Football Journey

Cup. FC Den Haag and Ajax reached the final and at first it looked like easy win for Ajax. But the underdog almost made a sensation – until the 83rd minute the result was 2-1 Den Haag. Bosman opened for Ajax in the 11th minute, but the team from the Dutch capital equalized just before half-time – Boere in the 43rd minute. Then Morley made it 2-1 in the 66th and only in the 83rd minute Bosman scored his second goal, driving the final to overtime. Ajax’s class prevailed there – van Basten scored two goals in the 104th and 106th minute and the favourites won 4-2.
It would have been great if FC Den Haag won against the odds, but the odds were so much against them – they had very little to really oppose to the great Ajax squad.
Ajax won the Cup, so they still had trophy at hand – although losing the championship is not something club and fans enjoy. Marco van Basten is missing in this picture, but no matter – the second great Ajax team was already made, played exciting football and winning. And Cruijff was still forcing his way – Spitz Cohn was officially the coach, but it was Cruijff coaching in reality. No coaching diploma, no problem… by now, everybody swallowed the sham, protesting did not work and he was accepted however grudgingly. As long as he was making magic, no problem. Cruijff’s squad was in a way deeper than PSV Eindhoven’s: two veterans – Arnold Muhren and Ronald Spelbos provided cool wisdom to their generally young teammates and there were also youngsters who guaranteed the future, for they were going to be the backbone of Ajax in the 1990s – Danny Blind, for example. Retirements and transfers were not going to affect greatly this team – Cruijff’s vision guaranteed smooth transitions and long term success (Arnold Muhren was the direct link with the great Ajax of the 1970s here and Rijkard and Blind were the link between this squad and the next great Ajax in 1995 – three great generations met and influenced each other during Cruijff’s reign at the helm).

First Division. 2 points for a win, the last 3 teams in the final table relegated. There was revival of Dutch football, but there was also huge division between the leading two clubs and the rest. Ajax and PSV Eindhoven had the crop of current talent and Feyenoord was still suffering with insignificant squad. Yet, Feyenoord was solid third, comfortably above the rest of the league. As for the leaders, they were obviously way above Feyenoord, but PSV Eindhoven was at its peak, leaving Ajax far, far behind.
Excelsior (Rotterdam) was the outsider this season – last and out with 19 points.

SC Veendam, quite predictably, was unable to stay in the top league longer: 18th with 23 points.
Go Ahead Eagles was the third unfortunate: 16th with 23 points.

AZ’67 (Alkmaar) sunk to insignificance – 15th with 27 points. No wonder why: nothing was left of the great squad at the beginning of the 1980s. Louis van Gaal was the sole recognizable name – and that largely in retrospect, when the name signified the great coach and not the player.
FC Den Haag – 14th with 28 points. Aging Martin Jol, back from his German and English adventures, and Tony Morley, also over 30, and familiar from the strong West Bromwich Albion team of some time back and recently returned from playing a bit in Hong Kong, were the stars of the team keeping it afloat.
FC Groningen – 13th with 30 points. Top row from left: René Eijkelkamp – Mark Verkuyl – Johan de Kock – Peter Houtman – Ron van de Berg – John de Wolf
Middle row: Rob Jacobs (trainer) – Edwin Olde Riekerink – Sjaak Storm – Pieter Beuzenberg – Edwin Bakker – Dick van Vlierden (assistent)
Sitting: Paul Mason – Claus Boekweg – Marco Waslander – Joop Gall – Jos Roossien – Jan van Dijk
A few not bad players, but John de Wolf was still too young. Peter Houtman was scoring quite a lot of goals.

HFC Haarlem – 12th with 31 points.
PEC Zwolle – 11th with 31 points.
FC Den Bosch – 10th with 32 points.
Fortuna (Sittard) – 9th with 32 points. Third row from left: Andre Van Gerven, John Linford, Bert van Harwijk, Wim Koevermans, Mario Eleveld, Sigi Lens, Anne Evers, Chris Kerver.
Middle row: Dick Voorm, verzorger Bruls, verzorger Van de Laar, Frans Thijssen, Richard Gerringa, Rene Maessen, Anton Janssen, Louk Frijns, trainer Bert Jacobs, manager J.J.M.
Sitting: Gerrie Schrijnemakers, Jos Mordang, Roger Reijnders, Willy Boessen.
For some reason the squad is not fully named in the original picture.
Sparta (Rotterdam) – 8th with 34 points. The British coach Barry Hughes was known from his work with West Bromwich Albion and the other known name – now, not then – was the 20-years old goalkeeper Ed de Goey.
Twente (Enschede) – 7th with 36 points. Slowly reestablishing itself in the top league. Standing from left: Epi Drost(assistent-trainer), Theo Vonk(trainer/coach), Kees Rijvers(technisch Directeur), Fred Rutten, Eric Groeleken, Jan Pouls, A. Paus, Patrick Bosch, Martin Koopman, Ben Weber, Theo ten Caat, Marcel Fleer, Jan Steenbeeke(masseur).
Goalkeeper at the car door: Theo Snelders.
Crouching: Ron Willems, Mika Liponen, Ulrich Wilson.
FC Utrecht – 6th with 36 points. Not bad.
VVV Venlo – 5th with 37 points. Quite a success for a rather anonymous team. Third row from left: masseur Veggel, F. Verbeek, P. Berkens, J. Taihuttu, J. Rutten, J. Roux, L. Gilkes, H. Ringels, W. Hooreman.
Middle row.: manager W. Teeuwen, G. Kopp, H. Coort, W. Jacobs, R. Libregts, R. Reynierse, E. van Berge Henegouwen, P. Corbijn, C. Burhenne, M. Verlijsdonk, elftalleider G. Janssen, G. van Rosmalen. Sitting: J. van Aerts, H. Winkelmolen, F. Nijssen, trainer S. Vergoossen, hulptrainer J. Versleijen, S. Valckx, J. Versleeuwen, W. van den Beek.
Stan Valckx eventually became a well known player, but not yet.

