Dynamo Kiev

Early history

Today's club was established based on the first squad of Kyiv's branch of the all-Union Dynamo sports society and its republican branch in the Ukrainian SSR, originally based out of Kharkiv. The Soviet government relocated capital to Kyiv in 1934. The all-Union Dynamo sports society was a sports department of the Soviet state security KGB, originally Cheka-OGPU. During the Soviet period Dynamo's players same as players of all Dynamos in the Soviet Union were officially Soviet uniform servicemembers earning rank, salary, and pension when playing on the team of masters.

On 13 May 1927, the statute of the Kyivan Proletarian Sport Society (PST) Dynamo was officially registered by the special commission in affairs of public organizations and unions of the Kyiv district. The All-Union sport society of Dynamo in Moscow was formed earlier in 1923 on the initiative of the Felix Dzerzhinsky. A year later the first Ukrainian branch cell of the Dynamo sports society was formed in Kharkiv. Under the banner of Kyivan Dynamo gathered the representatives of the local GPU (State Political Directorate), the Soviet secret police, the best footballers of which defended the honors of the Trade Union club "Sovtorgsluzhashchie", a portmanteau for Soviet retail servicemen. It was a common practice of the early Soviet sports societies that were formed based on already existing "pre-revolutionary" (1917 Bolshevik Revolution) sports societies in 1920s.

The leadership of Dynamo did not dare to reorganize the well-established club and the main title contender in the middle of a playing season. Therefore, the first mention of the football club Dynamo could only be found on 5 April 1928 in the Russian-language newspaper (at that time) Vecherniy Kiev ("Evening Kyiv").

The Kyivan Sport Society Dynamo currently is organizing its own football team. "Dynamo" petitioned to Okrsofik for inclusion of its team in the playing season.

It was then when by the initiative of Semyon Zapadny, chief of the Kyiv GPU, the football team was created. His deputy, Sergei Barminsky, started to form the team not only out of regular chekists (members of the Soviet secret police), but also footballers of other clubs in the city among which is mentioned a team "Sovtorgsluzhaschie". All the footballers were either part of the consolidated city team or the city champions. The newly created team played its first official match on 1 July 1928 against a local consolidated city team while visiting Bila Tserkva. Already on the fifth minute the Dynamo-men opened the score in the game, however, at the end the club lost it 1–2. On 15 July, the Bila Tserkva newspaper Radyanska Nyva ("Soviet Fields") put it in such words:

In the second halftime Bila Tserkva easily strikes the ball in the net, thus, equalizing the score. Kyiv tried several counter attacks and even earned a free kick which was not able to convert. Near the end Bila Tserkva under the applause of thousands of spectators strikes in the second ball. The final whistle of the referee has fixated the victory of Bila Tserkva with the score 2:1.

The next match played by Dynamo was on 17 July 1928 hosting another Dynamo from the port city of Odesa. The match ended in draw 2:2. At the end of July Dynamo toured Belarus playing against the republican team of Belarus (1:5) and the districtal team of Gomel District (3:2). On 1 September 1928 Dynamo Kyiv was hosting the Dynamo's primary team from Moscow and were thrashed 2:6. It was then Dynamo Kyiv was led by a playing coach Vasyl Boiko whose role is indicated as an instructor-organizer. Later in October 1928 Dynamo Kyiv took part in its first official tournament the 1928 Kyiv city championship and won it. On 18 November 1928 Dynamo Kyiv overpowered the Kyiv's main football team of that period, Zheldor, 1:0.

As the club gained more experience and played on a regular basis, it started to fill the stadium with spectators with both the club and football in general gaining popularity in Soviet Ukraine.

On 14 September 1929 Dynamo Kyiv played its first international match against visiting workers' team from Deutsch-Wagram, Lower Austria and lost it 3:4.

Its club stadium Dynamo opened on 12 June 1933, a year before the Soviet government turned the city into capital of the Soviet Ukraine.

During the Soviet era, the club was one of the main rivals, and often the only rival, to football clubs from Moscow. Its ability to challenge the dominance of the Moscow clubs in Soviet football, and frequently defeat them to win the Soviet championship, was a matter of national pride for Ukraine. Leaders of the Ukrainian SSR unofficially regarded the club as their national team and provided it with generous support, making Dynamo a professional team of international importance.

