Football Journey

Belgium – ranked 5th by UEFA. Familiar champion and perhaps more intrigue at the bottom of the top leagues than anything else.
Second Division. Two teams promoted, as usual, but only the winner directly promoted. The second promotion was decided in a tournament between the teams ending at 2nd – 5th place. At the lower end of the league a bit of a surprise: a team not long ago playing in the European tournaments was now in the relegation zone.
K. Berchem Sport – used to play top league football, but now down on luck: last with 18 points.
RFC Seresien – or FC Seraing – 15th with 21 points. Not long ago playing in Europe, now going down to third level… such is life, ups and downs.
KSK Tongeren – 14th with 23 points.
K. Stade Leuven – 13th with 23 points.
Racing Jet Wavre – 12th with 24 points.
S.K. St-Niklaas – or K. St.-Niklase SK Excelsior – 11th with 25 points.
KSK Eendracht Aalst – 10th with 26 points.
Patro Eisden – 9th with 30 points.
FC Verbroedering Geel – 8th with 30 points.
K. Th. Diest – 7th with 32 points.
FC Eeklo – 6th with 33 points.

KFC Lommel – or FC Lommelse SK – 5th with 35 points and qualified to promotion play-offs.

KRC Genk – or K. Racing Club Genk – 4th with 36 points and qualified to promotion play-offs.

FC Zwarte Leeuw – 3rd with 36 points and qualified to promotion play-offs.
K. Boom FC – 2nd with 42 points and qualified to promotion play-offs.
RWD Molenbeek – they won the championship with 46 points: 18 wins, 10 ties, only 2 lost games, 56-17, and 46 points. Going back to the top division, where they played and often successfully for so long was great.
The Promotion play-offs – a round robin tournament in which every team played twice against the others.
K. Boom FC – last with 5 points.
FC Lommelse SK – 3rd with 5 points.
FC Zwarte Leeuw – 2nd with 6 points.
KRC Genk did very well when mattered most: 4 wins and 2 losses propelled them back to First Division. They did not play all that great during the regular season, but when it came to promotion, it was another story. Back to top flight.
KRC Genk was promoted, but as second team – the champions, earning direct promotion deserve one more look. The star from the 1970s Hugo Broos was coaching a good for Second Division squad – no really famous players here, but goalkeeper Joszef Gaspar was a Hungarian national team player, Dirk De Vriese used to play for Anderlecht, Michael Emenalo was Nigerian national player, and the import from Zaire Kolokota Kobla was good enough.

The Cup final opposed the arch-rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona. Real seemingly had the edge, given their dominant season, but predictions about such a derby are just for laughs: no matter what, the arch-enemies clash heavily, so much pride and hatred is involved, that the outcome could destroy any ‘obvious’ expectations. Barcelona was not in great shape yet, but it had Johann Cruijff as a coach, who was determined to to build great team – still not ready, but taking shape. And his team won 2-0 – the great scorers Real had were left with plain 0 goals! Barcelona triumphed.
Real Madrid was prevented from winning a double this season. Standing from left: Miguel Porlán »Chendo«, Francisco Buyo, José Miguel González »Michel«, Bernd Schuster, Óscar Ruggeri, Fernando Hierro; Front: Rafael Gordillo, Emilio Butragueño, Hugo Sánchez, Manuel Sanchís, Rafael Martín Vázquez.
Some irony or misfortune for Bernd Schuster: many a time Real prevented him with lifting a trophy when he played for Barcelona, now Barcelona prevented him from the winning the Cup with Real.
Barcelona won its 22nd Cup and it was a sweet victory over the most hated enemy. The season finished with a trophy in their hands, which was fine, but the most important thing was that Cruijff showed he was leading the team in the right way: he came back to win and he delivered, thus securing his position and getting time to work out his ideas and to build the squad he wanted. The victory gave him comfort with the fans – their old beloved hero remained a hero, they could trust him, and with the president Nunez too, for patience is always short in clubs like Barcelona – they demand immediate success. For real success Cruijff needed still some time and some new players. To a point, winning the Cup gave him the opportunity to make the team he wanted and thus Barcelona to achieve great and lasting real success, to climb above Real Madrid.

