Football Journey

First Division. Five teams above the rest, one outsider. If the championship was played by tradition rules, goal-difference would have been the decisive criterion and the champions would have been the team which finished 4th under current rules.
Dunaujvarosi Kohasz was the outsider of the season – last with 26 points and relegated. Zalaegershegi TE ended 15th with 34 points and was relegated as well.
Vasas SC was 14th with 35 points, beaten on goal-difference by Haladas VSE, 13th, but it was unimportant – both teams went to the promotion/relegation play-offs, won them and preserved their top league positions. Up the table:
Pecsi MSC – 11th with 40 points.
Weak Ujpesti Dosza – 9th with 41 points.
Bekescsabai Elore Spartacus – 7th with 46 points.
Tatabanyai Banyasz – 6th with 48 points. Standing from left: Kiss, Váczi, Dombai, dr. Bíró Péter orvos, Kiprich, Szentmihályi Antal vezetőedző, Tarlósi, Plotár, Mázi.
Middle row: Nagy Győző, Domonics, Lakatos, Járfás, Mészáros, Szabó Gy., Udvardi, Csapó, Dobesch, Vincze J., Hoffmann József.
Front row: Páli, P. Nagy, Sándor gyúró, Pőcze gyúró, Hegedűs, Schmiedt.
The top 5 teams were entangled in a battle for the title, which under traditional rules would have been won by Videoton. But the new rules elevated different team on the top. Gyori ETO SC took 5th place with 56 points. Videoton SC – 4th with 57 points, MTK-VM – 3rd with 58 points.
Ferencvaros – 2nd with 59 points.

Honved clinched the title with 61 points: 16 regular wins, 6 penalty shoot-out wins, 1 shoot-out loss, 7 regular losses, 44-28 goal-difference. Hardly an exceptional season and benefiting a bit of the new rules – under standard rules, Honved would have ended with 37 points – and Videoton with 39 points! Videoton still most wins this season – 17, scored most goals – 57, and had the best goal-difference +25, but they were not good at scoring penalties and won just one shoot-out – Honved won 6 times (second best record after MTK-VM with 8 shoot-out wins). So, the title went to Honved – their 11th.

Hungary. Ranked 18th. Fresh reforms: first, Second Division was back to 2 groups, instead of 1 league – 16 teams played in each group, the winners directly promoted. Second-place teams went to promotion/relegation play-offs against the 13th and 14th finishers in the top division. This was also new. The last change was in the frame of changes introduced in many countries in hope of invigorating the game – 3 points for a win was introduced and there were no ties. If a match ended tied, penalty shoot-out followed and the winner got 2 points, the loser – 1. That made the league tables a bit complicated to figure out, especially from the distance of time. As for the season, 5 teams in the top league were above the rest and more or less competed for the title. However, with top players steadily going abroad and general lack of great new talent coming, the long decline of Hungarian football was unchanged. Even the record transfer involving Lajos Detari could not hide the decline – yes, he was sold to Olympiakos (Piareus) for 12.5 million dollars, thus beating Maradona’s transfer to Napoli by 1.3 million dollars, but the price had nothing to do with general talent available in Hungary.
Second Division. Instead of one league of 20 teams, back to 2 groups of 16 teams each. The last 3 teams in each group were relegated. As usual, the former top-league teams were favourites, but really the only interesting thing in the new Second Division was the 3 teams from Debrecen playing in Group 1: usually, local derbies involved teams from Budapest, but now there was a provincial town having local derbies. Yet, Group 1 was dominated by one team – Group 2 was more exciting.
As for the teams… well, just a glimpse.
Nagykansza Olajbanyasz SE
Dorog – actually, Dorogi Banyasz.
Teams like that… nothing to brag about.
Szeged SC – or SZEOL – finished 2nd in Group 1. Unable to challenge the group leader, but also relatively unchallenged by others. Szeged had a chance to return to top flight, but in the promotion/relegation play-off they lost to Vasas (Budapest) 1-1 and 0-1. No promotion.
DMVSC – Debreceni MVSC – won easily Group 1 with 70 points (20 straight wins, 4 shoot-out wins, 2 shoot-out losses, and 4 straight losses, 54-18 goal-difference) – 8 points ahead of Szeged. They were the strongest club in Debrecen – Debreceni Kiniszi was in decline for a long time and DUSE (Debreceni Universitas SE) were modest little-known club, just happy to play Second Division football – and returned to the top division.
In Group 2 three teams fought for the top place and at the end goal-difference decided the winner.
Oroszlanyi Banyasz – or just Oroszlany – had great season, but was unlucky at the end: they finished with 62 points, but goal-difference (35-28) was against them and they took 2nd place. They also made a record 10 shoot-out wins – the only team with 2-digit number of game won by penalty shoot-out. Unfortunately, they lost the promotion/relegation play-off against Haladas VSE 2-0 and 1-4. Too bad… little known Oroszany had a good chance to reach the top league, but… no.
Csepel SC (Budapest) was lucky – they also finished with 62 points (18 straight wins, 3 shoot-out wins, 2 shoot-out losses, and 7 straight losses), but goal-difference was in their favour: 52-31. Thus, Csepel clinched first place in the group and was happily promoted back to First Division.
As a whole, former First Division members won Second Division and those with less or none top league experience failed.

First Division Second Stage. Teams started with half the points earned in the first stage, final places in the first stage given in brackets. Five teams had more or less equal chances to win the title, which was quite exciting.
FC Luzern won the 12-team first stage with 28 points – a fragile lead by a point placed them on top and
the real battle for the title was going to begin in the final stage.
Servette FC (Geneve, 8th in the first stage) ended 8th with 21 points. Top row from left: Cacciapalia, Hasler, Bonvin, Grossenbacher, Schällibaum, Rummenigge, Eriksen
Middle row: Donzé (Trainer), Favre, Bamert, Colletti, Hertig, Epars, Burri
Sitting: Kok, Fargeon, Liniger, Kobel, Sinval, Besnard
Well, the presence of Karl-Heinz Rummenige did not help… except for the novelty of continuing the tradition of famous German players ending their carriers in Switzerland – but unlike Netzer and Stielike, Rummenige did not win in Switzerland.
AC Bellinzona (3rd in the first stage) – 7th with 21 points. A big drop from top position to the bottom – only better goal-difference placed them above Servette. May be their only aim was to secure place in the champions group, who knows… and once out of danger of possible relegation, no worry. Maybe… yet, the team – by Swiss measures – was not so bad: respected foreigners (Jacubec and Rufer) and the Swiss player bound the be the most famous player of the country in the next decade – Turkyilmaz.
Xamax (Neuchatel, 7th in the first stage) – 6th with 23 points. Could not stay strong for long…
BSC Young Boys (Bern, 6th in the first stage) – 5th with 27 points. Anders Limpar was the big star, but…
FC Wettingen (5th in the first stage) – 4th with 28 points. A success of a kind – Wettingen was more often found in the Second Division, not at the top of the First Division. Great season.
FC Sion (4th in the first stage) – 3rd with 29 points. Solid season, but the title was not up to them.
Grasshopper (Zurich, 2nd in the first stage) – 2nd with 30 points. Frankly, Grasshopper was the likeliest team to win the title – they finished a point behind Luzern in the opening stage, but with the best goal-difference and outscoring Luzern by far. But… they were shaky in the final stage, losing too many games – 5 out of 14 total.
