Across Danube River Steaua (Bucharest) triumphed with a double. It was coming back with a vengeance – Steaua did not win championship since 1968! It was there 8th title and a Cup for good measure. It was confident season for the Army club – they finished 7 points ahead of second placed Dinamo (Bucharest); won 21 out of 34 championship games, scored impressive 79 goals – the most in the league by far. On a larger scale, it looked like the domination of Bucharest clubs was restored – big Steaua and Dinamo on top, and on the bottom – two clubs from Cluj: Universitatea last and CFR just a place above. The novelty? Univerisatea was among the top clubs 2-3 season previously. CFR are Romanian champions just now: freshly winning the 2009-10 season. Who would imagine that in 1975, when the ‘railways’ boys were relegated? Back then another conclusion was more convincing: the end of provincial football challenging the big clubs from the capital. May be even the end of dark years of Romanian football?

No Army crewcuts for the Army team – and hairy boys winning everything! Front row, left to right: Marcel Raducanu, Florea (?), Constantin Dumitriu IV, Ion Ion, Tudorel Stoica.
Middle row: Radu Troi, Teodor Anghelini, Ion Dumitru, Anghel Iordanescu, Viorel Smarandache, Gabriel Zahiu, Constantin Zamfir.
Top: Emerich Jenei – coach, Viorel Nastase, Stefan Sames, Dumitru Moraru, Vasile Iordache, Mario Agiu, Iosif Vigu, Greiniceanu (?) – assistant coach.
To a point, quite a balanced squad, full of national players – Raducanu, Iordanescu, Anghelini, Moraru, Dumitru… However, this was not a squad revered as much as the one coached by Stefan Kovacz few years ago. The top stars of Romanian football at that period – Dobrin, Oblemenco, Georgescu – played elsewhere. As a whole, this team did not leave long lasting impression – it was more likely an attempt for building something new, but the material was still fragile. From the distance of time, something important has to be pointed out, though: it was the first spell with Steaua for Emerich Jenei, who was yet to become famous coach, but his first year at the helm of Steaua brought big results, at least in Romania. In a way, it was continuation of the Hungarian tradition of the club: ethnic Hungarian, Stefan Kovacs (or Stefan Covaci, or Istvan Kovacs), made the last strong Steaua. Another ethnic Hungarian (today Jenei is often listed as a ‘real’ Hungarian and under ‘proper’ name – Imre Jenei) started new era for Steaua. Kovacs and Jenei are considered among the 4 best ever Romanian coaches, along with Mircea Lucescu , who had nothing to do with the Army club. The fourth is Anghel Iordanescu – so far sporting medieval mustache and winning trophies on the pitch, not from the bench.

What was coming up confirmed the crisis… Akademik (Svishtov) and Marek (Dupnitza – back then Stanke Dimitrov) were promoted. Akademik never played in the First Division before. Marek did play quite regularly, but they had the reputation of the most brutal team. It was actually a comfort to see them going down, hopefully, never to return… nobody (their fans, known for stoning visiting teams, excepted) was welcoming back Marek. Neither club looked like improvement – rather, they were one more sign of crisis.

Akademik (Svishtov), winners of the Northern Second Division. A ‘students’ club, belonging to the University of Economics in the small city on the shore of Danube River – small town, small university… given the predicament of the ‘big’ Akademik (Sofia), the picture was troublesome: since Akademik (Sofia) had difficulties recruiting and keeping good players, what possibly can do a club with smaller resources? But it was good – on principle – to see them going up!
Bottom, left to right: Il. Popov, V. Bozhilov, Al. Benchev, St. Zakhariev, V. Mikhov, P. Petkov.
Middle: Tz. Kamenov, O. Karchev, Iv. Genov, Iv. Aleksandrov, A. Borisov, Yu. Stoimenov.
Standing: Zh. Panev – coach, N. Kolev, V. Petkov, Iv. Nonchev, N. Dzharov, Pl. Valkov, P. Stankov, Iv. Zarkov, N. Kerkelov – assistant coach.
Even for debutants it was amazingly anonymous squad: a few players were barely recognizable for playing briefly in smaller First Division clubs; the rest were nobodies. Nobody was coveted by other clubs, whether big or small. And nobody remembers these guys today with only two exception – Petar Stankov, because he briefly played for the national team, and Valentin Mikhov. Mikhov, however, is well known not as a player – he became a major functionary after the fall of Communism, still heading his own creation – ‘The Professional Football League’.