First Division – Primera Division. 20 teams in the league, the last 2 directly relegated, the 16th & 17th going to promotion/relegation play-offs against the 3rd &4th in Segunda Division. The season was entirely dominated by Real Madrid.
Rayo Vallecano (Madrid) quite predictably finished last with 19 points and was relegated.
Celta (Vigo) was also relegated – 19th with 22 points.
Tenerife finished 18th with 26 points and went to promotion/relegation play-offs. Luckily, they prevailed over Deprotivo (La Coruna) after 0-0 at home and 1-0 crucial away victory and kept their place in the top league.
CD Malaga was 17th with 28 points and going to promotion/relegation play-offs. No luck there – they met the 5th in Segunda Division, Espanol (Barcelona), and lost dramatically the shoot-out 5-6, after the games ended 0-1 and 1-0. Malaga was relegated.
Real Valladolid survived – 16th with 30 points.
Cadiz – 15th with 30 points.
Castellon – 14th with 32 points. Top row from left: Alejandro, Manchado, Romo, Bonhoff, Martínez Puig, Alfredo, Emilio, José, Fernández. Middle row: Antonio, Ugbade, Víctor, Luiche, Domingo Tárrega, Heredia, Octavio, Moisés, Ibeas, Felices. Front row: Pelletti, Raúl, Cabrera, Escobar, Javi, Ximet, Ayúcar, Trigos, Alcañiz.
Sporting (Gijon) – 13th with 34 points.
Weak season for Athletic (Bilbao) – 12th with 37 points.

Real Oviedo – 11th with 39 points.
Mallorca – 10th with 39 points.
Real Zaragoza – 9th with 40 points. Chilavert was with the club as well, but the Paraguayan goalkeeper was neither the famous star yet, nor he impressed – Cedrun was the principle first choice. There was another misfortune – the newly bought Bulgarian star striker and great scorer Nasko Sirakov got an injury so heavy, he practically did not play for the club, leading to something like demanding compensation from his former club and getting another player, who also failed to satisfy.
Osasuna (Pamplona) – 8th with 40 points.
Logrones – 7th with 41 points.

Sevilla – 6th with 43 points and homesick Rinat Dassaev, unable to get in terms with professional life in the West.
Real Sociedad – 5th with 44 points.
Atletico (Madrid) – 4th with 50 points.
Barcelona – 3rd with 51 points.

Valencia – looked like comeback: 2nd with 53 points. Strong, but not strong enough to challenge the dominant leader. In passing, the club benefited by the changes in Eastern Europe – they acquired the young Bulgarian scorer Lyuboslav Penev, something impossible only a year ago, because of age restrictions in his home country. Eastern European was hot market and came in flocks to Western clubs, but sometimes the relatively cheap to buy players were not a great enforcement: Penev’s countryman Nasko Sirakov suffered heavy injury and Real Zaragoza was practically unable to use him, Rinat Dassaev had great difficulties adjusting to new life and was not great in Sevilla – Valencia, however, was lucky with Penev.
Real Madrid had no rival this season – they finished 9 points ahead of Valencia. They scored over 100 goals, the team was flying under the guidance of John Toshack. 26 wins, 10 ties, only 2 lost games, 107-38, and 62 points. A nice 25th title. There was no problem with Bernd Schuster, who was Barcelona’s star for years before joining Real. Hugo Sanchez was at his best, a genuine scoring machine, complimented by Butragueno. World Cup champion with Argentina Ruggeri was not disappointment either, commanding strong defensive line with rapidly ascending to stardom Fernando Hierro. Talented Martin Vazquez played along with Schuster in midfield – the squad was well balanced, well coached, ambitious, playing entertaining attacking football and scoring tons of goals, thus delighting the demanding fans. Perhaps goalkeeping was not equal to the rest of team, but it was no major problem – Real not only had very strong defensive line, but lethal strikers always capable to outscore any opposition, at least in Spain. Dominant season, one more title, high expectations for the future… the usual kings of Spain.

