Finally, at home – Bulgaria. Levski-Spartak made a double, winning both the championship and the cup. But I was with mixed feeling… it was my club and it was not. A year earlier, in the middle of the season, Bulgarian football was ‘reorganized’. Meaning, out of the blue few clubs, mostly from Sofia, were amalgamated. My Levski was merged with Spartak and a third division club – Sportist (Kremikovtzi, Sofia’s suburb). The new club was named Levski-Spartak. It was a heavy blow… Spartak were the Police club. Levski was traditionally the people’s club… The whole story is worth telling, but not now. Suffice to say that the merger alienated many old fans, including my father. They stopped going to the stadium and if watching the team at all, it was only on TV. I followed to some point – until I left the country in the late 1980s, I went to see no more than 20 live Levski’s matches.

Levski-Spartak, champions in 1970.
Second row, left to right: G. Kamensky, M. Gaydarsky, D. Zhechev, Al. Kostov, G. Asparukhov, R. Vitlacil (Czechoslovakia) – coach, Iv. Zdravkov, St. Peshev, R. Goranov.
First row: St. Aladzov, Tz. Vesselinov, Sl. Stoilov, P. Kirilov, B. Mikhailov, P. Panov, N. Kotkov, V. Mitkov, St. Pavlov, Y. Kirilov.

Individuals of 1970 were mixed bag, as probably they always are – some established stars playing strong, some getting old and fading, some new talent pushing ahead. Yet, there was change of guard – Gerd Muller was voted European Footballer of the Year. For the first time German player was recognized best in Europe. Muller also got the Golden Shoe (or Boot, depending on translation) – he was the top goalscorer in Europe with 38 goals. He had impressive World Cup and scored 10 goals at the finals. He was 25 years old.

Neither FIFA, nor South America awarded top players of the year yet. Still Pele was the King of the world football.

Still playing for Santos. But… the years of Muller were coming, not of Pele… already they were looking for new king in Brazil. The old one was 30 years of age.

Positive change appeared in West Germany, though. Professional unified national division was new in West Germany – Bundesliga was launched in 1963. (There was no professional Second Division until 1970s; professional Third Division starts this year – 2008 – for the first time. Germans are methodical and do not rush.) Neither Bayern (Munich), nor Borussia (Moenhengladbach) were considered top clubs and were not invited to the new league. They remained in the regional leagues, but both won promotion in 1964, along with bizarre club – Tasmania 1900 (West Berlin). The strange and politically motivated story will be told later, but because of it Bundesliga was increased from 16 to 18 teams – the format it has to this very day. The newcomers showed their teeth in 1968-69 – Bayern won their first title (in terms of Bundesliga, not counting the preceding years) and Borussia finished third. Next season Bayern finished second and Borussia were first time champions.Second row: Hennes Weisweiler (coach), Netzer, Meyer, Kracke, Wimmer, Spinnler, Volker Danner, Ludwig Muller, Kleff, Wittmann, Schlott (assistant coach)

First row: Zimmermann, Laumen, Le Fevre (Denmark), Sieloff, Schaefer, Dietrich, Kaiser, Koeppel.

These were up and coming people – future European and World Champions, national players of smaller caliber, a coach which will be considered one of the best in the world during the 1970s. Berti Fogts is missing in the photo, but he was in the team anyway. The elegant Dane Ulrik Le Fevre played at the left wing, and probably was underrated even in 1970 – under Danish rules no professional was permitted to play for the national team, and Le Fevre played his last game for Denmark in 1969, before joining Borussia. Next year Borussia were champions again – this time with Jupp Heynckes and Rainer Bonhof in the squad as well. Unlike other ‘new’ champions, Borussia did not lose top players, but increased them. It was also young team, its best years still to come. The core of stars were already making their way into the West German national team and Fogts, Heynckes, Wimmer, Bonhof, Kleff soon became European and World champions. As for Gunther Netzer – he was just the superstar. He did not play much for the national team, largely because of constant disagreements with Helmut Schoen, but was regarded as ‘world class’ player nevertheless – on the same level as Beckenbauer. No wonder he was the first foreign player Real (Madrid) bought when Spain lifted the ban on imported footballers in 1973. Borussia quickly became one of the best teams in the 1970s both in West Germany and Europe. The players were among the biggest stars of the decade, and the rise of Borussia went along with the great years of the national team – West German football on every level was becoming high class, and at least until 1975 – promoter of the ‘total football’. In the second half of the decade the Bundesliga became the top championship in Europe, the dream for a footballer. Even Kevin Keegan went to play in West Germany. The new German champion of 1970 was a sign of positive change, unlike the rest of the ‘new’ champions.
And… look again at Everton. Changes are changes, but something remained – clubs remained ‘traditional’ in structuring the squads: few stars, one or two classy foreigners, and the rest – sturdy professionals. Every team above follows this formula.