And FC Luzern triumphed at the end with 33 points. They prevailed in the first stage with 10 wins, 8 ties and 4 losses. But their strange goal-difference – 27-25 – put great doubts of their ability to win the title. The 1-point lead was reduced to zero for the final stage: their big rivals also started the final stage with 14 points – half of 27 went to the bigger number by the rules. But Luzern persisted and Grasshopper for some reason was shaky when really mattered: Luzern won 7 games, tied 5 and lost only 2 matches in the final stage – that placed them 3-points ahead of Grasshopper at the end. The team was not scoring much – 17 goals, which put them at the bottom of scorers in the final stage (only Bellinzona scored less) and on top of it their record looked pitiful compared to Young Boys’ 36 goals, but unlike the first stage this time Luzern had best defense and better goal-difference than Grasshopper.
Surprising, but well deserved title, which also was historic: FC Luzern won the Swiss championship for the first time! And so far was unable to repeat this success, so that was the most important season of the club. What a joy!
The Cup final was the chance Grasshopper to win a trophy – FC Aarau was ambitious, but still a Second Division team… Like in the championship, Grasshopper was competing with an underdog and overwhelming favourite… unlike the championship, this time Grasshopper won – 2-1. With difficulty, but they prevailed. Thus, Grasshopper won its 16th Cup and managed to end the season with a trophy. Yet… instead of a double, only a Cup and with great difficulty.

Switzerland – sharing 19-20 position with Poland. Unlike Poland, the Swiss were not going up, but kept their previous ranking. The championship formula was already established – 2-phased championship, mixing divisions in the final stage. The top divisions had 12 teams – 12 in the First Division, and Second Division – 2 groups of 12 teams each. After the familiar stage the teams proceeded to the final according to their standings: the top 8 in the First Division went to play for the title, carrying half of the points earned in the first stage to it. The last 4 top league teams went to promotion/relegation stage – 2 of them played in the final group A with the top 6 teams from the first stage of Second Divsion Group A and the other 2 of the bottom of First Division with the top 6 teams of Second Division Group B. No team carried points to this stage, it was playing a new league format and the top 2 teams in each group were going to First Division in the next season. The bottom 6 teams in the original Second Division groups also played final stage – promotion /relegation final stage, where winners of the Third Division opening stage completed the final groups. Because of the mix, only the final stage is to be given here. A win was still awarded with 2 points.
Those, going to play in the promotion/relegation after the first stage of Second Divison, were largely little known clubs, like
FC Glarus, which finished last in opening stage of Second Division Group B with 8 points.
Few better knows teams had the same fate, like
FC Winterthur, 8th with 22 points in the opening stage of Second Division Group B.
Top row from left: Ernst Rief (Masseur), Urs Güntensperger, Hans Franz, René Rüegg, Markus Michael, Rafael Chèlos, Reto Arrigoni, ?.
Middle row: ?, ?, Beat Meier, René Egli, Daniel Haefeli, ?, Christian Graf, Roland Käser, Paul Hollenstein (Physiotherapeut), Otto Luttrop (Trainer).
Sitting: Joachim Hutka, Vladimir Jakovljev, Urs Isler, Marcel Rapp, Tiziano Sacchetti, Flavio Battaini, Levent Kusogullari, Michael Gänssler.
That is the glimpse at the teams finishing the season in the promotion/relegation stage of Second and Third Division teams.
The promotion/relegation stage between First and Second Division teams was more important. As it turned out, those who started the championship in the top league escaped relegation.
Group A: BSC Old Boys (Basel, starting the season in II Division Group B) finished 8th with 7 points. ES Malley (from II Division Group A) – 7th with 10 points, FC Grenchen (from II Division Group A) – 6th with 10 points, CS Chenois (from II Division Group B) – 5th with 12 points, FC Basel (winner of II Division Group B) – 4th with 14 points,
FC Zurich (from II Division Group B) – 3rd with 14 points.
Lausanne Sport (10th in the first stage of I Division) finished 2nd with 22 points.
FC St. Gallen (11th in the first stage of I Division) – 1st with 23 points.
Well, Lausanne Sport and FC St. Gallen preserved top league places for the next season.
Group B. Etoile Carouge FC (from Second Division Group A) – 8th with 6 points, FC Chiasso (from Second Division Group B) – 7th with 7 points, FC Bulle (from Second Division Group A) – 6th with 9 points, Yverdon-Sport FC (from Second Division Group A) – 5th with 14 points,
FC Baden (from Second Division Group B) – 4th with 15 points, FC Locarno (from Second Division Group B) – 3rd with 15 points.
FC Aarau (9th in the first stage of I Division) – 2nd with 23 points, losing top place on worse goal-difference, but no matter – they were still going to play again the top league.
AC Lugano (12th in the first stage of I Division) – won this group with 23 points and 4-goals better goal-difference than FC Aarau.
So, no changes the next season: Second Division clubs remained in Second Division, and AC Lugano, FC Aarau, Losanne Sports, and FC St. Gallen stayed in First Division.

The Cup final opposed Legia (Waszawa) to Jagiellonia (Bialystok). Jagiellonia was the underdog and it have been great if they won. But Legia destroyed them 5-2.
Jagiellonia just popped-up on the big scene, but… they had no class to match one of the traditionally solid and strong Polish clubs. Really, too bad…

Legia (Warszawa) won an easy victory, judging by the result. It was their 8th Cup and, like Ruch, they had to wait a long time for this success: their last previous Cup was won in 1980. A bit strange… the players Legia had were somewhat stronger and more numerous than the stars of other teams, yet, Legia was not winning anything – their last title was from 1970, their last Cup from 1980. Finally, they added one more trophy – a hope largely for the future.

First Division. Well, the orginally announced reduction of the league was apparently abandoned at the end of the season, for according to the original idea the 13th and the 14th should have been directly relegated and the 11th and the 12th – going to promotion/relegation play-offs. But instead the 13th and the 14th went to those play-offs, which only means that the league was going to be of 16 teams again. The rule of extra point for a win with 3 or more goals – and deduction of a point for a loss by 3 or more goals – makes the final records difficult to comprehend. Well… the record of the champions makes sense: 13 ‘regular’ wins – 26 points, 6 wins by 3 or more goals – 18 points, 8 ties – 8 points, 0 loses by 3 or more goals – 0 deductions, 3 ‘regular’ losses – 0 points. 26+18+8=52 points. Fine. But looking at the record of the last in table makes no sense: 4 ‘regular’ wins – 12 points, 0 wins with 3 or more goals – 0 points, 9 ties – 9 points, 4 losses by 3 or more goals – minus 4 points, 13 ‘regular’ losses – 0 points. 12+9-4=17 points. However, Szombierki (Bytom) finished with 13 points… how come? Who knows… The 1979-80 Polish champions finished last and relegated. Again.
Gornik (Walbrzych) ended 15th with 15 points and was relegated.

GKS (Jastrzebie) was 14th with 19 points. Their Cinderella story ended with the promotion/relegation play-off against Zawisza (Bydgoszcz) – they were eliminated and relegated.
Pogon (Szczecin) – 13th with 19 points – was also out of luck: they were relegated after losing the promotion/relegation play-off against Motor (Lublin).
