The second 1976 championship was no fun either. The spring champions were… ‘also runs’ in the fall, finishing 6th. Once again, their attack was a disaster, scoring only 15 goals. Once again, the defense fared better, allowing only 13 goals. Once again hald the league scored same or more goals than Dinamo (Moscow). They were out of the championship race, not a contender. Ararat (Erevan), 2nd in the spring, outdid the champions, though: they finished 14th, escaping relegation with a victory in the last match of the season! Clearly, Markarov’s ‘revolution’ (defensive football) was bringing fruits… only one team received more goals than Ararat. The strong performance in the spring was an illusion – the Armenians were going into change of generations, the old mighty squad was retiring and there was not enough young talent to replace them. Plummeting into mediocrity was beginning… Shakhter (donetzk) also went down in the fall, but other clubs climbed high. In fact, only two clubs remained stable – Dinamo (Tbillisi) and Karpaty (Lvov), who ended at the same places as in the spring – 3rd and 4th, with Karpaty once again the best scoring team in the league. The fall champions were more than surprise: they came from nowhere – Torpedo (Moscow) finished 12th in the spring, with negative goal difference and appearing to be in trouble with their leaky defense and poor attack. If anything, their defense improved in the fall and Torpeado somewhat mirrored the Dinamo (Moscow) spring success – they clinched minimal wins, keeping their sheet clean (only 9 goals received – Dinamo allowed 8 in the spring) and scoring sparsely. And just like Dinamo (Moscow), 1976 was to be the last ‘great’ year for Torpedo – it was their 3rd and last title, the second won in distant 1965. Top, left to right: V. Shustikov – assistant coach, Yu. Zolotov – ‘disciplinary head coach’, G. Kamensky – administrator, Yu. Mironov, A. Zarapin, A. Degtyarev, V. Belousov, S. Prigoda, A. Elizarov, N. Khudiev, V. Buturlakin, V. Ivanov – head coach, A. Proyaev – team’s doctor, B. Alexandrov – physical coach, V. Petrov – masseur.
Bottom row: S. Grishin, V. suchilin, V. Yurin, V. Filatov, V. Sakharov, V. Kruglov, A. Belenkov, E. Hrabrostin, S. Petrenko.
The squad was less famous than Dinamo (Moscow) – just a few occasionally were invited to the national team, and as whole, were ‘second class’ players, so to say. Nothing surprising in that, for traditionally small Torpedo had no chance to recruit big names, but because of that they were traditionally tied and dependable squad. Their victory was much sweeter than the one of Dinamo – at least for me, for I like the underdog – but what if it was a normal season? Well, if spring and fall are combined (artificial combination, for the aims at the spring had nothing to do with those in the fall for many a club), strangely the only consistent clubs were to finish… 2nd and 3rd with 35 points each. Torpedo was to end 4th. Champions were to be Dinamo (Moscow) with 38 points. Such combination is telling only one thing: 1976 was very, very mediocre year for Soviet football – champions with barely 63% points out of the possible maximum! And Dinamo (Kiev) outside the top four places.
Consistency paid back in the Cup tournament: Ararat (Erevan), still riding their spring good form, reached the final, where they were meet Dinamo (Tbillisi). Since the spring was gone by the time the final was played, it became one-team show… the Georgians confidently destroyed their Armenian neighbours 3-0.
Ararat’s goalkeeper saved this ball, but he was unable to stop endless Georgian attacks.
It was triumph of attacking football and perhaps the only bright moment in 1976. Dinamo (Tbillisi) were fun. Creative, technical, entertaining, and scoring. No ‘but’ about them. First row, left to right: V. Koridze, A. Mudzhiri, V. Gutzaev, V. Kopaleyshvili, R. Chelebadze, Z. Tzereteli, D. Gogia, G. Machaidze.
Second row: N. Akhalkatzi – coach, N. Dzyapshipa – club’s chief, Sh. Hinchagashvili, D. Kipiani, N. Hizanishvili, M. Machaidze, P. Kanteladze, A. Chivadze, E. Ebralidze, M. Gogoshidze, S. Metreveli – assistant coach, E. Telia – team’s doctor, V. Chelidze.
This was the first, yet unfinished, great team built by Nodar Akhalkatzi: well known names, getting long in the tooth, along with bright youngsters. Skill was never a problem in Georgia; the problem was moodiness. The former was mainly the reason national team coaches turning their backs to Tbillisi – the fantastic winger (when mood striked him right) Gutzaev is perhaps the best example. But there was a new vintage which was to made lasting impression in USSR and Europe: Hinchagashvili, Manuchar Machaidze, Chivadze, and Kipiani. Especially David Kipiani! What a great player he was becoming. If there was hope for Soviet football, it was in the legs of the Georgians and their consistency in 1976 was a big promise for the future.