In 1936, the first Soviet Championship was played, and Dynamo Kyiv was one of the pioneers of the newly formed league. The club's early successes were however limited to a second-place finish in 1936 and third place in 1937. In the 1941 season, the club only played nine matches as World War II interrupted league play.

The Death Match

The propaganda story is often told of how the Dynamo team, playing as "Start, City of Kyiv All-Stars", was executed by a firing squad in the summer of 1942 for defeating an All-Star team from the German armed forces by 5–1. The actual story, as recounted by Y. Kuznetsov, is considerably more complex. Still, this match has subsequently become known in the Soviet media as "The Death Match".

After the Nazi occupation of Ukraine began, former professional football players (Dynamo and Lokomotyv) found employment in the city's Bakery No. 3, and continued to play amateur football. The team participated in exhibition games that took place in the city among various other teams including teams composed of the Wehrmacht soldiers. The Kyiv's team played under the name of "Start", comprising eight players from Dynamo Kyiv (Nikolai Trusevych, Mikhail Svyridovskiy, Nikolai Korotkykh, Oleksiy Klymenko, Fedir Tyutchev, Mikhail Putistin, Ivan Kuzmenko, Makar Honcharenko) and three players from Lokomotyv Kyiv (Vladimir Balakin, Vasyl Sukharev and Mikhail Melnyk).

In July and August 1942, "Start" played a series of matches against the Germans and their allies. On 12 July, a German army team was defeated. A stronger army team was selected for the next match on 17 July, which "Start" defeated 6–0. On 19 July, "Start" defeated the Hungarian team MSG Wal 5–1. The Hungarians proposed a return match, held on 26 July, but were defeated again, 3–2.

"Start"'s streak was noticed and a match was announced for 6 August against a "most powerful" "undefeated" German Luftwaffe Flakelf (anti-aircraft artillery) team, but despite the game being talked up by the newspapers, they failed to report the 5–1 result. On 9 August, "Start" played a "friendly" against Flakelf and again defeated them. The team defeated Rukh 8–0 on 16 August, and afterwards, some of "Start"'s players were arrested by the Gestapo, tortured – Nikolai Korotkykh died during the torture – and sent to the nearby labour camp at Syrets. There is speculation that the players were arrested due to the intrigues of Georgy Shvetsov, founder and trainer of the "Rukh" team, as the arrests were made in a couple of days after "Start" defeated "Rukh".

In February 1943, following an attack by partisans or a conflict of the prisoners and administration, one-third of the prisoners at Syrets were killed in reprisal, including Ivan Kuzmenko, Oleksey Klymenko and goalkeeper Nikolai Trusevich. Three of the other players – Makar Honcharenko, Fedir Tyutchev and Mikhail Sviridovskiy – who were in a work squad in the city that day, were arrested a few days later or, according to other sources, escaped and hid in the city until it was liberated.

The story inspired three films: the 1961 Hungarian film drama Two Half Times in Hell, the 1981 American film Escape to Victory and the 2012 Russian film Match.

Road to the first championship title: 1944–1963

Only on 2 May 1944, after the return of Soviet regime, a friendly match between Dynamo Kyiv and Spartak Moscow took place at the Dynamo Stadium. From the pre-war (World War II) team there remained Anton Idzkovsky, Mykola Makhynia, Petro Laiko, Pavlo Vinkovatov, Mykola Balakin, Kostyantyn Kalach, including those who participated in the 1942 matches Makar Honcharenko and former Lokomotyv Kyiv players Volodymyr Balakin, Vasyl Sukharev.

In the first post-war years, all those who remained in the team were already quite old to play on the first team. Although in those years Dynamo Kyiv was joined by a whole group of younger footballers from Transcarpathian clubs (Vasyl Hodnychak, Ernest Yust, Zoltan Dyerfi, Zoltan Senhetovskyi, Mykhailo Koman, Dezyderiy Tovt and others), the team still could not really compete with other clubs, who endured the war better. In 1945, Dynamo took the penultimate place in the championship, and in 1946 - the very last, and, according to the regulations, it was supposed to be relegated, but an exception was made for the team, remembering the wartime losses. In addition, these events were accompanied by coaching fever: from 1946 to 1951, the club changed ten coaches.

