Familiar top, but what about the bottom? Who cares about the bottom? Dead last were Atletico Clube do Portugal, hailing from Alcantara, Lisbon.

The name is practically unknown today, and it was no different in the 1970s either – the club played once bigger role in Portugal, but it was so long ago, probably even the club's fans were not able to recall it. Atletico were relegated, going to complete anonymity. With total of 15 points, they were 8 points behind the 15th placed club.

Hardly a derby, hardly a competitive match... Atletico desperately defending themselves against Benfica. That was their fate the whole season and they went down.

Unlike Atletico, other weak clubs at least fought for survival. Leixoes lost the struggle, ending with equal points with two other teams, but having the worst goal difference.

Leixoes Sport Club is quite old, founded in 1907, but from a small town, Matosinhos, and therefore unlikely candidate for greatness. May be their nickname – Os Bebes (The Babies) – really sums up their fate: 70 years old babies by 1977... as their crest suggests, it is a multisport club, and their football department was not exactly strong. Leixoes played and plays nore often in Second Division than in First, so their relegation was rather normal. If there was something to remember about them this season, it was their curious record: they tied half of matches – 15 ties out of total 30 games. Their attack was the worst in the league – Leixoes scored only 15 goals, ½ goal average per match. Apparently, they attempted to survive by playing cattenaccio, for their defense was not bad at all, allowing 31 goals in the season. Only the top three clubs had better defensive record, but... playing for the point and scoring ½ less when allowing a whole goal spelled disaster.

Babies going down. Again.

Down, to more familiar opponents inhabiting Second Division, like Barreirense.

Well, even grass did not like to grow in Second Division, but Leixoes was joining the bunch of modest clubs like this one. First division was not even a dream for the likes of Barreirense – but their kit is pretty.

Unlike Yugoslavia, Portugal promised no great future. By that time, the great years of Portuguese football were only distant memory and the country seemingly settled among the middle of the road nations in Europe. Even Benfica was no longer considered really dangerous opponent internationally. Back in the summer of 1976 there was little excitement: the Peruvian star Teofilo Cubillas left FC Porto and went home, joining Alianza (Lima). He was replaced by relatively unknown Brazilian – Duda. Thus, FC Porto depended on two Bazilian imports, the midfielder Ademir and Duda in attack. But the club recruited new coach – Pedroto, who led Boavista to two Cup victories the previous two years. Another big transfer was made by Sporting (Lisbon) – they got Salif Keita from Valencia (Spain). The star from Mali was already 30 years old and considerably in decline. His spell with Valencia was not a happy one, and probably Keita was hoping to come back in Portugal, but it was doubtful whether he would be able to make Sporting stronger team. More or less, the real strength of Sporting was their coach – Jimmy Hagan, the Englishman, who coached Benfica few years back. Benfica was also coached by British, continuing its own tradition, John Mortimore, so at least the Lisbon derby seemed to be a British battle of coaches. Unlike her rivals, Benfica depended on Portuguese squad. The Eagles had the odd African-born player, but their force was Portuguese stars. By names, Benfica had the best team, well balanced, competitive, and deeper than any other club. Which made the whole difference: Benfica confidently led through the championship, building bigger and bigger gap between themselves and the opposition. At the end, it was same old, same old... Benfica lost only 2 matches, winning 23. They had iron defense, letting only 24 balls in the net. Benfica finished 9 points ahead of the second placed club, collecting one more title.

So familiar... who else, but Benfica. Quite a bearded squad too, not to mention mustaches. Top row, from left: Diamantino,José António,Alberto,Eurico,Alhinho,Messias,José Domingos,José Luis,Bastos Lopes.

Middle row: Palhinhas(massag.)Romeu,Álvaro,Pietra,Bento,Artur,José Henrique,Barros,Ramos(massag.).

Sitting: Nélinho,Shéu,Toni,Nené,Vitor Martins,Moinhos,Chalana,Cavungi

Familiar names, combining experienced veterans, current stars, and bright new talent. Well, the club was the richest in Portugal, and had no problem collecting the top players. Bento and Henrique competed for the spot between the goalposts for both Benfica and Portugal. The rest were national players, but somewhat unlucky to play at that particular time: were they born a bit later, Diamantino and Sheu may had been bigger stars. Possibly Eurico too. But Toni and Nene perhaps would have been better off if born earlier... Good squad, but not really great one . However, there was a player for better future: Chalana. 18-years old, already on his third season with the first team, and getting really influential. His portrait here is strange – he does not look young at all. Certainly not under 20. Outside Portugal nobody heard of him yet, but there was plenty of time ahead of him.