Lastly, Italy. Cagliari won its only title in 1970. The club from Sardinia was known as ‘the prison’ among football players – living on rural and backward island was not exactly fun, and players were not eager to join Cagliari. A rather mediocre club, far behind the Italian giants Milan, Inter, Juventus. Far behind other Italian clubs of solid strength like Torino, Bologna, Fiorentina (in the 1960s, I mean). A club traditionally concerned mainly with avoiding relegation. Champions? Now, this was a surprise.

Second row, left to right: Vigano (masseur), Nene (Brazil), Albertosi, Niccolai, Domenghini, Tomasini, Poli, Nastasio, Riva, Duri (masseur).
First row: Zignoli, Martiradonna, Mancin, Cera, Gori, Brugnera, Greatti, Reginato.

Five players of this team went to Mexico’70: Enrico Albertosi, Pierluigi Cera, Comunardo Niccolai, Luigi Riva, Angelo Domenghini, and Sergio Gori. If the central defenseman Niccolai was disputable player – he was mostly reliable, but in the habit of making one fatal mistake per match, and even his Cagliari coach Manlio Scorpigno was more than reserved: ‘I expect everything from life, but not Niccolai playing for the Azzuri’ – the rest were not so. Cera and Gori were classy players, but Domenghini and Albertosi were stars. As for Gigi Riva – he was a superstar. Not for nothing fans nicknamed him ‘Rombo di Tuono’ (the Thunder). Albertosi was considered better keeper than his great rival Dino Zoff. Domenghini did not need much introduction either. And finally – Nene. Olinho Claudio de Carvalho is hardly known today. He transferred from Santos to Juventus in 1963 and the next year moved to Cagliari. There he played to the end of his career in 1976, and is the player with most appearances in Serie A for Cagliari – 311. A good attacker, he was somewhat overlooked: never a Brazilian national player and moving to Italy too young, he is hardly known in Brazil. Italy had the most famous stars during the 1960s – Nene was always behind the likes of Riva, Rivera, Mazzola, Sivori, Altafini, and so on. Because he was already playing in Italy, the ban on imported players, imposed in 1966 by the Italian Federation did not affect him and by the end of the 1960s he was among handful of foreign veterans playing for Italian clubs. Nene was good, but Gigi Riva was great… it is somewhat strange that the biggest Italian stars were attackers: the 1960s were the years of the ultra-defensive ‘catenaccio’ system. The Italian stars were either inflated, or… were really great: after all, to beat alone a wall of ten murderers and score a goal needs enormous skill and courage. No matter how good Cagliari were in 1969-70, they never repeated this season, thus, suggesting accidental victory. In a long run, ‘catenaccio’ stagnated Italian football – it was one thing to play against European clubs, but entirely different when facing same tactic week after week in Italy. Most games ending 0-0, even top teams relied mostly on few odd victories to stay on top. Perhaps the ban on foreign players had negative role too – by 1970 there were signs of decline. The stars were getting on years, but no new exciting players were coming. Italian clubs gradually lost their dominance in Europe. To a point, Cagliari’s title was similar to Atletico’s title – not that much great team, but weak opposition. Italy entered terrible years and almost to the end of the 1970s struggled.

Now, was Atletico (Madrid) a surprise in 1970? Traditionally, they are one of the big three of Spanish football, alas, the least successful one. Not for nothing Los Conchoneros (The Mattress Makers) are also known as El Pupas (The Jinxed) and The Sufferers: always in the shadows of Real and Barcelona; always near the top, but not quite on it. The 1960s were good years in view of Atletico’s tradition: the only club to break Real’s dominance – champions in 1966, and now – champions again. However great the year for suffering fans, there was taint as well – Spanish football was already in decline. Spain did not qualify for the World Cup finals. No Spanish club won European tournament since 1966. Spanish players rarely, if at all, appeared among best European footballers. Barcelona was seemingly out of sorts since 1960 and after 1966 Real was going steadily downhill. Certainly Real of 1969-70 was far away from the team of Di Stefano, Koppa, Puskas and the rest of the glory years. Foreign players were banned since 1962 – this hardly helped, although the very reason for the ban was declining quality of home-grown players. Spain was no longer football superpower. And as much as it was refreshing to see different champion, the change was not optimistic – it was not great Atletico, but rather weak Real and Barcelona. Crisis on club level and crisis on national team level.Yes, in terms of the late 1960s Spain and in terms of club legends, Atletico had some good feet – but how good? Who remembers then today? Except for Luis Aragones…

Aragones posing with jinxed shirt and in action. Now… do we remember the player, or we know the coach leading Spain to the European title in 2008?

