Football Journey

FC Porto had a second chance in the Cup tournament – they reached the final, after having easy opponent at the ½ finals: an away fixture, but against lowly Famalicao. FC Porto won 2-0. Meantime the foes from Lisbon fought each other – Sporting was losing ground in the championship, but as every club on downhill, but still strong, the Cup became the place for brief excellence. A derby with local enemy was highly motivating too – Sporting trashed Benfica 3-1, the only match Benfica lost this season.

The final was dramatic as well – the regular match ended in 1-1 tie. In the replay Sporting triumphed, however minimally – 2-1.

The ‘new’ FC Porto came very close to a double. The lost final only showed that the team was still unripe for true dominance. They needed polishing, a few new players, little things. This was still a squad of ‘second-bests’ in the general Portuguese scheme. Fernando Gomes was sill too young – 21 years old – and not in full bloom yet. FC Porto had to wait for a double.

Tough, dramatic, but well deserved Cup for Sporting Lisbon. 14th Cup for them – big numbers historically, but the recent years showed clearly this was the most Sporting was able to reach now. Still, enjoyable and not just a consolation. For the moment, Sporting saved otherwise disappointing season.

Perhaps the trophy was to be cherished more – victories were increasingly harder for Sporting in the changing reality of Portuguese football. They were no longer able to build a great squad – the most famous players were in Benfica and the brightest younger talent in FC Porto. Sporting was becoming just ‘solid’… it was quite telling that they depended on aging star like Salif Keita, well beyond his prime and nearing retirement. Similar was Artur, spending his best years with the arch-enemy, Benfica. Because of that perhaps Sporting’s victory was to be appreciated more – it was a great success of spirit, against the odds, and brave attempt of disadvantaged club to stay among the best.

Survival was on the mind of many members of the Portuguese First Division: half of the league. Every club bellow 7th place. The hopeless outsider was CD Feirense.

Standing, from left: Seminário, Brito, Cândido, Parra (captain), Pinto, Zequinha.

Crouching: Portela, Bites, Gilberto, Serginho, José Domingos.

Five wins, 2 ties, and 23 losses. 12 points and last, 16th, place.

A place above with 21 points finished a newcomer – GD Riopele.

Modest Riopele had no chance, but at least they tried as much as they can. To a point, it was good season for them – at least playing top flight. Never mind relegation.

Espinho ended 14th with 22 points. For them it was the usual story – if playing first division, it was mostly at the bottom, trying to remain for another season. Often they were not able to escape relegation, and this season was one of those.

No surprises so far and to a point the forth club ending in relegation zone was not a surprise either. But they were also unlucky – Portimonense FC finished 13th because of worse face-to-face record. They had 23 points, the same CS Maritimo also had, but with much worse goal-difference. Maritimo was -23 and Portimonense only -10. The record between both clubs favoured Maritimo… Portimonense went down.

The third-ranking club of Porto failed. Once again, it should be said. One consequence is that their claim for ‘a derby’, when playing against FC Porto or Boavista is pretty much a derby only in their own minds. The other consequence is a bit amusing: nobody likes losers and such squads are hardly ever mentioned. Yet, Portimonense went a step further: it is almost impossible to find a photo of the 1977-78 squad. The club website provides info of the season, but not a picture of the team. There is no trace. Vengeance, reducing the squad to nothing.

And these were the unlucky teams at the bottom of the final table, going down to second division. The most of the league was hardly memorable and most clubs seemingly occupied their usual positions: Boavista finished 7th, Academica Coimbra, fading away since the late 1960s, was 8th, Belenenses quietly continued their slump – they were 5th, but it was already clear for some time that Lisbon was not going to support three strong clubs and Belenenses were just becoming one more small and insignificant club.

The pleasant surprise was Sporting Braga. They finished 4th, seemingly much better than the rest of the league, yet, far behind the three top clubs.

Braga was not full of big stars, but appeared well-rounded squad of descent players. Careful selection was obviously made – not an easy task in a country where the good players quickly and inevitably were snatched by Benfica or Sporting Lisbon. The predicament made almost every other team liable to sudden drops as soon as they had a strong season. It looked like Sporting Braga found the right formula – good players, yet, not so good to tempt the big clubs. They gave the appearance of a club going up and staying there for some time, not a one-time wonder. Braga was not ready for something really successful yet, but if they managed to keep and improve the squad… a very promising team.

Third – Sporting Lisbon. On the surface, maintaining its position and finishing among the very best. Perhaps unlucky contender?

Sporting finished 4 points ahead of Sporting Braga – a solid gap, confirming the difference between the strongest and the rest of the league. But they were also far, far behind the team above – with their 42 points, Sporting were never in the race for the title. They finished 9 points behind the leaders. The difference was significant: a permanent change in Portuguese football occurred. Sporting was no longer one the best clubs, replaced by FC Porto. Instead, they formed a separate category, consisting at the moment only of them – no longer constant contenders, but second-tier club. Stronger than the rest of league, but weaker than the real leaders. It did not look so clear back in 1977-78, but later the season was meaningful: Sporting lost ground, never to regain it again.

The league may have been rather weak, but the race for the title was fabulous. It was run head to head to the end and decided by goal-difference. The contenders were way above the rest. Of course, Benfica was the obvious suspect. They had remarkable domestic season by any standard: 21 wins and 9 ties. Benfica did not lose a single match! A rare achievement, no matter how strong or weak a league. More, Benfice excelled defensively – they allowed only 11 goals in their net, pretty much a goal in every 3 games played. Impenetrable. Their striking power was not so deadly, but 56 goals were still the third highest in the championship. Excellent in every aspect, so the champions were… others.