Roda JC – 4th with 39 points. Perhaps the best period of the club. Top row from from left: Jimmy Calderwood, Wilbert Suvrijn, Ernie Brandts, Piet Wiltschut, Danny Hoekman, Norbert Keulen (verz.)
Middle row: Jan Versleijen (ass.), Michel Broeders, Ron Jans, Henny Meijer, John de Jong, Servaas Henssen, Jan Geurden (Fysio), Rob Baan (trainer).
Sitting: Eugène Hanssen, Pierre Blatter, Jan Nederburgh, Jos Smits, Paul Jansen, Moti Iwanier.
Strongly depending on veterans Ernie Brandts, Piet Wiltschut, and Jimmy Calderwood.
Feyennord – 3rd with 42 points. Struggling with rebuilding for quite some time and not a real factor. Rinus Israel was at the helm, but still there was dependency on oldish players,who made their names with arch-enemy Ajax: Tahamata, for instance.
Ajax – 2nd with 53 points. Good and strong again, but this was not their year. Feyenoord was left far behind, but PSV Eindhoven was equally distant.
PSV Eindhoven dominated the championship – 27 wins, 5 ties, only 2 lost games, 99-21 goal-difference and 59 points. 6 points ahead of Ajax. Naming, however is in order, for the Slovakian publictaion made a little mess. Sitting from left: maz, Willy van der Kuijlen (assistent trainer), Guus Hiddink (trainer), Hans Kraaij (technisch manager), Pim Doesburg, Kees Ploegsma (commercieel manager), Huub Stevens (jeugdcoördinator), Ton van Schijndel (fysiotherapeut), Jac van de Ven (verzorger), Eric Viscaal.
Middle row: Gerald Vanenburg, Frank Arnesen, Erik Gerets, Hallvar Thoresen, Patrick Lodewijks, Michel Valke, Jan Heintze, Berry van Aerle, Jurrie Koolhof, John Veldman.
Top row: Frans van Rooij, Ronald Koeman, Willy van de Kerkhof, Rob McDonald, Hans van Breukelen, Ruud Gullit, Ivan Nielsen, Adick Koot, Lowie van Schijndel, René van der Gijp.
This was a squad almost at its peak and perhaps stronger one than the great team of the 1970s, from which only Willy van de Kerkhof still remained. The other link with the previous great decade of Dutch football was the seemingly eternal goalkeeper Pim Doesburg. The rest however, was formidable team: Gus Hiddink was coach and Hans Kraay technical director. Doesburg was already back-up to current great keeper van Breukelen. What a wealth of great talent: Gullit, Ronald Koeman, Vanenburg, van Aarle, Valke, great Belgian full back Gerets, Danish national team regulars Nielsen, Heintze and Arnesen, Norwegian Hallvar Thoresen. One can easily miss the British Rob McDonald. Great coaching stuff, great players and sky was the limit.

Holland – ranked 19th. The low rank was clear testimony of the big decline Dutch football suffered in the first half of the 1980s. Things were different now with the new talented generation, but ranking was based on past time. The structure was still the same: two professional leagues and no relegation from second level. As for the top league – Feyenoord was still suffering.
Second Division – the formula was unchanged: the top 2 teams were directly promoted up and the best teams of the four quarters of the championship played a mini-tournament for the last promotion.
Telstar finished last and evidently the decline of this club was permament.
FC Wageningen finished 18th with 23 points, 2 points ahead of Telstar.
Nothing much up to 9th place – DS’79 ended there, but they had good performance in one of the championship quarters and thus went to the promotion play-offs.
NAC Breda was 8th, Vitesse Arnhem – 7th. NEC Nijmegen was 6th, but also had strong quarter and moved to promotion play-offs. MVV Maastricht was 5th. RKC Waalwijk – 4th, but qualified to promotion play-offs and so did SC Cambuur, 3rd in the championship with 47 points.
Willem II clinched 2nd place with 49 points and directly promoted.
FC Volendam bested Willem II by a point and won the Second Division championship. 19 wins, 12 ties, 5 losses, 83-57 goal-difference and 50 points. Third row from left: Hans de Vries, Jan Schokker, Bert van der Poppe, Ab Plugboer, Jack Tol, Nico Zwarthoed.
Middle row: Leo Tholens (verzorger), Ed Vijent, Ron Voorn, Carlo Bond, Eric van Geemen, Theo Bond, Wim Jonk, Hans Bakker, Jan Brouwer (trainer-coach)
Sitting: Gert-Jan Duif, Steven van Dorpel, Jaap Schilder, Jan Klouwer, Ton Guyt, Said Abidallah.
A future big star here – Wim Jonk – but the for the moment just champion and Second Division and happy to move up to top flight.
The promotion play-off was round-robin scheme and there was really battle only for second place, which did no matter.
NEC Nijmegen was entirely out of the race – last with 3 points.
RKC Waalwijk ended 3rd with 6 points.
SC Cambuur – 2nd with 6 points.
DS’79 had so-so season, but when it mattered most, they were perfect: 5 wins and 1 loss in the promotion play-offs. 12-5 goal-difference. Nobody came even close to them. Promotion was wonderful achievement this year, but the real test was yet to come in the new season.

The Cup. Gornik (Zabrze) was unable to run for a double, but two of the current strongest teams meet at the final – Slask vs GKS Katowice. The final was played in Opole and nobody prevailed: 0-0 after overtime. In the penalty shoot-out Slask was luckier and won 4-3.
Lucky winners, but who cares – they were happy with the Cup in their hands.
GKS (Katowice) lost, but van you blame them? Losing a penalty shoot-out is most bitter and unfortunate – yet, if Katowice deserved to left the Cup, they should have scored in the regular game and beat the opposition. Really regretful is just that they were the underdog – it would have been great to win.
Slask (Wroclaw) was lucky winner, but nobody judges winners. And it was great achievement for a club without many trophies: this was their 2nd Cup and they had to wait about 10 years for this one. As for having been the favourites at the final, such claim is only relative – they were slightly more successful historically than GKS and had more strong players (on paper): Krol, Tarasiewicz, Marciniak, and Rudy vs pretty much only Jan Furtok. In reality, it was a battle between equals and Slask was a bit luckier. But the Cup was in their hands!

First Division. Apart from new rules and infringements, the season in a nut shell was rather plain: the recent dominance of Gornik (Zabrze) continued and some former leading clubs struggled and were relegated.
Motor (Lublin) finished last with 13 points. However, they were penalized with 8 points by the new rule – they lost 8 games by 3 or more goals. No wonder they were found guilty of ‘lack of motivation’ and replay of a match may have been much too cruel penalty for a team which apparently gave up already.
Stal (Mielec) was not even a pale shadow of the great team of the 1970s – they finished 15th with 17 points and were directly relegated.
Ruch (Chorzow) was the other big name in dire straits now: they finished 14th with 18 points. Not only that, but they won the least number of games in the championship – just 3! The relegation play-off gave them a chance to stay in the league, but they lost both legs against Lechia (Gdanks) 1-2 and went down. It was quite amazing, for the squad – by names – does not seem to be so bad. Miroslaw Bak and Krzystztof Warzycha were in it, for instance – true, still very young, but going to Second Division? Well, they did.
Polonia (Bytom) was 13th with 21 points. Nothing strange or new – usually they were found near the bottom fighting for survival and sometimes failing. And this time they failed – they lost the relegation play-off on away goals and were relegated.
Olimpia (Poznan) was lucky. They finished 12th with 22 points, but survived at the play-offs. The first leg – away in Bytom – did it: Olimpia managed a 2-2 tie. At home neither they, nor Polonia scored and 0-0 tie benefited Olimpia.
Lechia (Gdansk) was 11th with 24 points – the only team in the group at the league’s bottom not to be involved with illegal schemes for survival, but the brief strong period of the club clearly was finished. However, under usual rules Lechia would have been safe and not worried with relegation – the new rules put them in immediate danger, but they were still the better team and won both legs against Ruch (Chorzow) 2-1. Good for one more season at least.