Wisla (Krakow) – 12th with 23 points. Top row from left: Mateusz Jelonek, Zenon Małek, Marek Motyka, Krzysztof Szewczyk, Marek Świerczewski, Kazimierz Moskal
Middle row: Zdzisław Strojek, Jarosław Giszka, Artur Gaweł, Grzegorz Maśnik, Robert Gaszyński, Wojciech Bujak, Arkadiusz Wołowicz
Sitting: Dariusz Wójtowicz, Marcin Jałocha, Zbigniew Klaja, Artur Bożek, Adam Musiał, Leszek Lipka, Ryszard Karbowniczek .
The recovery from their painful decline was not yet successful and perhaps they were very happy with good luck – originally, Wisla should have been going to promotion/relegation play-off, but the sudden change of the rule saved them.
Olimpia (Poznan) – 11th with 25 points and happy with their good luck like Wisla. LKS (Lodz) – 10th with 26 points.
Jagiellonia (Bialystok) – 9th with 29 points.
Widzew (Lodz) – 8th with 29 points.
Slask (Wroclaw) – 7th with 29 points, Lech (Poznan) – 6th with 33 points, Stal (Mielec) – 5th with 33 points, Legia (Warszawa) – 4th with 43 points.
Gornik (Zabrze) – 3rd with 45 points. Standing from left: Jan Urban, Marek Piotrowicz, Ryszard Komornicki, Joachim Klemenz, Krzysztof Baran. Front row: Miroslaw Szlezak, Jozef Wandzik, Jacek Grembocki, Ryszard Cyron, Robert Warzycha, Jerzy Misztur.
It is practically impossible to tell is the photo from 1987-88 or 1988-89 – the starting 11 are practically the same. At least in the fall of 1988 – eventually, Klemenz and Baran went to play abroad, but not before playing a good part of the first half of 1988-89 season (Klemenz 8 games and Baran – 13). Hard to tell how important was the loss of Klemenz and Baran, but Gornik finished 1st in the first half of the season and looked like they were on the road to 5th consecutive title. In the spring they dropped down and ended 3rd.
GKS (Katowice) took the silver medals with 47 points. The title was out of reach, though…
Ruch (Chorzow) triumphed with 52 points: 13 ‘regular’ wins, 6 wins with 3 or more goals, 8 ties, 0 losses with 3 or more goals, only 3 ‘regular’ losses, 48-18 goal-difference. Not the best league scorers, but the best defenders. Finishing 5 points ahead of the next pursuer speaks of dominance – but it was really the spring half when Ruch made it: after the fall half they were 3rd.
Top row from left: Andrzej Kiebus, Krystian Szuster, Bonk (?), Albin Wira, Jacek Chorzewski, Waldemar Waleszczyk, Grzegorz Wagner, Ryszard Kolodziejczyk.
Middle row: Henryk Wieczorek – assistant coach, Kapitza (?), Krzysztof Warzycha, Waldemar Formalik, Mieczyslaw Szewczyk, Leszek Wrona, Grzegorz Kornas, Dariusz Fornalak, Jozef Nowak, Jerzy Wyrobek – coach.
First row: 5th from left – Genszior (?), the rest unknown juniors.
Unfortunately, available photos of Ruch present a mystery – who is who is not clear. Some players above do not appear in the list of Ruch players – at least, not in the fall of 1988. Miroslaw Bak on the other hand is missing – well, not missing, but even in the recent years he is sometime listed as Miroslaw Bonk, instead of Bak. So, the suspect Genszior most likely is Dariusz Gesior. Wrona played in the fall, then moved to play in the USA. Because the players are not all that well known, the confusion to this very day comes from Polish mistake back in 1989:
The order ‘left to right’ is wrong.
Here the order is correct. The problem is that at the time most players were not famous. But this champion team of Ruch is also very important one: they won the 14th title for the club, thus equalizing the record Gornik (Zabrze) made in the previous season. It was also the first title Ruch won in 10 years – their 13th title was won in 1978-79 and in following decade Gornik came from the back and became the most titled Polish club – but no more!

Poland. Shared 19-20 position with Switzerland, but actually climbed a bit up, for the country was ranked 21st in the previous year. Rules: 2 points for a win, but extra 1 point awarded for a win by 3 or more goals and 1 point deducted for a loss by 3 or more goals. The last 2 teams in the First Division – directly relegated. The winners of each group of Second Division – directly promoted. Second-placed teams in each Second Division group went to promotion/relegation play-off against the 13th and 14th teams in the top league. The top leagues were going to be reduced in the next season – First Division from 16 to 14 teams, but this seemingly was abandoned by the end of the championship – otherwise the last 4 should have been relegated and the 11th and 12th teams going to relegation/promotion play-offs. Second Division was going to be a single league of 18 teams, so massive relegation happened this season: the last 8 teams in each Second Division group were directly relegated and those at 7th and 8th places went to promotion/relegation play-offs. However, the original rule was changed by the end of the season and those which finished 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th went to promotion/relegation play-offs. Such play-offs were no longer to be played – in 1989-90 the last 2 in the top league were going to be directly relegated; the top 2 in the Second Division – directly promoted, and the last 4 in the Second Division – directly relegated.
Second Division Group A.
Sleza (Wroclaw) finished last – 18th with 14 points.
One former top- league club was among the massive group of relegated teams: Arka (Gdynia). Their city rivals Baltyk had also to be directly relegated, but the modification of the rules gave them a chance to survive: Baltyk finished 10th, went to promotion/relegation play-off against Third Division Garbarnia (Krakow) and won it 1-0 and 0-0. The rest of the promotion/relegation play-offs also went in favour of the current Second Division teams, except one. Stilon (Gorzow, 9th) won over Bug (Wyszkow) 0-0 and 6-2, Odra (Wodzislaw, 8th) – Elana (Torun) 2-0 and 2-1, and Piast (Nowa Ruda, 7th) lost without losing to Stal (Stocznia Szczecin) – 2-2 and 1-1, the away-goal rule benefited the Third Division candidate and Piast was relegated.
Teams above 7th place were safe – Moto Jelcz (Olawa, 6th), Polonia (Bytom, 5th), Zaglebie (Walbrzych, 4th), and Gwardia (Warszawa, 3rd).
Zawisza (Bydgoszcz) finished 2nd with 45 points and went to promotion/relegation play-off against GKS (Jastrzebie), the 14th in the First Division. Zawisza managed a 0-0 tie away and at home won 2-0 – and was happily promoted to First Division.
Zaglebie (Lubin) was the group winner with 53 points: 21 wins (6 wins with 3 or more goals, giving an extra point), 5 ties, 4 losses, 60-19 goal-difference. Confident winners, directly promoted to top flight – actually, returning to top flight.
Group B.
Stomil (Olsztyn) – finished 11th and was relegated.
Lechia (Gdansk) – from playing Europe from few years ago to… facing Third Division now. They finished 10th , but luckily won the promotion/relegation play-off against Wlokniarz (Pabianice) 4-1 and 0-1.
Others were not so lucky: GKS (Belchatow, 9th) lost to Siarka (Tarnobrzeg) 1-1 and 1-2 was relegated. The same was the fate of Gornik (Knurow, 8th) – they lost to Miedz (Legnica) 1-2 and 1-0. Curiously, both matches were won by the visitors and Miedz prevailed on away-goal rule. Resovia (Rzeszow, 7th) survived – they won over GKS (Tychy) 3-2 and 1-0. GKS (Tychy) had great time about 15 years ago, but now were struggling in Third Division and had to stay there.