Benfica had the best known Portuguese players of the time, almost the whole regular team played also for the national team. May be they were unlucky? The title was lost on goal-difference – must be bad luck? Or something else… top players, but some were aging (Toni, Nene, Humberto) and, in general, this was not exactly great generation. Porugal slipped to secondary position with them. Benfica too. Chalana was still unheard of outside Portugal. Eurico and Sheu never became really big stars. It was slightly aging team, already good only for the domestic championship. A tiny weakness, but costly.

FC Porto left them emptyhanded, a team improving for some years already and finally establishing itself as truly leading club. They matched Benfica in almost everything – FC Porto lost only one match during the championship, but compensated with one win more than their rivals. Strong defense, not as great as Benfica’s, but still allowing less than a goal per game average: only 21 balls ended in FC Porto’s net, but even this was vastly compensated by their scoring power. FC Porto scored 81 goals this season. At the end, that was the difference between winners and losers.

The squad was different than Benfica’s – fewer big names, but generally younger and promising. They showed character this season under heavy pressure – a sure sign of a team approaching maturity. They won their 7th title, and with second consecutive victory in the championship, FC Porto firmly replaced Sporting Lisbon as the second club in the ruling duopoly. Nothing chancy about them – they were here to stay. The squad still needed a bit additional class, but the approach was right and there was little doubt that FC Porto was going to be better still. Edging Benfica quite clearly showed better decisions, aiming at great future.

 

Portugal attracted little international interest in the second half of the 1970s, almost a forgotten country , mentioned more for historic reasons than actual ones. A question about second division would have puzzled many – generally, people hardly even knew who played in the top league. As for the second level, there was not one, but three second division leagues – Northern, Central, and Southern. Each league 16-team strong, the bottom four relegated further down. As for promotion, it was complicated: 4 teams were going up. The champions, naturally, and the 4th? The 4th promotion went to winner of the play-off mini-league of the three 2nd placed clubs. Almost all clubs meant nothing outside Portugal and quite little in there own country: fading for years clubs, like CUF; various up and down ‘unsettled’ ones, like Penafiel; and those who never even dreamed of top flight, like Odivelas. This particular season should be noted for two famous players kicking the ball down there:

Standing from left: Eusébio, Florival, Barrinha, Marito, Varela, Sarmento, Vieirinha

Crouching: Graça, Alcino, Mário Pinto, Simões (cap.), Faustino.

Eusebio and his former teammate in the great Benfica Simoes now played with the black shirts of Uniao Tomar. Their presence helped the club to finish 4th in the II Divisao Centro. For Eusebio this was his last season in Portugal – he retired one year later, but in USA. Simoes had a few more years to go.

So much for fame. Almost. There was one more fairly famous player – the much traveled Hungarian defector Antal Nagy. He played for Leixoes this season, arriving from spell in Belgium. Almost forgotten in his twilight years.

Leixoes: standing from left: Adriano, José Manuel, Lucio, Josefá, Sá, Nagy

First row: Marcos, Bené, Festas, Frasco, Jacinto.

Of course, there were many foreigners in the second division clubs, but they were Brazilians and Africans from the former colonies. Some players from Mozambique were white. None was known and almost none was a proper import – they were considered domestic, with possible exception of one Uruguayan and Mady Keita from Mali. Well, big names don’t play second division football, but to outsiders there were obvious discrepancies – Academico Viseu had 7 foreign players, some clubs had the normal for the 1970s two, and many a club did not have any. Well, Academico Viseu had only one player who may have been ‘proper import’ – the already mentioned Mady Keita. The rest were practically domestic, coming from former colonies. However, the large number seemingly helped the club.

As the championship went, the drama was mostly concentrated in the lower league regions, where clubs were preoccupied with survival. On the top it was calm… all champions were solitary leaders without opposition. Barreirense won Divisao Sul by 4 points.

 

Standing from left: Abrantes, Campora, Serra, Cunha, Páscoa, José João, Nelinho, Loia, Romão, Pavão.

First row : Arnaldo, Andrade, Alexandre, Piloto, Coentro Faria, Cansado.

The Uruguayan veteran Henrique Campora, playing in Portugal since 1971, one Brazilian – Indio – and a player from Cape Verde – Joao Cabral – in the squad.

Beira Mar did better in Divisao Centro – they left the nearest pursuer 6 points behind.

Standing from left : Quaresma, Jesus, Manecas, Abel, João Poeira, Sabu.

Crouching: Cambraia, Sousa, Sobral, Germano, Nelson Reis.

Three ‘almost foreigners’ helped Beira Mar to win the championship – Lima (Brazil), Simao (Cape Verde), and Joao Sabu (Angola).

This was still nothing compared to the dominance of Famalicao in Divisao Norte – they were 14 points ahead of the 2nd placed Aliados Lordelo. Their goal-difference was fantastic – plus 51 goals compared to measly plus 3 of Aliados Lordelo.

Standing from left: Nando, Branco, Djair, Duarte, Amadeu, Zézinho.

First row : Reinaldo, Jacques, Vitor Oliveira, Sá Pereira, Lula.

Famalicao had two Brazilians in the squad – the goalkeeper Djair and Lula.

The second-placed in the three leagues competed for the 4th promotion – 2-legged round-robin tournament. Curiously – or may be not – it was won by the best second placed team in the regular season – Academico Viseu finsished it with 41 points. Juventude Evora had the same points, but worse goal-difference. In the mini-league a single tie decided first and second places – Academico Viseu extracted a point from Aliados Lordelo, thus finishing with 5 points. Juventude got 4 points and Aliados 3.

Academico – or CAF – from Viseu went up in the last minute. Only one thing can be said about them – perhaps they were the team with most foreign players in the Second Division: 7. The names mean nothing, but let name them anyway: Francisco Gomes (Brazil), Pedro Paulo (Brazil), Renato (Brazil), Segio Albasini (Mozambique), Toyobe (Mozambique), Jose Penteado (Angola), and Mady Keita (Mali).

