If anything, Inter (Bratislava) provides some useful information about the organization of Czechoslovak football: it was a factory club and there were many more like Inter. Clear distinction between factory and ordinary clubs is probably impossible – industry was ‘sponsoring’ many, many clubs in the Eastern Europe. Yet, there were clubs entirely belonging to industrial enterprises – thus, Inter Slovnaft was the official name when Slovan was not clearly belonging to particular industry. Other clubs did not have any other name but the one of their ‘owners’ – Skoda (Plzen), LIAZ (Jablonec) – both belonging to automotive industry; Zbrojovka (Brno) – military industry. Specific plants, not general industry or ministry, so once again it is tough to judge: the names may have been disguised advertisement in times when direct advertisement was prohibited (rather, unthinkable) in the Communist world. Well, there was no problem to put ‘Skoda’ on the shirts of team called Skoda… the logo is the same as on the cars manufactured by Skoda, but so what? Same factory, same club, same names, same logos… you see the club and you are reminded of the cars. Very usefull, especially when playing abroad. Do you need Zbrojovka rifle?
On the surfice, it looked logical giant factories to be able to provide enough money for strong football teams, but it was – strangely – rarely the case. Factory clubs were not playing first fiddle in Czechoslovakian football and often were quite miserable. The bottom of the 1975-76 table was occupied by two of those.
LIAZ (Jablonec) finished 15th.
A prime example of advertisement which is not advertisement: LIAZ on the shirts. The name of the club, though… Unlike the heavy trucks made in Jablonec, the team was weak. Rudolf Svoboda was the only player of some fame – he played a few matches for the national team, which is interesting trivia – Svoboda was allowed to play unshaved for Czechoslovakia in times when beards were not tolerated even in ‘liberal’ Communist countries.
TZ Trinec finished 16th and last, 4 points behind LIAZ. TZ stands for ‘Trineckych Zelezaren’ – a metallurgy firm, producing steel, and still exicting today. Main sponsors of the football club, yet, not so directly as LIAZ in Jablonec. Like LIAZ, there was one good player in the squad – Miroslav Paurik, who played now and then for the national team. Like LIAZ, TZ Trinec bounced between First and Second Division, somewhat more at home with the lower tier, where they were going once again.
LIAZ and TZ Trinec were relagetad and replaced by unusual pair: Sparta (Prague) was returning to First Division after a brief exile (until 1975 Sparta was the only Czechoslovakian club never tasting the grounds of Second Division). The other club was complete newcomer: VP Frydek-Mistek won promotion for very first time in their history.

There isn’t anything worthy about the squad, but these guys were yet another factory club – VP is the abbreviation of ‘Valcovny Plechu’, a mill, which also exists today, however, in dire finacial straights. Back in 1976, it was shiny picture indeed – going up, up, up… to the envy of the other club from Frydek-Mistek – Slezan – which was miserable in Third Division.
The newly promoted clubs completed the braking of Slovakian yoke – both were Czech clubs. Championship, Cup, Second Division winners – all Czech this year. The tide was turning. As for VP Frydek-Mistek, the future was not to be particularly bright – they were relegated the next season, never to return to First Czechoslovakian Division again. So, 1975-76 season was their best year ever.

Slovan (Bratislava) ended second in both championship and Cup, which can be seen as disappointing season for the club providing half the national team of the European champions. May be tired? May be approaching crisis? Slovan was not finished yet, but failed to win a trophy this season. Third finished long-suffering Slavia (Prague) – one of their best seasons in the 1970s, but oppressed or not, Slavia was notoriously unpredictable – a strong season was followed by near collapse; then up again, and so on.
A point behind Slavia finished once upon a time mighty Dukla (Prague) – 4th place was not bad by now and looked like the Army club was gaining strength again. As a whole, it was Czech season signaling the end of Slovak dominance. But it was not the end of Slovaks yet – they were still strong and here is one of their lesser known, but particularly strong clubs of the 1970s: Inter (Bratislava). They finished 6th, six points bellow the champions – not bad at all, for they were quite close and competitive. Inter were pretty much among top 5-6 clubs during the decade, although never strong enough to win a title.