Gornik (Walbrzych) finished 10th with 25 points. Nothing much, but that depends… for a modest club it was great. Gornik was enjoying perhaps their best period in history – which in their terms meant staying in the top division longer than year or two. If some teams finished the season with 29 games, Gornik played 31 – because their match against Motor (Lublin) had to be replayed. Not Gornik’s fault – Motor was found lacking motivation, so the replay looked like unjust penalty for Gornik. But all ended well.
LKS (Lodz) – 9th with 27 points. Nothing special, as usual.
Zaglebie (Lubin) – 8th with 28 points. Not bad – for them.
Lech (Poznan) – 7th with 29 points. Rather insignificant season.
Widzew (Lodz) – 6th with 36 points. Much stronger than all those bellow, but seemingly their great period came to end. No longer a title contender.
Legia (Warszawa) – 5th with 38 points. Given the squad they had the season was quite a disappointment.
Slask (Wroclaw) – 4th with 40 points. Not bad at all.
GKS (Katowice) – 3rd with 43 points. It was wonderful achievement of traditionally unheralded club. Arguably, Katowice was going through their best ever period. Jan Furtok was the big star here.
Pogon (Szczecin) – 2nd with 44 points. Who would believe it? If playing at all in the top league, Pogon were usually at the bottom of the table. Now – silver medalists out of the blue. True, they never challenged the leaders, but left behind teams like Widzew, Legia, Slask. Pogon scored most goals this season: 64 – 12 more than the dominant champions! They looked like one-time-wonder, but if so then even more intense the joy of their achievement.
Gornik (Zabrze) had no rival at all this season: 16 wins (7 with 3 or more goals), 10 ties, 4 losses (none with 3 or more goals) – that gave them 49 points, 5 more than Pogon. Scored 52 goals (second-best scoring record), allowed 21 (best defensive record). Confident leaders, winning rather easily their 13th title. Truly the best team at this period – this was their 3rd consecutive title, their dominance was well established and Gornik was enjoying strong period similar to the one they had at the late 1960s. The most solid Polish squad by far – also a similarity with the great 1960s team. Really, hard to believe they have been relegated to Second Division not that long ago.

Poland – ranked 20th. New rules started this season and were in place for the next 4 years: 3 points were given to a team winning by 3 or more goals. A team losing by 3 or more goals had 1 deducted. This complicated a bit the tables, for extra points or deduction had to be shown in brackets, but bigger complication in the introductory season was that few teams were penalized and ended the championship with 29 instead of 30 games. No infractions in the Second Division, but in the First Zaglebie – Ruch, Olimpia – Stal, and Lech – Polonia were canceled and records stripped because of allegations of match-fixing. However, no further penalties, so the allegations most likely were not proven. One match had to be replayed, though: Gornik Walbrzych – Motor originally ended 4-0, but the result was canceled because of ‘lack of motivation on the part of visitor team’. The match was replayed and unlike the previous 4 teams, Walbrzych and Motor finished with 30 games.
Four teams were relegated and four promoted from the Second Division – the last two in the top league were directly relegated and the the winners of the 2 groups making Second Division – directly promoted. The other two relegated teams were decided in play-offs between 11th and 14th and 12th vs13th in the final table of the season. Meantime, the 2nd and the 3rd in each Second Division group played for the remaining 2 promotional spots. The same relegation rule applied to the bottom of the Second Division groups, where also 4 teams were relegated and replaced by 4 teams promoted from Third Division.
In passing, let mention the promoted from Third Division: ZAGŁĘBIE (Wałbrzych), STAL STOCZNIA (Szczecin), STOCZNIOWIEC (Gdańsk), ODRA (Opole) were promoted to Group 1 and STAL (Rzeszów),
GKS (Bełchatów), GWARDIA (Szczytno), BŁĘKITNI (Kielce) went to Group 2. A mixed bag of teams, including some fromer top league members and little known clubs, including GKS Belchatow, which emerged from obscurity only after the fall of Communism.
The Second Division continued in its familiar structure – 2 groups of 16 teams each. And anomaly was also continued: the representatives of the city of Radom were not in one group and thus there was no city derby. However, such separation applied only to this city – cities with more than team in the league had them playing in the same group. Down on there luck were some former First Division members: Arka (Gdynia) was relegated to third level, Gwardia (Warszawa) survived only after winning relegation play-off, and
Zaglebie (Sosnowiec) was 6th in Group 2.
But the biggest decline was seen in Krakow – if Hutnik was small club, Wisla was one of the most famous and successful Polish clubs. Not only Krakow did not have a team in the top division, but both Wisla and Hutnik failed to reach even promotional ply-offs: both teams played in Group 2, Wisla finished 4th and Hutnik – 5th. Lesser teams did the same or better than famed Wisla.
Stilon (Gorzow) was 4th in Group 1.
Piast (Gliwice) in front and Zawisza (Bydgoszcz) behind Piast ended 3rd and 5th in Group 1 – Piast went to promotional play-offs.
As for the strangely separated team from Radom,
Radomiak finished 8th in Group 1, but there rivals Bron were 12th in Group 2 and went to relegation play-offs. They barely survived thanks to away-goal rule.
At the top of tables – two teams fought for top position in Group 1.
Szombierki (Bytom) clinched the victory with 46 points and returned to top flight.
Baltyk (Gdynia) lost the championship by a single point. In the promotion play-off they met 3rd placed Piast (Gliwice) and prevailed 1-1 and 2-0. Baltyk also returned to First Division.
Jagiellonia (Bialystok) was absolutely dominant in Group 2 – they won the championship with 55 points: 15 points ahead of the second-placed. Promoted, of course.
Stal (Stalowa Wola) had to settle for indirect chance for promotion – they finished distant 2nd and met Gornik (Knurow), 3rd, but only because of worse goal-difference, in the play-off. It was till close battle – Gornik won in Knurow 2-1, but Stal managed to win 2-0 at home and won, and was happily promoted.

Cups – still two, the National Cup and the Soviet Army Cup. For the most important in reality National Cup CFCA Sredetz and Vitosha met at the final and the Army club prevailed 2-1.
CFCA Stredetz – CSKA – triumphed with a double and this picture finally presents reality. Crouching from left: Ivaylo Kirov, Lyuboslav Penev, Aleksandar Aleksandrov, Kostadin Yanchev, Georgi Velinov, Sasho Borissov, Stefan Srefanov, Krassimir Bezinski, Roumen Stoyanov. Standing: Petar Zhekov – assistant coach, Lachezar Tanev, Dimitar Penev – coach, Emil Kostadinov, Bozhin Bozhinov – administrator, Aleksandar Chavdarov, Nedyalko Mladenov, Krassimir Dossev, Angel Chervenkov, Christo Stoichkov, Nikola Chervenyakov – doctor, Stoil Trankov – assistant coach. Winning a double surely means a team in good health, so why Penev still complains? Short squad, that is… 10 national team players instead of 20. Anyhow, it was very successful season and the arch-enemy was beaten in both championship and cup final.
CFCA Sredetz was unable to reach the Soviet Army Cup final, but Vitosha did. At the final they met Spartak (Pleven) and barely prevailed 3-2.
The victory placed them on the pages of the sports weekly ‘Start”, but the Soviet Army Cup entirely lost significance by now and even Levski’s fans hardly acknowledged the win: it was important only artificially, the clubs no longer paid attention to the tournament. For Vitosha – Levski – the victory was small consolation: at least some trophy, although the mood was bitter, for everything important was lost. Crouching from left: Nikolay Iliev, Stefan Vassilev, Roussi Gotchev – captain, Dimitar Markov, Georgi Yordanov, Vladko Shalamanov, Sasho Nachev, Krassimir Koev. Standing: Nasko Sirakov, Emil Velev, Christo Ayandelev – vice-chairman of the club, Pavel Panov – coach, Borislav Mikhailov, Vlado Delchev, Andrey Asparoukhov, Petar Petrov, Antoni Zdravkov, Rossen Krumov, Assen Milushev – assistant coach, Stoil Georgiev.