Good for the winners, joy everywhere, but none of the promoted was to be a big news next year… most likely they were to fight for survival.

The championship remained divided: traditional second division and reformed first. Three clubs competed for promotion in the 16-team second league: Lugano, Chiasso, and Nordstern (Zurich). At the bottom Gossau and Bulle more or less were resigned to their fate and took the last two spots, thus relegated. Above them and up to 4th place all were relatively equal – and not strong enough to dream of promotion. At the end Lugano slowed down too and finished 3rd three points behind the best.

FC Chiasso ended 2nd and promoted. Not bad for the faded club – in the first half of the 20th century they did play in the Italian championship, then moved back to Switzerland and enjoyed their best years in the 1950s, when took silver and bronze medals. After that – not only nothing, but rather became insignificant, mostly playing in the second division. Going back to top level was great, but recovery to the old glory was unlikely.

Nordstern clinched first place on better goal-difference – like Chiasso, they earned 45 points. For the small club from Basel promotion was big success. And it was clear that they had to really enjoy this season, for it was highly unlikely they would be able to survive in smaller and stronger league. Nordstern had the top second division scorer – Helmut Degen, but even he was not a great player. Chiasso at least had some foreign strikers – the German Hans Franz and the Dane Allan Michaelsen. A bit better than Nordstern, yet, who can tell what could happened the next year.

First division was the real thing and the reformed format of the championship seemingly improved the Swiss football. How much would be anybody’s guess, for no matter what there is hardly any perfect championship formula. After standard 2-legged first phase, the league was divided in two groups of six clubs each – those at the first 6 places competed for the title, the other six – to escape cursed relegation. Every club carried half of the points earned in the first phase to next – two mini-leagues, playing anew 2-legged championship. In the relegation group on club was practically goner long before the end of the first phase:

Young Fellows (Zurich) finished with 4 points – in 22 games they won once and managed to tie two matches. Starting with 2 points the second phase, they hardly had a chance. In the last 10 matches they won a single match and lost the rest. Young Fellows went down and it was practically the end of the club, which was not successful, but still was able to hire a world star in the 1950s – Tibor Koszis.

Etoile Carouge finished 11th and also were relegated. They paid heavy prize for the weak first phase, when they also finished second to last with measly 13 points. Half of that was too little – the club fought bravely to the end, earning 11 points in the final phase, but still was 2 points short from Xamax. The drama practically ended with that: who will survive – Xamax or Etoile Carouge. Young Boys, Chenois, and St. Gallen more or less only preserved their initial advance to stay out of trouble.

The race for the title was more interesting, naturally. Since there is no perfect championship system, the formula provided for easy living too – whoever finished 6th in the first phase was out of relegation worries, but also not competing for the title. For FC Sion the championship practically finished with the end of the first whole-league phase and the rest was only going through the motions. Sion got a single point in the second phase. Almost on vacation. The other five teams really competed and the end the points carried on from the first phase decided final positions. Three points were the difference between 1st and 5th – a tied, competitive race, which seemed a bit unlikely at the end of the first phase: Grasshoppers and Servette lead by three points after the first 22 matches. Starting with half of the initial points changed things a tiny bit, reducing the difference between the leader and the 5th placed from 6 points to three – thus, hopes were preserved. In the final phase Lausanne-Sports earned the least points – 11 – and finished 4th with 26 points.

 

 

Those were strong years for Lausanne-Sports, but their sqaud was just a tiny bit weaker than the other contenders.

The ‘losers’ were FC Zurich – 5th in the qualification phase, and also 5th at the end. They stepped up in the final tournament, earned 12 points, won 5 of the 10 matches, but lost even 4th place – on goal-difference. A sign of weakening of FC Zurich – they had been consistently strong, one of the best Swiss clubs in the 1970s, but their squad was aging. Still Fritz Kunzli was the top scorer of the championship with 21 goals, but this was small consolation, if any at all.

Basel were the best at the final torunament, earning 13 points, and scoring 21 goals in 10 matches, a record they shared with Lausanne-Sports. But they were unable to overcome their relatively weaker first phase, where they finished 4th, 6 points behind the leader. The difference was reduced to 3 points for the final stage, but Basel was able only to move a place higher and grab the bronze medals.

 

Basel proved they were able to maintain leading position even after their great captain Odermatt was no longer on the field. And a novelty – Basel in rather unusual almost entirely blue kit instead of their traditional red and blue.

Servette finished second, as they finished the first phase. Technically, the weaker among the favourites in the final stage – Servette earned 11 points, the same Lausanne-Sports won, but with worse goal-difference. Either they slowed down, or played just conservatively – Servette tied exactly one half of the 10 final matches. They preserved second place, yet lost the title by a point.

 

From left: Gilbert Guyot, Karl Engel, Marc Schnyder, Jean-Luc Martin, Lucio Bizzini, Claude ‘Didi’ Andrey, Jean-Christophe Thouvenel, Jean-Yves Valentini, Franz Peterhans, Umberto Barberis, Martin Chivers.

Servette compensated with the Cup, so it was successful season.

Grasshoppers lost the Cup final, but the championship was theirs. Not overwhelmingly – Servette was just a point behind in the first phase. In the second Grasshoppers were steady – they added 12 points to the 17 carried on from the first stage. To a point, they started on equal footing with Servette – both teams had 17 initial points, for Grasshoppers really had 17.5 points, but half points were rounded to the lower number. The rest of the challengers were not far behind, but Grasshoppers maintained steady performance and although not outstanding, still preserved the lead. Champions a point ahead of Servette.

Happy champions at last.