Changes in Hungary, but when it came to changes USSR had no equal: every season introduced new reform, only to be changed next year. 1976 was to have not one championship, but two separate ones – spring and fall ones, each with its own national champion. It was wild scheme, tailored to suit the national team. The national team? Well, Dynamo (Kiev) was made the ‘base’ of the national team officially, so in a way team USSR was to compete in the domestic league – a curious notion, bringing weird questions: if Kiev loses, is it a lousy national team? Or is it simply a case of unimportant ‘training’ of the national squad – but then what about Kiev fans? Are they to accept that their club is to play second fiddle by order? The roots of the experiment were international football – sheer climatic reasons dictate domestic season: spring-fall instead of European fall-spring. Thus, Soviet specialists grumbled for years that their players are in good form at the wrong time and therefore unable to achieve anything internationally. The 1976 was tailored to the needs of international games, both of the national team (which had to play ¼ finals – and hopefully more – for the European Championship and at the Olympic Games in the summer), Dinamo Kiev (participating in the European Champions Cup), and eventually other clubs. The last part an attempt to go in step with the rest of Europe – so far Soviet clubs of the year before qualified for European tournaments, according to the final table in late November. There was no telling in what shape such teams would be next year in September, when they were to launch their European campaign. So the spring champion of 1976 was to play in the UEFA Cup the same year and the fall champion was to be the Soviet participant in the next year Champions Cup – an experiment, which, if successful, may lead to some new general scheme, however difficult, for full restructuring of Soviet season was impossible. There was no way to move only First Division to fall-spring season – unless make it exclusive closed league: the general problem was relegations and promotions. And for 1976 nobody was to be relegated at the end of the spring season (when the Second Division was just in mid-season), but clubs were to go up and down at the end of the fall season (when Second Division was also finishing). The whole scheme seemed disjointed at best and with no apparent benefits. At the end of the year it was clear that there were no benefits whatsoever and the experiment was abandoned as every other from the last few years.
As a general observation, 1976 was a disappointment: the national team (Dinamo Kiev) underperformed, mildly said, at both European Championship and the Olympics. In the European Chmapions Cup same Dinamo Kiev was good only to reach ¼ finals and did not play at all – instead of the bright attacking football, capturing attention in 1975, the team of Lobanovsky returned to the old defensive Soviet style, with solitary striker – Blokhin. Domestically, Dinamo was even worse. At home, the massive failure was attributed to too many games and tournaments – hardly a plausible excuse, for Soviet players were still playing less matches than the leading West European players. Abroad, the bleak performance fueled new speculations of doping in 1975, for Dinamo players were more than a shadow of themselves, close to their usual performance before 1975. Whatever the reason was, Dinamo failed in 1976 on every level.
Particularly telling was their record in the spring championship: 5 wins, 5 ties, 5 losses, 14 – 12 goal difference, 15 points and mid-table 8th place. Note that Dinamo (Minsk), one of the finally relegated teams, was 9th in the spring just because of worse goal difference than Kiev. But they scored more goals than mighty Cup Winners Cup winners and practically the national team of USSR! In the fall, without international duties, Kiev played a bit better and finished 2nd with 18 points (6-6-3; 22-16). Not a great record either.
As a whole, the season was weird - the spring championship was hardly important for most of smaller clubs, for there was no fear of relegation. Zarya (Voroshilovgrad) was obviously in huge decline by now and finished last. Spartak (Moscow) was in trouble too – finishing 14th with meager record of 10 points. Torpedo (Moscow) was hardly better, ending 12th, however, with only a point less than Dinamo (Kiev). On top the picture was a bit more optimistic: Shakhter (Donetzk) was 5th, but with negative goal difference! Karpaty (Lvov) was 4th and Dinamo (Tbillisi) 3rd – goal difference decided who was to be 3rd and who – 5th. Ararat (Erevan) finished 2nd, a point above Dinamo (Tbillisi), and Dinamo (Moscow) was first – a surprise champion. Observers were lukewarm: it was noted that young coaches were pushing ahead – Akhalkatzi (Dinamo Tbillisi) and Markarov (Ararat), but some old hands were not to be dismissed – the return of Yust in Karpaty (Lvov) instantly improved the team. There was hardly some kind of new trend: Akhalkatzi essentially invigorated the traditional technical attacking brand of Georgian football. Eduard Markarov, a prolific striker and goal scorer just a year or two ago, now introduced… defense. His version of modern football was based on 5 defensemen, three central full-backs, which really a news in Erevan, formerly playing attacking game. As for Dinamo (Moscow)… lucky may be. The taste of victory was forgotten already – Dinamo hasn’t been champions since 1963! A revival? No… the ersatz 1976 spring title is – so far – the last for Dinamo.


