Portugal. Along with Romania, the other country with rapidly ascending football. Talented generation was complimented by good coaches, foreign and domestic, old and young: Pal Csernai (Benfica), Raymond Goethals (Vitoria Guimaraes), John Toshack (Sporting Libon), Artur Jorge (FC Porto), James Melia (Boavista).
Second Division – divided into 3 groups of 16 teams each, the winners directly promoted. The 2nd – placed and the 13th in the First Division played in promotion/relegation tournament. Competitive championships in 2 of the groups – Zona Norte and Zona Centro – and only Zona Sul had dominant leader.
Zona Norte. Quite a few former first division members, but not all of them competed for promotion.
Fafe – 8th with 30 points.
Four teams battled for the top position – Leixoes, Pacos de Ferreira, Chaves, and Aves. 3 points was the difference between the champion and the 4th at the end. Chaves clinched 2nd position with 40 points and better goal-difference than Pacos de Ferreira.
Aves won the championship with 41 points (17 wins, 7 ties, 6 losses, 51-30) and was promoted to the top league.
Zona Centro. Similar to Zona Norte – 4 teams competing for promotion.
Little known Elvas had wonderful season – 3rd with 40 points. Couldn’t get a chance for promotion, but still it was memorable performance.
Uniao Leiria took 2nd place with 41 points, thus keeping hope for climbing higher.
Covilha won the championship with 43 points (17 wins, 9 ties, 4 losses, 44-13) and promotion.
Zona Sul. No drama here – one team dominated the championship and right behind it – another one, which could not challenge the leader, but was still high above the rest of the league.
Torralta was 9th with 30 points.
Estrella Amadora topped the bulk of the league – 3rd with 36 points – but couldn’t even dream of promotion.
Uniao Madeira was too strong to let anybody challenge their position, but winning the championship was not up to them – 2nd with 42 points.
Maritimo reigned supreme, easily winning the league – 23 wins, 5 ties, 2 losses, 64-15, and 51 points. Excellent season.
The promotion/relegation tournament involved the three 2nd placed teams in the Second Divistion the 13th in the top league – Rio Ave. Only two battled for the coveted top spot and the winner was decided only by the direct results between the leaders. Which relegated Rio Ave, which had the best overall record. Uniao Leiria (Zona Centro) finished last with 3 points. Uniao Madeira (Zona Sul) was 3rd also with 3 points. Rio Ave (1st Division) was unfortunate 2nd with 9 points and 17-4 goal-difference.
Deportivo Chaves won the tournament with 9 points and 16-10 goal-difference. Head-to- head results against Rio Ave were in their favour and they were happily promoted to top flight.
Thus, the teams going up to First Division were: Deportivo Aves, Deportivo Chaves (Zona Norte), Covilha (Zona Centro), and Maritimo (Zona Sul). Congratulations!