Northern Ireland. Ranked 29th. A perfect season for Glentoran, but not an easy one. They battled hard with Linfield in the championship. In it, 4 teams were much stronger than the rest of the league and one – Distlillery – was hopelessly weak, finishing last with 11 points.
Ballymena United finished 7th with 36 points.
Larne finished 5th with 40 points.
Newry Town – 4th with 50 points.
Coleraine – 3rd with 52 points.
Linfield and Glentoran were entangled in battle of their own for the title – Linfield lost it and took 2nd place with 60 points.
Glentoran clinched the title with 62 points from 19 wins, 5 draws and 2 losses. 48-15 goal-difference.
But they also reached the Cup final, where Glenavon opposed them – in perfect from, Glentoran scored the only goal and won the Cup 1-0.
A double for Glentoran, which was only the second double in their history and they had to way more than half of a century for it, winning their first double in the long gone 1920-21 season. It was also their 18th title and 14th Cup.
Viking (Stavanger), winner of Group A with 45 points, and
FK Mjolner (Narvik), winner of Group B with 53 points. Mjoner’s victory was more confident and significant – unlike Viking, they had no glorious past, so for them climbing up was great success. Also, unlike Viking, they dominated their group. This was the second time the club was going to play in the First Division – the first time, in 1971, was unsuccessful – perhaps this time they will last longer? Will see.
Perhaps one more team should be mentioned – Stromsgodset Drammen. A club more often playing top league football, than second level, but now down on their luck. They were lowly 8th in Group B of Second Division. Top row from left: Åge Kjeksrud, Ole Grøndal, Ole Viggo Walseth, Rune Themte, Frode Johannessen, Torkel Knudsen, Geir Knudsen, Frank Hovland
HamarKameratane, just relegated, finished 2nd in Group B, but their desired to get back to First Division were cut short – they lost both matches in the play-off and finished last.
Start, relegated in 1987 along with HamKam, also wanted to return to top flight – they failed to win Group A, finishing a point behind Viking, but excelled in the play-off: they won their both matches and earned promotion.
Moss, currently playing in Europe, was unable to repeat their 1987 success – they finished 4th with 37 points.
Molde also lost – ended 3rd with 39 points.
Rosenborg was superior and won quite easily the championship with 47 points from 14 wins, 5 ties, 3 losses, and 54-23 goal-difference.
Brann lost, but still it was a bit of compensation for the poor championship – they were going to represent Noraway in the 1989 Cup Winners Cup. Top row from left: Jan Halvor Halvorsen, Arne Møller, Per Hilmar Nybø, Jan Eivind Brudvik, Dan Riisnes, Bjarni Sigurdsson, Heine Mathiesen, Fritjof Wilborn, Geir Gulbrandsen, Alf Dahl, Lars Moldestad.
Wonderful season for Rosenborg: they won both the Cup and the championship – their second double so far. 5th title and 4th Cup.
Omonia (Aradippou) failed to win the championship, but ended promoted – 2nd with 42 points.
Keravnos was a surprise winner with 43 points from 18 wins, 7 ties, and 3 losses. 52-21 was not the best record in the league, but no matter: Keravnos was on top and promoted to top flight.
EPA (Larnaca) ended 9th with 27 points.
Nea Salamina – 7th with 33 points.
Omonia (Nicosia), quite surprisingly, was not a factor this season. Yet, they still finished 3rd with 37 points. Even when weak, Omonia was stronger than most the the league.
Pezoporikos prevailed. Unusual winners, but having some other team instead of Omonia and APOEL on top was refreshing. The new champions were tough – they lost only 1 match! Strong defense was the secret of success: they won 19 games, tied 10. Scored 56 goals, but permitted only 20 in their own net. That clinched the title: 48 points against APOEL’s 47.
Happy champions indeed.
Pezoporikos waited 34 years for this triumph! It was their 2nd title and such a rare winner deserves better photos, but… that is all at hand.
Would have been great two underdogs to win the trophies, but no such luck. Too bad AEL lost.
Omonia (Nicosia) saved the season, so to say. Weak championship, but at the end they still had the upper hand over their bitter rivals – APOEL had nothing this year, Omonia got the Cup. It was their 8th.
Traktori won the promotion play-off 3-0 and was promoted.