And who were they anyway?


The club was founded in 1940 as SK Apollo by the Apollo refinery. A factory club, but formed during ‘peculiar time’, which made it ripe for annihilation once the Communists took over. The club survived, however, and the same refinery – renamed into Slovnaft – continued to finance the club. The club went through various names – TKNB, Sokol, Cervena Hviezda – until it was merged with Iskra in 1965 and became Inter. The full name is Internacional, most often with attached Slovnaft to it, as well as in their logo, but is commonly known as Inter. Why Inter? History is silent about that, but I suspect a little game: the name came in 1965, when the first winds of the ‘Prague Spring’ were starting blowing. The name is a wink somewhat: it refers immediately to two quite different things – the mighty Internacional (Milan) and the Communist Internacional. It is suspect name, for it suggests ‘Western influence’, but also is not a name to be dismissed easily, for it would be an attack on huge Communist symbol. And the name remained. However, Inter remained the smaller club of Bratislava too – well behind Slovan in popularity, influence, and money. Inter won the Czechoslovakian championship in 1959 – their only title ever – but were constant and quite strong members of the First Division.
Sixth in 1975-76 season, their usual upper-mid-table position. The squad? Typical for a club in the shadows cast by mighty neighbours: players no longer needed by Slovan, or not fitting into Slovan’s designs. Well known veterans like Zlocha. Young guns like Mraz, Barmos (who became a solid national team player), Sajanek. The key players were Ladislav Petras and Ladislav Jurkemik, both national players for years and part of the squad winning the European Championship. Jurkemik, 22 years old by now, was yet to play and play for Czechoslovakia, but Petras was old hand – he played at the 1970 World Cup and scored the Czechoslovakian goal against Brazil. After scoring Petras run widely across the pitch, making the sign of the cross – unusual gesture in 1970, and even more unusual for a player from a Communist state. I wonder what the ‘officials’ told him after the match… must have been some outrage, for he disappeared from the national team for awhile. But it was time for changing generations anyway, so it is hard to tell was he punished or not. He played strong football, though, and was invited again.
Anyway, Inter contributed to the Slovak dominance of the early 1970s and were not a bad team at all. But… they were doomed by their predicament: Slovan was the local giant.

To place Czechoslovakian club football is a risky affair: it was not the most exciting championship in Europe. But CSSR became European champion in 1976 with guts and class. Was it better domestic championship than the Yugoslavian one? At par with, say, Portugal, France, Holland, Belgium? May be yes, may be no… To my mind, the Czechoslovaks played pleasant, mellow, and pretty much fair domestic championships in the 1970s. With good players spread throughout the league, the championships were intriguing. There were not – or not any more – state-supported ‘giants’. Or, at least there were no obvious giants dominating year after year. However, Slovak teams ruled. The strong performance of the national team was an international surprise, but there was a surprise at home as well: Banik (Ostrava) won the 1975-76 championship.
It was the first Czech club to win the title since 1967! Czechs won, but still not a club from the capital Prague… so far, Bratislava had the edge – Slovan finished second and Slavia (Prague), the best placed club from Prague – third. So the Czech title was more or less only a half-revenge, braking the Slovak ‘yoke’, but still Prague was left empty-handed.
As for the new champions, they were really new… the club from the Sileasian city of Ostrava was not new, of course: it was founded in 1922. In general, they performed well and constantly among the better Czechoslovakian clubs. They considered Sparta (Prague) their arch-rivals, something probably lost in Prague, where internal derbies like Slavia – Sparta, or either club vs Dukla,carried real weight, along with inter-city rivalry with Bratislava and particularly with Slovan. Anyhow, Banik were increasingly getting stronger in the 1970s and after winning the Cup in 1973, they added new triumph in 1976 – their very frist title!