Second Division – Segunda Division. Last 4 teams – relegated, the top 2 – directly promoted, and the next 2 teams (if legible for promotion) going to promotion/relegation play-off against the 16^th and the 17^th in the First Division. 20 teams played in the league.

Atletico Madrileno – Atletico Madird B – last with 19 points and relegated.

Recreativo (Huelva) – 19^th with 29 points and relegated.

Castilla CF – Real Madrid B – 18^th with 31 points and relegated.

Racing (Santander) – 17^th with 33 points and relegated.

SD Eibar – 16^th with 34 points.

Levante UD – 15^th with 36 points.

Elche CF – 14^th with 36 points.

UD Salamanca – 13^th with 36 points.

UE Figueras – 12^th with 36 points.

Sestao – 11^th with 36 points.

Xerez CD – 10^th with 38 points.

Real Murcia – 9^th with 38 points.

Palamos CF – 8^th with 40 points.

CE Sabadell FC – 7^th with 40 points.

UD Las Palmas – 6^th with 40 points.

RCD Espanol (Barcelona) – 5^th with 42 points. Qualified to promotion/relegation playoffs, thanks to ineligibility of Athletic Bilbao’s B team for promotion. There they faced Malaga, won the first leg at home 1-0, lost the second away 0-1, but managed to prevail in the penalty shoot-out 6-5 and thus return to top flight.

Deportivo (La Coruna) – 4^th with 44 points and qualified to promotion/relegation play-offs. No luck there – Deportivo managed highly optimistic 0-0 draw away in the first leg, but lost at home 0-1 to Tenerife and had to stay in Second Division.

Bilbao Athletic – Athletic Bilbao B – ended 3^rd with 45 points, but as a second team of First Division club they were ineligible for promotion, which benefited greatly Espanol.

Real Betis finished 2^nd with 47 points. They missed first place by little, but it was not very important – Real Betis was promoted and that mattered most: return to First Division was the achieved aim.

Real Burgos won the championship with 50 points from 18 wins, 14 ties, 6 losses and 53-24 scoring record. Not really dominating the league, but still the best teams.

One more photo of the Second Division champions, happy to return to First Division.

So, the newly promoted were old top-league members all: Real Burgos, Real Betis, and Espanol.

Third Division – Segunda Division B – Groups 3 & 4.

Group 3.

At the bottom, Salud – 20^th with 11 points, Maspalomas – 19^th with 23 points,

CD Utrera – 18^th with 30 points, Marbella – 17^th with 31 points, and

Real Jaen – 16^th with 31 points were relegated. This was the zone with most relegated teams, there was one more: Linares, which finished 7^th with 44 points, but due to financial troubles was relegated as well.

CD Estepona survived – 15^th with 31 points – thanks to better head-to-head record against the other 2 teams with 31 points.

Up the table:

Real Balompedica Linense – 14^th with 32 points.

Cordoba – 12^th with 38 points.

Tomelloso – 11^th with 38 points.

Atletico Sanluqueno – 9^th with 38 points.

Merida – 8^th with 40 points.

Granada took 5^th place with 46 points.

There was no fight at the top: Sevilla Atletico – Sevilla B tean – ended 3^rd with 49 points. Melilla – 2^nd with 55 points.

And Albacete was comfortable champion and promoted with 60 points from 27 wins, 6 ties, 5 losses, 88-29.

Group 4.

Atletico Baleares was last with 19points.

CD Ibiza – 19^th with 29 points.

Villareal – 18^th with 30 points and Gimnastic – 17^th with 31 points completed the group of relegated bottom teams.

Up the table:

Torrevieja – 15^th with 35 points.

Girona FC – 12^th with 37 points.

Cartagena FC – 11^th with 37 points.

UD Alzira – 7^th with 41 points.

Gandia came close to winning the season, but ended 3^rd with 49 points. Above them 2 teams finished with 51 points each and head-to-head goal-difference decided the final positions:

Barcelona Athletic – Barcelona B team – took 2^nd place and missed promotion.