Dinamo (Tirana) finished 5th with – or 11th – with 34 points. They were 11th in the first stage, so no change and going to promotion/relegation play-off – which they won, luckily. However, this was atrocious season for Dinamo, usually found at the top of the table. They were champions in 1985-86. Relegation? Unthinkable only a year before. The photo is most likely not from this season – but is from the period and that is the best one can do…
Is this photo from 1987-88? Who knows… KS Vllaznia (Shkoder) clinched a place in the championship group, beating Beselidhja on goal-difference, but they were not strong. 6th with 28 points in the first stage, 6th in the final table with 34 points.
KS Apollonia (Fier) – 4th with 28 points in the opening stage, 4th in the final table with 38 points. However, this was one of their strongest seasons so far. From which year the photo is… at least seems to be from the second half of the 1980s.
Again, a speculation… 17 Nentori (Tirana) often won the title and this is a photo from the second half of the 1980s, but was it one from 1987-88? 17 Nentori had no rival this season – they built a 4-point advantage in the first stage and also benefited from the terrible weakness of their main rivals Partizani and Dinamo. Weak or not, derbies were another matter and now there were no derbies in the final stage. Against weaker provincial teams, 17 Nentori sailed easily to their 14th title. At the end, they had 18 wins, 12 ties, 6 losses, 59-29 goal-difference, and 48 points. Flamurtari finished 7 points behind.
This is Partizani (Tirana) from 1987… but is it from 1986-87 or 1987-88 season? In any case, there were only few changes in the squad, so it was pretty much the champion squad of 1986-87 – which now had terrible season and was close to relegation… Very strange for the traditionally strongest Albanian club. At the end, they lost the Cup final and finished the season very disappointed.
Flamurtari (Vlore) triumphed with the Cup, thus continuing their strong period. It was their 2nd Cup so far – may be slowly, but they were building a trophy room. As for the picture… it is not from the final and not even from 1988, but from the fall of 1987 and from their UEFA Cup win at home against Vismut (Aue, DDR). One can see easily… that there were, typically, no familiar names in the squad. Only Sokol Kushta rings a bell. But no matter – Flamurtari won the Cup and it was great!
B 1913 and
BK Frem won the Second Division championship and returned to top flight.
Ikast fS ended 10th with 22 points. More of an illustration how poorly performed the relegated outsiders than anything.
Brondby IF were too strong for the rest of the league – they won the title with 40 points. 17 wins, 6 ties, 3 losses, 57-22 goal-difference. The photo looks suspect – so let it stay tentatively. Anyhow, this was the 3rd title for Brondby. It was also second in a row.
Possible picture of AGF Aarhus winning team. Like Brondby, they were Cup winners two years in a row.
Samsunspor, having its best season so far, ended emptyhanded. Standing from left: Ercüment Coşkundere, Burhanettin Beadini, Kasım Çıkla, Fatih Uraz, Zafer Çabalar, Gjorgji Jovanovski.
The best moment in the history of Sakaryaspor – they won the Turkish Cup, their first and so far only trophy! Historic moment of triumph, a moment becoming an instant legend. The squad, however, remain a bit… unknown. Names are problematic, so here is mostly speculation. Top row from left: Yumit Gurcu(?), Engin Ipekoglu (?), Neset Muharemoglu (?), Muamer Gucuk (?), Bulent Erdek (?).
Zonguldakspor – last with 27 points and relegated.
Genclerbirligi – 19th with 30 points. Relegated.
Kocaelispor – 18th with 34 points and out. Given the performance of the last three teams, the reduction of the league was well justified.
Denizlispor lost the battle for survival by a point – 17th with 45 points and once again going down to Second Division.
Caykur Rizepsor escaped – 16th with 46 points. Standing from left: Mustafa, İsa, Sinan, Oğuz, Muharrem, Jurgen Pahl. Crouching: B.Turgut, Hakan, Metin, K.Turgut, Harun.
Eskisehirspor – 15th with 46 points. Survived. Two Yugoslavs here: Adnan Medjedovic and Sedin Tanovic.
Boluspor – 14th with 46 points.
MKE Ankaragucu – 13th with 46 points. Better goal-difference placed them ahead of the other teams with 46 points, but consistency was a problem.
Altay – 12th with 48 points. As the other clubs from Izmir, Altay was struggling, but at least they played in the top league and managed to secure their place for at least one more season. But they were not in good shape – fighting for mere survival, not a promising sign.
Sakaryaspor – 11th with 51 points. Not an impressive season, but this club was never strong before anyway. Yet, this was their best season ever, as it turned out. Standing from left: Turhan Sofuoğlu, Selçuk Yiğitlik, Blerim Mula, Serdar Şenkaya, Neşet Muharremoğlu, Oğuz Çetin.