Sporting finished second, so everything appeared normal and painfully familiar... but it was not. Sporting did not really challenged Benfica, but rather fought with FC Porto for the second spot. They won by a point, but it was not squad capable of more – Keita was practically the only recognizable star.

At least, there is some novelty in the photo above: the first sitting from left player has his socks covering his knees – a standard today, but highly exotic in the 1970s. Keita's rolled down socks were fashionable back then.

As for FC Porto, they ended with bronze medals. May be not bad at all for them at the time, but if anything they showed the vast division in Portuguese football: the 4th placed club ended 7 points behind the third and good 17 points less than the champions. Boavista was 4th, and considering that those were strong years for the club... it was obvious that as a whole Portuguese football was far from great. Porto was still building team and confidence – they were a bit green yet, but improving. If there was really a revelation this season, it came from Porto: Fernando Gomes was the topscorer of the league with 26 goals. He was to score a lot more yet, for he was just 20-years old.

Young teams rarely have the strength to win everything. Crvena zvezda, confident in the champioship, did not make it to the Cup final. Partizan and Dinamo failed as well, but Hajduk (Split) did make it. The other finalist fitted the year of surprises and small clubs doing well at the expense of the big ones. Buducnost (Titograd) was the other finalist.

Buducnost means 'Future', an optimistic name given the history of the small club from the capital of Montenegro. The city was named after Josip Broz Tito back then, today is Podgorica. The club did not live to neither its name, nor the city name, both suggesting something mighty, if names could win trophies. In reality Buducnost had difficulties just to stay in first division. Often they played in second. Winning was not their forte – so far, Buducnost played once the Cup final, which they lost. This was their best achievement. In 1975-76 they won promotion and returned to first division. Enthusiasm carried on and they had good season, finishing right in the middle of the table – 9th, right behind Hajduk – with symetrical record: 11 wins, 11 ties, and 12 losses. They scored 44 goals, receiving 47. For them, rather strong season, but they did outdid themselves in the Cup tournament. The squad was modest, nobody worth mentioning, but if playing final, why not try winning it as well? Buducnost put a fight: regular time ended 0-0. The Cup was near... but class is class, and in the overtime Hajduk scored 2 goals. Buducnost – zero.

Brave finalists, who a year ago played second division football. They lost, but nevertheless it was the best achievement in the history of the club. For anything better, Buducnost had to wait Montenegro to become independent state.

Hajduk (Split) made up for the mediocre season by winning the Cup for the 6th time. Too bad for Buducnost, but Hajduk had their pride at stake and were determined to win and save the year. It was still great squad: Buljan, Surjak, Muzinic, Jerkovic, Peruzovic, Dzoni were still here. Boljat, Katalinic, and especially Zungul firmly established themselves. So many national team players and young as well – at 27, Ivan Buljan was the oldest in the team. And it was not all: Zoran and Zlatko Vujovic were already in the squad, clearly suggesting that Hajduk was going to stay at the top of Yugoslavian football. It was just one bad year, but they were too classy to end it emptyhanded. Lost the title, won the Cup. New talent coming in, watch out.

1976-77 may have been transitional year, but there was a lot of young talent in Yugoslavia – the well was seemingly bottomless: ate least four clubs promised excitement in the coming seasons.

Bad, bad, bad... anything good for a change? There was of course, but the season was strange, transitory may be. Looked like a whole generation of great players went abroad, aged, and no longer benefiting the local game. The next generation was not strong enough to play first fiddle and clubs with relatively settled squads took advantage. Prime example: Partizan (Belgrade). The first half of the 1970s were dark years for the 'gravediggers', but they never fell down – they stayed among the best 5-6 teams in the league. Finally they won the 1975-76 championship. Then their star player Nenad Bjekovic went to play for OGC Nice (France) and Partizan did not have the stamina to compete for the title. They finished at 4th place, but their current squad was very young. It was talented bunch – Golac, Zavisic, Hatunic, Trifunovic, Jesic, Stojkovic, all of them 25 or younger. They got one of the best keepers at the time from OFK Beograd – the 23-years old Petar Borota. Radomir Antic was the oldest player at 28. A squad in the making, not polished yet, still rough and inexperienced to sustain whole championship – Partizan led for awhile in the fall of 1976, then faded.