Credit to the German coach Johannsen and his squad. Great season for Grasshoppers – the last title they won in 1971, and it was a difficult one: the club finished second in the championship and won the title after a play-off against Basel. As a whole, quarter of a century of frustration ended – since 1952 Grasshoppers had very little to brag about. So good to top the local rivals FC Zurich too – they were consistently strong in 1970s, adding insult to injury, but no more. 15th title for the oldest club in Zurich, founded in 1886. They had Gunther Netzer the previous year and failed – now he was retired and without a star of such status they won the title. Of course, Grasshoppers had their fair number of Swiss national team players – perhaps Claudio Sulser was the best among them – but for a long time the biggest Swiss stars belonged to other clubs, so the new champions were not particularly impressive as individuals. No even modestly famous foreigners here – the West German Jonny Hey hardly rings a bell. But there was a player which caught international attention – the striker Raimondo Ponte. His transfer to Nottingham Forest was interesting news, but in 1980. So far, the 22-years old striker was only Swiss news – he debuted for the national team in 1978, no doubt because of his excellent season with Grasshoppers. Helmuth Johannsen really did a good job, although he was no and never became famous coach. As for Grasshoppers a new strong era began. A double was possible, but Servette got the upper hand at the Cup final. May be next year?

Switzerland – once upon a time having quite a strong football, but since mid-1960s outpaced by many European countries. After 1975 there were strong signs of recovery, yet, without real success on the level of national teams. Clubs did better and the progress continued. This was not to be truly great generation, but, may be because of the new format of the league, improvement continued. Although a championship without big and dominant clubs, Swiss football depended on the steady performance of Basel, FC Zurich, and Servette in the 1970s. One more club joined the group in 1977-78 – a familiar name, but staying in the shadow of the trio so far. Grasshopper (Zurich) reached the Cup final – not a big surprise, but rather a sigh of new ambition. Back then the club was better known as ‘Grasshoppers’ – the final ‘s’, making the word plural in English, was old mistake, eventually corrected many years later. Anyhow, they went all the way to the Cup final, where Servette (Geneva) opposed them. As a footnote, the final was traditionally played in Bern – between 1936 and 2001 no other city hosted the Cup final. The final ended in 2-2 draw and had to be replayed. Servette clinched minimal victory by 1-0 in the second match. Small, big, victory is a victory. Servette won the Cup in 1971, lost the final in 1976, and now won it one more time: their 4th altogether.

Losers…crouching, from left: Lauper, Piccand, Herbert Hermann, Bauer, Heinz Hermann, Bouli.

Middle row: Brunner – masseur, Montanden, Hagenbuch (?), Berbig, Inderbitzin, Nafzger, Sulser, Johannsen – coach.

Top row: Bachmann (?), Traber (?), Ponte, Wehrli, Egli, Hey, Niggl, Meyer.

Hopes and ambitions crashed… Grasshopper badly wanted a cup – the last time they won it was foggy past: 1952. In 1963 they played at the final for the last time. Finally, they had a chance and missed it, a very disappointing moment, but there was joy at the end of the season, compensating for the lost final.

 

Servette (Geneva) were equally ambitious and much happier too – it was more than winning a trophy. So far, they were strong, consistent, but stayed second-best. Basel and FC Zurich won; Servette did not. They badly needed trophies as a recognition of their good years – and so far had only won the Cup in 1971. Already distant success…

Top row: Monnier (Betreuer), Marc Schnyder, Jean-Christophe Thouvenel, “Joko” Pfister, “Didi” Andrey, Jean-Luc Martin

Middle row: Martin Chivers, Hanspeter Weber, M. Locca, Roger Cohannier (President), Peter Pazmandy (Coach), Serge Trinchero, Lucio Bizzini

Sitting: Karl Engel, Gilbert Guyot, Franz Peterhans, Claude Sarrasin, Franco Marchi, Umberto Barberis, Aldo Brignolo

Success at last. A good squad, Servette – Engel, Guyot, Pfister, the young defender Thouvenel, who was to become French national team player, the Swiss footballer of the year in 1974-75 and long time regular of the national team Umberto Barberis, and perhaps the most important one at the time Martim Chivers. The former star of the great Tottenham Hotspur of 1968-73, regular English national team player, strong and dangerous centre-forward, scoring plenty. Chivers was one of the biggest foreign stars moving to Swiss clubs in the second half of the 1970s – to finish their careers in well-paying, but not very demanding league. Chivers did not win many trophies in England, so it was great that he ended his foreign spell with a cup. He was also voted the best foreign players of the season – admittedly, the competition was not exceptional, but still he was above everybody else at 33 years of age. Chivers also finished as the second best scorer in the championship with 17 goals.

The Cup was out of the reach of the big clubs – the 1977-78 final was unique. Today the old final is largely confusing. The disintegration of Yugoslavia is the reason. Small clubs playing well in cup tournaments was nothing new, but still both finalists of the same ilk is rare. Especially those finalists… Trepca (Kosovska Mitrovica) and NK Rijeka. For Trepca this season was their best ever: for the first and only time in their history they played in first division. The finished last, yet, this is their highest achievement. And they reached the Cup final with a good chance of winning. Trepca was hardly known name back in the 1970s and today almost automatically one needs to get some additional information about the club. Which is a dead end, for the club is located in the troubled Kosovo. And because of that there are two clubs – or may be even three – of the same name. Ethnic divide makes the scarce information unreliable and contestable: one club, KF Trepca, seemingly is Albanian, plays in the internationally unrecognized Kosovar championship, and claims the birthdate and the history of the old Yugoslavian Trepca. The other one is named FK Trepca, the colours are different, its birth date is 2000, not 1932, which the other Trepca claims, and seemingly plays in the lower leagues of Serbia. That is, formally, in another country… but since Kosovo is not fully recognized as separate country the problem of legality is a nightmare. Occasinally there is mentioning of another club, called Partizan, but supposed to be Trepca. Go figure… easier in 1977-78: Trepca was Trepca, at their finest.