First Division. 2 points for a win. The old dominance of CSKA and Levski was reestablished, although the names now were CFCA Sredetz and Vitosha. Because some clubs were also renamed, their familiar names will be given in brackets. So, back to the well known – two teams fighting for the title. At the bottom 4 teams battled to escape the last two places and relegation.
At the end of the table 4 teams finished with 21 points and goal-difference decided their fate.

Newcomer Dimitrovgrad (Dimitrovgrad) got the short stick: on worst goal-difference they were last placed and relegated to Second Division after single season among the best. This was quite expected to happen: Dimitrovgrad was caught by surprise by the possibility for promotion the year before. For the promotion/relegation play-off they hastily recruited players from aside in such urgency that some practically were hired when vacationing on the beach. The picture above is from that successful play-off in the previous summer, but the new players were already in it and curiously no other additions were made during the transfer window. All together 4 players were added: central defender Ivan Iliev, formerly of Slavia, who was at the end of his career because of age and injuries; Angel Kalbourov, left full back, formerly of CSKA, but already beyond his peak; left winger Christo Denchev, formerly of Levski, who was perhaps the stronger newcomer, but also already having reached his peak; and goalkeeper Decho Pavlov – experienced, but so-so player, whose highest achievement was playing for the last good team of Akademik (Sofia). Frankly, not the best recruits, yet, players superior to the squad at hand, for the rest were players mostly familiar with Third Division. The deficiencies were too many and obvious, there were no remedies and relegation was the expected outcome. Which promptly happened – and the stars departed right away (only Pavlov remained the next season).
Sitting from left: Stefan Metodiev, Vesselin Georgiev, Georgi Kutyanov, Ivan Traykov, Zhivko Aleksandrov, Antoni Ganev.
Middle row: Marko Rachev – masseur, Decho Pavlov, Ivan Kyuchukov – coach, Dobri Dobrev – chairman, Mavro Mavrov – assistant coach, Aleksandar Minovski, Ivan Iliev.
Top row: Georgi Katzarski, Anton Kolev, Nikolay Nikolov, Zlatko Zlatanov, Stayko Staykov, Trendafil Danev, Dinko Gospodiniv.
Akademik (Svishtov) was the other unfortunate, taking 15th place. It was exact replay of their first appearance in the top league back in the second half of the 1970s: not bad first season, then relegation in the second and the reasons for that were also the same – Akademik depended almost entirely on players from aside. The lure for them was getting higher education, for Akademik was closely associated with University in Svishtov. Some players with good reputations usually arrived for the second season in the top league, but they were not really attached to the club and were not very motivated. Once again Akademik looked stronger on paper in its second season, but in reality it was weaker team and went down.
Spartak (Pleven) barely survived – slightly better goal-difference saved them and they finished 14th. The problem was rebuilding – the strong team of few years back became too old and starting a new team was shaky. The process started a bit too late and was quite hasty: most of the new players were a bit suspect and good number of the squad was looking for other opportunities. And finally Plamen Getov, arguably the best Bulgarian player at that time, suffered injuries and was unable to contribute enough. Considering the circumstances, escaping relegation was actually a success.
At 13th position and with 21 points too was no other, but the champion of the previous season. This was a huge drop down, for the champions had the same squad which won the title the precious season and now barely and more or less on good luck escaped relegation. Then again… it was Beroe (Stara Zagora), which traditionally had such fluctuating performance – a great season followed by relegation or near relegation. Sitting from left: Milan Kashmerov (renamed because of his Turkish origin, and later renamed again to entirely proper Turkish name Myumyun Kashmer), Plamen Lipenski, Iliya Iliev, Stoyan Bonchev, Tanko Tanev, Vassil Dragolov, Stefan Dinev.
Middle row: Evgeni Yanchovski – coach, Kolyo Ganev, Dian Marinov, Ivko Ganchev, Venelin Sivriev, Petko Marokov, Valentin Grudev, Todor Gegov, Panayot Panayotov – assistant coach.
Top row: Kancho Kasherov, Nikolay Demirev, Christo Belchev, Christo Doychev – masseur, Stoyko Stoykov, Petko Tenev, Tenyo Minchev.
Well, Beroe was lucky not to lose key players between seasons (3 players – Dragolov, Kashmer, and Ganchev), but they needed to add one or two classier players and failed to do so. The squad was the same as before, some weak points remained and the core of worthy veterans only got older.
Chernomoretz (Bourgas) ended 12th with 24 points – they returned to usually low position in the league, gradually losing the talented generation of the early 1980s. Pirin (Blagoevgrad) was 11th , ahead of Chernomoretz on better goal-difference. There was a good possibility of forming strong team at last – if the club was able to keep his talented youngsters, Petar Mikhtarski first of all. It was unlikely, though – Pirin was routinely robbed by the big Sofia clubs. Spartak (Varna) was trying hard to keep somewhat decent squad, but it was difficult – they finished 10th with 25 points and lost their star midfielder Zhivko Gospodinov right after the end of the season (he went to Spartak Pleven). Sliven (Sliven) finished 9th with 27 points – they settled for mid-table solidity long time ago, depending on some help from CSKA.
Vratza (Botev Vratza) apparently overcome the crisis of rebuilding and was again solid mid-table team – 8th with 28 points. Sitting from left: Tzvetanov, Nikolov, Garev, Emilov, Ochev, Radoslavov, Sabotinov, Dimitrov.
Middle row: Iliya Panev – coach, Iliev, Konov, Apostolov, Strashimirov, Todorov, Voynov, Danov, Yanko Gelov – assistant coach.
Top row: Kostov – medic, Tzvetkov, D. Marinov, Petrov, Yu. Nikolov, Tzekov, Valov, Em. Marinov, Mironov – doctor.
As most provincial clubs, Vratza had no way to keep big talent: the goalkeeper Iliya Valov and left winger Iliya Voynov were already noticed and eventually joined CSKA. The eternal problem of smaller clubs… it was better not to have big talent, for it will be grabbed by the big clubs. But without talent… relegation was looming.
Etar (Veliko Tirnovo) – 7th with 30 points. Etar gradually improved, but was not yet a finished and polished team. Iliyan Kiriakov was already in the squad, but there was the mystery of Krassimir Balakov – did he play in 1986-87 at all, for he was not not in the squad for 1987-88. If he did not, why? Was he injured, or called to army service, or suspended for some offense? Anyhow, Etar still needed quality players at some positions – decent goalkeeper, for instance.
Lokomotiv (Plovdiv) – 6th with 30 points and ahead of Etar on better goal-difference. Sitting from left: Roumen Staykov, Fedya Mikov, Eduard Eranosyan, Anyo Sadkov (Ayan Sadakov), Georgi Andreev – chairman of the club, Christo Sotirov, Ivan Bedelev, Krassimir Kostov, Georgi Kalushev.
Middle row: Salatin Halidov – masseur, Christo Kolev, Georgi Tashev, Emil Iliev, Lyubomir Burnarski, Christo Bonev – coach, Stefan Draganov, Lyubomir Koradov, Bogomil Tilev, Petyo Vassilev, Vassil Ankov – assistant coach.
Top row: Dimitar Kalkanov, Ivan Georgiev, Racho Kilapov, Atanas Marinov, Georgi Dimitrov, Georgi Tenev, Lachezar Mitzin.
Looked like the lean years were over and Lokomotiv was on the road of reestablishing strong position in Bulgarian football. However, the good performance was perhaps mostly due to the coach – Christo Bonev already proved that he will be great coach, just like he was great player not long ago. But the team was unbalanced – its strength was based on attack: the midfielders Sadakov and Kolev, and strikers Eranosyan, Dimitrov and possibly Draganov. At the back there were gaps – Tenev was good goalkeeper, but still too young. Atanas Marinov was good central defender, but somewhat beyound his peak. There was much to be desired around those two, so Lokomotiv mostly depended on its strikers – to outscore the opposition, for their leaky defense permitted too many goals.
Slavia (Sofia) – 5th with 35 points. They also seemingly recovered from the crisis of few years back, but similarly to Lokomotiv (Plovdiv) it was not full recovery and there were gaps in the team. Sitting from left: Mikhail Iliev – doctor, Valery Grekov, Plamen Simeonov, Mladen Radkov, Ivan Khaydarliev – captain, Petar Aleksandrov, Georgi Iliev, Pavlin Dimitrov, Ivan Piskov, Iliyan Aldev (Ilyaz Aliev), Vassil Nenkov – masseur.
Middle row: Trendafil Terziyski – coach, Miroslav Mironov, Slavcho Niklenov, Plamen Tachev, Ivaylo Venkov, Yordan Kostov, Ivan Marinov, Kostadin Krastanov, Antonio Ananiev, Simeon Stoyanov, Tchavdar Tzvetkov – assistant coach.
The regular starting eleven were formed well enough, but the reserves were of significantly lesser quality – thus, the team was vulnerable. Good team, but nothing like the wonderful squad of the 1970s.
Lokomotiv (Sofia) – 4th with 35 points, ahead of Slavia on better goal-difference. Lokomotiv managed to avoid a crisis because changing generations. A good crop of talented players took the reigns already: Nikolov between the goalposts, Zhelev, Dotchev, Velkov in defense, Metkov and Bonchev in midfield, Stoev and Todorov in attack. And they were homegrown – except Nikolay Todorov, who came form Levski. The transition was achieved almost without tremors and now the future looked very bright.
Trakia (Botev Plovdiv) finished 3rd with 39 points. Somewhat they missed the boat already – the team was still too strong for the most of the league, but getting fatigued and no much to the reestablished CSKA and Levski: as good as it was, Trakia was not a title contender. It was greatly talented squad full of national team players and still quite young, but burnt out. The ‘Canary’ lore maintains the same story of victimization ever since: ‘we were the best, but the bastards from Sofia did not permit us to win.’ There is some truth to that, but a team which does not win year after year eventually loses steam and that was the case of Trakia – the players were around for many years already and reached their peaks as players and as a team may be two or three years back. In the previous season, when CSKA and Levski were at its lowest, Trakia still lost the title to Beroe. It easy to find excuses by now and live with them… once again, Trakia was robbed – Levski gave the title to Beroe. It was easy to live by myth… and with players gradually getting older, to replace domestic performance with dreams of good foreign transfers. Trakia depended for years on extremely talented juniors coming to the first team, but now the quality of the next crop was lower: for the first time perhaps in more than a decade there was no wonderful junior pushing away established starter no much older than the newcomer. Trakia was stuck with the same team at last, a stagnation usually leading to downfall.
Vitosha (Levski Sofia) was back in track, but not yet in full force. Back to running for the title, but somewhat shaky – they lost twice to arch-rivals CSKA, which was pretty much the decisive difference in the race for the title: Vitosha ended with 44 points, 3 points behind CSKA.
Sitting from left: Miroslav Baychev, Antoni Zdravkov, Roussi Gotchev – captain, Krassimir Koev, Stoil Georgiev, Sasho Nachev.
Middle row: Pavel Panov – coach, Nasko Sirakov, Nikolay Iliev, Vladko Shalamanov, Christo Ayandelev – vice-chairman of the club, Andrey Asparoukhov, Petar Petrov, Kiril Vangelov, Dimitar Markov.
Third row: Georgi Iliev – doctor, Vlado Delchev, Emil Velev, Georgi Yordanov, Bozhidar Iskrenov, Borislav Mikhailov, Sofroni Sofroniev – masseur