Dinamo (Zagreb) were similar. They improved in the recent years and once again joined the best clubs, finishing 3rd in 1976. This season they moved a place up, enjoying silver medals,but not really challenging the champions: Dinamo finished with 9 points less, not a contender really. Improving, but like Partizan, not ready yet for something big. Dragutin Vabec was the star of the team, 26 years old. But there were two very young boys who were to play major role soon: Zlatko Kranjcar and Velimir Zajec. They were already starters. Dinamo was restoring its place among the leading clubs, but so far unripe.

Unmade teams made room for unlikely challengers: NK Rijeka finished 5th, not bad at all for the modest club, which two years ago returned from second division exile. The Croats differed from Partizan and Dinamo: not that young, but experienced and settled. They had a veteran star, who most likely revitalized them – the great goal scorer Josip Skoblar came back from France in 1974 and joined small Rijeka. With him, the team climbed up and up. For Skoblar 1976-77 was the last playing season and he retired in style at 36, but the momentum was not lost after he call it a day.

Modest boys among the best: standing from left: Stefanovic, Kociancic, Makin, Avramovic, Filipovic, Devcic.

Crouching: Mohorovic, Juricic, Skoblar, Cukrov, Vujkovic.

Sometimes one player is quite enough for inspiration and improvement; sometimes collective is all that counts. Sloboda (Tuzla) enjoyed bronze medals.

Old, but small club, even more modest than Rijeka. Since their birth in 1919, Sloboda (the name means 'Freedom') never won anything. Their best performance to date was in 1971, when they lost the Yugoslavian Cup final. Forget about the whole Yugoslavia – in their native Bosnia and Herzegovina Sloboda ranked 5th at best. Playing in the first division was enough success for them, just keeping above relegation zone. And suddenly – third!

May be the best ever team of Sloboda? May be not, for I am not certain this is a picture from 1976-77. Standing from left: Gabrijel Pendic, Fahrudin Avdicevic, Kasim Alibegovic, Elref Mujezinovic, Mirolem Fazlic, Radomir Jovicic.

Bottom: Mesud Nalic, Caslav Jevremovic, Fuad Mulahassanovic, Petar Slavkic, Mustafa Hukic.

Not a single known name, let alone famous. Not even their coach, Dorde Gerum. Sloboda were usually suppliers of talent to other clubs – Jusuf Hatunic (Partizan) was one of the most recent examples showing promise in Tuzla, but becoming star elsewhere. It was the collective really bringing them that high and their strong season led to brief inclusion of Hukic in the Yugoslavian national team: he played 5 matches in 1977 and was not called again. May be taking advantage from the shaky state of usual favourites, but it was great for the small club and its fans.

Yet, the competition, big or small, was not really competition this season: Crvena zvezda won its 12th title after three bleak years. Bleak for their fans, that is, for they used to winning and only trophies counted. Crvena zvezda had great squad back in 1973, but it was getting a bit old. Practically the whole team was sold abroad, something Crvena zvezda was not afraid to do, for they had the means for getting whoever they fancied from the rest Yugoslavia (except the arch-rival Partizan), plus a great youth system of their own. But building a new team from scratch is devilish business even for the most resourceful clubs and three rocky years were needed until new victory. So, finally...

Back to normal – champions again! Standing from left: B. Kajganic, D. Savic, D. Lukic, Z. Jelikic, S. Muslin, Z. Filipovic, N. Jokanovic, V. Bogicevic, A. Stojanovic.

Sitting: B. Radovic, P. Baralic, M. Sestic, S. Stamenkovic, M. Novkovic, D. Nikolic, M. Babic.

Only two players from the last victorious squad remained – Vladislav Bogicevic and Vladimir Petrovic. Veterans... Bogicevic, 27 years old, was the oldest player in the squad. Vladimir Petrovic was 22! The 'new boys' were 22 or younger. Nikolic was already hailed as the next great Yugoslavian player, but he never lived up to expectations. The rest were just players for the future, but they won with great confidence – 9 points ahead of the second placed Dinamo (Zagreb), winning 20 matches, losing only 4, scoring the most goals in the league – 67. And Zoran Filipovic was the top scorer of the season with 21 goals. So, Crvena zvezda was akin to Parizan and Dinamo, going for young talent. And winning. May be winning because they started building new team a bit earlier than the rest and therefore had more experienced team, when the rivals still had inexperienced boys. May be winning because Hajduk underperformed. It was confident victory, but the team was not at it finest yet, they were still green, still learning – Filipovic, Savic, Sestic, Jovanovic, Muslin, Stojanovic, Lukic, they all became national team players and quite famous, but there not so yet in 1976-77. It was their first serious claim for fame – real one came few years later. Young team, full of talent, Crvena zvezda were starting new strong period. Presently, it was conquering only Yugoslavia, but just wait a year or two.