Marek (Stanke Dimitrov) won the Southern Second Division, returning after years if exile to top flight. Nobody really wanted them – the memories of broken legs and stones flying from the stands were strong – but here they were coming again… Sitting, from left: A. Tomov, R. Karakolev, St. Shaldupov, St. Stoyanov, S. Pargov, L. Kolev, Al. Kyuchukov, Y. Ikonomov – masseur(?)
Middle: Ya. Dinkov – coach, L. Brankov, Iv. Karabelyov, G. Bogdanov, D. Dimitrov, Sl. Lazov, V. Zaprov, G. Belchinsky, D. Kukov – assistant coach.
Third row: N. Krastev, L. Sevdin, Iv. Palev, Em. Kyuchukov, K. Petkov, D. Doryanov, S. Raynov, An. Dinev.
Another anonymous team… a few aging survivors from the last time Marek played First Division football, just enough to keep memories of brutal villains alive – Shaldupov, Pargov, Belchinsky, Sevdin; one old horse, taking it easy after years in Slavia – Nikolay Krastev, that was all…
Neither club was seen as improvement of First Division and both were expected to be relegated the next year. Marek nobody wanted anyway, but they were to shatter predictions soon – suffice to say that 6 players of the above squad became national players, and they were not the only ones either. Unthinkable in the summer of 1976, when it looked like Bulgarian football was going to the devil.

At the end of the table and relegated were Cherno more (Varna) and Spartak (Pleven). Both satellites – Cherno more of CSKA, and Spartak of Levski-Spartak. How much of their performance was due to weakness and how much to helping the ‘mother clubs’ and thus sacrificing themselves? Hard to tell… Spartak were rarely strong and Second Division was quite familiar to them. The team was aging too and they were late with rebuilding. Cherno more were declining for some time and also late in rebuilding aging team, but it was not a club bouncing up and down – they were constant feature of First Division.

Dead last – Spartak (Pleven). This is formation from the spring of 1975, but it was practically unchanged in 1975-76. Top, left to right: M. Varbanov – coach, V. Minkov, St. Dimitrov, P. Todorov, D. Dimov, I. Bratanov, V. Marinov – assistant coach.
Bottom: Kr. Lazarov, B. Yakimov, Pl. Nikolov, T. Barzov - captain, Sl. Stoilov, Al. Chenkov.

Cherno more finished next to last and faced the music… This is the squad for 1976-77 season, as it was in the summer of 1976 – there were changes during the new season. A whole bunch of old players were retired, but most of the above were part of the relegated squad anyway. Bottom, left to right: Andreev, Christov, Svetozarov, Vladimirov, Boychev, Yordanov, D. Georgiev – captain.
Top: Kerekovsky, Rafiev, Dimov, Denev, Simeonov, Y. Bogomilov, Marev, Diamandiev, Parushev.
How to tell how these two teams were worse than many others: Spartak had a group of young, but already established players like Barzov, Nikolov (both soon to move to Levski-Spartak), Bratanov (one of the most promising fullbacks at the time) and Lazarov (fiery right winger). With the exception of unlucky Bratanov, whose career ended prematurely because of heavy injury, the rest were soon to play for the national team. Cherno more had even more talent: Marev, young, but already one of the best sweepers in the country and national team player; Yancho Bogomilov, a very promising stopper (eventually joining CSKA a few years later), and bunch of erratic, but lethal when in the right mood strikers – Damyan Georgiev, Plamen Christov, Yordanov, and Rafi Rafiev. Svetozarov and Diamandiev were considered quite promising as well… may be ‘quite’ was the secret: promising at time of poor talent. Bulgarian football was in decline and although the relegated teams did not look worse than those, who survived, they were not better either. At the end, only three players of the two teams combined really established themselves – Marev, Barzov, and Nikolov.