Adana Demirspor – 10th with 52 points.
Sariyer – 9th with 52 points.
Fenerbahce – terrible season: 8th with 55 points. The disaster was calling for rapid big measures – evidently, having Yugoslav second raters (Pesic and Lukovcan) was no longer enough. So… the future will show what ambition and money can do.
Karsiyaka – 7th with 56 points. Strong season and it was matter of pride to finish ahead of Fenerbahce.
Trabzonspor – 6th with 57 points. Among the best, but the environment was changing and they seemingly were losing their edge.
Bursaspor – 5th with 57 points. They had similarly strong seasons before, but consistency was old problem and thus Bursaspor was not exactly considered among the leading the clubs. Stability was something to be proven yet.
Samsunspor – 4th with 60 points. Their finest season so far. Going up? Only the future can tell, but they appeared to be among the most stable provincial clubs for quite some time. Standing from left: Uğur Terzi, Muzaffer Badalıoğlu, Gijorgji Jovanovski, Zafer Çabalar, Burhanettin Beadini, Fatih Uraz.
Malatyaspor – 3rd with 62 points. Great success for them – bronze medals! Their best so far, so the boys could be excused for lacking the strength to compete for the title.
Besiktas – 2nd with 78 points. Keeping strong – far too strong for the others in the league: they left Malatyaspor 14 points behind. Yet, in the same time they were too weak to challenge the leader… perhaps the lack of imported players made crucial difference.
In splendid form Galatasaray dominated the championship and won its 9th title, repeating their 1986-87 success. The champions won 27 games, tied 9 and lost only 2. Their goal-difference was great: +51! 86-35 – They were the best scorers in the championship by far and only 2 teams ended with better defensive record than them – a prove that attacking football was the best way to win. They did not permit even Besiktas to come close, leaving the nearest rival 12 points behind.
Perhaps the regular squad shows the secret of their success: a combination of best Turkish players (the great star and scorer Tanju Colak, for instance) and first-rate foreigners. Galatasaray had 3 well-known Yugoslavs, all former national team players – Cevat Prekazi, Mirsat Kovacevic and Simovic. This was even a bit too much and they either were unable to field them all in the same game, or one (most likely the Kosovar Prekazi) took Turkish citizenship. Galatasaray was already doing what some of the biggest European clubs were doing for years (Real Madrid, Barcelona, most recently Milan) – getting more foreigners than the rules permitted, so to have more options. That was the way to stay strong and not only in the domestic scene.
Alanyaspor was one of the Third Division winners and going up to Second Division. According to this photo, of course – the problem with it is that Alanyaspor played in Group B of Second Division, just relegated from First Division and almost promoted back to it. Same team? A bit of mystery.
Bayburtspor played its second and last season in the Second Division – they finished last with 27 points.
Kayserispor was nothing special this season – 7th with 49 points.
Adanaspor had no rival – 20 wins, 9 ties, 5 losses, 71-23 and 69 points. They won the championship and were promoted back to First Division..
Yeni Salihlispor – 7th with 47 points. Not everybody played on grass yet…
Inegolspor – 5th with 50 points.
DC Karabukspor – 4th with 50 points.
Kahramanmarasspor clinched the title – they prevailed over Antalyaspor by 3 points: 16 wins, 10 ties, 6 losses, 63-35, 58 points. Unknown outside Turkey club with long and difficult name, which played their best season ever. Their victory was surprising, but well deserved success. Now debut in First Division was coming.
If Goztepe and Altinordu were at least in the upper half of the table, Izmirspor was really down on their luck – 15th with 36 points and relegated to third level.
Goztepe was the best of the Izmir clubs – 5th with 48 points.
Bakirkoyspor – 3rd , but very distant 3rd, with 51 points.
Konyaspor won the championship with 65 points: 19 wins, 8 ties, 5 losses, 49-23. Like Adanaspor, Konyaspor was going back to the familiar grounds of the top division.
Too bad for OTP Oulu.
Jaro ( Pietarsaari) was promoted to First Division.
Reipas Lahti (3) – 4th with 30 points. Bright young Jari Litmanen was playing fro them, which is even a bit strange – why the talent was not in the stronger neighbours Kuusysi?
RoPS Rovaniemi (4) – 3rd with 31 points. Foreign players were becoming the norm in Finland – not any big names, not even just recognizable names, but imports were becoming vastly used in the second half of the 1980s – almost in every European country.