Enter Karpaty (Lvov). Holding the Soviet Cup in 1969 and winning the Second Division the same year .

Unfortunately, I have no names for this photo, but these are the players winning the cup: B. Turlak, M. Lupol, I. Gereg,
R. Potochnyak, V. Sirov, P. Danilchuk, Yu. Bondarenko, M. Sarabin, I. Kulchitzky, L. Brovarsky, V. Bulgakov, R. Pokora,
V. Danilyuk, Ya. Gabovda, G. Lihachov, Yu. Basalik, B. Greshak. Coach – E. Yust. 

Not a single famous name, as befitting second division nobodies. But during 1960s a shift started in Soviet football from north to south, from Moscow to Ukraine. No longer Moscow clubs ruled – Dinamo (Kiev) was establishing itself as the Soviet powerhouse. But it was not only Dinamo – Shakhter (Donetzk), Zarya (Lugansk), Chernomoretz (Odessa), the new boys Karpaty established themselves in the First Division, followed by Dnepr (Dnepropetrovsk) and Metalist (Harkov). Add to them another two successful Southern clubs in the 1970s: Ararat (Erevan, today Armenia) and Dinamo (Tbillisi, today Georgia). It was a major shift – Moscow clubs not only declined, but faced even relegation – Spartak (Moscow) and CSCA (Moscow) eventually enjoyed Second Division football. In the same time the 70s were perhaps the worst decade of the Soviet national team – Soviet football was in a crisis, recognized eventually. Yet, how to measure? Soviet clubs achieved their first European successes during 1970s. Ukrainian players became the backbone of the national team, which missed two World Cups and two European Championships.

Here is a version of the Soviet squad for Mexico 1970:

First row, left to right: Victor Serebryannikov, Mikhail Gershkovich, Yevgeny Lovchev, Givi Nodia, Revaz Dzodzuashvili, Anatoly Puzach, Nikolay Kislov, Anzor Kavazashvili.

Second row: Oleg Sokolov (masseur), Gavrail Kachalin (head coach), Albert Shesternyov, Oleg Belokovsky (team doctor), Vladimir Kaplichny, Kakhi Asatiani, Vitaly Khmelnitzky, Genady Logofet, Vladimir Muntyan, Valentin Afonin, Murtaz Khurtzilava, Yevgeny Rudakov, Anatoly Bishovetz, Vladimir Shmelev (masseur).

Some of the above did not make the final selection, but more or less this is the bulk of Soviet players for the World Cup finals. The final selection included 6 players from Dinamo (Kiev), 5 from Dinamo (Tbillisi), 4 from each Spartak and CSCA (both Moscow), 3 from Dinamo (Moscow). The leaders (CSCA was not yet champion in the summer – Soviet championship run in one year, spring-fall calendar, ending by the end of the year) provided 4 players – three veterans (Afonin, Shesternyov, and Kaplichny) and the third goalie – one Shmutz, who did not play at all in Mexico and soon disappeared altogether from sight. CSCA (abbreviation of Central Sports Club of the Army – that is why I use CSCA, not the more familiar today CSKA) had two or three more worthy players (including better goalie than Shmutz), but they were not enough to sustain continuation of success when the veterans quit playing or moved to other clubs. Meantime the two Moscow powerhouses – Dinamo and Spartak – were declining and some of the southern national players were aging. To a large degree the Soviet national team was outdated in 1970 and at its last legs.

First row, left to right: Vladimir Fedotov, Vladimir Dudarenko, Yuri Istomin, Valentin Utkin, Nikolay Dolgov

Second row: Valentin Nikolayev – coach, Boris Kopeykin, Albert Shesternyov, Vladimir Polikarpov, Leonid Shmutz, Alexander Kuznetzov, Vladimir Kaplichny

CSCA – champions in 1970, but one time wonder. Moscow no longer ruled. Soon the Ukrainian invasion would even bribe its way to the title – Zarya (Lugansk) (see earlier posting) – and the Soviets were entering very bad decade.
(Note: I prefer this spelling of the club, as well as the Bulgarian club with same name - but will use the more familiar CSKA from now on. The accepted abbreviation is nonsensical - I have no idea how it was made from Central Sports Club of the Army, the full name - but is the more or less familiar transliteration in English.
And thanks to Igor Nedbaylo for the team photo!)

