated the Northern one – two clubs left the rest of league far behind. They also fought for the coveted promotional place to the end. Baltyk (Gdynia) were third – 18 points behind the second! Lechia (Gdansk) had to try again… they lost the race by a point, finishing with round 50 points.

Gwardia (Warszawa) clinched the first place with 51 points. Another returning to first division club, but unlike GKS, Gwardia played stronger role in the past. It was even strange to see them down at second level – strange, compared to other Communist countries. But it was not only Gwardia down on their luck – Polonia (Warszawa), strong club once upon a time, had sedated existence in the second division too. They finished at 12th place, just above the relegation zone. Gwardia did much better indeed.

 

At the end, it was the usual picture at the very top – four clubs, painfully familiar, way above the rest of the league and competing among themselves. The biggest of all had weak year to a point.

Olympiakos finished 4th. 44 points were great when compared to the those bellow – PAS Giannina had only 38 – but nothing when compared to the real favourites. Olympiakos was not in the race for the title for the first time in years.

Perhaps Olympiakos struggled with the eternal problem of changing generations and building a new squad; perhaps they were short of cash, but it was not a strong team when compared to what they had two or three years back. Their foreign recruits were puzzling: the Danish midfielder Niels Sorensen, coming from the small Dutch club Zwolle, and the Northern Irish striker Derek Spence (his name is misspelled on the photo) from Blackpool, just relegated to Third Division. Not exactly the kind of players to influence teammates and help winning trophies. Spence appeared in 21 matches and scored 6 goals – not an impressive debut. And both players did not last after this season – Spence moved back to Blackpool and third division football; Sorensen went to Grazer AK (Austria).

Panathinaikos finished third. Not a memorable season – the only comfort perhaps came from finishing ahead of the arch-enemy Olympiakos. One point better and at least with medals.

Very similar to Olympiakos – looked like changing generations was not going well. On the picture only Kapsis remains from the team reaching the European Champions Cup final in 1971. But this is not a full-squad photo: the veterans were more – Domazos, Antoniadis and Eleftherakis were still in the team. Konstantinou, Gonios, Papadimitriou, Dimitriou were also from the old great squad. And that was a clear picture of the problem: few aging, may be declining, may be suffering from injuries veterans and few more, who were just reserves in the glory days. And not enough bright young talent – perhaps only Terzanidis, the new midfielder just acquired from PAOK. And the foreign recruits were not very flashy… a mysterious ‘Giorgievits’ appears above, but there was not such player in the roster. Most likely this is Djordjevic, a little known Yugoslavian player, who arrived in 1976. He played only 2 matches this season… but stayed with Panathinaikos longer and generally contributed to the team. Alas, not a star. The Argentine Oscar Alvarez, one of the PAS Giannina Latin American stable, was much better addition this season. He was clearly bought because of his scoring abilities – according to some sources, he scored 77 goals for Giannina since 1974; according to other info – 41. He delivered, though – with 18 goals, he finished the second best scorer of the league this season. But his goals were hardly enough…

Not enough to overcome PAOK – riding still on their sturdy team, which won the championship two years ago, PAOK finished 2nd. They were not a title contenders, but finishing above Olympiakos and Panathinaikos was satisfying success.

Perhaps the poorest of the big 4 clubs, PAOK was not in a position to make big transfers, but the team was experienced and dependable. The success story was the foreigners: both Fortoula and Guerino Neto were anonymous players at home, but really flourished in PAOK, becoming the backbone of the team and two of most respected footballers playing in Greece at that time. The only problem was fundamental – PAOK was not wealthy enough to build really strong squad. The title was clearly out of their reach – they finished with 46 points, 7 points behind the champions.