Bottom, from left: G. Evryuzhikhin, A. Petrushin, O. Kramarenko, A. Shepel, A. Parov, A. Makhovikov, S. Nikulin, M. Gershkovich.
Top: I. I. Mozer – assistant coach, A. Bubnov, V. Pavlenko, V. Zenkov, A. Novikov, A. Yakubik, I. Gontar, O. Dolmatov, V. Losev, A. Kosmynin – team’s doctor, A. Maksimenkov, A. A. Sevidov – coach.
An old, experienced and revered coach and a squad, which can be best described as transitional – a few veterans, soon be out (Evryuzhikhin, Gershkovich, Yukubik) and a lot of promising, but inexperienced yet youngsters (Bubnov, Pavlenko, Losev, Nikulin, Parov). In 1976 Vadim Pavlenko was seen as the brightest hope – he soon faded, but others became stars, particularly Bubnov. From a distance, the squad is impressive – a good 11 players played for USSR at one or another time, but… no one became really great. Dolmatov and Maksimenkov already reached their limits and perhaps were the best description of the whole team: good, but not great and not able to improve. Strikers were already a problem: Shepel was brought exactly to improve the attack, but he failed just like he failed in Dinamo (Kiev). The champions ended with 17-8 goal difference. Strong defense, surely, but 17 goals scored in 15 matches tells that attack was not the forte of the team – 8 other teams scored the same or more goals, half the league!

Football is never certain when observed – new champions are what? A momentary miracle, or change of guard with long-lasting consequences? One does not even to be confused by opposing camps – one’s mind is uncertain all by itself… just a year ago Ferencvaros looked hopeless and Ujpesti Dosza almost great. Not so in the summer of 1976… for Ferencvaros won a double! Both the Hungarian championship and the Cup. Ujpesti Dosza slipped to 3rd place in the final table and Fradi fans were more than happy: the violet yoke ended and how! Ferencvaros won its first title since 1968, a long years of waiting and suffering the monopoly of Ujpesti Dosza. Great for the fans, but was it a beginning of new era? Hard to tell – Ferencvaros surely suffered a long and painful decline, largely due to change of generations. The young squad reaching – and pathetically losing – the Cup Winners Cup final in 1975 was clearly inexperienced. Meantime it was obvious that the days of Ujpesti Dosza have to end soon – 7 titles in a row, yet, won by one and the same squad, which was getting older with every next year.
The inevitable seemingly happened: the Fradi gained experience, matured in a way, when the Lilak were nearing retirement… and Ferencvaros came back with a vengeance and looked like they were going to dominate Hungarian football for some time.