The first post-war success was the victory in the doubles (reserves) tournament in the 1949 season. Since 1946 the Soviet first tier league was conducting championship among younger players which ran parallel to the championship among the first squads.

The turning point came during the 1951 season, before which Oleg Oshenkov took charge of the club. The new coach introduced to the main team younger players who had proven themselves well in doubles (reserves) competitions, also he drastically shortened the winter vacation of his players, offering them a serious physical training program that included sports games, various exercises and even boxing. Already in the next championship, which took place in one round robin in Moscow, it brought the first results. Dynamo Kyiv turned from a mid-table team into one of the favorites, winning the silver medals, just behind Spartak Moscow.

Oshenkov's players achieved their first big victory during the 1954 Soviet Cup. On the way to the finals, the Kyiv team defeated Spartak Vilnius (4:2), Spartak Moscow (3:1), CDKA (3:1, in extra time), Zenit Leningrad (1:0, in extra time). In the cup's final at Moscow's "Dynamo Stadium", the Kyiv's team faced off with a poorly known (at that time) Spartak Yerevan. The match took place in heavy rain and fog, but all the same, the Kyivans were able to defeat their opponents and win the Soviet Cup for the first time in their history. In the final match took part following players Oleg Makarov (goalkeeper), Arkadiy Larionov, Vitaliy Golubyev, Tiberiy Popovich, Oleksandr Koltsov, Mykhaylo Mykhalyna, Volodymyr Bohdanovych, Viktor Terentiev (substitute with Pavlo Vinkovatov), Andrei Zazroyev (captain), Mykhaylo Koman, Viktor Fomin and Oleg Oshenkov as a head coach. Goals in the final were scored by Terentiev and Koman.

On 29 July 1959, an international friendly match between the football teams "Dynamo" (Kyiv, Ukraine) and "Dynamo" (Bacău, Romania) took place in Kyiv, which ended with a score of 3:0.

At the end of the 1950s, the Dynamo revamped its squad. The club left Yevhen Lemeshko, Leonid Ostroushko, Ernest Yust, Mykola Romanov, Yuriy Shevchenko, Vitaliy Sobolev. The club's ranks were refilled with Serhiy Bohachyk, Ishtvan Sekech, Valeriy Lobanovskyi, Yevhen Snitko, Andriy Havashi, Vasyl Turyanchyk, Yozhef Sabo, while, a well-known former CDKA player (the "Team of Lieutenants"), Vyacheslav Solovyov became the head coach. The 1960 season brought to the Kyivans the "silver".

In the 1961 season, Dynamo won the Soviet Union championship for the first time. The team from the capital of the Ukrainian SSR finished ahead of Torpedo Moscow (title holders) by 4 points. Dynamo Kyiv played 30 matches in the national championship (16 participants). Only three of those matches Dynamo lost and nine ended in a draw. The fact that they scored as many as 54 goals in 30 games testifies to the strength of the Dynamo's offensive line, where played such players like Oleh Bazylevych, Viktor Kanevskyi, Valeriy Lobanovskyi, Viktor Serebryanikov. And about the strength of the defensive line - the fact that the experienced goalkeeper Oleg Makarov never had to take the ball out of the net in 12 matches. It was the first time in the history of the Soviet Union championships, when the national title of the country's champion was gained by a non-Moscow club.

The first Dynamo gold medals received:
(first number indicates games played, second - goals scored (or allowed))

• Goalkeepers: Oleg Makarov (29, 26), Leonid Klyuev (4, 2).
• Defenders: Nikolay Koltsov (28), Anatoliy Suchkov (25), Volodymyr Shcheholkov (22), Vitaliy Shcherbakov (12), Vasyl Turyanchyk (9, 1), Vladimir Yerokhin (2).
• Midfielders: Yozhef Sabo (27, 3), Yuriy Voynov (21, 3), Volodymyr Anufriyenko (15), Vladimir Sorokin (3), Valeriy Verigin (3), Viktor Pestrykov (1).
• Forwards: Viktor Serebryanikov (29, 4), Valeriy Lobanovskyi (28, 10), Viktor Kanevskyi (26, 18), Oleh Bazylevych (26, 10), Andriy Biba (17, 5), Valentyn Troyanovskyi (15, 2), Mykola Kashtanov (11, 1), Igor Zaytsev (8, 1).
• Senior coach: Vyacheslav Solovyov. Team's nachalnik: Viktor Terentiev. Coach: Mykhaylo Koman.

