On 13 May 1927 a Kyiv commission registered the statute of a new sports society called "Dynamo". On 13 May 2027 Dynamo Kyiv turns 100, a whole century. It is the team that first beat Moscow at its own game and gave the Soviet Union its first European trophy.

A club born from a document

On 13 April 1927 the Dynamo council in Kharkiv approved the creation of a branch in Kyiv. A month later, on 13 May, the statute of the Proletarian Sports Society "Dynamo" was registered, as documents in Ukraine's state archives show.

Dynamo was then part of the Soviet sports society of the same name, which was linked to the state security services. It has operated as an independent business only since 1989.

The football team is first mentioned in a Kyiv newspaper on 5 April 1928. In its first match, on 1 July 1928, it lost 2-1 to a Bila Tserkva city team.

White and blue

From the first official matches the players wore a white shirt, blue shorts and blue socks. That is why they are still called "Bilo-syni", "the white-and-blues".

When Lobanovskyi arrived, the team began to take the field all in white. In the last Soviet years, in 1990-91, it briefly wore yellow and blue, the national colours of Ukraine.

All Dynamo crests are based on the logo of the Dynamo sports society. Over the years, stars were added above it for the club's titles.

1961: when Kyiv beat Moscow

Dynamo made its Soviet league debut in 1936, with a heavy 5-1 defeat to Dynamo Moscow. It took 25 years to get its revenge.

In 1961 it became the first team from outside Moscow to win the Soviet championship, four points ahead of Torpedo. By the end of the USSR it had collected 13 such titles.

The German occupation also produced the legend of the "Death Match" of 1942, when the Start team, which included Dynamo players, faced German sides. Soviet propaganda claimed they were all executed for winning, but historians note that the truth is far more complex.

Lobanovskyi and the conquest of Europe

Valeriy Lobanovskyi took over in October 1973 and changed the team forever. In 1975 Dynamo beat Ferencváros 3-0 in Basel to win the Cup Winners' Cup, the first European trophy for a Soviet team.

The same year it also won the Super Cup, beating Bayern 1-0 in Munich and 2-0 in Kyiv. Oleh Blokhin won the 1975 Ballon d'Or.

In 1986 came a second Cup Winners' Cup, 3-0 against Atlético Madrid, with goals from Zavarov, Blokhin and Yevtushenko. A few months later Ihor Belanov became the second Dynamo player to win the Ballon d'Or.

Shevchenko, Rebrov and a sad anniversary

In his third spell Lobanovskyi built another great team. In 1998-99 Dynamo knocked Real Madrid out in the Champions League quarter-finals and lost the semi-final to Bayern, 4-3 on aggregate.

The stars were academy graduate Andriy Shevchenko, Serhiy Rebrov and Oleh Luzhnyi. Straight afterwards Shevchenko moved to Milan.

On 7 May 2002 Lobanovskyi suffered a stroke during a match in Zaporizhzhia. He died on 13 May 2002, the very day Dynamo turned 75, and today the club's stadium bears his name.

Celebrate with us

A hundred years on, Dynamo's white shirt carries the story of Blokhin, Lobanovskyi and Shevchenko. It is the shirt of a city that, even in its hardest hours, has never stopped loving football.

Happy birthday, Dynamo! Happy centenary, and may the next hundred years be just as white and blue.

See our collectible jerseys at sportarena.gr.

Photo: The Dynamo Kyiv line-up with Blokhin, April 1975 – Anefo / Nationaal Archief, Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC0.