No famous names here, understandably. The only thing about this squad is that it is a mix – Serbians, Kosovars, others… as it was in the days of Yugoslavia, tensions simmering under the lid of harmony. Tensions are tensions, football is football – the relatively small city enjoyed its team and supported it. Its was heroic season and at the end the opponent was not all that scary – another small club never winning anything. Beatable…

Trepca fought bravely, but was unable to score. Rijeka did – only one. Enough for triumph. The effort of Trepca deserves recognition nevertheless: they really outdid themselves. Too bad they lost. And great Rijeka won!

Happy winners! First trophy ever! Unlike Trepca, the Croatian club was on the rise, starting may be two years before and now was among the leading Yugoslavian clubs – they were the ‘logical’ winners.

Older club than Trepca – founded in 1926, when the city had different name and not only that: general history makes the history of the club similar, if not more complex and confusing, to Trepca’s. Before the First World War Rijeka was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Then it was Italy. Not Rijeka, but Fiume – and the club was founded as US Fiumana. Until 1945 this club played in the Italian lower leagues with no success at all. In 1945 the city was passed to Yugoslavia, named Rijeka, as it was called by the Croatian population anyway and the club was ‘re-founded’ in 1946 under the name NK Kvarner. Looked like entirely different club… until 1954 when the name was changed to NK Rujeka, seemingly establishing continuation of the original US Fiumana. The club includes the history of US Fiumana and claims the foundation date ever since 1954, if not earlier, despite the date of founding NK Kvarner. Of course, this was not the last change – when Yugoslavia collapsed, NK Rijeka naturally changed the flag – and it is in Croatia today, but not in the limbo Trepca is. Anyhow, NK Rijeka faired better in Yugoslavia than US Fiumana in Italy: the club was not big, not strong, but played often in first division. With their last promotion in mid-1970s things changed dramatically: suddenly the club was rising, moving up and up. Strong 1976-77, followed by even better one. May be the return of Josip Scoblar at last to his hometown was the catalyst. The mighty scorer was no longer playing, but along him few other talented players blossomed and the team was quite descent as a whole. Good results came, with them – confidence and ambition. And with all that, NK Rijeka won their first ever trophy.

Perhaps not a great squad, but certainly much stronger than the one Trepca had. Radin, Jurisic, and Cukrov already were more than just recognizable names in Yugoslavia – the trio was eyed by the national team coaches. Ivica Car, Milos Hrstic, and Milan Ruzic were also very promising. A good team, which problem was mainly the terrible predicament of every small club: keeping its best players at home. Especially after success… But it was great so far, the team was still going up, they won a trophy – the future was not all that gloomy. And it was really not – the club was still to add something more. It was the best period in the history of NK Rijeka, not to mention the sweet rubbing the noses of the big Croatian clubs… Hajduk and Dinamo empty-handed; Rijeka with the Cup. As for the future – Radin and Jurisic never played for Yugoslavia, but Cukrov, Ruzic, and Hrstic did.

The best of the league consisted of 7 clubs. The final table provides misleading ‘clarity’ – the obvious weak teams were relegated and at the top there was also ‘a perfect order’, placing every club neatly according to predictable and traditional strength. The details are hidden somewhat, but could be easily traced. There is nothing wrong with the final table, of course, but the details repeal why.

Velez (Mostar) finished 7th with 35 points, but worse goal-difference than their immediate rivals.

Not bad, Velez were lovely underdogs in the 1970s. Yet, the peak of the squad was perhaps a year or two back and now they were reaching the crucial moment of starting a new team. At their best, Velez was not really able to challenge the big Croat and Belgrade clubs – the were strong enough to be among the best 4 or 5, but not strong enough to win a title. The fate of smaller clubs… Now they seemingly moved down a tiny bit and unless making changes they were in danger. Yet, they were still stronger than most of the league.

The club just before Velez was their opposite: Sloboda (Tuzla), a smaller than Velez Bosnian club, was bravely going up since 1969 when they emerged from the second division. Perhaps 1877-78 was their finest season so far – they had experience and balance, reaching their peak.

 

 

Led by the local legend Mustafa Hukic, still 27 years old, the modest boys from the mining town of Tuzla soared, but… to a point. No matter what, they were small club, having no chance of keeping their best players and recruiting stars from elsewhere was unthinkable. Their best was pretty much the region between 4-8 place. With luck, they could stay there for a few more years – after all, the real danger for them was fame: once their top players were noted, they were to be snapped either from the big clubs, or just go abroad. It was good running for the moment and had to be enjoyed also for the moment.

Another similar to Sloboda club was also rising: the Croatian NK Rijeka. They finished 5th, two points ahead of Sloboda and Velez, tied with Dinamo (Zagreb), but with worse goal-difference. Tiny detail… inevitably making the difference between big and small. Rijeka played well, they reached their finest ever time, but were the third strongest Croatian club and therefore unable to build and preserve extraordinary squad. It was admirable that they were able to meddle with the big clubs, but it was also clear that Rijeka was not to win the championship.

Rijeka played well in the championship, but it was not all – they had a much better moment to enjoy.

Dinamo (Zagreb) finished 4th. Same points like NK Rijeka – 37 – but better goal-difference.

Another club on the rise, but not yet at its peak. Dinamo struggled in the previous years, suffering a decline, which still kept them above most of the league members, but nothing much. Eventually Dinamo got a new talented generation of players and started its recovery after 1975. So far, the team was not ripe yet for success, but steadily going up. Fourth place was fair – they were not ready yet.