What was wrong, for the team was seemingly mighty? 8 national team players, the top scorer of the season with fantastic 36 goals in 30 games – Nasko Sirakov, perhaps the most exciting player of the time – Bozhidar Iskrenov, the best central defender of the country – Nikolay Iliev. Not only most of the players were homegrown, but the youth system continued to produce and supply the first team with talented players. The squad was young and in the same time very experienced, the relations between players were great – they were old friends since childhood really. There was little something missing – and that most likely was the coaching stuff: Pavel Panov, a legend of the club, was not bad, but he was not Vassil Metodiev… and like Trakia, the next crop of Levski’s juniors were somewhat of lesser quality and unable to really challenge the regulars. Finally, CSKA came with its own greatly talented young generation, which if anything was fresher and hungrier.
CFCA Sredetz or CFKA Sredetz, as the club name was freshly changed to (CSKA Sofia) was also back in track: 21 wins, 5 ties, 4 losses, 73-30 goal-difference, and 47 points gave then their 24th title. Top row from left: Stoil Trankov – assistant coach, Ivaylo Kotev, Lyubomir Zhelev, Stoil Srefanov, Lyubomir Lyubenov, Iliya Dyakov, Boyan Christov, Petar Zhekov – assistant coach.
Middle row: Kiril Kachamanov, Angel Chervenkov, Aleksandar Chavdarov, Ivaylo Kirov, Dimitar Penev – coach, Yordan Filipov, Roumen Stoyanov, Valery Damyanov, Sasho Borissov.
Sitting: Yordan Dimitrov, Lachezar Tanev, Krassimir Dossev, Aleksander Aleksandrov, Christo Stoichkov, Lyuboslav Penev, Kostadin Yanchev, Georgi Velinov, Krassimir Bezinski, Emil Kostadinov.
There is some confusion about this team… First of all, there is confusion with some players on the top row – different sources give the 4th from left as K. Ilyazov, Stoil Stefanov, Krassimir Chavdarov and Aleksander Chavdarov. Similarly, the player left from Zhekov is given as Boyan Christov and Aleksandar Rakov. In the middle row the one left from Sasho Borissov is given as Valery Damyanov and Valentin Damyanov. This uncertainty relates to the laments of Dimitar Penev ever since 1990 – he constantly complains from the great suffering of CSKA crashed by the Communist Party after the Cup final in 1985. No money, no team, he barely combined a squad of juniors – so massive is the ‘red’ minds the notion of uncontrolled power that even the slight temporary reduction of it was and is seen as conspiracy to destroy them. What can you do – the club was used to get whoever player they wanted with impunity… now, only briefly, they had to operate like ordinary club. Some players run away and it was difficult to grab new ones. On the other hand, thanks to this temporary reduced power Penev was able to introduce great bunch of players whose fate under normal circumstances could have been very different, for they were juniors of the club and CSKA juniors very rarely made the first team. It was practically the first time in its history CSKA depended on its own youth system – and thus Lyuboslav Penev, Emil Kostadinov, and the rest of the unfamiliar names in the picture started their careers. Hence, the uncertainty with the names above, for only Chavdarov lasted long enough. Already in 1986 CSKA was coming to its ‘normal’: again affiliation with the Army was official – the name was changed to CFCA Sredetz, again new players were coming from other clubs and even Penev, the great discoverer of young talent, was unwilling to be patient with those who did not shine right away: this champions squad immediately get rid of some of the ‘unknowns’, eventually letting go more, meantime recruiting again heavily from other clubs. As for losing a squad, Penev is misleading: deliberately or not he never mentions the fact that the old squad was rapidly sold abroad. A scandalous bit of that was put under the carpet in real time: the great central defender and captain of both CSKA and the national team Georgi Dimitrov was sold right after the 1986 World Cup to St. Etienne in violation of the rules: he was not 28 years old yet. True, it was a matter of few months, but it was still a violation – and everybody kept silent about it. Of course, it would have been too much to stir new scandal when the Communist Party just a year ago ‘cleansed’ Bulgarian football once and for ever from all kinds of negative and scandalous practices. But it was Party functionaries bending their own rules a bit to accommodate the flow of hard currency… as for clubs and players, they stayed quiet in the hope that the stupid age rule for foreign transfers will erode – once it was infringed, then there was a liver for further infringements until the rule collapses. Penev omits the foreign transfers, but CSKA players were the hottest property for such deals and most key players of the old team were approaching the required age. Their transfers were inevitable, the only question was who will replace them and for a moment it was to be homegrown juniors. But they were talented enough to win a title and practically the great stars Kostadinov, Penev, and to a point Stoichkov were actually born in that brief time when CSKA lost its power to get strong players from elsewhere. Yet, uncertainty played a role and may be scared Penev, so some precautions were taken – the reappearance of Yordan Filipov at his great age was perhaps such precaution: his prime years were back in the time when he played along with Penev, Zhekov, and Trankov (who was largely reserve player). To get him back made sense only if taking into account near future: Velinov was most certainly to be sold abroad and Dossev was not reliable enough. If CSKA was unable to grab players from other clubs, very likely they were going to have trouble with goalkeeping – Filipov was seemingly a temporary solution to such problem (and he stayed with CSKA until 1989, when he finally retired). Lastly, too much was made of CSKA introducing its own juniors and getting the better for it: Velinov, Bezinski, Yanchev, Tanev, Borissov, Kirov, Dyakov, and Stoichkov were not home grown product – that is, the core of the team, the key players. It was just that the champion squad was somewhat short – strong group of perhaps 14 players, which was bewildering a true ‘red’ and very likely Penev himself.

