We classify the central fiber of a semistable degeneration (in the sense of
the semistable reduction theorem) of Godeaux surfaces, under the condition
that the dualizing sheaf is relatively nef. We prove in particular that if
the central fiber is reducible then all its components have negative Kodai
ra dimension. As a corollary, this result provides a classification of poss
ible central fibers of a semistable degeneratioI having two components.