After the triumphant season of 1961, in the following two seasons, Dynamo's position significantly worsened. In 1962, the team took 5th place, and the following year - 7th.

Last Soviet years

In 1989, the club transitioned into an independent company being disassociated from the Ukrainian republican society of Dynamo. The club transitioned from the Soviet "team of masters" to a regular professional football club of "western" style as it was interpreted then. It also was part of the Mikhail Gorbachev's Perestroika reforms known as Khozrasschyot when state enterprises had difficult time to keep their associate organizations afloat and encouraged them to reorganize into self-sustained businesses.

During the last seasons of the Soviet Top League, it competed in the national colors of Ukraine as part of the national movement that grew very popular.

Ukrainian Independence

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the club became a member of the newly formed Ukrainian Premier League. By the summer of 1993, however, the club was in crisis as the economic policy of Dynamo president Viktor Bezverkhy set Dynamo on the path to bankruptcy. On 19 July 1993, an extraordinary assembly of coaches and players fired Bezverkhy and established a stock society called "Football Club "Dynamo (Kyiv)". Hryhoriy Surkis was elected president of the new company. The republican and city councils of the Dynamo society agreed to hand over two training centers and Dynamo Stadium to Dynamo Kyiv. The founders besides the football team and the Dynamo councils became also the commercial consulting centre Slavutych and the British firm Newport Management. A review board was created, consisting of directors of the Ministry of Interior of Ukraine, and the Security Service, Border Troops, and General Prosecutor of Ukraine.

Dynamo's status as the country's principal club did not change, however, as they went on to dominate domestic competitions, winning or being runner-up in every year of the Premier League's existence and becoming a fixture in the UEFA Champions League. Its main rival in Ukraine is Shakhtar Donetsk, a club from the Donbas region, that came second to Dynamo several times before winning its first Premier League in 2002. The matches between these two sides are called the Ukrainian derby.

In 2007, as a part of club's 80-year anniversary, two gold stars were added to the top of the crest, representing ten Ukrainian championship titles and ten USSR champion titles. Due to club's poor performance in the UEFA Champions League during the last two seasons, Dynamo's management took a somewhat unexpected decision by appointing the first foreign manager in the club's history. Previously, only former players or Dynamo football academy graduates became managers, but in December 2007 Russian coach Yuri Semin was invited to become the new manager of Dynamo Kyiv. However, the club yielded to Shakhtar Donetsk in both the Ukrainian Cup and Premier League in 2008. In 2009. in the club's most successful European campaign since 1999, it reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup (eliminating such teams as Valencia and Paris Saint-Germain) but was defeated at that stage by Shakhtar Donetsk. However, 2009 also brought success, as the club celebrated its 13th Premier League title.

In a season which contained their record win, a 9–0 victory over Illichivets Mariupol, the club only managed to finish runners-up in the league in 2010–11, after Shakhtar Donetsk. In what would be icon Andriy Shevchenko's final season at the club, Dynamo also finished as runners-up in 2011–12. In the 2011–12 season Dynamo also managed to reach the group stage of the Europa League after being eliminated in the Champions League third qualifying round by Rubin Kazan by 0–2 in Kyiv and 2–1 in Kazan. In the Europa League playoffs, the club managed to defeat Litex Lovech with a 3–1 aggregate score. In the group stage, Dynamo finished third after a disappointing campaign in a group containing Beşiktaş, Maccabi Tel Aviv and Stoke City.

In April 2013, it was announced the club would play two European ties behind closed doors due to racism from fans during previous European ties. In the 2012–13 season, the club managed to qualify for the Champions League group stage after eliminating Feyenoord 3–1 and Borussia Mönchengladbach 4–3 on aggregate and qualified for the Champions League group stage. Dynamo was placed in a group with Paris Saint-Germain, Porto and Dinamo Zagreb and finished in third place with only five points and was eliminated in the Europa League round of 32 by Bordeaux 2–1 on aggregate. In the Premier League, Dynamo finished third, whereas in the Cup, it was eliminated in the round of 32. Overall, the 2012–13 season was a disappointment for Dynamo. The 2013–14 season was an equally disappointing season as Dynamo finished in fourth place in the league, the worst since the establishment of the Premier League and only managed to reach the round of 32 in the Europa League where it was eliminated by Valencia 2–0 on aggregate. Oleh Blokhin was sacked and was replaced by former player Serhii Rebrov. As a result, Dynamo managed to win the 2013–14 Ukrainian Cup for the first time in five years.