Hajduk (Split) however was going the opposite way. Bronze medals for them this year, but it was dangerous moment. The team reached its peak about 1975 and that was that – for the first time since 1970 Hajduk was not in the race for the title. The inertia was strong and they left Dinamo, Rijeka, Sloboda, and Velez behind, but… not far behind.

The trouble was that it was almost impossible to detect a problem. Hajduk was similar to Borussia (Moenchengladbach), PSV Eindhoven, Saint Etienne, and Leeds United – strong, exciting clubs, with sound policy, avoiding the trap of letting a great squad become too old and collapse. They constantly and carefully reshaped year after year, seemingly getting more and more solid. There was no way to envision a problem, they stayed on top for years, but… somehow never fulfilled their rich potential on international level. Hajduk, at its peak, was unable to go really far in the European tournaments, and now it stuck – a squad full of national team players, individually ranking very high. None was old – the oldest one, Jurica Jerkovic, was 28. The age clouded the problem – the boys appeared still young enough, even younger ones were coming every year, and on the surface it looked like they still had time to really soar. But the team as a team was getting old – most of the players were around for years. The signal was ominous: Hajduk finished third, but did not play any role in the contest for the title – the second placed team had 10 points more. Hajduk was actually fighting for better position with Dinamo, Rijeka, Sloboda, and Velez. Perilous season, in a way.

So, at the end the championship was contested, in a way, by the Belgrade giants. The rivalry was hot as ever, but the opponents were in very different situations, mirroring the group just bellow them. Crvena zvezda successfully changed generations without real pain. The new team was based on Vladimir Petrovic, who moved to midfield position. Bogicevic was still in the squad, but ready to abroad. The rest was talented group – Sestic, Zec, Muslin, Filipovic, Jovanovic, Savic. May be not as great individually as the previous squad, but impressive nevertheless. It was a squad nearing its peak, but was not there yet and it showed – they finished second, leaving the rest of the league far, far behind – 10 points more than 3rd placed Hajduk – but in the same time trailed 5 points behind the champions.

This squad was on the brink of their greatest season, but not there yet. Of course, second place is almost a disaster for a club like Crvena zvezda, especially when their archenemy was first, but the future was theirs. A novelty: Crvena zvezda played with Admiral kit – very unusual choice for East European club. Those were the years when the British firm tried to expand beyond Great Britain, however reluctantly and may be even late.

Confident and very familiar champions – 8th title for Partizan (Belgrade).

On the surface, dominant leaders – 5 points ahead of the nearest pursuer, 22 wins and only 2 losses, 55:19 goal-difference. Second best attack, unrivaled defense. Supreme… were they? Partizan in the 1970s was not great – they stayed on top, won the odd title, but were never impressive. A look of their players perhaps explains why: Partizan did not have first-rate stars. It was mostly composed of players who ranked second or third at their respective positions. Yes, national team players, but not regulars. Unlike Crvena zvezda, combining their own production with young talent from elsewhere, and Hajduk, depending almost exclusively on their own junior system, Partizan recruited mostly established stars from other clubs – and since they were either old, or not exactly first-rate stars, Partizan was solid, but not great. This year they had the veteran striker Santrac, who came back from foreign spell pretty much to finish his career; the goalkeeper Petar Borota, Hatunic… one too old, the other two never became regulars in the national team and it was clear by now they will never be. The three made their names playing for other clubs, typical for Partizan. The won a title, but to a point it was mostly because of lack of opposition – a solid and experienced squad easily filled the vacuum. As they did a few years back, when Crvena zvezda was shaky and in the midst of generational change.

Top row, from left: Arsenovic, Hatunic, Stojkovic, Zalad, Dzordzevic, Pejovic, Masic

Middle: Jovic, Golac, Dzuric, Borota, Prekazi, Grubjesic, Jesic

Sitting: Trifunovic, Kunovac, Polak, Santrac, Klincarski, Vukotic, Zavisic.

Whatever the weaknesses of Partizan, champions are champions. It was especially nice to see Slobodan Santrac winning a title at the twilight of his career – he played for small OFK Beograd in his best years and naturally a title was outside the club’s reach.

The crème of Yugoslavian football of course was more interesting. Let’s begin with the novelty of advertising – no system was detectable. Some clubs from Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina used shirt adds – but others did not and most curiously it was the strongest clubs which played with plain shirts.

NK Osijek, the most modest of the Croatian clubs playing in first division, used shirt adds. They finished 13th.

 

A bit better was Borac (Banja Luka) from Bosnia and Herzegovina – 12th. They had better days earlier in the decade, but in general were mid-table club, so it was not really going into decline. Yet, the bigger clubs of the federal republic seemingly did not fancy adds this season.

Standing, from left: Sime Miocic, Slobodan Karalic, Zvonko Vudacak, Berislav Bukovic, Zlatan Arnautovic, Fuad Dulic, Abid Kovacevic, ?.

First row: Zoran Smilevski, Dragan Marjanovic, Nenad Lazic, Hikmet Kusmic, Dzevad Kreso, Fahrudin Zejnilovic, Slobodan Kuljanin, Misad Sejdic.

The Slovenian representative – Olimpija (Ljubljana) – also displayed adds. It was may be the most consistent of the Yugoslavian clubs in that, but just like the clubs shown already, the sponsor’s logo did not help. Olimpija finished 10th – like Borac, generally a mid-table club, so no surprising season.

