Football Journey: January 2021

Sunday, January 31, 2021

Wednesday, January 20, 2021

Czechoslovakia II Division

Czechoslovakia. And extraordinary season – not just the country got surprise champion, but the top league was going to be without representatives of two traditionally strong cities the next season. There were shifts of power, surely, but it was a sign of general weakness of the country's football. Let face it: the strongest team at the moment failed to win the championship. Zbrojovka (Brno) was not just playing second level football, but appeared to be settling there. A former top division member – LIAZ (Jablonec) – was relegated from Second Division and that after a incredibly weak season: they earned just 8 points. Lokomotiva (Kosice) was also in Second Division and not going up and after the end of the championship the other club of the city was relegated from First Division as well – Kosice was going to be without top level team. But Bratislava really hit bottom: Slovan, one of the most successful club in Czechoslovakian history, was already in Second Division and failed to get promoted. Inter (Bratislava) finished last in the top league at the same time and Bratislava was going to be without first division team – that was practically unthinkable, but happened. Slovan and Inter from Bratislava, Lokomotiva and ZTS from Kosice, Zbrojovka (Brno) – those were leading clubs in the 1970s, winning titles and cups, representing Czechoslovakia in the European tournaments, supplying the national team with many, many important players. Other relatively good clubs in the recent past were also playing minor roles in second division now – like SKLO Union (Teplice) – and Jednota (Trencin) was not even there, but in the third level. Combined with the decline of Spartak (Trnava), Banik (Ostrava), and even to a certain point of Dukla (Prague, and the failure of Sparta (Prague, having the strongest squad presently, to win the championship... the picture was rather alarming. Yes, there were up and coming teams – Sigma (Olomouc) and DAC (Dunajska Streda) – but they were not traditional powers and it was not at all clear that were going to replace the old leaders: they were small provincial clubs, quite restricted just by that. And the winners and, therefore, promoted teams of the Second Division were optimistic news under the circumstances.

Plastika (Nitra) won the Slovak league of the Second Division – wonderful for them, but... Nitra was a smallish club, which meandered between First and Second divisions for years. One year up, down the next. Yet, they won and Slovan (Bratislava) was 8 points behind them.

The Czech league was similar – one team dominated the championship, but traditionally stronger clubs were nowhere to be seen. Sklo Union (Teplice) finished 12^th in the 16-team league.

Spartak ZVU (Hradec Kralove) was 7^th.

Zbrojovka (Brno) was 5^th and bested by unheard of clubs like Vagonka (Ceska Lipa) and Autoskoda (Mlada Boleslav). First place was so distant, it looked like it was not even a dream for the former leading club.

Skoda (Plzen) comfortably won the Czech league, 5 points ahead of the nearest pursuer. Like Plastika, they used to play first division football and even had a few quite seasons, but they were never among the leading clubs. Nice to win the championship and get promoted, but Skoda was not a club to rock the status quo – just like Plastika, their victory was strong sign of the decline of the mighty, a one,way process: traditional powers going down, but not replaced by new really strong teams.

Still, winners are winners – both Plastika and Skoda had good season and good luck to them in top flight next season.