Pessimism piled up by the obvious decline of the usual 'second stringers': Olimpija (Ljubljana) finished 12th. OFK Beograd, so bright three years ago, barely escaped relegation, finishing 15th. The leading clubs of Bosnia and Herzegovina sharply declined: Velez (Mostar), aiming at the very top an year back, slipped to 11th place. FK Sarajevo ended just a spot above relegation, 16h. No such luck for the 1972 champions Zeljeznicar (Sarajevo) – they were last, going down to second division with the 17th placed Napredak (Krusevac). Near the bottom, 14th just because of better goal difference, finished the 'Old Dame': Vojvodina (Novi Sad).

This is a squad from 1975-76, perhaps illustrating the difficulty of evaluating Yugoslavian football: Standing, from left: Novoselac, Svilar, Rutonski, Mokus, Vujkov, Trifunovic.

Crouching: Lerinc, Ivezic, Vucekovic, Pavkovic, Licinar.

Ivezic, their best player, moved to Sochaux (France) in the summer of 1976 and immediately the club slumped to the bottom of the league. Yet, it had good enough players around – Lerinc, Vujkov, Novoselac, and particularly Svilar. Ratko Svilar was already 26 years old and one of the best goalkeepers in Yugoslavia. He debuted for the national team in 1976. But the competition was stiff – and remained so: Svilar palyed measly 9 matches for Yugoslavia between 1976 and 1983. The rest is amusing novelty: Svilar played a bit in USA, on loan in 1978, and in 1980 he went abroad permanently , joining Royal Antwerp (Belgium). There he played 16 years, finally quitting in 1996. Amazingly long career – very few players were active at 46 years of age. But in 1976-77, at his prime, he was down the line for the national team and did not prevent Vojvodina from slipping down the table.

And speaking of slipping down: Hajduk (Split) ended in midtable, at 8th place. Crisis? Crvena zvezda went selling its team entirely after 1973 and lost three championships in a row – may be the Croatians were going this way? But they were different, modeled after Ajax, rather than Crvena zvezda. Hajduk did not have might and clout to recruit players from around the whole country like the Belgrade heavyweights. They depended on their own youth system and careful sales of stars when talented replacement was at hand. Nothing bad happened to them so far and at the beginning of the season they were still bursting with talent and obvious contenders for the title. Looks like trouble came because of the new coach: Tomislav Ivic went to Ajax and Josip Duvancic, unknown name, took the reigns. He was not the man for the job – the club underperformed and after the end of the season Duvancic was sacked. It happened to be just a single bad year, not a settling crisis.

Yugoslavia next. May be arbitrary choice, may be not. No dispute about the well respected qualities of Yugoslavian football, but 1976-77 was hardly remarkable season. The summer of 1976 was disappointing – the national team was expected to win the European Championship on home turf, but ended forth. Crvena zvezda did not win the championship since 1973. Partizan was not convincing for quite many years. Some of the better clubs in the early 1970s either halted their improvement, or declined. Yet, Yugoslavia was still the biggest exporter of players in Europe. The question, then, was how deep really was the well of talent. At a glance, the picture was not rosy: rapidly not only the well known stars, but also younger, but rather ordinary, players were leaving the country. The national team was no longer able to use only domestic players. The European Championship finals did not elevate new Yugoslavian names to international stardom. These were worrying signs, especially when the strongholds remained the same: the axis was still Serbia – Croatia. Macedonia did not even have first division club.

Vardar (Skopje), traditionally the strongest Macedonian club, good only for second division football by now. First row, from left: Micevski, P. Georgievski, Zubac, V. Spasovski, Rajcevski.

Standing: Grncarov, Filipovski, Janevski, V. Nikolic, Andreevski, Gruevski.

Bunch of unknowns really. Grncarov was perhaps their best player – he became a club legend eventually, but obviously his talent was not sufficient for winning a promotion. If anything, at least a rare look at second league Yugoslavian football. Which produced winners, promoted to the top:

Trepca (Kosovska Mitrovica) and

NK Osijek (Osijek).

If Osijek were somewhat familiar club, meandering between second and first division, the club from Kosovo was a debutant. Neither club was expected to shake the status quo – rather, the newcomers spelled out gloomy future. If this was the best coming to top league, Yugoslavian football was indeed in trouble.