Orihuela Deportiva prevailed over Barcelona Athletic by single goal: they lost one match 1-2, but one the second 2-0 and that gave them the final victory. Apart from that, they accumulated during the season 21 wins, 9 ties, and lost 8 games. Goal-difference: 55-32 and 51 points. Their rivals won one more match, but also lost one more game. However, Barcelona Athletic had much better goal-difference than Orihuela – 68-36. Perhaps for Barcelona was not a bid deal that their B team missed promotion to Second Division, but for Orihuela is was: winning even a Third Division championship was important moment, promotion to Second Division – nearly fantastic achievement.

Spain – ranking 4^th at the moment. Third level – Segunda Division B: 80 teams played in it, divided into 4 groups. 23 teams were newcomers: 4 relegated from Segunda Division and 19 promoted from Forth Level, Tercera Division. Group winners were promoted to Segunda Division and the bottom 4 teams were relegated (except in Group 3, where 6 teams went down – the last 5 plus Linares, relegated due to financial problems).

Group 1:

Arosa was last with 20 points, Lalin – 19^th with 31 points, Moscardo – 18^th with 32 points, and

Racing – 17^th with 32 points were relegated.

Up the table:

CD Endesa As Pontes – 14^th with 34 points.

Pontevedra – 10^th with 36 points.

Toledo – 9^th with 37 points.

Juventud Cambados – 4^th with 45 points.

Third was Leganes with 48 points, 2^nd – Getafe with 51 points, and

Real Aviles Industrial was champion with 55 points: 21 wins, 13 ties, 4 losses, 46-24. They were promoted to Second Division.

Group 2:

U.D. Barbastro – last with 22 points. Calahorra was 19^th with 25 points, Fraga – 18^th with 30 points, and Laredo – 18^th with 33 points. These were the relegated.

Up the table:

Basconia – 15^th with 33 points.

Mirandes – 14^th with 35 points.

Numancia – 13^th with 35 points.

Barakaldo – 10^th with 35 points.

Deportivo Aragon – the B team of Real Zaragoza – 8^th with 43 points.

Mollerussa finished 3^rd with 49 points, Osasuna Promesas – the B team of Osasuna (Pamplona) – ended 2^nd with 50 points, and

U. E. Lleida won the group with 55 points: 23 wins, 9 ties, 6 losses, 86-31. They were promoted to Second Division.

The German Cup final opposed Werder to Kaiserslautern. Given their performance in the league, coaches and players, Werder had more than an edge. But on the field names and previous performances meant nothing and the underdog prevailed 3-2.
Werder (Bremen) lost the final and if somebody had to be blamed, then Rehhagel, Bode, Eilts, Wolter, Borowka, Bratseth, Freund, Votava, Burgsmuller, Riedle, Reck, had to blame only themselves.
1. FC Kaiserslautern – Cup winners for the first time! Standing from left: Karlheinz Feldkamp – coach, Marcus Schupp, Roger Lutz, Bruno Labbadia, Frank Lelle, Franco Foda, Grzegorz Wiezik, Kay Friedmann, Reinhard Stumpf. Crouching: Herbert Hoos, Axel Roos, Uwe Scherr, Michael Serr, Stefan Kuntz, Gerald Ehrmann, Demir Hotic, Thomas Dooley.
A rather modest squad… even the imports hardly rung any bell: Demir Hotic was not called to play for Yugoslavia for quite some time, Thomas Dooley was… American and Americans were hardly known, even their best. A triumph of the underdog for sure and that is always pleasing, although nobody expects future success of an underdog. But for 1. FC Kaiserslautern it was different – it was historic success: not only their first Cup, but first trophy since very distant 1953, when they won the West German title. And this seemingly accidental success was just a foundation on which to build – the right coach was already there, some good players, even if not first-rate stars, and with some right additions… but that was for the future.