Olimpija (Ljubljana) – if anything, they did not have enough shirts with sponsor’s logo for everyone. Quite typical for the 1970s – the same often happened in the West too. Consistency was relative – the goalkeepers had no adds on their shirts – but there were clubs at that time showing the opposite: goalkeeper with adds, but the rest of the team using plain shirts. Innocent years…

No innocence in the championship – relative parity of the most teams made for competitive championship. Quite normal for Yugoslavia, but at the end it was largely a race for escaping relegation. Every club bellow 8th place was involved in that – 10 clubs in total. The 9th and the 17th placed were divided by mere 4 points at the end. Some clubs normally unconcerned with relegation were endangered this season – Vojvodina (Novi Sad), 8th with 32 points, and FK Sarajevo, 9th, also with 32 points – but they were not exactly in big decline. The club steadily going down for some time was OFK Beograd – they barely escaped relegation the previous season and did not play better this one either. The third in strength, but first in history Belgrade club survived… but they finished 16th and, with 28 points and exactly the same goal-difference as their direct competitor, survival depended on… hard to tell on what precisely. OFK Beograd had one more win than Celik (Zenica) – 10 vs 9. They also scored more goals – 38 vs Celik’s 34. Most likely either the number of wins or the better scoring record was the decisive factor – survival by a split hair.

A place above OFK Beograd thanks to one point difference finished NK Zagreb.

A club similar to OFK Beograd – existing in the shadow of big neighbour, in their case Dinamo (Zagreb). NK Zagreb were just lucky to play in first division and hardly able to keep good players in their squad. Whoever was young and talented was unlikely to last. Bakota and Cop, for instance. Solid players eventually came from the big neighbour, but, as a rule, older players in decline and no longer needed in the ‘real’ club – Cercek and Kafka were the examples here. No wonder NK Zagreb was generally fighting for survival. At the end, the only interesting point about this team is once again the ‘innocence’ of the 1970s: the club used Puma, but… one of their goalies, Simunic, is dressed in Adidas kit, and the other, Bozic, has something else, neither Puma, nor Adidas.

Slightly better – or luckier – than NK Zagreb were Radnicki (Nis). They took the 14th place with 30 points. A point better than the Croatians, a record they shared with NK Osijek and Borac, but the Serbian club had the worst goal-difference of the three. Not by much, but still the worst.

One more club just lucky to survive and stay in top flight for another year. And one more club lacking fashionable Adidas shirts for every member of the squad – three shirts short here…

Similar fate for Buducnost (Titograd)… the best club of Montenegro, hailing from the capital city named after ‘the great leader’. Today the name of the club remains, but the city has its original name – Podgorica. In the great Yugoslavian scheme, Buducnost was small fry, and the name of the club , meaning ‘Future’ was a bit ironic. They had to think constantly of the future alright… may be in the future they would have a team at least not concerned only with escaping relegation. Which was not by much this season – they finished with 31 points.

Naturally, one more team about which nothing can be said… except that they were in line with the 1970s… Adidas kit for the field players and something different for the goalkeeper.

So was the bigger part of the league, holding its breath to the end. Two unlucky clubs took the short stick inevitably. The absolute beginners, predictably to a point, finished last.

 

Trepca (Kosovska Mitrovica) debuted in the first division this season and since the club was dwarfed by practically everybody else, they were not expected to last – even if only Kosovo is taken into account, Trepca were at best the second club there: Pristina was the top club historically and they did not rank high in Yugoslavian football, usually meandering between second and first division. Trepca had no chance to impress – after all, using simultaneously Adidas and Puma was hardly a news and the name of their home city was only confusing at the time: sometime Kosovska Mitrovica, sometime Titovska Mitrovica. The world was largely unaware of this city until the 1990s – when it became known, it was unfortunately not because of football. Back in 1977-78 Trepca fought bravely and lost the fight pretty much at the end of the championship – they were lowly, but not a hopeless outsider. Yet, 24 points were 4 less than the nearest competition and Trepca went down.

The second relegated club was also expected – Celik (Zenica) were more accustomed to playing in second division. When they appeared in the first league, they were not expected to last. May be two, three seasons the most, finishing at the bottom of the table, until they sink again. Another club with ironic name… ‘Celik’ roughly means ‘strong as rock’ or ‘hard as rock’. Winners they were not…

 

Enough Puma shirts for the whole squad, but nothing else. Yes, they were true to their name – they fought, they tried hard, they did not give up, but lost… by very little, but lost. Celik was unlucky, yet, tiny difference was still a difference. 17th and relegated. Escape was so close, too bad. Yes, they were obvious candidate for relegation, but hardly the weak outsider – bad luck is perhaps more appropriate expression.

Yugoslavia, a bit in limbo – the new generation was not fully asserted. The cost was missing the World Cup finals and not entirely convincing clubs, but Crvena zvezda was almost ready for a big leap and Dinamo (Zagreb) was rapidly recovering the lost ground in the early years of the decade. Fairly competitive season, not unusual for this talented country, but parity existed mainly bellow 4th place. Some up, others down, may be not an exceptional season, yet, fairly interesting.

Second division football remained a local affair as everywhere, and it should be mentioned for two reasons only. The first is typical – clubs often playing top level football were now merely hoping to return to it. The bulk consisted of unknown outside Yugoslavia teams which rarely or never appeared in the premier league. The second reason was the strange rules, if such existed, about shirt sponsorship. The picture changed almost every year, some clubs displaying adds on their shirts, some not. But it was not necessarily the top clubs – often they had no sponsors, but clubs from second and third divisions had. Even some playing lower levels, which questions even consistent practices in different republics of the federation. Looked like clubs from Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina more often displayed sponsor’s names, than those from Serbia and Croatia, but every year was different.

 Sutjeska (Niksic), from Montenegro, had plain shirts.

Teteks (Tetovo), Macedonia, had shirt adds, however faint.

Still, not every Macedonian club used adds – Podeda (Prilep) had none. Standing from left: Ivan Mechev, Tode Todoroski, Laze Petreski, Vancho Drvosanov, Stevan Glusheski, Blagoj Mitev.

Crouching: Goce Maneski, Stojan Arsov, Risto Gligoroski, Jove Magdeski, Rubin Gjorgjioski.