Bulgaria – ranked 21st, although they had worse record than Wales: almost 1.5 points less. Everything was back to ‘normal’ – the big reforms of 1985 were reduced to nothing: the Army abandoned even the pretense in the name: the ‘demilitarized’ club Sredetz was now CFCA Sredetz – Central Football Club of the Army Sredetz. Used to CSKA Septemvriisko zname before and the club remained as such, and to it now belonged CFCA Sredetz. Vitosha belonged to the club of the Police Levski-Spartak. And the old leading clubs were again all-powerful. Meantime new ideas were introduced: 3 points for a win in Third Division, the level which was the experimental ground since 1980. In the upper 2 division, however, a win till gave 2 points. One other thing was that almost the whole team which finished 4th at the 1994 World Cup was already playing: 18 of the 22 players. And not just playing, but making significant impact, so let see their records at the end of 1986-87 season: Borislav Milhailov (Vitosha, 25-years old, 144 games, 0 goals), Nasko Sirakov (Vitosha, 25 years, 131/68), Nikolay Illiev (Vitosha, 23 years, 124/11), Trifon Ivanov (Etar, 22 years, 51/1), Petar Mikhtarksi (Pirin, 21 years, 86/40), Petar Aleksandrov (Slavia, 25 years, 125/72), Yordan Letchkov (Sliven, 20 years, 36/3), Georgi Georgiev (Trakia, 24 years, 81/16), Emil Kostadinov (CFCA Sredetz, 20 years, 41/5), Christo Stoichkov (CFCA Sredetz, 21 years, 36/5), Illian Kiriakov (Etar, 20 years, 1/0), Krassimir Balakov (Etar, 23 years), Plamen Nikolov (Lokomotiv Sofia, 26 years, 21/0), Boncho Genchev (Lokomotiv Gorna Oryakhovitza, 23 years, 0/0 First Division, 52/11 Second Division), Petar Khoubchev (Osam Lovech, 23 years, 0/0 First Division, 176/23 Second Division), Zlatko Yankov (Neftohimik Bourgas, 21 years, 0/0 First Division, 105/13 Second Division), Ivaylo Yordanov (Rilski sportist Samokov, 19 years old, but playing mostly Third Division football since 1982, when he debuted barely 15-years old). Tzanko Tzvetanov (Etar, 18 years, playing for the Youth team of Etar in the special Youth league, which involved reserve players of the top-league clubs). And let add Lyuboslav Penev who missed the 1994 World Cup for medical reasons – CFCA Sredetz, 21 years, 47/21. Not only the future world-class stars were playing, but they already had impressive league records and some played for various national teams (A team: Mikhailov, Sirakov, Illiev, Aleksandrov, Penev; the Olympic team: Georgiev, Penev, Mikhtarski, Aleksandrov; Under-21 team: Mikhtarski, Penev, Stoichkov, Balakov; Under-20 Junior team – Kiriakov). There is some mystery about Krassimir Balakov, who does not appear at all in yearly league record book, but he was playing regularly for Etar in the previous seasons – and the following too. Yet, he played for the Bulgarian Under-21 team. The great generation was already established. At the other side of age – Yordan Fillipov, former national team goalkeeper, was back from Malta and playing again for CFCA Sredetz. He was 40-years old and won his 9th Bulgarian title, plus 1 Maltese. True, he was back-up goalie now, but had no intention to retire (he eventually quit the game in 1989 and although he played very rarely in his last years still became the oldest First Division player – his all-time record has been challenged only recently). Lastly, import of players was increasing and some already managed to play for more than foreign club, even changing countries – Andrey Zheliazkov, Todor Barzov, Tchavdar Tzvetkov, etc. To a point, this helped the establishing of the younger great generation: with older stars going abroad, the youngsters were able to become regulars quicker and were not kept on the bench because ‘too young and fragile’. Talent is talent, though – Nasko Sirakov was the season’s top scorer with 36 goals, Petar Aleksandrov was right behind him with 33 goals, Lyuboslav Penev was 4th with 19, and Petar Mikhtarski – 7th with 15 goals.
The season went as follows:
Third Division – 4 groups now, 18 teams in each. Some former top-league members were playing there and they more or less went up. One thing, though: all winners went through name changes in different times, including the most recent forced changes. 3 points for win was introduced this season, which only amplified the dominance of the leading clubs – there was no battle for first place in any group. Madara (Shumen, formerly P. Volov and FC Shumen) won the East-Northern Group with 80 points. The second-best ended with 66 points. Yantra (Gabrovo, formerly Chardafon-Orlovetz) won the West-Northern Group with 75 points. The second-best had 63 points. Tundzha (Yambol, formerly N. Laskov) won the East-Southern Group with 79 points. The second-best finished with 66 points. Hebar (Pazardzhik, formerly Botev and Benkovski) won the West-Southern Group with 79 points. The second-best had 58 points. As it was, all winners were long-lasting members of Second Division and only Hebar did not play First Division football in the past – the promoted were returning to their usual habitat. Unable to climb up were few former First Division clubs – Akademik (Sofia), Belasitza (Petrich), Maritza (Plovdiv).
Second Division. 2 points for a win. One team dominated the championship, goal-difference decided the second promotion, and two long-lasting Second Division members – practically ‘staples’ of the second tier – were down on their luck and relegated. Two teams were outsiders and about 9 teams fought to escape relegation – of total 20 teams, more than half were concerned only with survival.
Svetkavitza (Targovishte), one of the ‘eternal’ Second Division members, was terribly weak this season – last with 23 points. Chirpan (Chirpan) was the other outsider – 19th with 25 points. Rilski sportist (Samokov) tried hard to survive, but lost the battle – 18th with 32 points. The future World Cup hero Ivaylo Yordanov returned to third level… Septemvriiska slava (Mikhailovgrad, today – Montana), one of the ‘eternal’ members of Second Division was unfortunate at the end – they took 17th place on worse goal-difference, having finished with 33 points like Balkan (Botevgrad). So, these were the 4 relegated teams.