Levski lost the championship, finishing second, but there was still a possibility for at least partial revenge: they met CSKA once again at the Cup final. There was never love between the arch-enemies and matches were more often than not ugly, but the Cup final deteriorated into viscous battle. It was rainy day and the slippery pitch was dangerous anyway, so hard tackles quickly fired short fused spirits. Traditionally CSKA was the first to start brutalities, but Levski did not shy away from retaliation – this season there were plenty of ‘iron legs’ and ‘short tempers’ around: Rangelov, Denev, Vassilev, Kolev, Yankov (CSKA); Grancharov, Milanov, Tishanski (Levski). With the exception of Plamen Yankov and Kiril Milanov, all were on the pitch… which resulted in 6 yellow cards (Goranov, Denev, Sredkov, and Rangelov of CSKA, and Grancharov and Pavlov of Levski).

The referee trying to keep Grancharov (Levski) from fighting with Kolev (CSKA), who just severely fouled Levski’s player. Even a player practically never involved in brutality – Pavel Panov (Levski, with the ball in his hand) – lost his cool. As for Tzonyo Vassilev (CSKA, number 4) – he was never away from a fight… things were so bad, the coaches of both teams stepped in to beg their players to cool down – and Sergy Yotzov (CSKA) and Ivan Vutzov (Levski) had been known as ‘iron legs’ in their playing days, so the battle was really extraordinary to impress such coaches. Ugly match, which ended 2-2 in the regular time – all goals scored in the first half, when Levski quickly built 2-0 lead and CSKA managed to equalize. The drama continued in extra time – Levski scored in the 93th minute, but a minute later CSKA equalized again. Exactly in the 100th minute Levsky scored again – the header was attributed to the ‘blue’ captain Kiril Ivkov, a mistake, for the goalscorer was Georgy Tzvetkov. Ivkov later corrected the mistake – a rarely seen jest. This goal to be the end of CSKA – Levski attacked furiously to the final whistle.
Disappointing season, a Cup, and kit, which became cultic: this is not the full squad, but the selection winning the Cup final (although they played in Adidas by that time): top, from left: Donchev – assistant coach, Gaydarsky, Yordanov, Iliev, Vutzov – coach, Staykov, Ivkov, Grancharov, Aladzov.
First row: Tishanski, Voynov, Stoyanov, Tzvetkov, Panov, Pavlov, Spassov.
Only Stefan Staykov did not play at the final. Inconsistency was the main quality of Levski-Spartak: strong in fall of 1975, having perhaps their best run in the European Club tournaments; then disgusting spring, blowing away a ‘sure title’; then getting motivated again for the Cup final.
Akademik (Sofia) finished third – one of their best seasons ever and generally the crown achievement of gradually progressing team since 1971.
Bottom, from left: B. Angelov, D. Gologanov, Ml. Vassilev, L. Lozanov, B. Simov, S. Yankov, D. Aleksiev, St. Parvanov, P. Aleksandrov.
Top: D. Roev – coach, G. Roev, T. Paunov, Yu. Ivanov, Yu. Nikolov, Yo. Nikolov, Il. Chalev, Kr. Goranov, D. Efremov, G. Tikhanov, E. Manolov – assistant coach.
Climbing to third position – for a club with limited resources, no influence, no supporters, and big clubs constantly stealing players from ‘the students’, Akademik were truly heroic. Danko Roev was a miracle coach, managing to find new players under such circumstances, maintaining the pleasant technical style of the team. I personally prefer an earlier version of Akademik, but the 1975-76 vintage finished at the highest possible place for a small club. And perhaps it was the only enjoyable performance in otherwise bleak year.