1970 did not look like a big change at first: accidental and expected winners at the time. From a distance it is different: a shirt to the north may be sniffed – Dutch invasion plus dominance of the British at the club scene. British clubs dominated Europe until mid-1980s and their success may be obscured the sharp decline of England’s national team. I was huge English fan back then, and no so now. British championship was and is the most attractive in the world to watch. Club football rarely disappoints me. The national team… I gave up in 1982 and after 1990 I actually prefer England not to emerge above qualification group for a major tournament. Boring! Germans are boring too, but unlike England, they win. However, the crisis plaguing England was unforeseeable in 1970. New football was not evident yet, old powers still held strong. But… the boat was rocking, however slightly: new clubs disturbed the establishment here and there. Cagliari won the Italian championship – for the first, and, so far, last time. Borussia (Moenchengladbach) won the West German title for the first time. Atletico (Madrid) was on top in Spain – the only club taking the laurels from Real (Madrid) in the 1960s (twice – in 1966 and 1970). USSR had new champion as well – CSCA (Moscow). They did not have a title since 1951! (And had to wait until 1991 for the next one). Just the previous year a second division club – Karpaty (Lvov) – won the Soviet Cup. It is the only occasion a second division club won the national cup in USSR and its successors Russia and Ukraine (Lvov is Ukrainian city after the collapse of USSR). Did those new champions signify something big? Hard to tell – most countries in Europe had their ‘usual’ champions. Atletico (Madrid) faded after 1973. CSCA (Moscow) sunk quickly and even was relegated to the second division. Cagliari also returned to its ‘normal’ lowly place in Italy. On the other hand, Karpaty went up – they won promotion in 1969 and stayed more or less steadily in the top Soviet division in the 1970s. Nothing remarkable, unless you are Karpaty fan – those were their best years. Borussia was much bigger story – one of the leading West German and European clubs during the 1970s. Their title in 1970 was only the beginning.

Well, were few new winners significant? After all, football is unpredictable – sometimes entirely unexpected club wins. That is what make football great, right? Novelty teams pop up once in awhile and disappear immediately without a trace. What is the big deal? I think the above novelties were signs of major changes, though. I will place those clubs against England: Everton was champion in 1970. England was (and no more, regretfully) unique – every year there was new champion. Many clubs had a good chance to win the championship and ever better chance not to repeat their success the next year. Exciting, unpredictable, highly competitive championship: the richest, most popular, and studded with national players and lesser stars club were not automatic favourites.

Continental Europe was rigidly predictable – few top clubs, most often just three or two, were always on top, by far better than the rest. They had the means to get any player of value too, thus perpetuating their domestic dominance. And national teams depended heavily on those few clubs – if the clubs had strong teams, the national squad benefited as well, since those clubs provided the backbone of the national team. Decline of the top clubs almost always meant decline of the national team. (There were some anomalies – good clubs and weak national team, or the opposite – but the rule of thumb was strong clubs make strong national side.) In this respect, surprise champions were more likely to show decline, rather than improvement.

Everton 1969-70:Back row : J. Barnett, G. West, A. Rankin. Middle Row :W. Dixon (trainer), J. Hurst, J. Royle, B. Labone, R. Kenyon, A. Brown, H. Kendall, Harry Catterick (manager).Front Row : A. Whittle, J. Morrissey, G. Humphries, J. Husband, T. Jackson, T. Wright, A, Ball, C. Harvey.Surely not a bad squad, yet, Everton’s previous title was in 1963, and their next – in 1985. However… Manchester City ended 10th and Arsenal – 12th in this season, but got European trophies. Four Everton players were selected in the national squad for the World Cup – Keith Newton, Thomas Wright, Brian Labone, and Alan Ball. Leeds United also had 4 players in Mexico’70. Manchester United – 3. Chelsea, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspurs, and West Ham United – 2 each. Stoke City, Liverpool, and West Bromwich Albion – 1 each. Arsenal – 0! Neither the European winners, nor the English champion dominated the national squad. Even by mere names Everton were hardly ‘stronger’ than other English teams at that time.