And the champions are easily guessed by now: only AEK (Athens) was not mentioned so far. AEK had some of the biggest Greek stars of the time – the veteran midfielder Mimis Papaioannou, playing for AEK since 1963, and the top striker Thomas Mavros, recently acquired from Panionios. Mavros ended the league scorer of the season with 22 goals. He was only 24 years old, but playing his 7th professional season. Dusan Bajevic, the biggest transfer not only of this season, arrived from Velez (Mostar), adding more power to the attack (Bajevic did not have great first season, but eventually settled in his new club and lived up to his reputation). And one more big name was added along with Bajevic – the midfielder Milton Viera, already famous in Greece as Olympiakos players. And AEK had the former coach of the national team of Holland, Frantisek Fadrhonc, at the helm. Alas, AEK started badly and Fadrhonc was fired after the second round. Andreas Stamatiadis coach provisionally the team for the next two rounds until suitable replacement of the old Czech was found. It was another veteran with truly great reputation: the master builder of the great Bayern, the man introducing Beckenbauer, Muller, and Maier to the world. Zlatko Cajkovski. The legendary Yugoslav delivered – under him, AEK did not stumble. They lost only 2 matches this season and won 21. They scored 74 goals. And they left the league back in the dust – AEK finished 7 points ahead of PAOK.

Dominant champions. And it was not all – AEK reached the final for the Cup, where they met again their closest pursuer in the championship, PAOK. The best teams of the year clashed one more time. Bajevic scored in the 50th minute and exactly half an hour later Mavros made sure who was really best. PAOK was defeated 2-0. AEK finished with a double.

High flying eagles, indeed – 6th title and 8th Cup. A fine season for the club founded by refugees from Constantinople (Istanbul).

 

Greece- slowly rising, very slowly and not all that smoothly. Most of the league was not strong, scandals were frequent, but improvement was noticeable. It was still the time of heroes – long lasting veterans, who more or less elevated Greek football. They were around since the early 1960s and made astonishing records: 4 players had over 400 league appearances after this season. Mimis Domazos was with 490 and Mimis Papaioannou – 458. Neither was quitting yet. The bright side had its counterpart as well – there was mid-season players strike. The clubs fielded their foreigners – for some reason excluded from the strike of the Greek players – and ‘amateurs’. The definition is foggy – Greek football became officially professional in 1978-79, if some sources are to be trusted. But players were paid for long time already and the strike was never called anything but strike of professional player. The clubs fielded largely junior team players, luckily for only one championship round. Records of the season specifically separate the group of ‘amateurs’ used by the clubs and let leave it at that. Corruption was also present – Veria was caught trying to fix matches and 10 points were deducted from their record as a punishment. One may wonder what would have happened if one of the big clubs was found guilty… may be an meaningless question. Apart from that, there were some good news too – the Yugoslavian striker Dusan Bajevic joined AEK (Athens).

Bajevic, 28-years old, was one of the best Yugoslavian centre-forwards of the 1970s. National team regular for years, the star of the very strong Velez (Mostar), prolific scorer, and part of the good Yugoslavian team at the 1974 World Cup finals. The second real star after the Argentinian ‘La Bruja’ Veron to come play in Greece. It was even a bit strange – a player of his caliber was expected to join stronger West European league, but a shift was slowly happening – the Greek clubs started buying more Europeans than anonymous South Americans: Yugoslavians, Danes, the odd West German. Foreign coaches were continuously hired too. The top clubs at least were getting stronger.

The positive changes did not yet spread to lower echelons of Greek football.

AS Rodos won the Southern Second Division, and

AE Larisa won the Northern Second Division. Happy to be promoted, but neither club was strong addition to First league.

The newcomers were replacing the unlucky outsiders of First Division:

Veria was last with 18 points – their efforts of fixing matches were transparent enough: to escape relegation. But even if 10 points were not deducted from their record, Veria was still to be relegated.

AO Pierikos (Katerini) finished 17th with 26 points. A little unlucky, for there was large group of clubs concerned only with survival – up to the 9th placed. The luckiest ended with 30 points. However, the relegated were not to be missed.

Only one club of the bulk was obviously improving: OFI Crete.

Only two years earlier the islanders were playing in second division. Historically, OFI were nobodies – they had short first division spell in the 1960s and that was all. Now they had ambition, perhaps money, and may be good organization. Fans turning historians boast that OFI was the club to be… young players from all Greece were eager to join the club. Fancy imagination – no future stars of Greek football are founded in their 1977-78 roster. Even their two Yugoslavians are anonymous – Voukman and Ivanta (the name is clearly changed, may be to make it easier for Greek pronouncing). The only relatively known name is Kostas Liolios, acquired from Olympiakos for this season. But the team was going up – they finished 8th, becoming one of the stable clubs.

The bulk of the league was topped by PAS Giannina at 5th place.