North of Greece things were going in the opposite direction – Bulgarian football was shaky: stuck in stupor at best; going steadily downhill at worst. The only promising teams – Slavia and Akademik, both from Sofia – stood no chance: political interest vested in CSKA and Levski-Spartak did not permit anybody else to become real contender. The whole body of Bulgarian football suffered because of that – the main result was lack of talent. At the end the big clubs suffered as well, for there was nobody to replace their aging stars. Which did not stop the big clubs from grabbing whoever seemed able of kicking the ball… lowly Akademik was constantly plundered, as well as the provincial clubs. Slavia was rather stifled – no players were stolen from the oldest Bulgarian club, but referees made sure that champions will not wear white. And it was the same old, same old CSKA and Levski duel… Perhaps the most significant feature of this season was that CSKA and Levski-Spartak appeared in ‘modern’ kit: CSKA dressed in Adidas, and Levski – in West German-made kit, believed to be Puma, but not looking like Puma. It changed the look of the team: no longer entirely blue, but blue and white shirts. Eventually, this kit became iconic and was repeated in later years. As kits go, East European countries were slow to catch up with fashion, mainly for political reasons. Since CSKA and Levski belonged to arch-political institutions – the Army and the Police – it was unbecoming for them to use ‘capitalist’ gear (did not apply to training sweats and boots, though). Thus, the most powerful Bulgarian clubs were not the first dressed in Western kit – Slavia claims to be the first club purchasing Adidas, although I think lowly Minyor (Pernik) used Adidas before Slavia. Finally the big boys followed the fashion – already behind most Soviet clubs, but ahead of East Germany. As for real football…
CSKA continued to stumble in its attempts rebuild the aging squad – in the ‘normal’ way of the club, ruthless plundering of other clubs was the method. 6 new players arrived: the top scorer of the 1974-75 season Ivan Pritargov (Trakia Plovdiv), Milen Goranov, the key striker of Akademik (Sofia), the very promising left winger Tzvetan Yonchev (Botev Vratza), the occasional national player Dimitar Dimitrov (Beroe Stara Zagora), Angel Rangelov, who had great 1974-75 season (Sliven), and entirely unknown youngster Plamen Markov (Rakovski Sevleivo). All of them came from traditional hunting fields of CSKA, but only two players passed the usual cover – that they were ‘called for regular army service’: Yonchev and Markov. Two clubs belonged to the army ‘family’ – or satellites – Trakia and Sliven, so they had no say whatsoever in the matter. One transfer was particularly interesting: Rangelov came from CSKA’s youth system, but, as almost every homegrown youth of CSKA, was not invited at all to the first team. He had strong season with Sliven, though, and now the ‘mother club’ suddenly became interested – it was a new practice, of which Sliven was to suffer in the next few years. Trakia – curiously, for this was new as well – was actually compensated: CSKA gave them three players for Pritargov! Sounds great… except those three were dead meat. Yet, there was no improvement… with the new boys CSKA continued to play shaky, unconvincing football.
