Dynamo power on in Europe

uefa.com looks back at the achievements of FC Dynamo Kyiv as part of our series of histories of the 18 clubs directly involved in the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round.

Famous team
Formed in 1927 as a sports club of the Ministry of Interior by Serhiy Braminsky and Mykola Khannikov, FC Dynamo Kyiv were one of the first sides to join the Soviet supreme league in 1936, and are perhaps the most successful club in eastern Europe.

Sad legend
During the second world war, members of the Dynamo team won a number of supposed friendly games against different German army sides. The story, now made famous in a number of popular history books, ended with several members of the team being executed at the notorious Baby Yar ravine.

Sudden upsurge
The legend around that famous team has built over the years, as has Dynamo's reputation on the pitch. The 1954 Soviet Cup was won under Oleg Oshenkov, who went on to join rivals FC Shakhtar Donetsk, but it was not until 1961 that Dynamo won a first Soviet league title with a team that boasted a player who would go on to be synonymous with the club - Valeriy Lobanovskiy.

Soviet success
In 1965, Dynamo became the first Soviet club to play in UEFA competition. Lobanovskiy had left to pursue a coaching career by the time that the club took four more Soviet titles in six seasons under legendary coach Viktor Maslov between 1966 and 1971. The 1966 season also saw Dynamo lift the Soviet Cup and send five players to the FIFA World Cup, where they helped the USSR reach the semi-finals.

Greatest era
Lobanovskiy returned as club coach in 1973 as Dynamo embarked on perhaps their greatest era. The coach's scientific training methods and rigorous discipline saw Dynamo take the 1974/75 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup with a 3-0 win against Ferencvárosi TC and then the UEFA Super Cup. Striker Oleg Blokhin was subsequently named European Player of the Year in 1975, and at one point, was famed for his ability to run 100m in less than eleven seconds.

Dream team
Further European glory was to follow in the mid-1980s, when Lobanovskiy's ambitious dream team finally took shape. Moulded from a side boasting the 20 best youngsters in Ukraine, Dynamo's boasted new talent in the form of strikers Alexandr Zavarov and Igor Belanov. They took the 1985/86 Cup Winners' Cup with 13 players from the squad going on to represent the Soviet side at the 1986 World Cup. Dynamo continued to dominate before Lobanovskiy's departure and the collapse of the Soviet Union put further progress on hold.

Dynamo reborn
Almost bankrupt by 1992, the arrival of president Hrihory Surkis and his brother Ihor helped Dynamo back on to their feet as they began to dominate in the Ukrainian league. Progress in Europe was delayed by a two-year UEFA ban following attempts to bribe officials issued in 1995, but by the time they returned to European competition, Dynamo were in good shape.

Glorious return
Lobanovskiy returned to coach the club again, discovering another brilliant striking partnership in the form of Serhiy Rebrov and Andriy Shevchenko. This team would make giant steps in the UEFA Champions League, reaching the semi-final in 1998/99, but never quite recovered from Shevchenko's departure to AC Milan.

Dreadful news
The death of their great coach, Lobanovskiy, on 13 May 2002 appeared to be an even greater blow. Under his former assistant Olexiy Mykhailychenko, Dynamo lost the Ukrainian title to FC Shakhtar Donetsk in 2001/02 but regained it the following season.