Iglopool (Debica) remained in Second Division – they finished 6th. Top row from left: Drobot, Zieliński, Śliwa, Kotowicz, Garlej. Forth row: Gierałka, Nalepka, Romaniuk, Stefanik, Strojek. Third row: Hadam, Zieliński, Mysiak, Adamczyk, Bajor. Second row: Makuch, Szary, Siarkiewicz, Litke, Antolak, Zub. Sitting: Czapiński, Gajoch, Kucharski, Kłak, Cebula, Kaczówka, Tylak.
Stal (Rzeszow) ended 5th, Stal (Stalowa Wola) – 4th, and Hutnik (Krakow) – 3rd also were going to play in the new Second Division.
Motor (Lublin) finished 2nd with 42 points. Like Zawisza from Group A, they won their promotion/relegation play-off against the 13th in the First Division, Pogon (Szczecin) 2-3 and 2-0 and were happily promoted to the top league.
Zaglebie (Sosnowiec) won the championship with 47 points: 18 wins (5 of them with 3 or more goals), 6 ties, 6 losses, 45-13 goal-difference. Excellent defensive record and confident victory – like their namesake in Group A, Zaglebie (Sosnowiec) were returning to the top league.

The Cups. They were three this year… the old Soviet Army Cup still existed, the Bulgarian National Cup, and newly introduced Supercup – every European country introduced such trophy in the 1980s and Bulgaria followed the fashion: in theory, the the trophy was to be the great clash between the champion and the Cup winner – but, just like the international European Supercup, the national Supercups never attracted great interest and importance. So, such competitions are and will be rarely, if at all, mentioned – the Bulgarian Supercup perhaps will not be mentioned again: the reason it is mentioned now is only because the trophy was created and introduced this season. Apart from that, the narrative is really about CFKA Sredetz – for they won everything this time.
The Soviet Army Cup. Lost its importance years ago, but it was still played. Many clubs were clearly disinterested, which in turn further reduced public interest in the already meaningless trophy. It would be quite correct to say that if a big club for whatever reason wished to win it, it was theirs. Martitza-Iztok (Radnevo) and CFKA Sredetz reached the final this season – Stoichkov, Kostadinov, and Trifon Ivanov against Third Division team. A mid-table Third Division team… they finished 12th in their 18-team South-Eastern Group of the Third Division. What contest? CFKA Seredetz won 6-1. Stoichkov scored 2 goals and Georgy Georgiev 4.

CFKA Sredetz won its 12th Soviet Army Cup. It was just statistics at this point. Sitting from left: Stefan Bachev, Nedyalko Mladenov, Christo Stoichkov, Lachezar Tanev, Krassimir Bezinski, Emil Kostadinov. Middle row: Nikolay Chervenyakov – doctor, Iliya Valov, Doncho Donev, Ivaylo Kirov, Trifon Ivanov, Kiril Kachamanov, Roumen Stoyanov, Roumen Apostolov, Aleksander Aleksandrov – rehabilitation, Spiridon Bachev – rehabilitation. Top row: Stoil Trankov – assistant coach, Petar Vitanov, Georgy Georgiev, Dimitar Penev – coach, Kostadin Yanchev, Iliya Dyakov, Petar Zhekov – assistant coach.
The Bulgarian Cup final also looked decided in advance: CFKA Sredetz vs Chernomoretz (Bourgas). Chernomoretz had a great run reaching the final – they eliminated Sliven, Vratza, and Vitosha – but they were also a Second Division, which even did not win that championship. CFKA Sredetz won 3-0.
Standing from left: St. Trankov – assistant coach, R. Apostolov, G. Georgiev, R. Stoyanov, D. Donev, D. Penev – coach, I. Kirov, St. Bachev, K. Kachamanov, P. Vitanov. I. Valov. P. Zhekov – assistant coach. Sitting: Kr. Bezinski, K. Yanchev, Tr. Ivanov, Plamen Getov, N. Mladenov, Chr. Stoichkov, L. Tanev, Em. Kostadinov, Lyuboslav Penev.
Third consecutive Bulgarian Cup and – at the time – 5th altogether. The Cup won in 1985 did not count, because the Communist Party voided this final and stripped the record. Anyhow, CFKA Sredetz was leading in this competition – the arch-enemy Vitosha had 3 Cups – but already it was clear that both the Soviet Army Cup and the Bulgarian Cup will be amalgamated and in the combined record the Army was behind Vitosha.
The brand new Supercup had to be played between the champions and the national Cup winner. Since CFKA Sredetz won both trophies the first Supercup final was a repeat of the Bulgarian Cup final – Chernomoretz again faced CFKA Sredetz. The match was played in Bourgas, Chernomoretz’s home turf and that plus the date – July 15th – perhaps explains why CFKA won minimally: just 1-0. the goal scored by Stoichkov in the 17th minute.
In the middle of July transfers already took place, so the finalists played with their 1989-90 teams, not 1988-89 squads. Thus, the difference – the new recruits are here and played in this final: A. Dimitrov, M. Bakalov, D, Mladenov, M. Urukov, and E. Dimitrov.
Crouching from left: Aleksandar Aleleksandrov – masseur, Anton Dimitrov, Marin Bakalov, Doncho Donev, Stefan Bachev, Ivaylo Kirov, Trifon Ivanov, Lyuboslav Penev – captain, Christo Stoichkov. Standing: Aleksandar Cherbenyakov – doctor, Stoil Trankov – assistant coach, Marius Urukov, Petar Vitanov, Dobry Dimov – superintendant, Kostadin Yanchev, Roumen Apostolov, Emil Dimitrov, Dimitar Mladenov, Petar Zheov – assistant coach, Emil Kostadinov, Iliya Valov, Dimitar Penev – coach.
CFKA Sredetz won every trophy this season – a quadruple winner, which instantly madse them the most successful squad in Bulgarian history. Even earlier great CSKA squads never won more than a double – but there were only 2 trophies before 1981 and 3 before this season, so no matter how good this team was, it was also lucky to have so many trophies available.

First Division. In a nut shell – CFKA Sredetz, reinforced with 4 national team players, had no rival and entirely dominated the season. There was one pleasant ascend and one accidental good performance. The rest… nothing new, really.
Minyor (Pernik) finished last with 22 points and was relegated. Happened many before… this is rather the squad for season 1989-90, but essentially it was no different from the one in 1988-89. Sitting from left: Emil Serafimov, Roumen Andonov, Aleksandar Aleksandrov, Bogomil Savov, Slavcho Pavlov, Valentin Lazarov, Metody Tomanov.
Middle row: Bogomil Pushev – coach, Ivo Slavchev, Stoyan Petrov, Ivan Aleksiev, Grigor Grigorov, Vercho Mitov, Plamen Petkov, Petar Stefanov – assistant coach.
Top row: Tzetzko Ignatov – doctor, Anton Genadiev, Ivo Stanimirov, Vihar Petrov – organizer, Petar Petrov, Krassimir Dossev, Christo Trifonov – masseur.