The squad was solid and typical for the 1970s: a few stars, often included in the national team: Lubomir Knapp, Rostislav Vojacek, Libor Radimec, Pavel Michalik. A bunch of well respected league players – Micka, Huml, Klement, Albrecht. Well balanced, experienced team, a contender, but hardly a squad capable of monopolizing the championship. Banik clinched the title without dominating: 6 other teams scored more goals than the champions; one club had better defence than theirs; three clubs finished with more wins, but Banik ended with least losses – one point above second-placed Slovan and 2 points better than the next two teams. May be they were more lucky than strong, but let’s not spoil the party. Most importatntly, Banik were not one-time wonder – they played strongly for a few years now, and were to stay among the top Czechoslovakian clubs.
The season had more bitter gifts in store for the Slovak clubs: the Cup went to the Czechs as well, and in interesting fashion too – Sparta (Prague), hailing from the Second Division, won both legs of the final – 3-2 and 1-0. Slovan (Bratislava) ended second in both championship and Cup – signifying change of guard: Czech football was in strong recovery. For suffering Sparta, humiliated by relegation the year before, winning the Cup was precious – the old ‘grand’ club was rapidly coming back (they also won the Second Division and returned to top flight.)
Sitting, from left: Ondracek (?) – chief of team, Bohumil Vesely, Stratil, Nevrly (?), Smistik (?), Melichar, Caudr (?), Palka (?), Uhrin – coach.
Middle row: Houdek (?), Stransky, Kotec, Kislinger, Postulka (?), Urban, Kotal (?), Rosicky.
Top row: Busek (?), Sandor (?), Vlcek (?), Chovanec, Klement, Cermak, Maier (?), Vdovjak (?).
Well, Sparta collected her 7th Cup coming out from Second Division, but the squad above is actually the one for 1976-77 season. To a point, it shows what was wrong with Sparta – painful change of generations. The great team of the 1960s was either changed late or insufficiently. Bohumil Vesely still remained from the golden years, but meantime players like Kislinger, Stransky, Melichar, Urban were the main bulk. Players, who were far from great, yet good enough to be trusted… they were no winners and the team stuck. Stratil, Chovanec, Cermak were promising better future, but the team was still unfinished, still in transition, and still dominated by middle of the road players – Jiri Klement arrived from Banik (Ostrava), for instance. Fresh from the champion squad, but hardly a star player. Coaching was unsettled question too – little known people coached Sparta in the Second Division, but young Dusan Uhrin was hired for 1976-77 – he was still years away from fame, and judging by his experience with Sparta, hardly a great coach, for he was sacked in mid-season. Sparta was still shaky… but don’t blame Uhrin for that: this is the first team he coached, he was just starting his career, and it is easy to be impatient and heavy-handed with beginners. Not made yet, but on the road to recovery, Sparta.

Rangers won both cups for a treble this year, a significant achievement, unless one looks at the attendance… Cup finals are usually well attended in Scotland and the numbers taken just by themselves are impressive: 58, 806 fans saw the League Cup final between Rangers and Celtic. The Scottish Cup final – Rangers vs Heart of Midlothian – draw 85, 250 fans! Well, consider this – by 1976 around Europe attendance was becoming large concern – it was rapidly decreasing. Scottish numbers were very high… and very low, when compared to attendance just three years ago, when over 122,000 people went to see the Scottish Cup final. In 1969 the number was over 132, 000! But never mind – Rangers grabbed both cups and Protestants were in the erthy paradise.
The Catholics were in misery… hopefully purgatory, and not hell… Celtic was good enough only for League Cup final, lost 0-1. No comfort… and emptyhanded. A lost final is practically nothing at all for a club like Celtic and its fans.

The stars of the great Celtic of the 60s retired, age is age… and transition was so far painful. May be it was their haircuts… remember that the longer the hair, the better the player during the 1970s? Well, not enough long hairs here, so may be next year.
Of course ‘next year’ was the consolation of the other losing finalist, but they were not Celtic. For Heart of Midlothian reaching the Scottish Cup final was quite good: the Hearts were desperate for something like success – they lifted a trophy for the last time in 1963, when they won the League Cup. Since then – absolutely nothing, not even among the top three in the championship after 1964. So, this was their best season since 1963, although they lost the final 1-3.


Sitting, from left: Gibson, Aird, Shaw, John Haggart – manager, Busby, Park, Prentice.
