Scottish football was on the slippery slope of long lasting decline, but the Portuguese game was going the opposite direction. So far, the 1970s were terrible disappointment, but new generation was finally coming in. Slowly, without real bang, but coming. There were no memorable moments yet – it was just change of guard. Early stage and because of that – nothing interesting. Just a championship like in the most recent years. The second division was perhaps stubbornly the same as before. 48 clubs, modest and barely known abroad, divided into three groups. None was especially competitive – in all three it was a race between two clubs, the rest far behind.
Espinho won Zona Norte, followed by Rio Ave.
In Zona Centro Uniao Leiria finished first.
Standing, from left: Félix Mourinho (coach) Ferro, Tomé, Figueiredo, Espírito Santo, Vitor Amaral, Orlando, João Maria Ferreira (masseur);
Crouching: José Luís, Álvaro, Dinis, Paixão, Delfim, Nando Machado.
Second, by a point, ended Uniao Lamas
Third row: Cardoso, Jorge Leal, Quim Belinha, Pinto da Rocha, Edmundo, Vivas, Redol
Middle row: Xico Batista (coach), Chico, Ricardo, Baba, Eurico, Cadete, Armando, Angelo, Coimbra
Sitting: Aires, Simplicio, Delfim, Léo, Romão, Rui Manuel, Jorginho
Of the three second placed clubs Uniao Lamas came closest to winning.
Juventude Evora finished second in Zona Sul.
Standing, from left: Lapa, Ricardo, Artur, Fernando Sousa, Ferro, Modas.
Front row: José Luis, Edmilson, Lelo, Arnaldo José, Jeronimo.
Second row, from left: Diamantino,Jorge,Nelson,Paulo César,Manuel Fernandes,César,Almir,Hélder,José Manuel Proença.
First row: Fernando,João Cardoso,Sota,Galvanito,Paulo Campos,Edinho,Tião.
Portimonense finished first in the zone. Champions, with cup and sashes, as it should be. Not much smiling, though… And the reason perhaps was that winning the championship did not mean anything yet – promotion was not automatic. There was second stage – the top two clubs of the zones were further divided into two mini-leagues, playing twice against each other. The winners were promoted to the highest division. It was at least fair, because the best second division clubs competed – since only two clubs were clearly best in every zone, there was no sense any team was left out. The final stage produced a bit of surprise.
Portimonense, Espinho, and Uniao Leiria were in the one mini-league. The club from Porto won 3 matches and lost one. Espinho won 2 and lost 2, and Uniao Leiria, the champions of Zona Centro, won a single match, losing the rest. They were last, allowing 10 goals in their net as well. Espinho was second, but with 12:4 goal record. Portimonense finished with negative record by contrast: 5:6. Champions with negative goal-difference. Strange anomaly, worth mentioning, but they had the most points.
Portimonense won promotion and returned to top flight. If anything, they had a star – or at least a player, who was considered a star a few years back – Diamantino, the blond at the end of the first row. May be enough for winning in second division.
The other mini-league was tougher. Juventude Evora ended last with 3 points. Uniao Lamas was second with 4 and 5:2 goal-difference. The winners finished with 5 points and… negative goal-difference – 3:4. Both promoted clubs won with negative goal-difference, truly amazing and probably unique record! But if Portimonense won their zone championship, the other promoted team did not – they ended second in heir zone. Here one could question the wisdom and fairness of the format: in the first group the champions of the zones played for one promotional spot. The teams not winning the zonal championship also had one promotional spot… what was the point of winning the whole season then? But whatever the format was, winners are worthy – in this case, Rio Ave.
Second row, from left: Andersson, Rodrigues Dias, Reis, Carlitos, Serrão, Moreira, Fernando Ferreira, Maravalhas.
First row: Varela, Paquito, Tininho, Álvaro, Quim, Duarte, Ladinho, Rocha.
Nothing to brag about, except that Rio Ave had two imported players – a rarity in Portuguese second division football at that time. Ladinho, unknown Brazlilian striker, and Eric Stefan Andersson of Sweden. He played in Swedish 3rd division for Stenungsunds before joining Maritimo Funchal in 1977. Rio Ave was his second Portuguese club, but he did not play at all in his first season with them – and moved to Estoril in the summer (Andersson never stayed longer than a year with any of the 5 Portuguese clubs he played for). It was yet to be seen whether Diamantino and Ladinho would be able to keep their clubs among the best, but so far – happy end.