Judging by the names, one would wonder why they were relegated – there were experienced well established names (Grigorov, Serafimov, Tomanov, Dossev, Aleksandrov), there was rather bright young talent (Savov, Slavcho Pavlov, Ivo Slavchev). May be that why… disinterest. The established players used to play for the big Sofia clubs before and now, even if not too old, they had no real motivation. The youngsters were looking for bigger club – the close proximity to Sofia was practically the curse for Minyor. And down they went once again.
Spartak (Varna) – 15th with 23 points. Still having Krassimir Zafirov between the goalposts – his longevity was admirable, but also indicated the club’s major problem: no new talent emerged from their youth system for a long time and the club depended on discarded players from Sofia’s clubs. They were beyond their prime and already aging, so at best their presence was temporary remedy. Once their number dwindled to practically none… Spartak plunged down. Zafirov was 38 without a back-up. Dimitar Diev, who came a few years back from Slavia – without making a name for himself there – was already 30.
Lokomotiv (Plovdiv) – 14th with 26 points. Sitting from left: Dantor Damyanov – masseur, Roumen Dimitrov, Georgy Dimitrov, Valentin Valchev, Stefan Draganov, Ivan Marinov, Mikhail Yumerski, Georgy Karushev, Belev – doctor.
Middle row: Tchavdar Muratov – assistant coach, Milushev, Vassil Vassilev, Plamen Krastev, Yordan Gevezov, Roumen Spassov, Petar Pashev, Kostadin Vidolov, Trifonov, M. Minchev, Mikhail Georgiev – coach.
Top row: Yanko Kushev, Yulian Dzhevizov, Vessko Lazarov, Stefan Lulchev, Boby Ivanov, Rady Raykovski, Yavor Illiev, Dimitar Radev, Dimitar Kekhayov.
So far, Lokomotiv was unable to build meaningful and reliable team. Yes, they produced plenty of young talent, but it was a weird combination of cluster of old great players and babies, without middle generation. Now even not enough established older stars remained – only Ivan Marinov in defense, so a veteran was recruited – missing on the photo is Nikolay Arabov. Long time national team central defender, who spent his career with Sliven. At 34 years, he was suddenly recruited to help Lokomotiv – and left after this season. Well, the most such a team could do is escaping relegation and they achieved that.
Vratza (Botev Vratza) – 13th with 26 points. Sitting from left: Nikolay Ivanov, Boris Strashimirov, Boyko Kraev, Yulian Emilov, Ventzislav Bozhilov, Iliya Voynov, Venelin Nikolov. Middle row: A. Tzenov – assistant coach, Iliya Kamenov, Ivan Radoslavov, Todor Garev, Lyudmil Tzvetkov, Tzvetan Petrov, Roumen Vidov, Petar Kamenov – coach. Top row: K. Kostov – rehabilitation, Valery Tzvetanov, Radoslav Petkov,Georgy Bogdanov, Emil Marinov, S. Mironov – doctor.
The painfully slow decline continiud – perhaps the mistake of Vratza was to fill up gaps because of departing or retiring players instead of radically rebuilding their team – the result was experienced, but gradually weaker squad.
Lokomotiv (Gorna Oryakhovitza) – 12th with 26 points. Modest club – just staying in the league was great and they managed that somehow against the odds. The team depended on players discarded by the big Sofia clubs and the club from their regional capital, Etar (Veliko Tirnovo) – so far, the formula worked well. Yes, they lost the rising star Boncho Gentchev, who joined Etar, but the veteran Christo Mikhailov arrived from Etar and also from Sofia – Iliya Velichkov from Slavia and Aleksandar Chavdarov from CFKA Sredetz. So far – so good.
Slavia (Sofia) – 11th with 26 points. Sitting from left: Valery Grekov, Ognyan Radev, Tzvetan Mitev, Petar Aleksandrov, Plamen Simeonov, Petar Bozhkov, Pavlin Dimitrov. Middle row: Andrey Zhelyazkov – playing coach, Aleksandar Markov, Miroslav Mironov, Ivan Khaydarliev, Ivaylo Venkov, Kiril Netzov, Tchavdar Tzvetkov – assistant coach. Top row: Mario Kalpushkov, Plamen Tachev, Petar Karadeliev, Georgy Karamanov, Yordan Kostov, Antonio Ananiev.
Somehow Slavia was unable to make really reliable team and struggled once again – despite having national team players (Aleksandrov, Simeonov, Markov, Ananiev) and a good number of solid and well respected players (Khaydarliev, Mironov, Grekov, Dimitrov, Kostov). Then again – it was Slavia, traditionally moody and predictable team, capable of great highs and lows in the same time.
Sliven (Sliven) – 10th with 27 points. Their usual. They lost the great veteran defender Arabov, but Yordan Letchkov was moving up.
Pirin (Blagoevgrad) – 9th with 27 points. Top row from left: Kiril Stoykov, Petar Mikhtarski, ?, Petar Tzvetkov, Venko Popov, Ivaylo Panchev, Ivo Ivanikov. Middle row: Boris Nikolov – coach, Ventzislav Dinev, Ivan Georgiev, Kostadin Trendafilov, Ivaylo Andonov, Roumen Chakarov, Slavcho Moraliev – assistant coach. Front row: Yordan Bozdanski, Nikolay Petrunov, Ivan Lardev, Roumen Stoychev, Valentin Dartilov, Rossen Pashov.
Mid-table position – looked like finally Pirin managed to stabilize a reliable team. It was local – from coach to players, all were products of the club. The team got the experience the players lacked a few years back and the only problem for the future was traditional one – Pirin was certainly going to lose its rapidly rising stars Mikhtarski, Andonov and Dartilov.
Lokomotiv (Sofia) – 8th with 28 points. Sitting: Pavel Dochev, Plamen Nikolov, Dimitar Vassev, Kiril Metkov, Borislav Manolkov, Georgy Illiev, Vladko Shalamanov, Slavcho Panov, Christo Zlatinov. Middle row: Ivaylo Georgiev – assistant coach, Martin Doychev (?), Stoycho Stoev, Yulian Nakov (?), Atanas Mikhailov – coach, Georgy Christov, Anton Velkov, Aleksandar Dudov, Ventzislav Arssov – assistant coach. Top row: Borimechkov, Nikolay Todorov, Aleksandar Bonchev, Krassimir Nakov, Gosho Petkov, Marin Illiev, Antonio Zdravkov, Plamen Todorov.
The squad coached by the club’s legend Nachko Mikhailov should have been among the 3-4 top teams, judging by the names, but it was Lokomotiv – somewhat mellow team, not bothered by mid-table position. Perhaps the squad was still too young and row for more.
Cherno more (Varna) – 7th with 30 points. Sitting from left: Tinko Vazharov, Boyan Christov, Kalin Topuzakov, Milen Bakardzhiev, Nikola Nikolov, Todor Marev, Y. Ivanov. Middle row: Nayden Naydenov, Todor Atanassov, N. Kapanzirev – doctor, Bozhil Kolev – coach, Trendafil Vassilev – assistant coach, Dimitar Vanikov – masseur, Yulian Christov, Christo Kotev. Third row: Yulian Garev, Valery Karov, Georgy Kostov, Yordan Fillipov, Kostadin Kostadinov, Georgy Stoychev, Krassimir Lechev.