Second row: Gallacher, Brown, Callachan, Hay (?), Burrell, Cruickshank, Murray, Jefferies, Clunie, Kay, Fraser.
They may call themselves ‘The heart and soul of Edinburgh’, but… were on slippery slope already and the occasional leap to a cup final was not going to help. The squad featured some legends… club legends, that is, for when it came to the national team, Hearts players were hardly given a though. But Jim Cruickshank, Donald Ford, Drew Busby were the stars of the club… Cruickshank managed 6 caps; Ford played a total of three matches for Scotland, and Busby – none! Nice team, but if one thinks kit… otherwise a lost cup final was the most to brag about.

If the Swiss were going to reform their league football for the 1976-77 season, the Scots went into reorganizing in the summer of 1975 and the first results were present by the summer of 1976. No more two divisions, but three, although the number of the professional clubs remained the same – 38. No more classic First Division either – now the top flight was called ‘Scottish Premier Division’, as if the name change would elevate the quality… 10-club league, every team playing 4 times against any other opponent. Thus, there were more league games – 36 instead of the old 34. The new scheme aimed to remedy chronic ills: small gates, low quality of most games, financial troubles, aging stadiums, and inequality – in performance terms – between the best two and most of the rest. Form today’s standpoint, the reform was hardly a success… it is still duopoly, Celtic and Rangers. It is still quite boring championship. It is still financially unstable league. One thing the Scots had no way to change: their players generally moved to English clubs as soon as they could. The grand exodus of talent practically precluded any attempts to reform domestic football – and the reform could be seen more as an attempt to merely preserve the sport, to find a way to survive, not to really improve. And the first season of the new Premier Division hardly brought anything optimistic… the difference between the first and the last teams was 43 points! And those were still the years when a win gave 2 points, not three. Very likely this was the biggest gap between first and last finishers in Europe – so much for increasing quality and competitiveness. The usual suspects were still at the top – Celtic, who finished second, were good 5 points ahead of the third placed Hibernian. But that was just about everything Celtic managed to achieve, for their archrivals Glasgow Rangers won all trophies – championship and both cups. Hardly a surprise, since Rangers had the best squad by far – and pretty much the same as the year before. Their championship campaign was more than confident: they left Celtic 6 points behind.
By Scottish standards, impressive team, with Parlane, McCloy, Forsyth, Jardine, Greig… to name a few. However, the same guys from 1974-75 – and perhaps those, who English clubs were not very keen of… hardly a compliment.
The dubious ‘honor’ of finishing last in the first season of the Premier Division went to St. Johnstone, a miserable team, collecting only 11 points and truly hopeless, for the next lowest record was 32 points. St. Johnstone were relegated – an unfortunate occasion, for they had nice kit.
The first champions of the new First Division (the Second Scottish Division really) were Partick Thistle. The promotion actually returned them to top flight, where they have been administratively expulsed from the year before – because of the reduction of the new top league. Their names are hard to read… but let say that nothing is missed because of anonymity… except for Alan Hansen, but this would be the story of Liverpool, not Partick Thistle.
This would be just about everything for the Scots in 1976 – except one thing: with the exception of Ayr United, all of the ‘original’ clubs is still in the Premier Division today. There have been ups and down, but in general everybody still plays there: Motherwell, Heart of Midlothian, Aberdeen, Dundee United, Dundee… obviously the better layer of suffering Scottish football.