First Division – Bundesliga. Compared to Italy and Spain, the German clubs imported foreign players of lower rank and at the moment, largely East Europeans and practically no South Americans. Clubs went up and down, Bayern stayed constantly on top. In a nutshell, that was all.
FC 08 Homburg – last with 24 points and relegated.
Waldhof (Mannheim) – 17th with 26 points and relegated.
VfL Bochum – 16th with 29 points and going to promotion/relegation play-off. Masters of survival, Bochum – they extracted 1-0 victory away against the 3rd in the Second Division, 1. FC Saarbrucken, and then kept 1-1 draw at home. Enough to stay in the Bundesliga.
Borussia (Moenchengladbach) barely survived – 15th with 30 points.
Bayer 05 (Uerdingen) – 14th with 30 points. Ahead of Borussia (M) on better goal-difference.
FC St. Pauli (Hamburg) – 13th with 31 points.
1. FC Kaiserslautern – 12th with 31 points. Nothing much in the league, but this happened to be the most successful season for the club since 1953.
Hamburger SV – 11th with 31 points.
Karlsruher SC – 10th with 32 points.
Fortuna (Dusseldorf) – 9th with 32 points.
1. FC Nurnberg – 8th with 33 points.
SV Werder (Bremen) – 7th with 34 points.

VfB Stuttgart – 6th with 36 points.
Bayer 04 (Leverkusen) – 5th with 39 points.
Borussia (Dortmund) – 4th with 41 points.
Eintracht (Frankfurt) – 3rd with 41 points. Ahead of Borussia (D) on better goal-difference.

1. FC Koln – 2nd with 43 points. Strong season, but not strong enough to challenge sufficiently Bayern.
And one more triumphal season for Bayern – sole leaders, no matter what. 19 wins, 11 ties, only 4 lost games, 64-28, and 49 points. Way above the rest, excellent coaching by once-upon-a-time rival Jupp Heynckes and – routinely – the strongest squad in the league, with one weak position – the goalkeeper. That is, comparatively weak post, but this situation would be remedied soon. Perhaps this squad was not great when compared to some earlier vintages, but currently the other German teams were not so great either and Bayern was head and shoulders above them and only the present really counts.
And in the present Bayern won its 12th title and proudly photographed the squad in retro-kit, no doubt a bit of fancy advertisement of their current sponsor, which did not pay the club just to win trophies, but also to promote and sell cars.

Of course, the cars were not the 1899 model, but the modest current Kadett, which probably no Bayern player owned. So… perhaps Opel was the real champion of West Germany this season.

Second Division – 2. Bundesliga. 20 teams, the last 4 relegated to the regional leagues, the top 2 promoted to the Bundesliga and the 3rd going to promotion/relegation play-off against the 16th in the top league.
SpVgg Unterhaching ended last with 29 points and relegated.
Alemannia (Aachen) – 19th with 30 points and relegated.
SpVgg Bayreuth – 18th with 31 points and relegated.
Hessen (Kassel) – 17th with 33 points, but worse goal-difference than SV Darmstadt 98 and VfL Osnabruck relegated them.
SV Darmstadt 98 – lucky, thanks to better goal-difference: 16th with 33 points.
VfL Osnabruck – 15th with 33 points, having best goal-difference among the 3 teams with same points.
Fortuna (Koln) – 14th with 34 points. Having perhaps the most famous player in the Second Division – Tony Woodcock, who at his prime played for 1.FC Koln and England. Now… fighting to escape relegation.
SC Freiburg – 13th with 34 points.
SC Preussen (Munster) – 12th with 36 points.
SV Meppen – 11th with 36 points.
MSV Duisburg – 10th with 37 points. Top row from left: Woelk, Vtic, J. Kessen, Decker, Thiele, Kober, Lienen, Azzouzi, Janssen
Middle row: Co-Trainer Merheim, Telljohann, Notthoff, Tönnies, Puszamszies, Struckmann, Steininger, Callea, Semlits, Trainer Kremer
Front row: Zeugwart Ricken, Voßnacke, Kellermann, Macherey, Rusche, Mariotti, Zils, Schmidt, Masseur Hinkelmann
Blau-Weiss 90 (starting as a team from West Berlin, ending the season as a team from one unified Berlin) – 9th with 37 points.
Hannover 96 – of Hannoverscher SV 96 – 8th with 38 points. The well-known Yugoslav coach Cendic, however, is a wrong face here: his work with Hannover was very brief – only in the summer and the very start of the championship.
Eintracht (Braunschweig) – 7th with 39 points.
Rot-Weiss (Essen) – 6th with 42 points.
FC Schalke 04 – 5th with 43 points.
Stuttgarter Kickers – 4th with 45 points.
1. FC Saarbrucken – 3rd with 46 points. Went to the promotion/relegation play-off and lost to VfL Bochum 0-1 and 1-1. Thus, they stayed in Second Division.
SG Wattenscheid 09 – 2nd with 51 points and promoted to the Bundesliga.
Hertha BSC (By mid-season the Berlin wall was down and they were no longer representing West Berlin, but the whole city – just Berlin) – champions this season with 53 points. 22 wins, 9 ties, 7 losses and 65-39 goal-difference. Not overwhelming champions, but the prime goal was achieved: return to the Bundesliga. That perhaps counted more than Second Division title, but it did not hurt at all to be champions.

