Berliner FC Dynamo
Berliner Fussball Club Dynamo e. V., commonly abbreviated to BFC Dynamo or BFC, alternatively sometimes called Dynamo Berlin, is a German football club based in the locality of Alt-Hohenschönhausen of the borough of Lichtenberg of Berlin. The team competes in the Regionalliga Nordost, the fourth tier of German football.
Background: SC Dynamo Berlin (1954–1966)
BFC Dynamo started as a football department of sports club SC Dynamo Berlin. SC Dynamo Berlin was founded on 1 October 1954 as one of the new elite sports clubs in East Germany. The sports club was affiliated to sports association SV Dynamo. The new sports club SC Dynamo Berlin became a center of excellence (German: Leistungsschwerpunkte) of sports association SV Dynamo. In order to establish a competitive side in Berlin, the team of SG Dynamo Dresden and its place in the DDR-Oberliga was transferred to the new sports club SC Dynamo Berlin. The relocation was designed to give the capital a team that could rival teams from West Berlin, such as Hertha BSC, which were still popular in East Berlin.[nb 1][nb 2] Among the players delegated from SG Dynamo Dresden were Johannes Matzen, Herbert Schoen and Günter Schröter. The team played its first match as SC Dynamo Berlin on 21 November 1954 against BSG Rotation Babelsberg in the 1954-55 DDR-Oberliga.
Founding and rise (1966–1978)
East German football was reorganized in 1965–1966 when the football departments of ten sports clubs (SC) were made into ten designated football clubs (FC). As part of this reorganization, the football department of SC Dynamo Berlin became football club Berliner FC Dynamo. BFC Dynamo was founded on 15 January 1966. Manfred Kirste was elected club chairman and the SV Dynamo President Erich Mielke was made honorary chairman. The new designated football clubs were formed as centers of excellence in East German football, with the right to draw on talents within designated geographical and administrative areas. BFC Dynamo was initially assigned Bezirk Cottbus and one third of East Berlin as catchment area. BFC Dynamo was officially a club of the Ministry of the Interior and the club's official sponsor was the Volkspolizei. However, Honorary Chairman Mielke was the head of the Stasi, and BFC Dynamo would eventually come to receive personal, organizational and financial support from the Stasi.
Golden era (1978–1989)
BFC Dynamo had developed a very successful youth academy. Numerous players from the youth department were integrated into the first team during the 1970s. The average age in the team was only 22.7 years at the start of the 1978–79 season. BFC Dynamo under Jürgen Bogs played an aggressive football that focused on attacking. BFC Dynamo had a very successful start in the 1978-79 DDR-Oberliga and became Herbstmeister. The team reached the 1979 FDGB-Pokal final, but was defeated by 1. FC Magdeburg. Midfielder Lutz Eigendorf defected to West Germany on 20 March 1979 in connection with a friendly match in Kaiserslautern. His defection was considered a slap in the face of the East German regime; Eigendorf had been one of the most promising players in East Germany. BFC Dynamo eventually won its first DDR-Oberliga title in 1979. The team broke several league records during the 1978–79 season, such as: most number of matches won since the start of a season (10), most number of unbeaten matches since the start of a season (22), most goals scored in one season under the current format (75) and the biggest win in the DDR-Oberliga in the last 30 years (10–0 against BSG Sachsenring Zwickau on the 17th matchday). Hans-Jürgen Riediger became second best goalscorer in the 1978-79 DDR-Oberliga with 20 goals.
FC Berlin, decline and insolvency (1989–2004)
The 1989–90 season was marked by the political change in East Germany. The Berlin Wall was opened on 9 November 1989 and people in East Berlin could now travel freely to West Berlin. Andreas Thom was signed to Bayer Leverkusen. He left the team during the winter break 1989–1990 and became the first player in the DDR-Oberliga to be transferred to the West German Bundesliga after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The Stasi was definitively dissolved on 13 January 1990 and thus BFC Dynamo lost a major sponsor. The East German Ministry of the Interior announced that it was only prepared to support the club until the end of the 1989–90 season and the fate of the club was uncertain. BFC Dynamo was eventually rebranded as FC Berlin on 19 February 1990. The team finished the 1989-90 DDR-Oberliga in fourth place and failed for the first time in a long time to qualify for an UEFA competition. Thomas Doll and Frank Rohde left for Hamburger SV and Rainer Ernst for 1. FC Kaiserslautern after the season.