They were running strong thanks to their large group of South Americans and the great mystery around them: players with frequently changing names, one year with their original ones, the next with Greek names, called in the same time ‘Argentine-Italians’, something not giving them even Greek roots, but never mind. They were for his club and even more. Good, but not good enough to challenge the big clubs.

 

 

 

The Cup final was a replay of the duel for the title – Dynamo (Dresden) vs 1. FC Magdeburg. Much at stake: Magdeburg needed to prove their worth, to win a trophy. Dynamo was ambitious to get a double. They won the Cup three times so far – Magdeburg had one more. Trophies, records, pride… the best East German clubs of the season proved their dominance.

Doubles happened rarely in DDR – the top clubs were of fairly equal strength. Dynamo had a chance, although in April, when the final was played in Berlin, double would not be yet on the minds of stuff and players of Dynamo – the championship was still in progress. Rather, a double could have been on the minds of both finalists, for both had a chance to win the championship too. Magdeburg scored early – the veteran defender Zapf netted the ball in the 8th minute. Nothing decided yet…. plenty of time. It turned out it was decided – no other goal was scored and Magdeburg triumphed.

The round of victory. May be the effort entirely exhausted the winners – hardly anybody smiled when posing for a picture for posterity.

Difficult victory, but Magdeburg won their 5th Cup. It was also their first trophy since 1975.

 

Slowly climbing to the real stuff – but there was one more division: the best 6 clubs were really two separate groups, if not three. Chemie (Halle) was 6th with 30 points. The 7th had 24 points, but Chemie was not a favourite either.

A team without stars, Chemie was sturdy, experienced, and well rounded at best. Quite enough to propel them into the top group, but not making them really able to truly compete. Their final position tells about real strength – Chemie was only better than most in the league.

Carl Zeiss (Jena), with 31 points was 5th. Their position is a bit misguiding: one of the traditionally strongest clubs in DDR was among the best as ever. To be 5th was not surprising really, for normally it was a shuffle between familiar names. But this season Carl Zeiss was entirely out of the championship race, despite their final place. But it did not look like a beginning of decline either – the team was strong and Carl Zeiss had good European performance. It was just a temporary slippage, no matter how strange it appeared to see Carl Zeiss not as a contender.

This season Carl Zeiss introduced their new kit design – hoops were almost unseen in East German football. Traditionally, the designs were different and the jerseys of the technical stuff represent the typical ones. Even stripes were relatively rare, but hoops were radical departure. Carl Zeiss was to use this design for about 5 years and during that time hoops became popular with other clubs.

Lokomotive (Leipzig) was 4th with 32 points, rounding the mini-division of the strongest. Normal place for them. Perhaps they got a bit fewer points than usual, but Lokomotive was peculiar club: one of the consistently strong clubs, yet, never a contender.

The squad gives the reason why Lokomotive were not potential champions- they always had a group of very players, but never as many as the other favourites. The limited pool of East German talent did not permit them any better.

Third was the only really rising club in the recent years – Dynamo (Berlin).

The Stasi club was getting stronger, unlike the Army club Vorwaerts. The key players were – Terletzki, Lauck, Trieloff, Riediger, Rudwaleit – already with plenty of experience and the number of stars was slowly increasing. But the squad still needed some additions, fine tuning, maturity. Their hour was coming, but did not come yet. 35 points this year – clearly better than the three clubs bellow them, but also not in the championship race – Dynamo was separated by three points from that.

At the end, it was a race between two very familiar opponents: 1. FC Magdeburg and SG Dynamo (Dresden). Magdeburg outpaced the rest of the league, but was no match for Dynamo – they had the best defensive record in the league (-17), but as usually happens, it was at the expense of their attack (fifth in the league – all clubs of the top tier, save Chemie, scored more goals. Magdeburg ended 3 points behind the champions.

The squad was still full of players vividly remembering the day they won the Cup Winners Cup – Sparwasser, Zapf, Hoffmann, Pommerenke, Tyll, Seguin, Raugust. Joachim Streich, the best East German left winger of the 1970s, joined them recently. Magdeburg were running strong, but there was only one title… 38 points were not enough for winning it.

41 points were. Dynamo (Dresden) lost 3 matches, tied 5, and won 18. They scored 70 goals – 13 more than second best attack (Lokomotive Leipzig). They won confidently their 6th title and third consecutive.