The team certainly looked solid, with room for improvement – veterans like Geczi, Juhasz, Muha, and Branikovics were to step down soon, but it was no longer a matter of generational change, but only of fine tuning: the skeleton of solid champions was already in place – Magyar, Pusztai, Martos, Rab, Megyesi… and most importantly the brilliant Laszlo Balint, in his prime, and the young bright midfielder Tibor Nyilasi, arguably, the last truly great Hungarian player. With them Ferencvaros had the edge for the years to come – Ujpesti Dosza had to enter transitional period and to suffer some decline. Predictions… tainted by doubts as well, for it looked like Hungary settled into duopoly and generally insignificant pool of talent. Any other hopeful signs? May be MTK (Budapest). Great past, but MTK lost its importance quite long time ago – like Ferencvaros, the old ‘Jewish club’ won its last trophy in 1968 – the Hungarian Cup. Unlike Ferencvaros, MTK won nothing in 1976 – they managed only to reach the Cup final , which they lost 0-1. But it looked like improvement – they finished 6th in the championship and added cup final as well. Were they to restore some of their old glory? Were they to become a challenger and not merely terciary Budapestian club, struggling for forth place in the city’s ranking with another faded oldtimers – Vasas (by mid-70s the giant of the 1950s – Honved – more or less occupied third position, with Czepel sinking to the bottom of the pool of ‘big’ Budapest clubs)?
MTK looked good somehow – with players getting ‘second wind’, yet, better then what the club had a few years earlier. May be, may be…


Top, from left: Szigeti, Palicsko, Csetenyi, Nyiro, Burg, Gaspar.
Bottom: Takacs, Kovacs, Koritar, Kiss, Kunszt.
Revival for MTK? Well, it was not ‘pure’ MTK anymore, but a merger – in 1975 MTK fused with VM into MTK-VM. It lasted for a while.
Along with the old boys, another, younger, club showed claws: Videoton (Szekesfehervar). The provincial boys had different names in their earlier years, but since 1968 they were renamed after their sponsor – electrical goods manufacturer. Thoroughly industrial by name, and with solid financing, they were to become strong team in the 1980s – 1976 was just a first spark of life, not even taken seriously, for provincial clubs were one-time wonders in Budapest-dominated Hungary.

Runners-up in 1976 and with even better things to come, but – so far – this is the best domestic achievement of Videoton.
At the bottom of the league there was joy: the Hungarian Federation decided to extend the League to 18 teams for the next season and there were no relegations in 1976. Lucky outsiders.

The world was more inclined to point at the bottom of the Polish league: Stal (Rzeszow) and Polonia (Bytom) were relegated and who were they? Arka (Gdynia) and Odra (Opole) were promoted. And who were they?

Arka (Gdynia) in 1974-75, when they were relegated to the Second Division.
Same boys coming back one year later… Let’s pause a minute in contemplation… Arka went up 1973; down in 1975; up in 1976… replacing Stal (Rzeszow), who won promotion in 1975, only to be relegated in the next season. If the top of Polish football was shaky, the lower levels looked like a disaster. May be the miracle of 1974 was just that: a miracle?