Consolidation (2004-2014)
Former player Christian Backs became the new coach in 2004. Key players on the team in the 2004–05 season were Robert Rudwaleit, Nico Thomaschewski, Dennis Kutrieb, Jörn Lenz and Danny Kukulies. Coach Backs left for Berliner AK 07 in April 2005, due to financial disagreements with the club. Former FC Vorwärts Berlin player Jürgen Piepenburg became the new coach in the summer of 2005. The 2005-06 NOFV-Oberliga Nord involved new derbies with 1. FC Union Berlin. BFC Dynamo lost the first meeting with 1. FC Union Berlin 8–0. Coach Piepenberg was dismissed immediately after the match. Israeli fashion brand JetLag became the new main sponsor at the beginning of 2006. The return match against 1. FC Union Berlin was played at the Stadion im Sportforum in May 2006. The score was 1-1 when supporters of BFC Dynamo invaded the pitch to storm the away block. The match was abandoned and 1. FC Union Berlin was awarded a 2–0 victory.
Regionalliga Nordost (2014-present)
The 2014–15 season saw the return of BFC Dynamo to live television. Thomas Stratos became new coach in November 2014. BFC Dynamo defeated SV Tasmania Berlin 2–1 in the 2014–15 Berlin Cup final in front of 6,914 spectators at Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark and won their fourth Berlin Cup title. The attendance set a new record for a Berlin Cup final since German reunification. BFC Dynamo recruited a number of players with 3. Liga experience in 2015, such as Brazilian midfielder Thiago Rockenbach, forward Dennis Srbeny and goalkeeper Bernhard Hendl. The team was also joined by midfielder Kai Pröger. The club celebrated its 50th anniversary on 15 January 2016. The anniversary was celebrated with around 1,000 guests in the Loewe Saal in the locality of Moabit. Among the guests were former players and coaches such as Peter Rohde, Frank Terletzki, Wolf-Rüdiger Netz, Jürgen Bogs, Artur Ullrich, Bernd Schulz, Frank Rohde, Andreas Thom and Thomas Doll. Midfielder Joey Breitfeld from the youth department made his debut for BFC Dynamo in the Regionalliga Nordost in February 2016. BFC Dynamo finished the 2015-16 Regionalliga Nordost in fourth place.
The colours of BFC Dynamo are claret and white. The colours were inherited from SC Dynamo Berlin and followed the claret colour scheme of SV Dynamo. BFC Dynamo has been playing in claret and white since the club's founding, with the exception of a period in the 1990s. The BFC Dynamo home kit has traditionally been a claret shirt, paired with claret or white shorts and socks. The team is occasionally nicknamed "die Weinroten", which means "the Clarets". The club was rebranded as FC Berlin on 19 February 1990. A pure white was set as the new match colour with immediate effect. FC Berlin then adopted a red and white colour scheme. In the eyes of the supporters, the red and white kit looked a lot like 1. FC Union Berlin. The club played in red and white home kits for most of the FC Berlin era, but wore a black and red striped home shirt, paired with black shorts and socks from the 1996–97 season through the 1998–99 season. The club eventually decided on 3 May 1999 to return to its original club name and consequently also later returned to its traditional colour scheme.
Ownership of the traditional crest
Many clubs in East Germany rushed to drop their East German names during the Peaceful revolution. BFC Dynamo was among the clubs to do so, in an attempt to distance the club from the Stasi. The club was rebranded as FC Berlin on 19 February 1990 and consequently abandoned its East German crest. Pepe Mager was a famous fan of Hertha BSC and fan merchandise dealer. Mager had organized away trips for the fans Hertha in the early 1960s and was one of the founders of the notorious supporter group "Hertha-Frösche". He now sold his own fan merchandise from a mobile stand outside the Olympiastadion. Mager inquired with the register of associations in Charlottenburg in 1991 about all deleted names of East German clubs. He immediately found BFC Dynamo and saw business opportunities. Mager claimed that he first secured the former crest of BFC Dynamo for 80 Deutsche Mark in 1992.
Championship star
The German Football League (DFL) introduced a system of championship stars in the 2004–05 season. The system was meant to honor the most successful teams in the Bundesliga by allowing teams to display stars on their shirts for the championships they have won. The system awarded one star for three titles, two stars for five titles, and three stars for ten titles. However, the system only counted titles won in the Bundesliga since the 1963–64 season. BFC Dynamo submitted an application to the DFL and the DFB on 9 August 2004 to receive three stars for its ten titles in the DDR-Oberliga. The club asked for equal rights and argued that the German Football Association (DFB) had absorbed the German Football Association of the GDR (DFV) with all its statistics, international matches and goal scorers. BFC Dynamo received support from Dynamo Dresden and 1. FC Magdeburg in its attempts to achieve recognition for East German titles.