Dynamo were the most successful East German club during the 1970s, no doubt about it. Top row, from left: Gert Heidler, Reinhard Hafner, Frank Richter, Hans-Jurgen Dorner, Matthias Muller, Klaus Muller, Dieter Riedel, Rainer Sachse.

Middle row: Gerhard Prautzsch – coach, Karsten Petersohn, Udo Schmuck, Gerd Weber, Hartmut Schade, Andreas Trautmann, Matthias Doschner.

Front row: Peter Kotte, Jorg Klimpel, Claus Boden, Bernd Jakubowski, Christian Helm.

The team had enough class, but something was already visible: Dynamo, Magdeburg, and Carl Zeiss largely depended on the great players of the 1970s, arguably the best East German generation, still quite young and influential. But no new stars emerged to challenge the established ones. Potential trouble – but still far away.

 

DDR – rather alarming season, because of sharp divisions. Second division – 5 groups of 12 clubs each – was never strong supplier for the top tier, but now appeared as entirely separated entity. The winners, going to the final promotional mini-league, were:

Hansa (Rostock) from Group A,

Vorwaerts (Neubrandenburg) from Group B,

BSG Chemie (Leipzig) from Group C,

FSV Lokomotive (Dresden) from Group D, and

BSG Stahl (Riesa) from group E.

Only Hansa and Stahl really dominated their groups, but still the final round-robin tournament was supposed to be tougher. It was not – Stahl and Hansa walked over. Hansa lost matches, but still ended 4 points ahead of the 3rd placed BSG Chemie (Leipzig), finishing with 11 points. Stahl was 4 points ahead, after winning 7 of the total 8 matches and losing none. They scored 27 goals and received only 4. Well, nothing wrong at first glance – the best proved there strength… except that the winners of promotions were the relegated from first division the previous year. They were measly just an year ago and there not a single to believe that they were really stronger now. Hansa was an interesting measuring stick – they still had one or two real stars and were, on paper, more impressive than Stahl. Yet, they finished well behind the modest club from Riesa. Returning to first division was good, but was it really making the top league more competitive? Unlikely.

Unlikely, because top flight was severely divided: two hopeless outsiders, then a group of 6 clubs far bellow the upper half, yet, feeling secure, for they were also much better than the outsiders, and only relatively strong clubs – far stronger than the lower half of the league, but… there were internal divide even there: one club was seemingly stronger than half of this group, yet, not a title contender. More or less only two clubs really competed for the title.

At the bottom was Vorwaerts (Frankfurt/Oder).

The Army club suffered during the 1970, slowly sinking further and further down the table. Yet, it was hard to imagine them relegated – in the tradition of Communist Eastern Europe, the Army clubs were kept strong and heavily supported by the state. That was the case in DDR too – until 1970. Quiet, but significant change of emphasis apparently happened – first the club was moved from East Berlin to Frankfurt/Oder. The change appeared as relaxing of the state grip on football at first – so far, the Police was not powerful and no longer the Army. But by this season the Police club was gradually getting stronger – not yet dominant, though. As for the Army – the relegation meant that the state did not want this club anymore. Perhaps. Anyhow, Vorwaerts was really weak – they accumulated only 15 points, winning only 3 matches. Thirteenth at the final table and going to taste second division football next year.

Bellow them was a hopeless team even when compared to Vorwaerts – BSG Wismut (Gera). Nothing surprising at a glance – newly promoted clubs were relegated just as quickly as a rule. But Wismut finished with the worst record in the whole history of the East German top league to date: 6 points! They won a single match – Wismut (Aue) distinguished themselves as the only team losing against Gera: 1-2. Only one club had it worse than Gera: SC Fortschritt (Weissenfels) ended without any wins in 1960, but still with more points – 8, from the corresponding number of ties – than Wismut (Gera).

All-time worst… the freshly relegated get ready for their familiar second division habitat in July 1977: Standing from left: Irmscher, Markfeld, Kraft, Korn, Hoppe, Posselt, Neubert.

First row: Schirrmeister, Zubeck, Struppert, Winkler, Kaiser, Kliemang.