May be the Swiss were thinking of crisis as well, for they were bound to reform their football. !975-76 season was the last with traditional league – it was to be decreased from 14 to 12 teams for the next year and the whole format was to be changed, but details will be given later. For the moment – the last three clubs were relegated and only the winner of the Second Division promoted. At the top everything was familiar – FC Zurich was once again confident champion, 5 points ahead of the nearest rival Servette (Geneva). Once again FC Zurich finished with only one loss - 19 wins and 6 ties proved how supreme they were, just like in 1974 and 1975. They also scored a lot – 69 goals, allowing only 26 in their own net. To top it all, they win the Cup as well – a double, unlike the two earlier seasons. Confidence and mature superiority – the squad was practically the same as the two previous seasons, perhaps reaching its peak in 1975-76. By now they were playing quite well in Europe as well – not exactly making waves, but they were pleasant to watch, elegant and efficient, and not easy to beat. FC Zurich line-up before winning the Swiss Cup: from left: Kuhn, Grob, Rutschmann, Martinelli, Scheiwiler, Fischbach, Heer, Katic, Zigerlig, Risi, Botteron
To a point, FC Zurich examplified Swiss football: modest, unassuming, not abrasive at all, not crazy either – few local stars, completed with lesser local players and inexpensive mid-range foreigners. The Swiss were careful with imports: Ilija Katic was the typical case – he was not a star Yugoslav player, but reliable one, who fit perfectly to the Swiss way and became constant top goalscorer. True, Swiss clubs were importing more foreigners by 1976, and gradually bigger names, but still carefully – Slobodan Santrac was an example of new trend: Grasshoppers (yes, it was still Grasshoppers in mid-70s) bought the former Yugoslav national player, but the striker was aging and not very expensive because of that. Good to score a plenty and provide class in Switzerland, although beyond his prime. ‘Crisis’ was hardly the world describing Swiss football – rather, it was not improving, remaining the same, and thus stifling the possible progress of talented teams like FC Zurich. The reduced league aimed at establishing both financial stability and competitive championship – about 6-7 clubs were relatively good in terms of players and were to benefit from the new championship formula: after the first half, the league was to be split on two tournaments: the top 6 playing among themselves for the title and the bottom half – to decide the relegated two. 1975-76 ended with complete triumph of FC Zurich, but really… playing with the outsiders was not helping as much as playing against Servette (Geneva).
Which finished second in both championship and Cup. Servette reached the final and lost it 0-1. Katic scored the winning goal for FC Zurich in the 9th minute.
Double second… top, from left: M. Locca (Coach), Alain Canizares, Claude Andrey, Jürgen Sundermann (Trainer), Marc Schnyder, Valer Nemeth (Trainer)
Middle row: Gilbert Guyot, Jean-Luc Martin, Ueli Wegmann, M. Cohannier (President), Rolf Riner, Lucio Bizzini, Alfred Hussner.
Sitting:Denis De Blaireville, José Zapico, Kurt Müller, Hans-Jörg Pfister, Franco Marchi, Karl Engel.
Not bad at all, by Swiss standards: a few national players and the rest solid, if not stellar. And like FC Zurich, playing together for a number of years already. Were they to be satisfied with ‘second best’? Unlikely, and the new formula of the championship was designed to help precisely clubs like Servette in a more competitive environment. Anyway, it was FC Zurich so far and let them be happy in 1976.

Consistency is good… sometimes. For there is another kind of consistency as well: at the bottom. Dinamo (Minsk) ended last in the fall and was relegated – Minsk were one of the traditional candidates for relegation, so nothing strange they went down. Even if the two seasons were combined, they were going down… along with miserable Zarya (Voroshilovgrad), which, however, escaped relegation with some effort in the fall season. Spartak (Moscow) was also consistent in 1976: finishing 14th in the spring and 15th in the fall. And down they sunk to Second Division. Which was more than surprise – it was an earthquake! One of the original great clubs; one of the Moscow strongholds; one of the ‘untouchable’ in a sense – it was unthinkable Spartak going down! True, the club was on downhill for some time, and in 1976 there were some great problems on both administrative level and selection, but a relegation? Many – myself included – thought Spartak will be ‘saved’ by the Federation. Likely last minute ‘enlargement’ of the First Division, with nobody relegated this year. And there were quite open calls for just that, but at the end it did not happened, in part, because of the noble performance by Spartak’s mover and shaker Nikolay Starostin: he said that relegation is fair and Spartak has to face the music and start rebuilding. Which in a way started with his own return to the club, for he was ‘retired’ at the end of 1975. Greeting their fans after victory? Rather saying ‘good-by’ to First Division football for the first time in their history. From left: Yu. Pilipko, V. Papaev, V. Gladilin, M. Bulgakov, Vl. Bukievsky, A. Smirnov, Vik. Bukievsky, V. Samokhin, A. Kokorev, V. Vladyushtenkov, E. Lovchev.