Levski-Spartak acquired three new guys: the attacking midfielder Yordan Yordanov (Minyor Pernik), the tough central defender Ivan Tishanski (Akademik Sofia), and another toughie, the right full back Nikolay Grancharov (Cherno more Varna). Curiously, the new boys came because of the already mentioned stupid policy of CSKA: Tishanski and Grancharov were products of CSKA’s youth system, but just like Rangelov, the Army was not interested in them (Tishanski did polish the reserves bench for two seasons, but Grancharov was never included in the first team). Unlike CSKA’s recruits, the newcomers settled quickly in Levski and with Krassimir Borisov finally fitting in the team, Levski was in much better shape than CSKA in the first half of the 1975-76 season. The moment of truth came at the derby with the arch-enemy: Levski annihilated CSKA 4-1. CSKA was pale shadow of itself; Levski was in great form; the winter break find them leading by 5 points. Title was in the bag!
It was different picture in the spring – a repetition of 1973-74, when great fall was followed by mediocre spring and Levski won the title thanks to the points collected in the fall. It was exactly the same in 1976… the lead gradually dwindled to only 2 points before the spring derby with CSKA. Meantime CSKA made desperate last change midseason: their coach Manol Manolov was sacked and replaced by another former CSKA player Sergy Yotzov, who built strong squad in the satellite Sliven. Yotzov tried to reshape the team somewhat – moved Denev ahead as a striker, and moved Milen Goranov back to midfield, but it was largely cosmetic change. The team did not really improve, but it was still strong enough the small fry in the league. Derbies have life of their own, regardless the form of the opponents – given the condition of both teams, it should have been lackluster draw… the match wasn’t much, but it was not a draw: CSKA won 3-1, tied points with Levski and suddenly was leading on better goal difference. Observers still point out missed penalty as the crucial moment of the season: Levski got a penalty when the result was 1-0 for CSKA. The army goalie Stoyan Yordanov saved the penalty, crashing Levski’s spirit. I don’t think so: Levski was not outplayed per se, but was in bad enough form to be likely looser. It was mental… somehow the team did not seem ready to clinch even a tie. Curiously, ‘red’ folklore still remembers this otherwise unimpressive match – as a prime example of ‘systematic atrocities against CSKA’. The ‘wrongness’ is… the missed penalty. It was protested by the players even after their goalie saved it, so the referee showed two yellow cards (another crime committed against noble CSKA). Well, it was particularly disputable penalty: Levski’s striker flipped the ball above reach of CSKA’s goalie and Rangelov cleared the ball from crossing the goal line with his hand. A ‘natural right’ was seemingly violated: one simply does not call penalties against CSKA, period!
Levski never shook up its sluggishness – at the final table they were 2 points behind CSKA. Fanship apart, the season was meager – CSKA was hardly convincing winner; Levski lost form with meteoric speed; Lokomotiv Plovdiv, very strong in the last 4-5 years, gave signs of aging and loosing steam; Slavia, already without Isakidis, was unstable and not exactly up the football they played the previous year; Sliven was weakened; the rest of the other clubs were in decline. The relegated teams were interesting in this light: satellites of CSKA and Levski were never relegated together before, as far as I remember. Cherno more (Varna, belonging to the Navy) was strong team just a few years ago and constant first division club. The weakness of the ‘mother’ clubs relegated the satellites, I suspect – neither Cherno more, nor Spartak (Plaven, belonging to the Police) had worse squads than the other smaller clubs in the league. Donating points to Levski or CSKA, plus other schemes helping the struggling ‘grands’ perhaps cost them heavily.