Yes, Wismut (Gera) was not strong club – their best years were far back in the early 1950s, then they made a single first division appearance in 1966-67, when they finished last (but with double the points and 4 victories). It was not that much their sorry fate, but rather what the general message was: the second division was not able to promote even slightly competitive club. Looked like the only role of the newcomers was to provide comfortable security for the rest of the league and no wonder it was getting weaker league as a whole, for half of it had no fear and no ambitions, slowly sinking too, but still not in danger of relegation.

The second debutant – and in their case real debutantes, for they never played in first division before – had heroic season: they finished 12th in the 14-team league. BSG Chemie (Bohlen) had no players to speak of, but they were brave and may be helped by the incredible weakness of Vorwaerts (Frankfurt/Oder).

Absolute beginners – and no longer after this season. Chemie ended with 20 points, so they were out of danger long before the end of the season. Yet, they were the worst of the weak lower half of the league – the team immediately above them, Wismut (Aue), had 22 points. True, the best placed of the weaklings – FC Karl-Marx-Stadt – was 7th with measly 24 points, but even among the rabble Chemie was seemingly of lower class. However, they scored a lot: 34 goals – the same number FC Karl-Marx-Stadt scored – the best by far in the lower half of the league. Well, they may have been happy in Bohlen, but it was clear that Chemie was not a great addition to the league – it was sure that the next year they will be trying only to survive again and their chances were small.

Nothing distinguished half of the league:

Clubs like Union (Berlin), having one or two good players, but no ambitions and clearly no class. Not even fancy kits… it looks like Puma, but DDR did not bye from West Germany – the point practically to the end of this state was to use home-made gear, desperately trying to look ‘better’ than the one made by the ideological enemy. 1. FC Union finished at 8th place with 24 points – FC Karl-Marx-Stadt had better goal-difference – which was 6 points behind the lowest of the upper-half clubs. Vast divide. And quite permanent – the league stayed sharply divided until 1985-86.

 

If the championship was surprizing, the Cup tournament was sensational. In the ¼ finals lowly second division club, Chepinetz (Velingrad) faced Levski-Spartak. Nobody even cared for this fixture – at their worst, Levski were to win easily. Chepinetz were just nobodies… they were simply lucky to play against Levski and photograph themselves with the stars for posterity. The match ended in 1-1 tie and went into penalty shoot-out. Which Chepinetz won 4:2. It was unbelievable, but true. Then the draw for the semi-finals: Chepinetz vs CSKA. Miracles happen rarely and are never repeated… the match was in Sofia on top of everything. No chance for Chepinetz whatsoever. Yet, this match also ended 1-1 and went to shoot-out. Miracles are not repeated, but CSKA extracted victory by only 4:3! A tiny club, insignificant even by second division measures eliminated Levski-spartak and almost eliminated CSKA. Fantastic. But that was the end of Cinderella story… CSKA went to the final. There they were meeting Marek (Stanke Dimitrov), who eliminated Lokomotiv (Sofia) in the quarter-finals 2-1, and then had it a bit easier at the semi-finals against the worst first division team, Akademik (Svishtov). Marek won 2-0, but considering their weak season… there was no doubt who the Cup winner will be. CSKA did not have a great year, but they were always ambitious, still had strong chances for a double, and simply had classier squad. And just in case, non-CSKA fans were sure that Marek will be ordered not to put any resistance. It was a final not worth watching at all – the victory of CSKA was sure, the match was to be a mere formality, if not outrageous farce.

The farce ended after half an hour – the right full back of Marek Lyuben Sevdin scored. So far, Marek was fighting well and did not give signs of giving up, but still pessimism dominated: may be putting a resistance in the first half, so the whole affair to be covered. If the second half they will give up and the journalists will write that the team was not match for great CSKA, they got tired, and… what could you expect? The best wins. Marek still have to work a lot to improve their football. Such wisdom vanished when the underdog was suddenly leading. And they bravely fought to the end, preserving the result and winning their first trophy ever. Now, this was sensational. It was minimal victory – only 1-0 – but what a victory!

CSKA finishing empty-handed the season. They were expected to win a double – this they did in a way: twice second-best. 18 national team players (of different years, but still…) losing to mere tiny provincials. May be CSKA got consolation from the fact that in the fall of 1977 Bayern lost a UEFA match to Marek? The mighty Germans lost 0-2 – CSKA did better. May be not… second place equals disaster and shame for a club counting only trophies won.

