First Division. A 20-team league evidently was overstretching – 2 teams were way to strong for the rest and half the league was practically fighting for survival. So, the Federation decided to decrease it from 20 to 18 teams next season. Thus, 5 teams were relegated. Benfica dominated the season, one team was hopeless outsider, another 9 were involved in the battle for avoiding relegation. It was also the time when Bulgarian players were the choice of import of Portuguese clubs (apart from Brazilians, Angolans and Mozambiqueans, who were almost domestic players) – next season will be 20 Bulgarians playing for Portuguese clubs.
Academico Viseu was too weak – last with 19 points and out.
Leixoes – 19the with 28 points and relegated.
Farense – 18th with 31 points and relegated. Former Bulgarian international Tzvetan Danov went down along with his teammates.
Espinho – 17th with 32 points and relegated.
Fafe – 16th with 32 points and relegated as well.
Beira Mar survived – 15th with 33 points.
Penafiel – 14th with 33 points.
Chaves – 13th with 34 points. More Bulgarians here – Radoslav Zdravkov and the winner of the Golden shoe Georgi Slavkov. Both aged…
Maritimo – 12th with 35 points.
Portimonense – 11th with 35 points. The import of arguably the most exciting Bulgarian player of the earlier 1980s, Plamen Guetov, did not help much.
Nacional – 10th with 36 points. With them ends the large group battling only for survival this season.
Vitoria Guimaraes – 9th with 38 points.
Estrella Amadora – 8th with 39 points.
Belenenses – 7th with 40 points.
Sporting Braga – 6th with 40 points.
Vitoria Setubal – 5th with 42 points.
Sporting Lisbon – 4th with 45 points. Having three very well known stars – Oceano, the Uruguayan goalkeeper Rodolfo Rodrgues, and Brazil’s Silas – was not enough for more.
Boavista – 3rd with 49 points. Very satisfying season, but distant third…
FC Porto, talented as it was, left the rest of the league far behind, yet, in the same time they were unable to challenge Benfica. 2nd with 56 points.
Benfica reigned supreme: 27 wins, 9 ties, only 2 lost games, 60-15 goal-difference, 63 points. They left FC Porto 7 points behind and celebrated their 28th title. It was formidable squad,coached by former star Toni, now 43 years old and much talked about coach around Europe. Two players, who played with him and also with Eusebio, were the link between the good team in the first half of the 1970s and the great one of the 1960s: the goalkeeper Bento (now 41 years old) and midfielder Sheu (36). Two othwer players related this squad with the previous vintage, when the decline started in the 1970s was halted in the early 1980s: Diamantino (30) and Chalana (30). The rest of the team was quite strong as well: four more goalkeepers – current regular Silvinho (30), Bizarro (29), Brassard (Mozambique, 17) and Dias Graca (Brazil, 25). Defenders: Abel Silva (20), Alvaro (28), Antonio Veloso (32), Fonseca (24), Jose Garrido (29), Mozer (Brazil, 29), Ricardo Gomes (Brazil, 25), and Samuel (23).
Midfield: along with Sheu, Chalana, and Diamantino, Benfica had Ademir Alcantara (Brazil, 23), Elzo (Brazil, 28), Hernani (26), Mariano (21), Miranda (26), Pacheco (23), Valdo (Brazil, 25), and Vitor Paneira (23).
And in attack: Abel Campos (Angola, 27), Lima (Brazil, 27), Mats Magnusson (Sweden, 26), Ricky Owubokiri (Nigeria, 28), and Vata (Angola, 28).
Certainly a squad capable of serious football and success – after all, they played at the European Champions Cup final in 1988 and lost it only in the penalty shoot-out.