Dynamo's revival

In the beginning of the 2014–15 season, Dynamo signed many promising players such as Aleksandar Dragović, Jeremain Lens (departed after end of the season), Łukasz Teodorczyk and Vitorino Antunes. Under Rebrov, Dynamo won the 2014–15 Ukrainian Premier League – undefeated – and the 2014–15 Ukrainian Cup to earn a domestic double for the first time in eight years. In the 2014–15 Europa League, Dynamo comfortably qualified from a group containing Aalborg BK, Steaua București and Rio Ave, finishing in first place with 15 points. In the round of 32, the club eliminated Guingamp 4–3 on aggregate, and in the round of 16, eliminated Everton 6–4 on aggregate after a spectacular 5–2 performance in Kyiv. Rebrov prioritized the passing game but focused on solid defensive foundations. However, in the quarter-finals of the Europa League, Dynamo was eliminated by Fiorentina 3–1 on aggregate.

In the beginning of the 2015–16 season, Dynamo signed the highly talented Derlis González and was drawn in Group G of the 2015–16 Champions League alongside Chelsea F.C., FC Porto and Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. Dynamo finished in second place with 11 points after a spectacular performance and a memorable 0–2 in Porto. However, Dynamo was punished by UEFA for a racist incident in the home game against Chelsea where four black men were attacked in the stands by Dynamo fans.

Despite this, Dynamo reached the round of 16 in the Champions League for the first time since 2000, where it was drawn with Manchester City. Dynamo was eliminated 1–3 on aggregate but managed to hold an impressive 0–0 draw in Manchester. Dynamo's domestic performance was equally memorable as the club celebrated the 2015–16 Ukrainian Premier League only losing to archrival Shakhtar Donetsk 0–3 twice and was eliminated in the quarter-finals of the 2015–16 Ukrainian Cup. At the end of the season, several star performers (such as Miguel Veloso, Aleksandar Dragović, Younès Belhanda and Łukasz Teodorczyk) departed the club and were not replaced.

Stagnation period

The 2016–17 season was a relative disappointment for Dynamo, as the club finished in second place in the 2016–17 Ukrainian Premier League, behind Shakhtar Donetsk, with a difference of 13 points after a string of disappointing results. In the 2016–17 Champions League, the club was drawn in Group B alongside Napoli, Benfica and Beşiktaş J.K. Dynamo finished in fourth place after a dismal campaign, but managed to record a memorable 6–0 win over Beşiktaş in Kyiv. In the winter transfer window, Dynamo signed promising defenders Aleksandar Pantić and Tamás Kádár and focused on youth academy talents such as Viktor Tsyhankov, Artem Besyedin and Volodymyr Shepelyev, managing to improve its performances. Dynamo lost the 2016–17 Ukrainian Cup to Shakhtar Donetsk 0–1 in the final.

For the 2017–18 season, after Serhii Rebrov departed, the club appointed former player Alyaksandr Khatskevich as Rebrov's replacement. In Khatskevich's first two seasons at the helm, Dynamo failed to qualify for the UEFA Champions League group stage, having to settle for the UEFA Europa League group stage instead. Both times they were eventually eliminated in the Round of 16, first by S.S. Lazio (2–4 on aggregate) in 2017–18, and then by Chelsea F.C. (0–8 on aggregate) in 2018–19. Domestically, Dynamo remained firmly in second place behind Shakhtar Donetsk in the Ukrainian Premier League. Despite the apparent lack of progress in the results, Khatskevich was rewarded with a two-year contract extension.

However, only six matches into his new extension, Khatskevich was fired on 14 August 2019, after once again failing to advance to the UEFA Champions League group stage. Dynamo's Sports Director, Oleksiy Mykhaylychenko, was appointed as manager. Despite the change, the results on the field hardly improved, as Dynamo was eliminated from continental competitions by placing 3rd in Group B of the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League group stage.

On 23 July 2020, Mircea Lucescu became the head coach of Dynamo. Lucescu signed a two-year contract.