One more title for CSKA, but one of the least convincing in their history – a transitional team at best. Back row, from left: Filipov, Rangelov, Denev, Vassilev, Yotzov-coach, Marashliev, Zafirov, Penev, Yordanov.
Sitting: Atanassov, Stankov, Sredkov, M. Goranov, Pritargov, Kolev, D. Dimitrov, Pl. Markov, Yonchev, Yankov.
Still too many players clearly over the hill, but with too big reputations to be replaced easily. The ‘cleaning of the house’ continued a few more years – the young recruits were not significantly better than the veterans yet. As a curiosity, entirely unpredictable in 1976, two future coaches of the Bulgarian national team played together this season: Dimitar Penev, who led Bulgaria to 4th place at the 1994 World Cup and Plamen Markov – the last coach to qualify Bulgaria to major finals: the 2000 European Championship.

It was overall Thessalonikian year – their third big club, Aris, rounded the success with strong performance as well, finishing 6th in the championship. Looked like a major shift in Greek football: much more competitive championship, with strong provincial teams, for there was not only the clubs from Thessaloniki, but others as well, especially the newcomers PAS Ioannina. Looked like Greek football was improving, gaining strength.
But it was hardly so from another perspective: the success of PAOK and Iraklis was bitter pill for Aris. All trophies to the rivals (sweet for both, for the other two consider Aris their arch-enemy) and nothing for the ‘best’ club… measly 6th place. Which, frankly, is pretty much the traditional dwelling of Aris: always among the top six clubs, though, rarely among the medalists.
Aris was founded in 1914, which speculatively explains the name – the First World War started, so it may be some military spirit involved in choosing the name: the ancient Greek god of war Ares. Whether war enthusiasm was the reason or not, the name and the colours of the club – black and yellow – were symbolically thick. Strength, power, crushing victories, rolling over any opponent. It made for perfect clash in Thessaloniki: Ares vs Hercules – Aris vs Iraklis – the god vs the mere demigod. And if Iraklis expressed modern Greek nationalism with their blue and white, Aris evoked deeper roots: the club used the colours of the Byzantine Empire. It was a claim of supremacy from day one. With time the original rivalry faded – PAOK emerged and bypassed Iraklis as the main local rival of Aris, which was entirely the case by the 1970s. So far, Aris was the most successful club at home – they won three titles: 1928, 1932, and 1946, the only championship played during the bitter civil war following the end of the Second World War. This made for bragging… Aris consider themselves ‘one of the big six’ clubs in the country to this very day, although the success ended long time ago. Nominally, they are one of the ‘big’ clubs – by the virtue of titles and by their usual finishing among the first six teams in the league. In reality they were better than most smaller provincial teams, but never a title contender – they finished high, yet rarely among the medalists. By the beginning of the 1970s they were rather second strongest club in Thessaloniki, behind PAOK, which the club and the fans never recognized – they consider their arch-rivals PAOK and Athenian based Panathinaikos, AEK, and Olympiakos (Piraeus). The original Thessalonikian derby counted only for Iraklis by now, but Aris remembered it in 1976, when the old enemy won the Greek Cup, obviously getting strong and dangerous. The season was bitter one for Aris – in the best year ever for Thessalonikian football the rivals won everything and the gods dressed in yellow and black finished only 6th. By the end of the decade they changed their logo, and the new one curiously expressed the predicament of the club:
The mighty god of war is rather idly resting, representing no fighting spirit whatsoever. May be even asleep… which was not the idea in 1975-76. The club took measures to challenge the competition: the usual measures – foreign coach and players. On the surface, typical Greek enforcements for the time: fairly unknown foreigners – Bulgarian coach, Dobromir Zhechev; Brazilian striker – Barboza; and Yugoslavian player, Licanin. There was one more addition, quite mysterious and mirroring the Soviet transfer Iraklis made at the same time: Kostas Isakidis came from Bulgarian 1975 Cup winner Slavia (Sofia).

Top, left to right: Stifas (?), Spyridon, Papafloratos, Barboza, Pallas, Venos, Licanin, Balafas, Koumarias, Tzifopoulos, Papaioannou.
Sitting: Ananiadis, Stavridis, Firos, Ballis, Nalpantis, Kouis, Christidis, Drambis, Lazos, Papazoglou, Vardanis (?), Georgidis (?).
By Greek standards, not a bad squad – few national or at least fairly respected players: Firos, Pallas, Papaioannou, Papazoglou, Christidis. Two foreigners. One mystery: Ananiadis is usually listed as Hungarian, which means he was either ethnic Greek permitted to move ‘home’, or runaway who took Greek name. Unknown player in any case, but Greek football policies were Byzantine… take the new coach Dobromir Zhechev: what credibility had he? Before taking over Aris his coaching career was exactly 6 month long – an assistant coach of Levski-Spartak during the spring half of the 1974-75 season. He was part of the Bulgarian 1974 World Cup squad and was still playing in the fall of 1974. It is possible that Aris were thinking to use him as a player, not as a coach, but since Bulgarian players were not permitted to play abroad that meant Zhechev to become a refugee. Given his age, it was not worthy risk, even if Zhechev was agreeable – convincing UEFA and FIFA to permit him to play in Greece would have been lengthy, months at best. It was tempting to get experienced defender with 4 World Cup finals in his resume, but Zhechev was almost 33 years old and already did not play half a year. As for coaching… he clearly lacked experience.
The arrival of Kostas Isakidis was a scheme kept under cover. He was ethnic Greek born in Bulgaria and one of the new bright players Slavia introduced in 1974. The very young playmaker was arguably the most promising among Slavia’s ‘babies’ and already played for the national team of Bulgaria. Slavia won the Cup in 1975 and seemingly was destined to bigger success… then the season started and Isakidis was no longer in the team. Months passed until rumors were confirmed – he was in Greece. Apparently, not as a defector, but formalities took their tall and he was permitted to play for Aris in the spring of 1976.