Just like East Berlin in DDR, Warsaw did not play major role in Polish football. Polish football continued to be ‘decentralized’, lacking dominant ‘big’ clubs. But with the stellar rise of the Polish national team since 1972, the club situation was baffling: strong national team, yet not a single club becoming really strong – even the East Germans had concentrated their best players in 4-5 clubs, but the Poles did not. One result was signs of decline detected by 1976 – aging players retiring, going abroad, or simply over the hill, and hardly any new exciting youngsters. The finger was pointed at Kazimierz Deyna – one of the best players at the 1974 World Cup was rapidly fading away in the opinion of many an observer. Correspondingly, his club Legia (Warsaw) was far below the top spots – it finished 8th in 1975-76. Legia (Warsaw) – presumably, a ‘big’ name. Top row from left: Kazimierz Deyna, Tadeusz Nowak, Tadeusz Cypka, Boguslaw Kwapisz, Leslaw Cmikiewicz, Leslaw Kedzia, Zbigniew Karwoski.
Middle: Lucjan Brychczy, Adam Topolski, Henryk Bialas, Marian Nowacki, Wladyslaw Dobrowski, Ignacy Ordon – assistant coach, Andrzej Streilau – coach, Ressler – administrator(?).
Bottom: Waldemar Tuminski, Jerzy Jagiello, Zbigniew Nowacki, Marian Lachowski, Piotr Mowlik, Mariusz Lisowski, Jan Pieszko, Ryszard Milewski.
Meantime the closest to a ‘superclub’ the Poles ever had – Gornik (Zabrze) of the late 1960s – was the prime example of inability to produce strong replacements: old stars retired or went abroad (the last so far – Lubanski), and although the club still had big names (Gorgon and Szarmach), it was not a strong club anymore. And Ruch (Chorzow) was seemingly taking the perilous path of Gornik, with older players heading mainly to France. Ruch ended 4th and Gornik – 9th – in 1975-76. From a distance, the picture was somewhat different: a championship of relatively equal clubs, entertainingly unpredictable. Champions reigned for one season… it looked like tough, competitive league, and in its own way it was. However, outside Poland the clubs were quickly destroyed – the European tournaments were the real test, which Polish clubs failed year after year. So, the true meaning of the Polish league was rather equality in weakness, not in strength, and the results rather support this conclusion: the 1975-76 champion of the country was decided on goal difference! The points of the top two clubs were indicative as well – in 30 games, they got only 38 points! This is barely above 50% from an ideal total of 60 points, hardly suggesting strength. The team finishing second – GKS Tychy – ended with goal difference of only +4 goals (38-34)!
It may be exciting to see a club founded in 1971 to fight for the championship in 1975-76, but… given the age of the club and the fact it had no noticeable players, it looked like just sheer luck, chancy performance thanks to the weakness of others, rather than real strength. Were the champions better than? Winning on goal difference… which was no brainer, for +4 is hardly winning number. Champions, unable to get above 5-years old club even by a point… not convincing.
Which never matters for the champions themselves – in this case, Stal (Mielec). Their second title! And – fair is fair – those were the best years of the club – they finished second the previous year. And reached the Cup final in 1976 as well.