Balkan (Botevgrad) was lucky to survive on better goal-difference placing them 16th. Happy ending, but football is the lesser passion in the small city of Botevgrad – over there basketball is number one sport and the difference between the football and the basketball teams of Balkan is enormous: the basketballers are leading team and often state’s champions. The footballers were quite happy to play second-division football now and then.

Rozova dolina (Kazanlik) was also happy to survive – 15th with 34 points. Hard to believe most of the squad played top-league football only recently. Hard to believe that Ivan Tanev was coaching them – but he became leading Bulgarian coach in the 1990s. Right now… he was sacked after the season ended.
Dobrudzha (Tolboukhin, today – Dobrich) was 14th with 35 points.
Rila (Stanke Dimitrov, today Dupnitza) – 13th with 35 points. Well, this was the exciting Marek, which dazzled even Europe back in the second half of the 1970s. Now – quite happy to stay in Second Division, a newcomer just promoted from Third Division. The name was changed in 1985, a result of infamous Communist party order. They were briefly Dupnitza, then renamed again to Rila. Still three players of the great 1970s team remained – Dimitar Dimitrov, Roman Karakolev, and Stoyan Stoyanov. What a fate… from playing in European tournaments and for the Bulgarian national team to third level and now only barely surviving in the Second Division.
Vihren (Sandanski) – 12th with 35 points.
Bdin (Vidin) – 11th with 36 points. Like Rila, just returning from exile in third level and quite happy to stay in the second tier.
Ludogoretz (Razgrad) – 10th with 36 points. At the time – impossible to imagine this club would be Bulgarian champion 7 years in a row. Champions? It was impossible to imagine them reaching first division – the usual fate of Ludogoretz was to fight for avoiding dropping to Third Division. No wonder why, looking at the squad – quite insignificant even for second level club. Hardly any players had top-league experience and those who played there (Nikolay Zaykov, Zhoro Machkanski) did it briefly and unsuccessfully. Like Rozova dolina and Balkan, Ludogoretz had good and well respected coach – Nikola Kovachev – but there was not much he could do with the available squad.
Osam (Lovech) – 9th with 37 points. Typical mid-table second-division club, just happy to maintain secure position. Better than Ludogoretz, but like Ludogoretz too – nobody would imagine them playing top-league football, becoming one the leading clubs, and winning trophies. Of course, success came after 1990 and under different name. Presently, they were true to their proven formula – get few aging players with good reputation and plenty of experience and mid-table spot was guaranteed.
Cherno more (Varna) – 8th with 37 points. Perhaps the most famous club playing in the Second Division and also having the strongest and most experienced squad – that going by names. Their captain, Todor Marev, had 361 first division games, for example. Perhaps that was the problem: too many experienced players, who lost ambition. Cherno more made typical mistake – instead of building new team, they kept the team which was relegated from top flight. The boys were still young (only Marev and Todor Atanassov were over 30, the rest – mostly under 25) and with so much experience… why change them? And keeeping them, Cherno more sunk to mid-table in Second Division.
Arda (Kardzali) – 7th with 38 points. Good season, but probably just one-time wonder.
Haskovo (Haskovo) – 6th with 38 points. Relegated from top flight, Haskovo needed to regroup, so they were not very competitive this season. Theirs was the top scorer of the season – Iliya Velichkov with 26 goals – but he was also a prime example of the mistakes Haskovo routinely made: recruiting aging big names from Sofia. Velichkov made his name playing for Slavia, now getting old, he was no longer needed by Slavia and journeyed in the Second Division. However, Slavia had troubles rebuilding and his great season for Haskovo made Slavia call him again – and he left Haskovo after the season. Just like other similar players did it before.
Neftohimik (Bourgas) – 5th with 40 points. With time, the second club in Bourgas became solid mid-table Second Division member. Going higher was not in the dreams – yet – but there was certain guarantee for well-being: to a point, they served as farm-club for Chernomoretz (Bourgas) – talented players went from Neftohimik to Chernomoretz and solid aging players moved the other way. For youngsters, it made sense to play well for Neftohimik so to get noticed and recruited to the top-league club. On the other hand, aging players coming from Chernomoretz were still solid and provided enough class for second-level championship.
Spartak (Plovdiv) – 4th with 45 points. All and all, very promising season. Spartak was newly restored and rapidly climbed to Second Division. It was not ready yet to return to top flight, but most of the league was left far behind – may be in a year or two they will be back in First Division.
Dunav (Rousse) tried hard, but failed to win promotion in most unlucky manner: on goal-difference. Finished 3rd with 50 points, 58-35 – that is +23. But it was more than bad luck – for years Dunav was unable to build strong team and the current squad was typical sample. Sitting from left: Petko Kirilov, Anatoly Nankov, Eshref Syuleymanov (who at the time had different name, for Turkish names were forcibly changed), Borislav Stoyanov, Christo Prisadnikov, Vasko Simeonov, Kiril Kirilov, Yani Prisadnikov.
Middle row: Lyuben Markov – coach, Valery Kulinov, Stoyan Pumpalov, Nikolay Boyanov, Dragomir Enchev, Borislav Bogomilov, Krassimir Nakov, Iliya Kirchev, Remzi Nuriev – assistant coach (also under renamed at the time).
Top row: Nikola Vetronov – medic, Sasho Todorov, Tchavdar Iliev, Valentin Inkov, Petar Voynov, Lyuben Brankov, Ivelin Penev, Diyan Angelov, Christo Christov – masseur.
Although most players had top league experience, it was accidental – Dunav was quickly relegated again with them. The squad was really of a second-division make. There were apparent problems with recruits from other clubs: the Prisadnikov twins, considered the key stars of the this vintage, and goalkeeper Brankov never made it in First Division. The twins also moved from club to club frequently , so it was an illusion to hope building a team around them (and they started the next season with another club). There was lack of character and class in this squad and mot likely financial troubles were at the center of Dunav’s inability to build decent team. Perhaps the best was that they were not promoted, for certainly there was going to be pain and suffering in the top league.