Isakidis with Slavia in 1974-75.
The real intriguing part of this transfer is coincidence: Isakidis duplicated the transfer of Hadzipanagis – both were ethnic Greeks; both were very talented and included in the national teams of USSR and Bulgaria, both were young, both were transferred at the same time and to the same city. Yet, the countries of their birth did not transfer players to play professionally abroad. The truth will be probably hidden forever, but it looks like high state politics were at play and the players were just bargaining chips for something else. The players perhaps were entirely unaware of the big game, but they paid high price anyway: since both played for their homeland national teams, they had no chance playing for Greece. It is possible the Soviets instructed Bulgaria to play along; it is possible Bulgarian football officials just used Hadzipanagis’ precedent for their own purposes – onlyl speculations and nothing made clear to this very day. Mere coincidence? Unlikely.
The parallels stopped in Thessaloniki, though: Hadzipanagis became great star of Greek football, but not Isakidis – he kind of faded and disappeared from sight.
As far as Aris was concerned, all of the above helped them not – they won nothing and Zhechev was sacked at the end of the season. On a bigger scale it was different – Greek football was becoming better and more competitive: provincial teams were seemingly challenging the big Athenian clubs. Thessaloniki’s clubs were prime example – their combined performance was incredibly strong and they were not even the only fresh wind: bright newcomers were elbowing ahead as well – PAS Ioannina.
The club from the capital of Epirus region has confusing name – it is spelled ‘Giannina’, ‘Jiannina’, and ‘Ioannina’. Hard to tell which spelling is correct, but let’s settle on ‘Ioannina’ for now. As much as Greek hate to be compared to Turks, this club mirrors Trabzonspor – it was founded in 1966 after a merger of two small local clubs, just like the Turkish club. Then the new club quickly climbed through the leagues and appeared in the First Greek League in 1974 – the same year Trabzonspor won promotion. Solid midtable finish in their first season, shooting straight to the top the next year – PAS Ioannina finished 5th, seemingly on the verge of greater things. The strong performance was attributed mainly to six players, but here one enters the dark world of Greek football scheming… the mighty six players arrived from Argentina. To this very day both official and unofficial Ioannina sources maintain that the Argentines were of Greek descent. Half of them played under Greek names for the club, the rest – not, but none of the original names suggest Greek roots. Sober statisticians at RSSSF consider all of the bunch proper foreigners, some of them ‘Italo-Argentine’, but none clearly of Greek origins permitting ‘oriundi’ status (for that matter Isakidis is considered foreign player as well – because he played for the Bulgarian A-team, unlike Hadzipanagis). Very likely the club forged documents in order to speed up naturalization and thus be able to use the whole company (even the shady Greek rules generally followed the main European rules: only two foreign players on the pitch.) Whatever was cooked up, one thing is certain: the best years of PAS Ioannina were due to Oscar Marcelino Alvarez, Alfredo Glasmann, Edourdo Lisa, Juan Montez, Edouardo Rigani, and Sergio Espinoza. As for Greek roots… you be the judge. Rigani appeared under the name Kontogeorgakis and Glasmann became Glasmanis. None was well known player, but they were strong enough to elevate Ioannina – Alvarez was particularly impressive and caught the eye of Panathinaikos and was transferred in the summer of 1976. No matter – the rest five stayed and suddenly PAS Ioannina was forceful opponent.

PAS Ioannina getting ready for 1976-77 season – minus Alvarez, but with new coach, fresh from Aris (Thessaloniki): bottom row, left to right: Maipas, Espinoza, Demiris, Liakos, Papachristou, Kontogeorgakis (Rigani), Mantos, Tsourlidas, Hadziantoniou, Bretanos, Voiatzis.
Top: Dobromir Zhechev (Bulgaria) – coach, Seitaridids, Teodoridis (?), Hadzikapetanis, Montez, Christodoulou, Zisis, Glasmanis (Glasmann), Pantelidis, Kapsimalis, Lisa, Bagias, Grammeniatis, Karamanolakis (?) – assistant coach.
Not a single noticeable Greek player, but enough Argentine power to keep them going. By 1976 the foreign imports already had strong and positive impact on Greek football. The quality was increasing and the 1975-76 season suggested tougher, competitive future, further bettering the local game. However, it was a false alarm… the big Athenian three quickly restored the status quo and the provincial clubs were kept at bay once again. The Greeks still had to wait a few years until climbing up the steep ladder of European football – it was building time so far.