Stal was harvesting the fruits of the talented team built in the early 1970s – these were pretty much the same guys, winning the championship in 1973, and to a point were representative of what a winning Polish team was: a skeleton of classy players, completed with experienced second-stringers. The ‘winning formula’ was experience: the team playing long enough together and thus better amalgamated than others in a given year. Stal’s ‘skeleton’ was good enough for success: Zygmunt Kukla between the goalposts, increasingly getting better, and already on the verge of becoming national player; Krzysztof Rzesny, occasional national player, in defense; Henryk Kasperczak, getting very close to a real star by 1976 and voted Player of the Year in a recognition, ruled in midfield; and Grzegorz Lato, who was pretty much the superstar of Polish football by 1976, in attack. True, there were two players of note – Jan Domarski, the centre-forward, who was part of the great 1974 World Cup squad, and the left winger Witold Karas, who almost made the national team in 1974. But both were declining by now in contrast to Kasperczak and especially Lato. By now even the role of Lato was changing: he was the leading player of the national team of Poland, operating on wider field and increasingly involved in playmaking, no longer the speedy consumer on the right wing, who had to be fed with balls. Kasperczak was flourishing as well and if the two stars were not enough to preserve the deadly reputation of the national team, they were enough to clinch a second title for Stal (Mielec).
Since Lato was considered among the biggest world stars at the time, it was baffling that he stayed with obviously small club with no great future. The ‘why’ was answered the same way then as now: Lato was loyal to his club. He was also handsomely paid… and saw no reason to move to ‘bigger’ Polish club, for at the time it was not much of a change anyway – the stronger Polish clubs at that time belonged not to ‘great’ cities, but to smoggy industrial towns. Mielec was of this kind as well. Besides, there were no great clubs… it was the same ‘skeleton’ model as in Mielec. It was easy to remain loyal when there is no better option really. The hometown had the means – and the smarts - to pay plenty to three-four players, so even money would not be better elsewhere. Lato stayed until he went to play abroad, but respect to him: it is so easy to stop developing in such circumstances. Lato and Kasperczak resisted the temptation to be local stars fading into lazy life: they were getting better players instead, stars on the pitch, not in the pub.
Yet, even with them Stal was not strong enough – they won the title, but lost the Cup.
Stal met Slask (Wroclaw) at the final and after receiving two unanswered goals went home to enjoy a single, not a double.
Slask (Wroclaw) won their very first trophy. Like GKS Tychy, Slask were relatively young Polish club, a product of the Communist system: they were founded in 1947 and were Army club. Typically East European scheme? May be… but so far Slask did not win anything at all. Unlike GKS Tychy, they were not to be one-time wonder – the Cup signified their rise to real prominence. Slask was to stay among the top Polish clubs in the following years, already having built its own ‘skeleton’: the goalkeeper Zygmunt Kalinowski, the great libero Wladyslaw Zmuda, Roman Faber, and Janusz Sybis. Front row, from left: Jacek Wisniewski, Janusz Sybis, Krzystof Jarosz, Mieczyslaw Olesiak, Jan Erlich, Zygmunt Kalinowski, Roman Faber, Tadeusz Nowakowski.
Standing: Zbigniew Dlugosz, Krzystof Karpinski, Tadeusz Pawlowski, Henryk Kowalczyk, Marian Balcerczak, Wladyslaw Zmuda, Zygmunt Gawlowski.
So far the fresh Cup winners hardly registered as a team: Kalinowski was reserve goalie of the 1974 Polish team, not playing a single minute, and by 1976 was rarely considered a national team option. Faber was kind of ‘also run’ in terms of national team; Sybis’ days were yet to come (but not exactly remembered, when they did), and Zmuda was more of ‘one of the 1974 team’ than a star on his own right – he was to become famous a few years later. Actually, Zmuda was still referred as ‘Zmuda II’ – ‘Zmuda I’ was the coach of Slask, weirdly having the same name as the player – both named Wladyslaw Zmuda. Since the coach was the mastermind of the team, the player was to be more or less one of the creations, hence, ‘second’ at best. At the end, Zmuda I deserves his good reputation: he already formed the ‘skeleton’ of Slask and now it was time to enjoy results – the first one was the Polish Cup. Joy in Wroclaw; nothing much to the world.