Just returning from Second Division exile, so the season was rather good. But their coach Bozhil Kolve bitterly complained the lack of professionalism – he wanted to introduce modern West German training methods and was practically opposed by both his players and the club as whole. One cannot teach old dog new tricks… the core of the team played together for many years, they were even teammates with Kolev a few years back, and there was no way oldish players were going to change their habits. And Cherno more was not strong enough club to recruit a new team of players suitable to Kolev’s ideas and demands… the goalkeeping was points in case: Kostov was hardly a reliable keeper, so two veterans had to be employed – the ‘eternal’ Yordan Fillipov (now going on 43!), who was playing for CSKA even before Bozhil Kolev joined the club in 1970 and both were teammates in the national team for many years as well, and Kostadin Kostadinov (now 32), who back in mid-1970s was Junior national team player, but never established himself in the First Division, spending most of his career playing for obscure Second Division teams – now he was recruited seemingly out of desperation as a third keeper of Cherno more. The season was satisfying, but there was no future and Bozhil Kolev left after the season to work abroad.
Dunav (Rousse) – 6th with 31 points. Sitting from left: Diyan Angelov, Rossen Sabotinov, Sasho Todorov, Yordan Dimitrov, Valery Kulinov, Krassimir Kolev, Nasko Borissov, Levent Bayraktarov. Standing: Tikhomir Dimitrov, Iliya Kirchev, Mikhail Stoyanov, Dragomir Enchev, Petar Voynov, Nikolay Boyanov – captain, Borislav Bogomilov, Krassimir Nakov, Kiril Kirilov.
The other newcomer did a bit better than Cherno more. Like Cherno more, Dunav was only returning to First Division, but unlike Cherno more they were shaky for a long time and continued to be so. Their earlier attempts to reestablish themselves in the top league during the 1980s failed miserably – they were almost immediately relegated back to Second Division. From this perspective, this time they did exceptionally well. But their position was also misleading – it was largely accidental, the team was still ill-shaped, shaky and, frankly, nothing much. Recruiting good players apparently was impossible. On top of if the team photo presents typical problem with summer team pictures – taken between seasons, they represent neither the old season, nor the new. Some players left and were with Dunav in 1988-89, others did not arrive yet and are missing in the photo. The new recruits were hardly better than those who departed – rather third-rate players without much of a future; rather hastily recruited from whoever was available and only to temporary fill gaps. Dunav ceratinly was weak and without much future.
Beroe (Stara Zagora) – 5th with 33 points. Beroe distinguished itself with a second interesting ‘first’ – almost 10 years back theirs was the first transfer to professional club in the West: one of the best all-time scorers of Bulgaria, Petko Petkov, was transferred to Austria (Wien). Now he was coaching Beroe and exports were not a news at all, but Beroe’s transfer of their long-time captain Tenyo Minchev was also special and first of its kind: he went to Krylya Sovetov (Kyubyshev, today Samara) – the first foreign player imported to play professionally in the USSR.
Trakia (Botev Plovdiv) – 4th with 33 points. Ahead of Beroe on better goal-difference, but the wonderful team aged without actually fulfilling their great potential. Trakia aged as a team and the players were getting tired of season after season without success and were looking for other options – either to go abroad, or to move to a club where they would actually won a trophy. Georgy Georgiev moved CFKA Sredetz before this season and was followed by Bakalov and Mladenov after the end of the season. Kostadinov, Pashev, and Pekhlivanov were going to play abroad. The key stars, all of them national team players, were leaving and the well was drying out – Trakia depended largely on their great youth system, for years new talent was coming from it, all stars were home product – but now there little coming from their own system… no great promising youngster was moved to the first team this year, Boris Khvoynev and Todor Zaytzev were the last homegrown talents, but they were included in the men’s team earlier. Even the days of their goalkeeper Dimitar Vichev were numbered – he was already 37 years old – and his long-time back-up Milan Karatanchev was 30 years old. Trakia was coming to the terrible point of having to start a new team from scratch.
Etar (Veliko Tirnovo) finished 3rd with 34 points. If there was a bright team in Bulgaria this season, it was Etar. First of all – their coach. Georgy Vassilev was noticed already and even was assistant-coach of the national team at the 1986 World Cup, but with time his work was only getting better. Of course, having great local talent helped him, but he built a good team which was going up.
Etar really deserves a second picture – this one after receiving the bronze medals. Now it will be clear why they were ascending. Crouching from left: Nikolay Donev, Savcho Vassilev, Tzanko Tzvetanov, Krassimir Balakov, Georgy Georgiev, Emil Statev – masseur, Illian Kiryakov, Boncho Gentchev, Miroslav Baychev, Mincho Minchev. Standing: Tosho Krastev – vice-chairman of the club, Aleksandar Toshev, Georgy Vassilev – coach, Branimir Mateev, Petyo Rashev, Tzvetomir Parvanov, Sasho Khristov, Preslav Getov, Angel Velev, Georgy Popivanov, Kalin Bankov, Stoyan Petrov – assistant coach, Atanas Katarov – video-operator, Stefan Donev – doctor, Ivan Angelov – administrator. The team captain Emil Dimitrov is missing.
Well.. Balakov, Kiryakov, Tzvetanov, Gentchev – the great heroes of the 1994 World Cup. Balakov and Kiryakov already played for the national team. Gentchev was just recruited from Lokomotiv (Gorna Oryakhovitza). Tzanko Tzvetanov debuted this season. Trifon Ivanov joined CFKA Sredetz before the beginning of the season, but he was replaced by Kalin Bankov, who was somewhat shaky and thus let go by Vitosha (Sofia), but flourished in Etar and was included in the national team. The right fullback and team captain Emil Dimitrov was also included in the national team this season. And the goalkeeper Nikolay Donev, who was national team player when he played for Lokomotiv (Sofia), was still a national team material. A relatively small provincial club like Etar had little muscle, so making a great team depended largely on coach’s vision – Georgy Vassilev excelled in that: his team was a combination homegrown talent (Balakov, Kiryakov, Tzvetanov, Trifon Ivanov before his move to CFKA Sredetz), talent from the region (Gentchev, Mateev), good players discarded by the big Sofia clubs, largely because of too much competion (Donev, Bankov, Baychev), and unknown promissing players from lower leagues (Preslav Getov). The trick was to balance somehow almost inevitable exodus of talent with reliable newcomers: the loss of Trifon Ivanov was compensated by the arrival of Kalin Bankov, for instance. Emil Dimitrov was also going to play for CFKA Sredetz after this season, so the difficult task of Vassilev was to find worthy replacements, for the fate of any smallish provincial club was well known: the big clubs were going to take their stars very quickly. So far, Vassilev showed great ability to get the right players – Nikolay Donev and Kalin Bankov had tough time in the their former clubs, Lokomotiv Sofia and Vitosha (Levski) Sofia, because of too much competition, but they were good and ambitious players, wnating to prove themselves, rather than just going through the motions and satisfied with sitting on the bench – Etar gave them the chance to play regularly and they took the opportunity seriously. No wonder Bankov, who stayed often on the bench during his years with Vitosha, reached the national team with Etar. For Boncho Gentchev on the other hand, moving to Etar was a step up – he played for the smaller club from the same region, Lokomotiv Gorna Oryakhovitza, which was limiting. Etar was bigger and stronger club than Lokomotiv, providing better opportunity for development. Coach and team were rising together – Vassilev became the best Bulgarian coach of the 1990s and no need to say more for Balakov, Tzvetanov, Kiryakov, and Gentchev in the next decade – they became international stars. And Etar was going to achieve more than bronze medals soon.
