First Division. Terrific battle for the title, decided on goal-difference at the end. Three rather hopeless outsiders at the bottom.
Kayserispor was the worst team this season – last and out with 19 points.
Slightly better, but still too weak for top league football, Orduspor ended 18th with 22 points and was relegated.
Sakaryaspor was the third relegated team – 17th with 27 points.
Bursaspor had very strange season – plagued by various problems and coming close to relegation, but in the same time this was their best season in their history to date. A rollercoaster of a season – 16th with 31 points. Standing from left: Taygun Erdem, Yalçın Gündüz, Attila Kerekes, Eser Kardeşler, Gürsel Hattat, Sedat Özden. Crouching: Hamit Ayden, Mihaly Tulipan, Salih Salimoğlu, Beyhan Çalışkan, Erdinç Kayan.
Caykur Rizespor – rather typical season: 15th with 32 points. Standing from left: Haluk, Muharrem, Yusuf Ziya, İsmail, Mehmet Ali, Hüsnü.
First row: Turgut, Hakan, Mehmet, Metin, Harun.
Kocaelispor – 14th with 32 points.
Malatyaspor – 13th with 32 points.
Denizlispor – 12th with 32 points.
Zonguldakspor – 11th with 33 points.
Eskisehirspor – 10th with 33 points.
Genclerbirligi – 9th with 34 points.
Altay – 8th with 34 points.
Trabzonspor – 7th with 37 points.
MKE Ankaragucu – 6th with 41 points.
Fenerbahce – 5th with 42 points. Rather weak season.
Sariyer – 4th with 43 points.
Samsunspor – 3rd with 48 points. Excellent season for Samsunspor, but still way behind the leaders.
Which were the usual Istanbul rivals – Besiktas and Galatasaray, running shoulder to shoulder to the very end, finishing with equal points – 56. Galatasaray was so good this season, they did not lose even one match! Besiktas lost two games, but compensated with more wins than Galatasaray. The rules stipulated goal-difference decided in case of equal points and thus Besiktas prevailed by 7 goals.
Galatasaray, dressed here in unusually for the 1980s sloppy-made kit, perhaps suffered one of their greatest disappointments in history: they lost the title on worse goal-difference after fantastic season – rarely a team ends championship unbeaten. Galatasaray won 20 games and tied 16. They had the best defense in the league, conducted by the former Yugoslavian national team goalkeeper Zoran Simovic, considered by many one of the top 5 all-time best keepers in his native country. Another Yugoslavian star, Dzevad Prekazi, made the attacking line lethal. However, the goal-difference was 57-20 at the end and that was not enough… so unlucky.
Besiktas was coming after a bit of a dry spell – they did not win the championship for about 5 years and craved a title. Strong season, no doubt, but unable to win over Galatasaray in the direct clashes. They lost 2 games, but compensated by winning 2 more than their rivals did and at the end the points were equal. Besiktas won 22 games, tied 12, lost 2, and prevailed on better goal-difference: their defense was similarly strong as Galatasaray’s, but the attack scored more goals to the tune of 65-21. That clinched the title: Besiktas finished +44, Galatasaray +37.
This was Beskitas’ 7th title and may be one of their sweetest – not just because of the dramatic was they got it, but because they outrun an unbeaten team. There was a bit of luck, but not much – Besiktas had great squad, wonderful coach – the Yugoslav Branko Stankovic, and a leading striker, also a Yugoslav – Mirsad Kovacevic. Overall, perhaps not a better squad than Galatasaray’s, but no weaker either. Well deserved victory.