DDR on the other hand stuck – by 1976 the pattern was settled and quite peculiar: no outstanding favorite, but a group of 5 clubs competing year after year. Four were constant – Dynamo (Dresden), Carl Zeiss (Jena), 1. FC Magdeburg, and Lokomotive (Leipzig). The fifth club varied, but Dynamo (East Berlin) was increasingly consistent, although not yet a contender. Among the constant four, Dynamo (Dresden) and somewhat better than the rest and Lokomotive (Leipzig) the weakest. Yet, there was no great club in East Germany, and this combined with small league hided the supremacy of the top five: it was invisible by surveying the table alone – points did not show a divide. It was becoming clear only when looking at all final tables since 1970.
There was one more peculiarity: DDR was the only East European country where Army and Police clubs did not rule domestic football – Dynamo (Berlin) was not even seen as potential champion yet, and Forwarts (the Army club) was champion in 1969 for the last time. Since then the club sharply declined and was not even in Berlin any longer, but in Frankfurt Oder since 1971. Hardly a real relation, yet a curious similarity nevertheless: the decline of Forwarts mirrored the decline of CSKA (Moscow) – both Army clubs seized playing major role since 1970 and never restored leading positions (the fall of the Communist system is the marker – CSKA recovered since 1990; Forwarts disappeared altogether). As for Police-sponsored football – Dynamo (Berlin) was building strength, but so far hasn’t win a single championship.
Perhaps those were the best years of East German football, if results are the whole indicator: World Cup finals in 1974; Magdeburg Cup Winners Cup winner in 1974; DDR becoming Olympic champion in 1976 – these achievements were never to be repeated, but so far it looked like East German football was on the rise. And Dynamo (Dresden) finished first in the spring of 1976 – their third title. Sitting, left to right: Watzlich, Hafner, Kotte, Urbanek, Boden, Sachse, Heider, Helm, Richter.
Standing: Dorner, Schmuck, Kreische, Ganzera, Schade, Weber, Lichtenberger, Muller, Riedel.
The squad was representative for both the success of the ‘top 5 clubs’ and the coming troubles for East German football: best players were concentrated in those clubs, making them dominant. 13 players of this squad played for the national team – a very serious number, and also unmatched by any other club at the time. But the best players of the country happened to be practically one generation… most of them were slightly over 25 years of age by 1976 and had many years to play yet, but they also reached the limit of their abilities – yes, they harvested the fruits of their labour, but the 1976 Olympics was also their swan song. No significant new talent was elbowing its way and stagnation was in the air – the best East German generation was strong enough to become legendary at home, yet not a single player became international star. For Dynamo (Dresden) this season was perhaps their best ever as well: they won 19 out of total 26 matches, losing only 2. They scored astonishing 70 goals, having the best defense as well, allowing only 23 balls to end in their net. Dresden finished 6 points ahead of the second placed Dynamo (Berlin).
Lokomotive (Leipzig) won the Cup, beating Forwarts (Frankfurt Oder) 3-0.
If anything, Lokomotive were establishing themselves as ‘cup’ club – they always fell short of really contesting championship, but they flourished at the cup tournaments. It was decent squad, yet, of lesser pedigree than Dresden: it was sturdy team, lead by the national team players Wolfram Lowe, Henning Frenzel, Joachim Fritsche, and Manfred Geisler. Kuhn, Altmann, Friese, Roth, Sekora, Grobner completed the team – a bunch of promising youngsters and well respected older guys, but in the big picture – second-best players, just a bit under the stars of East German football. Which explains why they were good at cup tournaments, but not league-champions material.
At the bottom of the Oberliga were Chemie (Leipzig), stronger club once upon a time, and Energie (Cottbus) dead last. Hansa (Rostock) and 1. FC Union (Berlin) were promoted, after winning the 5-club promotional tournament between the winners of the 5-leagued Second Division. From present day standpoint, curious names: since the German Unification Hansa (Rostock) and Energie (Cottbus) are arguably the most successful former East German clubs, given their steady performance in the First and Second Bundesliga. Both clubs were small fry in DDR… as well as Union (Berlin). ‘True” Berliners never wormed up to the Communist clubs of Army and Police, and Forwarts had to be even relocated elsewhere. But ‘true’ Berliners had no chance of supporting the ‘true’ Berliner club – Hertha was out of reach in West Berlin. In spite, ‘true’ Berliners supported Union… aware of that, the rulers of the country kept Union down. The club had no official support and no big sponsors – without means, Union normally played in second division. Promotion to the Oberliga was a heroic achievement, although the club clearly had no chance of even establishing itself among the best. If anything, at least East Berlin restored itself among the big European capitals: in football terms, that means a city with more than one club playing in First division. May be so, but East Berlin was not playing central role in East German football so far.