The Cup went to Thessaloniki as well – to Iraklis. Which begs the question which trophy was more important for the city in 1976 – the title or the Cup? To a point, PAOK are not entirely Thessalonikian club, they are exiled ‘outsiders’, temporarily sheltered by the city. One day, when Greece ‘recovers’ Constantinople, they will move back to their original home. So says the myth, nurtured by opponents… Iraklis, by contrast, is the oldest club in Thessaloniki. Founded in 1908, although the seeds were planted three years earlier. The original concoction was gymnastic club, named ‘Ottoman Hellenic Club of Thessaloniki – Iraklis’.
The all-sports club still exists and is popular as such. The football branch was established in 1908, developing somewhat independent existence and different logo:
It is named after the mythological hero-demigod Heracles or Hercules. Iraklis in Greek. As symbols go… the club colours are blue and white, patriotic to boot, for they are taken from the Greek national flag. As soon as Thessaloniki was no longer part of the Ottoman Empire, the original name was changed – the Ottoman reference was dropped; nationalism emphasized. Then again… those who hate Iraklis would be quick to point at the shameful past of ‘collaboration’ – it is past of ‘resistance’ to supporters, of course. The name suggest might, power, strength, the all-conquering Hercules performing miracles… but look at the logo: the guy is kind of tired and resting, is he not? The club performed no miracles – until 1976 it won precisely nothing. First success! And in the face not only of Athenians, but in the face of PAOK and even more hated Aris! The old boys were kind of fading already, the fan base dwindled to very modest numbers, if there was glory, it was entirely in long gone past and not at all related to football. A revival then? Just about time! It looked so anyway, for the club had money and appeared to be building a strong team. Iraklis got one of the best ever players in Greek football – and managed to keep him to the end of his career. It was very strange transfer: the new star came from USSR.
Vassilis Hadzipanagis came… and won! It was sudden transformation – with this boy Iraklis was suddenly a factor. By Greek standards, it was a big transfer – so far most foreign players were hardly known names even in their home countries. Hadzipanagis was a different story: considered one of the brightest young players in USSR since 1972, and already playing for the Olympic team, he was ‘famous’ when compared to the usual foreign players in Greece. His transfer was a mystery, however: the Soviets did not export players at all. Curiously, Vassily Hadzipanagis was not a Soviet citizen, although born there – the son of Greek Communists, taking refuge in USSR after the Greek Civil War following the end of the World War II, was born in Tashkent, and technically should have been Soviet by virtue of birthplace. Why he was not is unknown – his lack of proper citizenship was discovered when he was invited to the Soviet Junior national team, when he already was playing first division football with Pakhtakor (Tashkent). Hadzipanagis accepted to get Soviet citizenship then and eventually went as high as the Olympic team. Which was his undoing… how exactly Iraklis got interested in player from relatively obscure and far away Asian-based club is murky, but Hadzipanagis wanted to move to Greece as well. The Soviets tried to stop him – pointing out that playing for USSR is much, much better option than playing for Greece (true at the time), but there was apparently no big effort to keep the player: very likely his case was decided on Communist Party level – may be the Greek Communist Party asked the Soviet one and political good will won the day. ‘Good will’ may be not the right word, though… but never mind. Hadzipanagis went to Greece, joined Iraklis and became Vassilis. His contract was lucrative, yet restrictive – it was long-term and later the club refused offers from other Greek and foreign clubs, so Hadzipanagis spent his whole Greek career with Iraklis. Nowadays he is somewhat unhappy that he missed better opportunities, but there is no hard evidence he asked Iraklis for transfer when he was playing. As for the club, it was clever move with high value: Hadzipanagis provided entertainment and gathered crowds until his last playing day. The Greek Federation tried to outsmart FIFA and use the star in the national team, but FIFA was not fooled at all – ruling the match Hadzipanagis appeared with blue national team shirt illegal. Too bad for the player, for he was not able to play real international level football – but I doubt he was to be Soviet national player, if he stayed in USSR: Lobanovsky ruled back then.
Anyway, Hadzipanagis boosted Iraklis immediately: the team still finished at their usual mid-table position (8th) in the regular season, but won the Cup! First trophy! Now, imagine what is in the cards… just bring a few more good players to the new superstar! And watch out PAOK and Aris, intruders and impostors, the ‘old one’ is coming back with a vengeance – the true club of Thessaloniki.
And complete triumph for Thessaloniki in the bargain! May be…