None of the big clubs managed to reach the Dutch Cup final this season, another sign of the looming crisis. Lesser clubs made it the final, which is always great. And it is also a clear sign of heavy problems in a league traditionally dominated by three clubs, head and shoulders above anybody else. At the end, even the Cup finalists are more telling of problems than anything else: Twente were considered the possible 4th great Dutch team just a few years back. They did not become that... P.E.C. Zwolle were small fry, but one single great veteran was able to put them at par with the big guys... so much for the big clubs, then. Twente finished at 9th place this year, obviously becoming run of the mill team. Zwolle were not in First Division at all – they inhabited the Second. A duel of dwarfs... and no problem for the First Division club... No problem? The regular time ended in a 0-0 draw. Extra time produced three goals, all scored by Twente. Looks confident victory on paper... too bad Zwolle did not have a little bit more stamina.

FC Twente: André van Gerven, Cees van Ierssel, Niels Overweg, Epi Drost, Harry Bruggink, Frans Thijssen, Kick van der Vall, Arnold Mühren, Piet Wildschut, Ab Gritter (Theo Pahlplatz), Hallvar Thoresen (Jan Jeuring).

PEC Zwolle: Bob Nieuwenhout, Klaas Drost, Rinus Israël, Ben Hendriks, Henk Warnas, Koko Hoekstra (Bjarne Petersen), Niels Sörensen, René Ijzerman (Tjeerd van ‘t Land), Ronald Hendriks, Yuri Banhoffer, Jan Hendriksen.

Goals: 96’ Epi Drost 1-0
105’ Arnold Mühren (penalty) 2-0
110’ Jan Jeuring 3-0

For P.E.C. Zwolle it was definitely big success to play at the Cup final. In their whole history, it was their second final. The first was in 1928. Modest club by any stick, it was their finest hour in professional football (in 1928 Dutch football was amateur). Second division clubs hardly ever possess known players, let alone stars, so there is nothing really to tell about their squad: except Rinus Israel.

'Ijzeren Rinus' they called him. Iron Rinus. That was in the days of great Feyenoord, European cups and all. By now it was just memory – Israel was 34 years old, and although he no longer played with spectacles, he was approaching retirement in Second Division. That was the best Zwolle had, but the mighty veteran inspired them to Cup final. To the end of the regular time, really. But one guy is not enough...

It was enough for the boys from Enschede: a crown performance of the team, which showed so much promise few years back.

Lifting the Cup in triumph. For Twente, this was the first trophy ever won!

Standing from left: Jan Morsing(assistent-trainer), Ab Gritter, Harry Bruggink, Niels Overweg, Marc de Clerck, Volkmar Gross, Eddy Pasveer, Jan Jeuring, Cees van Ierssel, Frans Thijssen, Wim Snellenberg(fysiotherapeut), Jan Ebbink(administrator).

(Onderste rij)
Hans Aabech, Gabor Zele, Eddy Achterberg, Kick van der Vall, Epi Drost, Spitz Kohn(trainer/coach), Arnold Mühren, Jaap Bos, Kalle Oranen, Theo Pahlplatz.

Spitz Kohn was still the coach, and the team was practically still the team he made a few years back. Unfortunately, getting older and, therefore, suffering the general ills of Dutch football – same players, no longer improving, and no really worthy new talent. It was great for Kohn, Overweg, van Ierssel, Jeuring, Pahlplatz, Oranen, Drost, van der Vall, and Achterberg finally to win something. They hardly had any more years left to play...by 1977 they were no longer national team material. It was at least satisfying ending of careers, although for the club it was culmination of good years, the finest moment. The club was trying to keep strong squad, to change it painlessly, if possible, but... the Norwegian national team player Hallvar Thoresen and the Hungarian defector Gabor Zele were hardly the future. They were both young and Thoresen was reliable, but hardly a star. Good for Norwegian at the time, which was not all that much. As for Zele, he had no name in Hungary, and obviously was not to make one in Western Europe. Playing for Twente was his highest achievement – and dubious as well, for he played little. Basically, the future of Twente rested on Arnold Muhren and Frans Thijssen, midfielders roughly 25 years old. No big names so far, and Muhren was mere reserve when with Ajax, but helping Twente, getting better, and most importantly, at good age. Their fame came later, though – when both played in England, but no doubt Twente depended on them already. May be they made the whole difference at the final and brought the Cup to Enschede. First Cup ever! No matter what else, it was great moment and well deserved.