Vitosha (Levski Sofia) ended 2nd with 39 points. A very disappointing season… Sitting from left: Nikolay Iliev, Krassimir Koev, Sasho Nachev, Plamen Nikolov, Stoil Georgiev, Vassil Dragolov, Dinko Gospodinov. Middle row: Dobromir Zhechev – coach, Bozhidar Iskrenov, Georgy Donkov, Rossen Krumov, Georgy Yordanov, Velko Yotov, Yordan Murlev, Georfy Tzvetkov – assistant coach. Top row: Borislav Mikhailov, Dimitar Markov, Emil Velev, Kiril Vangelov, Petar Petrov, Georgy Slavchev, Vlado Delchev.
What went wrong? Only Nikolay Iliev shined this season, a lone soldier.. and as a lone soldier, who could not do everything, defending, organizing attacks, and finishing them. At moments, he showed his frustration from the indifference of his teammates. What went wrong… well, Levski traditionally had a low season after a great one. Unfortunately, nothing new about having a stinking season after winning a title. Tradition is tradition, but… the great coach Vassil Metodiev was replaced for some reason with Dobromir Zhechev and Nasko Sirakov was sold to Real (Zaragoza). Perhaps Zhechev failed to motivate his players, used to different methods and authority – Metodiev was capable to reach to moody and not very disciplined players like Iskrenov. Zhechev perhaps lacked the magical touch of Metodiev, especially in time when all stars had their minds on going to play in the West. Yet, it was Zhechev year earlier who introduced and believed in young brooms, still teenagers, Mikhailov, Iskrenov, Velev. The ‘golden generation’ had everything to thank to Zhechev and paid him back… Traditionally, the strength of Levski was homegrown talent – Zhechev restored that and in the 1980s Levski introduced new talented youngsters year after year – the team was mostly homegron this season too, the youth system steadily produced talent, so the problem was largely lack of experience, character, and leadership – unlike Mikhailov, Velev, Sirakov, Iskrenov, Iliev, Koev, who showed strong will, even arrogance, from start, Georgiev, Donkov, Krumov, Nachev, Slavchev were rather soft and spineless. New recruits from elsewhere were somehow not the right players – Vassil Dragolov, although a national team for some time, did shine in Levski like he did playing for Beroe. Yordan Murlev was perhaps a big mistake – he came from CFKA Sredetz, where he played a bit in the precious year, did not satisfy anyone and was let go. Exactly the same happened in Vitosha and his first year was also his last. True, he was expected to be a starter, but only a backup for Nikolay Iliev, yet so invisible was his recent presence, that the fans, always very sensitive and hostile to players coming from the camp of the arch-enemy, did not even boo him. So, the newcomers were not the players to get the leading role – and in the same time the old leaders were leaving for certain: Mikhailov, Nikolov, Petrov, Iliev, Iskrenov, Yordanov, Velev – the national team regulars and the key stars of Vitosha were going to the West and soon. The team needed new leaders and there were none… Vitosha was talented enough to leave the rest of the league far behind, but that was all – they were not rival to the leaders and finished 10 points behind the arch-enemy.
CFKA Sredetz (CSKA Sofia) dominated this season and won the title for a record 25th time. 20 wins, 9 ties, and only 1 lost game! 86-24 goal-difference. 49 points. The only team able to beat them this season was not even Vitosha (Levski), but Trakia (Botev) – they managed to prevail 1-0 at home in Plovdiv. And were the only team with positive record against the dominant leaders (1-0 at home and 1-1 in Sofia). So here they are, the champions: sitting from left: Stefan Bachev, Nedyalko Mladenov, Christo Stoichkov, Lachezar Tanev, Emil Kostadinov, Krassimir Bezinski. Middle row: Stoil Trankov – assistant coach, Doncho Donev, Ivaylo Kirov, Trifon Ivanov, Georgy Dimitrov – captain, Kiril Kachamanov, Roumen Stoyanov, Petar Zhekov – assistant coach. Top row: Iliya Valov, Georgy Georgiev, Petar Vitanov, Dimitar Penev – coach, Kostadin Yanchev, Iliya Dyakov, Roumen Apostolov. Injured Lyuboslav Penev is missing. Plamen Getov is also missing in the photo.
Well, with plenty of stars at hand and various youngsters – if anything, Dimitar Penev had a great eye for young talent and also a big – even risky – trust in youth, but the Army club was also back the their old tricks: grabbing stars from elsewhere – it was not Kachamanov, Apostolov, Vitanov, Bachev to play, but the well established newcomers Iliya Valov (from Vratza), Trifon Ivanov (from Etar), Georgy Georgiev (from Trakia), Plamen Getov (from Spartak Pleven). All newcomers were national team players and let say that from the bulk newly recruited national team players only Iliya Dyakov failed to impress and was dismissed after this season – his failure was somewhat predictable: he was young and without much experience, for he never played First Division before. His competition was the veteran Krassimir Bezinsky, himself still a national team material, and there was no way to replace him. Dyakov practically left no memory of himself. The other step back to the old ways was the merciless approach of the club to their respected stars when getting old – Georgy Dimitrov, arguably the best Bulgarian central-defender in the 1980s, a player of great talent and great leadership, still captained CSKA this season, only to see himself looking for a club after receiving the title. Great, but getting old and in the name of future success, he was no longer needed – the same cold practicality was an old tradition and many Army stars got the cold shoulder in quite a disrespectful manner – just discarded as garbage. But in 1988-89 CSKA had a team similar to their best teams in the past: 14 national teams players! Plenty of players to chose from, no problem of filling any gaps, changing tactics, replacing someone out of form or injured with similarly strong player. And the leadership was transformed already – from the ‘old’ Dimitrov, Bezinski, Mladenov, to Stoichkov, Lyuboslav Penev, Kostadinov. Trifon Ivanov also showed his strong will. The transition already happened successfully – unlike in Vitosha (Levski) – and the future was guaranteed: clearly Bezinski, Mladenov, Tanev were going to be sold abroad, but Stoichkov, Penev, Kostadinov, Ivanov were not for sale yet and they were the backbone of the team already. So.. jumping only a month or two ahead of the end of the 1988-89 season Bezinski, Mladenov, Dimitrov, Getov, Tanev were no longer with CFKA Seredetz (except Georgy Dimitrov, all went to play abroad), but Emil Dimtrov (Etar), Marin Bakalov (Trakia), and Dimitar Mladenov (Trakia) arrived – national team players were replaced with national team players. The team remained exceptionally strong – the only problem was unforeseen, unpredictable, coming out of the blue – the sudden collapse of Communism in the second half of 1989. If Communism did not collapse out of the blue, CFKA Sredetz was going to dominate Bulgarian football in the same way they did in the 1950s.