Tiny signs of recovery in Romania, but also in Austria. Once again, it was restoration of the power of traditional favorites, in the Austrian case the clubs from Vienna – Austria and Rapid. It is always questionable whether returned dominance of traditional big clubs is a sign of improvement, or a sign of stagnation, but long suffering Austrian football at least appeared stabilized: the small reorganized league was seemingly more competitive. 10 clubs, playing four times against each other provided plenty of games and generally better quality. Financial troubles were not really solved and the problem with overall quality remained: the Second League just did not seem to be a provider of stable clubs – it consisted of largely little known clubs, hardly attractive to potential sponsors. Old club, yet quite faded by now – First Vienna FC won the Second Division and the single promotion to First Division. Austria Klagenfurt was relegated – the exchange was hardly an improvement, but at least the other 9 clubs in the Bundesliga appeared stable… and somewhat eternal, considering what was coming from below. Between themselves, the ‘eternal’ possessed whatever pool of talent Austria had, a small pool indeed, but there were exciting young players around, bringing some hopes for the future. In the effort to attract public the Austrians turned even into the new fad, gaining popularity in Europe – indoor football:

Rapid (Vienna) – Austria (Klagenfurt) in January? Only indoors… it was not yet futsal, but its precursor. Stadl scores attractive goal for Klagenfurt… if only they were able to score on real pitch, they were not to be relegated, but they were not that good on grass.

On grass it was different story… struggle in the fog. Rapid (Vienna) once again on the receiving end – this time in the ‘small’ derby with Admira-Wacker (Vienna), but the unhappy goalie Antrich eventually brightened up – Rapid won at the end.
Which was good enough for third place at the final table. Swarovski-Wacker (Innsbruck) finished second and Austria (Vienna) were champions with 7 points lead, impressive 21 wins, and 77 goals scored against only 29 received – the best numbers in the league. It was the first title for Austria since 1970 and their 11th altogether.


As the team goes, it was strong enough by Austrian standards: Josef and Robert Sara, Felix Gasselich, and Hans Pirkner provided class, but three other players were more important – very likely the Uruguayan imports Julio Cesar Morales (striker) and Alberto Martinez (midfielder) really made the difference. Both came to Austria in 1973, from famous clubs – Morales from Nacional and Martinez from Penarol, and both stayed with Austria for years, thus supplying quality and stability. Morales was the most famous foreign player in Austria by far: he played for Uruguay at the 1970 World Cup and won the Intercontinental Cup with Nacional in 1971. Along with them was rapidly developing a new star – Herbert Prohaska (sitting first from right above), playing since 1972, yet only 21 years old in 1976. On his way of becoming major European star, Prohaska is a key player of the brief revival of Austrian football, which started pretty much in 1976, and the central figure of the strong Austria Vienna team of the second half of the 1970s.
Arch-rivals Rapid suffered longer than Austria – they won their last title long time ago – in 1968, and after that only one measly Cup in 1972. This season they were still not good for anything better than 3rd place in the league, but won the Cup – their 9th.

As a squad, they were less impressive than Austria – Kienast and Persidis provided contemporary quality; 30-years old August Starek supplied experience, after years playing for Bayern (Munich). The German touch was reinforced by the imports: Emil Krause and Herbert Gronen. West Germans, but… nobody ever heard of them, so it was German influence just on principle. Yet, Rapid had a real star on the making, just like Austria (Vienna) – Hans Krankl. Krankl in action. He was already detected in Europe – prolific goalscorer already. He was 23 years old and real international fame was still in the future, but he was already a star in Austria.
As a whole, Austrian clubs were not that great, but Prohaska and Krankl promised better years ahead. It was not an empty promise – Austrian football gradually got strength, a revival already started. Small steps so far, but steps nevertheless.