Second place was clinched by Lokomotiv (Gorna Oryahovitza), which was seen as a novelty at the time. Only two years ago they played in Third Division , but after returning to second level they were more than fine – missed promotion by little in their first year back in the league. The squad was rather ordinary for more – at the surface. But the coach – Dobromir Zhechev – was good and recruited few new players which fitted very well in the squad. Suddenly Lokomotiv was among the best teams again, although not exactly able to run for first place. At the end of this season they were 2nd thanks to better goal-difference than Dunav: +24. A matter of just one goal! After quarter of a century Lokomotiv was going to play again in First Division.
Front row from left: Boris Iliev, Levent Gavazov, Angel Minchev, Tzenko Gavazov, Lyubomir Roussev.
Middle row: Dobromir Zhechev – coach, Valery Ganev, Christo Valchev, Dimitar Pechikamakov, Boncho Genchev, Manol Manolov, Ivan Vassilev – assistant coach.
Top row: Kiril Rabchev, Valery Milkov, Teodossy Sotirov – administrator, Georgi Georgiev, Toshko Arssov, Christo Kanchev, Bogomil Bratoev – masseur.
Few players had top-level experience – the veteran Kiril Rabchev, who used to play for Botev (Vratza) and Etar (Veliko Tirnovo) before joining Lokomotiv, the right winger Boris Iliev, formerly of Lokomotiv (Sofia), and goalkeeper Toshko Arssov, who tried various clubs in the past, including CSKA, without establishing himself anywhere. The rest were generally local guys, even the newcomer Boncho Genchev. He arrived from Dobrudzha (Tolboukhin), but his roots were in Gorna Oryahovitza. No stars here – the newcomers were rather aging failures. Perhaps that was the formula of success: unassuming squad of modest players, who, under he right guidance, could be motivated to do wonders. Lokomotiv earned promotion, but it was chancy success and one thing was painfully clear: if wanting to stay in First Division they needed few additional quality players. But this was not a club particularly tempting quality players to join.
Minyor (Pernik) dominated the championship and easily won it after 26 wins, 6 ties, 6 losses, 80-36 goal-difference and 58 points. They finished 8 points ahead of Lokomotiv and Dunav. Really, they had no rival this season. Which was great, for Minyor – both the club and the fans – felt they belonged to top flight and could not accept playing in the second level. The recent years were particularly painful, for Minyor failed regularly to earn promotion and when promoted, they were just as quickly relegated. But this time the prospects were more optimistic – the squad was seemingly different. Third row from left: Chr. Trifonov – masseur, Em. Boyanov, V. Zakhariev, R. Krastev, Ant. Genadiev, Em. Serafimov, Tz. Ignatov – doctor.
Middle row: P. Stefanov – assistant coach, St. Vladimirov, Al.Elenkov, R. Tanev – vice-chairman of the club, P. Bozhichkov – chairman of the club, V. Mitov, Gr. Grigorov, Evl. Banchev – coach.
Sitting: M. Valkov, I. Slavchev, V. Lazarov, Sl. Pavlov, R. Andonov, St. Petrov, V. Stoyanov, B. Savov.
Perhaps the biggest problem of Minyor was geographical: Pernik is too close to Sofia and the short distance resulted in constants movement of players – the big clubs from the capital quickly snatched whatever talent emerged in Pernik. Trying to fill the gaps, Minyor looked after discarded players by Sofia’s clubs. And usually got them, for they were more willing to play in Pernik – still living in Sofia – than going to some faraway town. It was easy solution, but also solution leading to chronic problems: Minyor was short-changed in the bargain, for in the place of talented guys they were getting demotivated players. Even this winning squad testifies to that: Mario Valkov, Grigor Grigorov, and Emil Serafimov were grabbed by CSKA, Levski, and Slavia at the moment they showed talent. Later, when no longer needed in Sofia, they returned home – not only older, but quite wasted. Aleksander Elenkov represented the other direction: he started with his home club Lokomotiv (Sofia), failed to impress, was released and moved to nearby Pernik. However, the number of such players was small, compared to previous years. And the players were younger – finally Minyor managed to avoid keeping a bunch of veterans. And the coaching stuff was young and local – the legend Evlogy Banchev finally retired and was appointed head coach, assisted by his former teammate Stefanov. Minyor at last had distinct local flavour – coaches and most of the squad were local. Yet, it was still unfinished team, still in early stage of development and that was the weakness: most of the guys were not terribly impressive and that included the well-known names. Grigor Grigorov was no national team material for quite some time and he was unable to really establish himself in Levski. He was only older, but not better. Mario Valkov was hailed as fantastic promise at 16, when he debuted – and CSKA was quick to swallow him. There he burnt out quickly… now 26 years old, he was not a star, but rather a disappointment. And the same was the case of Emil Serafimov – Slavia got rid of him very quickly as a failure. He was 24 now… and no more promising player. Hardly the players to inspire and lead a team to glory. Elenkov, who was 27 already, was even worse – he was mostly a reserve. And the danger of big clubs watching what was going on was ever present – there were two bright youngsters in the team, Ivo Slavchev and Slavcho Pavlov. Well, eventually, they moved to Sofia… such was the predicament of Minyor, but at the moment Banchev managed to motivate the squad and there were no payers the big clubs needed, so there was a chance of developing and may be shaping a decent team. A core of players was at hand and with few well-chosen additions… it all depended on the summer transfers and keeping the current policy for using local talent and looking for recruits in the lower leagues instead of Sofia.
Well, Minyor (Pernik) and Lokomotiv (Gorna Oryahovitza) got promoted and let them enjoy their success, for the next season will be quite taxing for both clubs.

Wales – ranked 22nd. Actually, Wales had more points than Bulgaria, but Wales participated only in the Cup Winners Cup and thus placed bellow Bulgaria, for the position was decisive one concerning number of teams a country could play in the UEFA Cup: 2 or 1. A bit weird, for Welsh position did not change anything.
Newport County (England) and Merthyr Tydfil met at the Cup Final. The match ended 2-2 and in the replay the Welsh team prevailed 1-0.
The winning goal.

Proud captain of the winners with the Cup.
Well deserved champagne in the dressing room.
Newport County lost a rare chance to win a trophy.

Merthyr Tydfil – practically unheard of team – at their most glorious moment: Cup winners and going to play European football too. They had won the Welsh Cup twice before, but the last time was in 1951. At last they added one more Cup. Wonderful!