By 1976 Spartak was sheer mediocrity, on a slippery slope since the beginning of the 70s, largely due to wrong selection and retirements. The only high-class player left was their captain Evgeny Lovchev, still the best left full back in the country, but also often playing in midfield as well. Lovchev was so disappointed, he decided to leave the club, however, not immediately after the grand failure. Yet, the strangest thing was not Spartak’s mediocrity, but the acceptance of it by the Federation – it was almost a miracle, that the Soviets allowed one of their legendary clubs to go down. But they did – a fair decision in unfair country.
From the Second Division climbed up familiar names… consistent as well, in their unsettled tradition of constantly moving up and down.
Kairat (Alma-Ata) clinched first place in the Second Division and returned to top level football after one year absence. Second placed Neftchi (Baku) dwelled longer in the lower level – since 1972. Given their shaky history, neither club was seen as possible improvement of top Soviet football, but… they won promotions, so better celebrate.
Kairat (Alma-Ata), champions of Second Division: bottom row, from left: B. Evdokimov, S. Abenov, F. Hisamutdinov, V. Podvesko, K. Ordabaev, A. Mironenko, V. Astrakhankin, M. Gurman, V. Likhosherstnykh.
Second row: S. F. Kaminsky – coach, K. Issabaev – masseur, A. Ubykin, V. Chebotarev, S. Bayshakov, V. Talgaev, V. Shevchuk, A. Yonkin, V. Kislyakov, S. Rozhkov, V. Kruglykhin, V. A. Skulkin – assistant coach, I. Kuchin – team’s doctor, T. S. Segizbaev – coach.
The squad was nothing much – some aging second-string players from bigger clubs (Rozhkov); some reliable Second League players (Ubykin); the rest – unknown. Perhaps their regular goalkeeper Ordabaev summarize the whole club: he was always one of the best in Second Division and always unnoticeable in First Division. Even the only solid player of the club – the striker A. Yonkin, who was second best goalscorer of USSR in 1974 – was a liability: he was moody and inconsistent. As a compensation, the club had two head coaches – Kaminsky and Segizbaev, ruling jointly the team, a novelty not only in 1976.
Neftchi (Baku) finished 2nd in Second Division and was happy to return finally to First Division. Sitting, left to right: Z. Gadzharly – masseur, A. Aliev, R. Kuliev, R. Uzbekov, E. Abbassov, A. Orudzhev, T. Abbassov, F. Dzhavadov, S. Kurbanov, A. Mamedov, V. Ogerchuk.
Second row: A. A. Gryazev – assistant coach, A. Miroshnikov, A. Rakhmanov, A. Namazov, G. A. Allahverdiev – team’s boss, Yu. Romensky, G. B. Bondarenko – coach, I. Smolnikov, R. Ali-Zadeh, B. Kulamov, A. Nurmamedov, A. Banishevsky, B. Hetagurov – team’s doctor, N. Kretingen – administrator.
A better squad than Kairat’s really – some of these players establsiehd good reputations in Soviet football, if not becoming firstrank stars: Aliev, both Abbassovs, Kurbanov, Ali-Zadeh, etc. One was to have even brighter future – the goalkeeper Yury Romensky eventually went to Dinamo (Kiev) and for awhile was their first keeper. But promotion was the sweetest for Anatoly Banishevsky. One of the greatest stars of Soviet football in the second half of the 1960s, regular national team player for years, and arguably the best ever Azerbaidzani footballer. Also a keen photographer. Aging by now, Banishevsky was no longer the terrific striker and goalscorer – and rarely mentioned by the ever greatful Soviet press – but he was still helping his beloved club and if nothing else, it was great that the legendary player would be able to finish his career in First, and not Second, Division.
Weird 1976 season in USSR… without real change or improvement. Rather, Soviet football was getting worse – the relegation of mighty Spartak (Moscow) signified the sense of deep crisis.