The long-time home and training facility of BFC Dynamo is the Sportforum Hohenschönhausen in Alt-Hohenschönhausen in Berlin. The sports complex is the location of the club offices and the clubhouse. It is also the base of the youth teams. More than 20 youth teams of BFC Dynamo regularly train at the facilities. The Sportforum Hohenschönhausen is considered the spiritual home of the club. The Sportforum Hohenschönhausen was also known as the Dynamo-Sportforum during the East German era. The sports complex was built as a training center for elite sport and was home to sports club SC Dynamo Berlin, with its many departments and squads. Development began in 1954 and expansion continued into the 1980s. The Sportforum is still unique as of today. The sports complex covers an area of 45 to 50 hectares and comprises 35 sports facilities as of 2020. SC Dynamo Berlin played its first season at the large Walter-Ulbricht-Stadion in Mitte. The team moved its home matches to the football stadium in the Dynamo-Sportforum for the short transitional 1955 season. SC Dynamo Berlin then returned to the Walter-Ulbricht-Stadion for the 1956 season. The team would play at the Walter-Ublricht-Stadion for the rest of the 1950s.
Future stadium
The Sportforum Hohenschönhausen is the location of the club offices and the club house, which serves as a meeting point for supporters and parents. The Stadion im Sportforum stands as the center of club life. But the stadium does not meet the requirements for matches in the 3. Liga. Among other things, the stadium lacks enough seating, under-soil heating and a sufficiently powerful floodlight system. The club and the supporters have long campaigned for an adaptation of the stadium to the requirements for the 3. Liga. The question became particularly relevant during the 2021–22 season, when BFC Dynamo was on the way to possibly qualify for the 3. Liga.
History
BFC Dynamo initially had modest support, but with its growing successes in the 1970s, the club began to attract young fans, primarily from the central areas around the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark, such as Prenzlauer Berg and Mitte. Many came from working class families in Prenzlauer Berg. The supporter scene became a focal point for various subcultures in the late 1970s and beginning of the 1980s. There were punks, rockers, hippies and a few early skinheads. Some were left-leaning and others were right-leaning. "We provoked with chants and slogans ... We were right, left, punk, hippie, skinhead. We were direct and provocative, kind and evil, in love, or drunk. Cool words were always well received. Right or left, I don't want to classify one. We were all in our fan group against the GDR, rebellion!"
Contemporary supporter scene
The contemporary supporter scene of BFC Dynamo contains various categories of supporters, ranging from older supporters to younger ultras. In the mid-2010s, older supporters made up a significant portion of the supporters, although less active than before. Many of them had become supporters already in the 1980s. Older supporters still form a distinct part of the support scene. An important supporter group among the older supporters is the supporter group 79er. The supporter scene played an important part in saving the club from bankruptcy in 2001. Supporters organized collections, made donations, threw parties and travelled as far as Austria and Switzerland to convince creditors to accept smaller pay-offs in order to save the cub. The insolvency crisis remains a defining moment for older supporters. For a long time, the supporter scene arranged an annual Mike-Polley-Gedenkturnier, which was a football fan tournament in memory of Mike Polley. A march in memory of Polley in Leipzig in 2018 was attended by 850 supporters of BFC Dynamo.
Current squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Notable past players
Many players of BFC Dynamo of the 1970s and 1980s played for the East Germany national team. Some would later become players or coaches in the Bundesliga and play for Germany national team. The list includes players with 100 appearances for SC Dynamo Berlin and BFC Dynamo at professional level and who have also played for their national team. The flag indicates the national team they last played for. The players are sorted chronologically by the date of their first appearance with the first team of SC Dynamo Berlin or BFC Dynamo in a competitive match.
Coach history
SC Dynamo Berlin had six different coaches until the founding of BFC Dynamo in 1966. The first coach was Helmut Petzold, who was delegated along with the team of Dynamo Dresden to Dynamo Berlin and took office on 21 November 1954. Other coaches of Dynamo Berlin were Istvan Orczifalvi, Fritz Bachmann, János Gyarmati, Fritz Gödicke and Karl Schäffner. Fritz Bachmann served as coach of Dynamo Berlin during the successful 1959 season.
BFC Dynamo was the most successful club in the DDR-Oberliga. The club won ten consecutive championships, which is a feat no other team in East Germany has matched. The DDR-Oberliga was rebranded as the NOFV-Oberliga from the 1990–91 season. The league was then replaced by the Bundesliga as the highest competition from the 1991–92 season, as East Germany had joined West Germany to form the reunited Germany.