Marek – the sensational winners. Sitting from left: Emil Kyuchukov, Dimitar Dimitrov, Ventzislav Petrov, Ivan Petrov, Aleksandar Raynov, Sasho Pargov.

Middle row: Dimitar Kukov – assistant coach, Roman Karakolev, Lyuben Kolev, Stoyan Stoyanov, Ivan Palev, Lyuben Sevdin, Yanko Dinkov – coach.

Third row: Stanke Bozhurin, Slavcho Lazov, Lyuben Brankov, Nikolay Vukov, Aleksandar Kyuchukov.

It was precisely the same squad under the same coach which surprised everybody the previous season by finishing third right after winning promotion. Yes, they played very well, but given the limitations of the squad and the vanishing of the surprise element, they were not expected to repeat their great year, let alone win a trophy. And predictions were so far right: Marek still played well, but now everybody knew them and they were at the bottom of the table, trying to avoid relegation. Reaching the Cup final was a bit surprising, but perhaps Lokomotiv (Sofia) chose to concentrate on the fight for the championship and did not care for the cup. Then Marek had been lucky, drawing a weak opponent. Luck is luck, but they won the final against CSKA. They really proved themselves. Yet, it was hard to believe, given their limited squad. Marek practically used only 14 players the previous season and it was absolutely certain that there was nobody behind the regulars. The team badly needed additions… yet, they did not recruit anybody in summer of 1977 and lost their sweeper Nikolay Krastev. Technically, he was still in the squad, but after his leg was broken in the previous season it was clear he was not going to play again. Now they had not more, but fewer good players – the photo of the Cup winning squad perfectly shows the very extend of Marek: the whole third row are reserves, with very few appearances. The back-up goalie Brankov still had to debut in official match. The field players probably had less than 15 appearances in two years each , and hardly anybody played a full match yet: the only play they got was a few minutes of occasional replacement of some regular. The reserves were clearly local boys included because there was nobody else. None of them not only was never a known player, but nobody became a starter for Marek. Marek had bigger squad on paper, but the others were not even good enough for reserves. There is one player missing, the midfielder Assen Tomov – his absence only amplifies the team’s limitations: 12 players total to depend on. Tomov was practically the regular replacement, coming every match in the second half. Without him… only 11 left. Imagine one of them injured? Imagine two out of form? And something already a reality, not imagination: already three players were included in the national team. A few more were soon to be called – the regulars were suddenly taxed with too many important games: the championship, the Cup, the European torunaments, the national team matches. It was already a miracle they survived so far. But a heroic team too – despite the objective difficulties, they bested their best year. They won the first trophy for Marek! And, so far, their last… this team will stay heroic and legendary not just for the club and its fans. They truly deserved their success.

It was the season of small clubs and minimal teams – they won everything against expectations and logic. Strange similarity – both Lokomotiv and Marek depended on tiny groups of players, almost all of them home-grown. Their modest, if not entirely unknown coaches, were also closely related to the clubs – more local boys becoming famous out of the blue. An unique season, but also sad… the way they were, both winners were unlikely to stay on top. The most they were to hope for was the big teams to stay away of their players – so far, Levski and CSKA were disinterested… the winners were somewhat not the type of players needed by the big clubs. Levski did not even try to get back its former juniors, the Petrov twins. Even when they were called to the national team and even when Levski badly precisely centre-forward – the very position the twins played. At the end, only two players were taken by the mighty: CSKA took Zdravkov from Lokomotiv and two years later Levski took Lyuben Kolev from Marek. Lucky winners… they could have been robbed entirely. How pleasant it was to see modest clubs win everything, and such minimalistic teams on top of it. Pleasant and amazing, and not to be repeated…

Just because of the uniqueness of the seasonal winners, one more photo of Marek – made right after the Cup final ended and they received the Cup. Because of colour clash, Marek had to play with their second kit. White jerseys, blue shorts, red socks. Or,well… it was not to be their day: CSKA playing in their second kit against some provincial dwarfs? But it is even sweeter to win over heavily favoured opposition, in their home town, and after it is taken for granted that if anybody had to change kits, it is the small, insignificant provincial guys. In a way, Marek’s victory was even a kind of symbolic revenge for the harsh and unfair suspension of Kiril Milanov – his troubles started when he was young and playing for Marek and related to CSKA and their powerful supporter in the top of the Communist Party and state leadership.