West Germany. When the season started there were still two states, BRD and DDR, then in mid-season unification happened and at the end of the season Germany was one – but not in football yet, so the old championships remained, there was still DDR national team playing and the next season was still going to be separate somewhat. Players, however, moved freely from East German to West German clubs, not in flocks, but whoever was highly talented moved West. So, the West German system remained intact at the end of this season, including league movements for the next season.
A glimpse at the West German lower levels, the regional ones – only a pictorial fragment. Little known clubs, most of them, but also some recognizable names.
SpVgg 07 Ludwigsburg
FV Offenburg
VfB Bad Rappena
Blumenthaler
FSV Frankfurt
SV Sandhausen
Wormatia (Worms). Top row from left: Masseur Panosiadis Choudalakes, Markus Braden, Manuel Padilla, Milos Ljusic, Heinz-Jürgen Schlösser, Stefan Steinmetz, Jürgen Klotz.
Middle row: Liga-Obmann Jürgen Krafczyck, Zeugwart Günter Reinhardt, Rainer Heilmann, Bernd Eck, Günter Braun, Jürgen Goschler, Co-Trainer Peter Klag, Trainer Dr. Stefan Lottermann, Geschäftsführender Vorsitzender Manfred Brassen.
Sitting: Slavko Klappan, Stefan Glaser, Frank Schuster, Armin Reichel, Günter Knecht, Marc Bals, Frank Spölgen, Marc Schall, Präsident Helmut Rödler.
Kickers (Offenbach)
TSV 1860 (Munich). Top row from left: Ralph Müller-Gesser, Markus Wolf, Martin Spanring, Jürgen Wolke, Norbert Rolshausen, Horst Schmidbauer, Reiner Maurer.
Middle row: Trainer Willi Bierofka, Co-Trainer Zittl, Roland Kneißl, Stephan Beckenbauer, Bernhard Meisl, Walter Hainer, Srdjan Colakovic, Masseure Hodrius und Lebmeier.
Front: Stephan Windsperger, Reinhold Breu, Andreas Wächter, Markus Lach, Bobby Dekeyser, Andreas Geyer, Albert Gröber, Armin Störzenhofecker.
Of course, the regional champions are important here – 9 of them, 5 in the North and 4 in the South, which played final promotion tournaments and the top 2 in them got promoted to the Second Division.
The Northern champions were:
Oberliga Nordrhein: Wupertaller SV; Oberliga Westfalen: Arminia (Bielefeld); Oberliga Berlin: Reinickerndirfer Füchse; Oberliga Nord (1st): VfB Oldenburg; Oberliga Nord (2nd): TSV Havelse.
The Southern champions:
Oberliga Bayern: 1.FC Schweinfurt 05; Oberliga Hessen:
Rot-Weiss (Frankfurt),
Oberliga Baden-Wurttemberg: SSV Reutlingen; Oberliga Sudwest: FSV Mainz 05.
In the South promotion earned:
FSV Mainz 05 and
1. FC Schweinfurt 05.
In the North, Arminia (Bielefeld) failed to win promotion. The promoted teams were:
TSC Havelse and
VfB Oldenburg.
Good luck to the newly promoted in the Second Division next season.