Bulgaria. Ranked 21st. The rules for the season were almost the same as in the previous one: 16 teams in the top league, 20 in the Second Division, Third Division divided into 4 regional groups. In the Third level 3 points were given for a win, but the upper levels still used 2 points for a win. No matter what kind of ‘reforms’ the Communist Party declared in 1985, things were going back to old established habits – CFKA Sredetz (CSKA) was back to taking stars from elsewhere, Vitosha (Levski) depended more on their home grown talent, the other clubs managed with was left to them. Rapidly increasing number of players were sold abroad and they were no longer restricted by age, which meant considerable loss for some clubs – the big clubs replaced the stars they sold with talents from the smaller clubs, which in turn had to improvise. The main result was that this season CFKA Sredetz (CSKA) entirely dominated domestic football, as in the ‘old days’, and no wonder why: they took 4 national team players before the season – Plamen Getov (from Spartak Pleven), Trifon Ivanov (from Etar), Georgy Georgiev (from Trakia), and Iliya Valov (from Vratza). With the new recruits, the Army team had a total of 13 national team players, solid in every line and particularly lethal in attack (Christo Stoichkov, Lyuboslav Penev, Emil Kostadinov, Plamen Getov, Lachezar Tanev, and Ivaylo Kirov). This season was entirely theirs.
Second Division. 20 teams – the top 2 promoted, the bottom 4 relegated. A bit of a battle both at the top and the bottom, but hardly and exciting season. The amalgamation of the Second Division in the recent past temporary reshaped the picture, but it was going back to ‘normal’ – four long-time Second Division members won the Third Division groups and were promoted this season: Septemvriyska slava (Mikhailovgrad), Svetkavitza (Targovishte), Rozova dolina (Kazanlik), and Velbazhd (Kyustendil). Meantime shaky and troubled clubs went down in the Second Division.
Arda (Kardzhali) was last with 24 points.
Lokomotiv (Rousse) – 19th with 26 points.
Spartak (Plovidiv) – 18th with 30 points.
Akademik (Sofia) – 17th with 32 points.
Rila (Stanke Dimitrov) barely escaped relegation – 16th with 33 points. The former Marek was in the same situation as Akademik – they were unable to replace their wonderful squad from the second half of the 1970s. They still depended on remains of the great team… now reduced to 2 players: goalkeeper Stoyan Stoyanov (38 years old) and midfielder Dimitar Dimitrov (34). And the reserve player from the old days Kiril Sergiev, now 27 years old. There was no future, clearly…
And above them were similar teams: Cherveno zname (Pavlikeni) -15th with 33 points, Ludogoretz (Razgrad) – 14th with 34 points, Bdin (Vidin) – 13th with 37 points, Tundzha (Yambol) – 12th with 37 points. As a whole, Second Division teams depended largely on few experienced key players, often with some First Division performance, and the fate of particular team heavily depended on the age and desire of those players. Teams with more such players generally performed better – those above had 2-3 players of this class, not enough for competing against others.
Freshly relegated Spartak (Pleven) finished 11th with 37 points and no surprise: their former squad was dangerously aging and as soon as they were relegated big number of key players left, including the great star Plamen Getov. The new team… was mediocre. Sitting from left: Angel Marinov,Vassil Dikov, Milko Galabov, Milko Gavrilov, Tony Vashkov, Emil Tzvetanov, Georgy Barbov, Marius Urukov. Middle row: Vladimir Popov – assistant coach, Dimitar Todorov, Ivan Marinov, Stefan Velichkov – coach, Kalin Pekhlivanski, Ventzislav Gochev – captain, Blagoy Krastanov – assistant coach. Top row: Boyko Tzvetkov, Blagovest Petkov, Vesselin Gerov, Harry Kazakov, Boyko Ivanov, Mitko Surdzhiyski, Nikolay Popov.
It was shapeless squad – only one of the former team remained: the goalkeeper Kazakov and the exodus was not even finished yet – after this season some of the better players left as well – Gochev, Urukov, and others.
Lokomotiv (Stara Zagora) finished 10th with 38 points – a prime example of the old Second Division rule – the more former First Division one has, the better fared in the league. Lokomotiv had 7 such players, mostly discarded from the their big neighbor Beroe – and they were enough for mid-table position. At least for year or two.
Vihren (Sandanski) – 9th with 39 points, Yantra (Gabrovo) – 8th with 40 points,
Haskovo (Haskovo) – 7th with 40 points.
Shumen (Shumen) – 6th with 41 points, Akademik (Svishtov) – 5th with 44 points, Dobrudzha (Tolboukhin) – 4th with 46 points, and Osam (Lovetch) – 3rd with 47 points. Frankly, none of the teams so far had a promising and well-shaped team. That practically left the top places for teams with slightly better or at least more ambitious teams.
Chernomoretz (Bourgas) finished 2nd with 50 points and earned promotion back to First Division. Standing from left: Lyubomir Todorov, Lyuben Lyubenov, Vladimir Stoyanov, Stoyan Stoyanov, Evgeny Yanchovski – coach, Raly Khalachev – assistant coach, Ivan Piskov, Lyuben Sheytanov, Zhelyazko Markov, Zlatko Yankov. Front row: Stoyan Pumpalov, Krassimir Kostov, Ivan Yovchev, Simeon Chilibonov, Zhivko Kelepov, Atanas Manushev, Nikolay Roussev, Diyan Petkov.
Unlike Spartak (Pleven), Chernomoretz managed to preserve their team after relegation and also had a number of promising young players, and good coach too. That was pretty much enough for promotion. As for not winning the championship… that was perhaps unimportant – the goal was to return to the top league. And to keep their young talent, which was more difficult – the future hero of the 1994 World Cup Zlatko Yankov, Vladimir Stoyanov, Diyan Petkov, Stoyan Pumpalov were already eyed by other clubs. Nikolay Roussev wanted to play abroad, the captain Sheytanov, who already had played for the national team was also difficult to keep in the team. A prime example why Second Division clubs were not particularly eager to have promising squads – why bother when you going to lose your talent and have to start from scratch again?
This problem perhaps explains the sudden and surprising success of Hebar (Pazardzhik) – a long time Second Division member, apparently without any ambitions for more than mid-table place, which suddenly won the league.
With 52 points from 23 wins, 6 ties and 9 losses, 66-38 goal-difference, Hebar won the championship and earned promotion for the very first time on their history. Of course, the fans were out of their minds from happiness, but it was not a great victory in itself. The squad is interesting, though…
Sitting from left: Mladen Radkov, Spas Pomakov, Krassimir Uzunov, Spas Kuzev, Ivan Chorlev, Radko Dimitrov, Georgy Gadzhev. Middle row: Dimitar Sharankov – coach, Petar Kovachev, Vassil Vassilev, Christo Toshev, Toshko Ignatov, Dimitar Milev – assistant coach. Top row: Dimitar Penchev – masseur, Krum Kantarev, Kalin Ivanov, Lazar Dimitrov, Stefan Dabov – doctor.
A typical Second Division squad… Mladen Radkov was the only recognizable player because of his long years playing for Slavia (Sofia). Krum Kantarev also had some top league experience, but by now neither player attracted First Division clubs. Nor anybody else in the team. Even the coach was unfamiliar name. Anonymous squad, but exactly their anonymity helped them to stay together and blend well – the success was recognized as collective effort. No stars. Nobody wanting them, so Hebar was secure to have its team in the next season. Additional players were needed in order of competing with the best teams in the country, but even this was no big deal, for the well-blended squad was at hand. Not aging either, but just at the right average of around 26 years – players with experience, yet still young enough. Hebar won mostly because was a team together – not a rag-tag team, not in the process of rebuilding, not worrying key players staying or not staying with them. Simple as that… if Krum Kantarev wanted to prove himself in the top league, his only chance was to play for Hebar – nobody else wanted him anyway. So good luck to Hebar in their top league debut.