Maribor, from Slovenia, used no adds too. Standing, from left: Simeunović, Đurić, Arnejčič, Samardžija, Karmel, Petrič, Fatur,

First row: Pirc, Horjak, Glišić, Prosen, Miljković

Neither Proleter (Zrenjanin), another club from Montenegro, which finished second in the Western Second Division.

Standing, from left: Dubljević, Šarenac, Glišin, Dimitrić, Zorić, Kosnić.

First row: Ivančević, Mišić, Tošić, Lukač, Škorić.

Proleter came close to promotion to the first league, where they played before, but lost to Zeljeznicar (Sarajevo). For the well known clubs from the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina the brief spell in second division ended – they were coming back to their usual league. No adds on their shirts either and a huge relief for the fans of perhaps the most popular Bosnian club.

Standing, from left: Ivan Radic, Hajrudin Durbuzovic, Ibro (Esad?) Ibrahimovic, Suad Karalic, Vlade Spasojevic, Nedim Dautovic, Zoran Culjak, Vlado Komsic, Rade Paprica, Ivo Cvitanulic (?), Josip Cilic, Mladen Maric.

Sitting: Dragan (Dragomir?) Vlaski, Milomir Odovic, Anto Zecevic, Nedzad Omerhodzic, Dragan (Dragoljub?) Galonja, Ranko Dordic, Milko Paunic, Ivan Lusic, Slobodan Kojovic.

Confusing names, but almost the same squad which was relegated the previous season. Now they were going up, meaning they were not all that weak after all. Not a single big star here, naturally.

The Eastern Second Division was won by another former member of first division, however, much more modest and younger club than Zeljeznicar – Napredak (Krusevac).

One of the clubs found after Tito’s Communists took hold of Yugoslavia – in 1946. The name means roughly ‘Progress’, but there was no way a provincial Serbian club to be really true to its name in the presence of big Belgrade and Novi Sad clubs. Unless ‘progress’ meant climbing up to top flight.

No adds on the shirts and no impressive players. Unlike Zeljeznicar, expected to stay in First Division, the fate of Napredak was pretty much trying to survive.

A double is the always coveted, and there was a double in Holland in 1977-78, but a different one. PSV Eindhoven had to be satisfied with the title. The Cup final opposed the second and the third in the championship – Ajax vs AZ’67. A chance for either club to win a trophy and also worthy final for still the top clubs participated in it. Traditional winner vs young upstart. Both teams on ascend. As often happens, the final was not full of goals – the stakes were high, the opponents were quite equal. Photos may be misleading:

Peter Arntz shoots towards Ajax’s net – the Amstrdam’s defender looks desperate and the picture suggests overwhelming supremacy of AZ’67. It was not so, but still they managed to score and Ajax did not. 1-0 for the young club from Alkmaar. The Cup was theirs.

Peter Arnzt, Hans Reijnders, and Kees Kist triumphal.

Roger Schowenaar sharing his happiness with the masses. The strange Dutch habit of the 1970s to appear in white robes, pretty much bathrobes than anything else, still persistent. New Cup winners no matter how they look.

Double losers, Ajax. Second in championship and second in the Cup tournament. Disappointment… or may be an ominous signal that despite their promise, this vintage was not going to be really great and Ajax had to wait for another one. Yes, the team was young, full of talent, had equally young and talented coach, but… this was more or less a squad to be second-best. Squad photos like this one are nightmare for a historian, for they do not belong to any season and Ajax had more than its fair share of such pictures – this is neither 1976-77, nor 1977-78. The reason is in the clubs quite unusual transfers during the 1970s, beginning with Cruyff’s in the autumn of 1973. This picture was taken in the summer of 1977, before the season’s start. Come October and, the season already in progress everywhere, and suddenly Suurbier and Notten were gone. The faith of Rene Notten is clear – he went to Feyenoord. Wim Suurbier’s remains a mystery: he went to Metz (France) or Schalke 04 (West Germany)? Or to both? Certainly he played for Schalke 04 this season – but only 12 matches, which deepens the mystery … not a full season. Was he loaned by Metz? Or by Schalke 04 to Metz? But never mind Suurbier – with his leave, Ruud Krol was the sole survivor of the great Ajax. It was a brand new vintage – Schrijvers, Geels, and van Dord provided experience, but it was generally a squad of bright youngsters – Schoenaker, La Ling, Tahamata, the Danish imports Lerby and Arnesen. The team was still a bit inexperienced and needed perhaps a few years to really ripen. But it was not to become a great team… the transfers continued steadily, may be because the talent was not exactly successful and Ajax had to wait for some years until the next really strong team appeared. In a way, second best – this year, twice.

AZ’67 won their first trophy – a big success for barely 10 years old club.

Yes, the boys from Alkmaar were rising, this season they confirmed that were not one-time wonder, but were evaluated with caution. It was the making of the squad which prevented commentators from excitement: young rising stars, rapidly becoming known in Europe, seemingly came from nowhere – Peters, Arntz, Metgod, Spelbos, the Dane Nygaard, and especially the fantastic goalscorer Kees Kist. But the other half of the team was made of old veterans, some discarded from their previous clubs: van Hanegem and Mladen Ramljak, formerly of Feyenoord, Hugo Hovenkamp, Theo Vonk, and the second Yugoslavian Rizah Meskovic. It was almost impossible to envision a great future for such a squad: the veterans had a second wind, but they were on their last legs and surely would not last. The youngsters also were not expected to last… after all, AZ’67 was a small club and inevitably their talented players would be snatched by wealthier clubs from Holland and abroad. Winning was to be their undoing… but they won the Cup, it was fantastic, and most importantly, contrary to expectations, AZ’67 was still to go up and reach higher peaks without changing their strange approach to building a team.