FC Dinamo Minsk

FC Dinamo Minsk or FK Dynama Minsk (ФК Дынама Мінск; ФК Динамо Минск) is a Belarusian professional football club based in the capital city of Minsk.

It was founded in 1927 as part of the Soviet Dinamo Sports Society, and was the only club from the Byelorussian SSR that competed in the Soviet Top League, playing 39 of the 54 seasons, and winning the title in 1982. Since the independence of Belarus, the club participates in the Belarusian Premier League, having won 7 league titles and 3 Belarusian Cups.

Dinamo plays its home games in the 22,246-capacity Dinamo Stadium in Minsk. Dinamo is the second Belarusian team, after BATE Borisov, to reach UEFA Europa League group stages (2014–15 and 2015–16).

Soviet Union
Dinamo Minsk was founded in 1927 as a part of the Soviet Dinamo Sports Society. They spent some of their history in the lower leagues of the Soviet Union, but in 1940, they were promoted to the Soviet Top League, becoming the first and only Belarusian team to compete in the Soviet top division. They were relegated to the second level in 1952, but returned to the top level the next year. In 1954, they finished in the third place, their best performance in the top flight to date, and were dissolved, being re-founded as Spartak Minsk, only to be renamed as Belarus Minsk in 1959, in honor of the Soviet republic in the national championship. However, in 1962, they returned to the original name of Dinamo Minsk. They were relegated again from the top level in 1955 and in 1957. They played in the top level again in the 1960 season. They were relegated again in 1973 and returned to the top level in the 1975 season. But they relegated immediately in 1976. They returned to the top level after 2 years.

In 1982, Dinamo Minsk won the Soviet championship for the first and only time in their history. The following year saw them debuting in the European Cup against Grasshopper of Switzerland. They reached the quarter-finals of the European Cup after eliminating Grasshoppers and Győri ETO of Hungary, only to be eliminated by Dinamo București. In the 1984–85 season, Dinamo Minsk reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup after beating HJK Helsinki, Sporting CP and Widzew Łódź, but were eventually stopped by Željezničar Sarajevo. 1988 saw Dinamo Minsk up to a new European performance, the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, passing through Gençlerbirliği and Real Sociedad, but being eliminated by Mechelen.

Dinamo Minsk also participated in Belarusian SSR league. Since the mid-50s, their appearances were only sporadic and they were represented by youth teams in later seasons. They have won the championship 7 times.

Belarus
Dinamo Minsk won the inaugural season of the Belarusian Premier League in 1992. They won 5 league titles until 1995, making only one appearance in the UEFA Champions League, in 1993. However, after a title in 1997, Dinamo Minsk last won the championship in 2004. The 2000s saw Dinamo Minsk failing to secure any league title in the battle against BATE Borisov, thus finishing in lower places.

In 2014, Dinamo Minsk beat MYPA, CFR Cluj and Nacional to be drawn in Group K of UEFA Europa League, along with Italian side Fiorentina, French team Guingamp and Greek side PAOK, becoming the second team, after BATE Borisov, to reach group stages of Europa League. Dinamo finished at the bottom with four points, after a draw with Guingamp and a historical 2–1 victory over Fiorentina.

Name history

 * 1927, club founded as Dinamo Minsk as part of Dynamo sports society
 * 1954, renamed to Spartak Minsk being transferred to Spartak volunteer sports society
 * 1959, renamed to Belarus Minsk
 * 1962, renamed to Dinamo Minsk being transferred back to Dynamo sports society

Supporters and Rivalries
The ultras of Dinamo Minsk are famous for their right-wing political orientation and there have been several riots, clashes with the police forces and chants against the Belarusian authoritarian regime, led by long-time President Alexander Lukashenko.

Their political views as well as geographic proximity and contest for dominance of the city make them rivals with neighbours Partizan Minsk, whose fans tend to be strongly left-wing. Dinamo Minsk also has a big rivalry with BATE Borisov from the city of Barysaw.

Honours
🇧🇾 Belarus

Soviet Union
 * Belarusian Premier League
 * Winners (8): 1992, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995, 1997, 2004, 2023
 * Runners-up: 1996, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2014, 2015, 2017
 * Third place: 2000, 2003, 2012, 2013, 2016, 2018, 2021
 * Belarusian Cup
 * Winners (3): 1992, 1993–94, 2002–03
 * Runners-up: 1995–96, 1997–98, 2012–13
 * Season Cup
 * Winners: 1994


 * Soviet Top League
 * Winners: 1982
 * Third place: 1954, 1963, 1983
 * Soviet Cup
 * Runners-up: 1965, 1987
 * Federation Cup
 * Runners-up: 1989
 * Soviet First League
 * Winners: 1953, 1956
 * Runners-up: 1951, 1975
 * Third place: 1974, 1978
 * Football Championship of the Belarusian SSR
 * Winners (6): 1937, 1938, 1939, 1945, 1951, 1975
 * Runners-up: 1934, 1935, 1946, 1952, 1977
 * Third place:1940, 1947

Current squad
As of July 2024

Reserves
There has been several teams that served as Dinamo Minsk official reserve or farm clubs.


 * Dinamo-d Minsk was the club's reserve team which competed in the Soviet Top League (or First League) Reserves championship. In 1992 this reserve team was transformed into Dinamo-2 Minsk, which eventually got promoted to Belarusian Premier League and split into new club Belarus Minsk (later renamed to more commonly known Dinamo-93 Minsk). This club disbanded in 1998.
 * Dinamo-Juni Minsk was formed as an outfit for young Dinamo players in 1993 and played in Second League and First League from the 1993–94 season until the end of 2004.
 * New Dinamo-2 Minsk was formed 2000. They were active in the Second League during 2000–2002 and again in 2011–2012.
 * Bereza-2010 was originally an independent club, which since 2010 formed a partnership with Dinamo, serving as their farm club until the dissolution in late 2015.
 * Since 2001 Dinamo is represented by a reserve team in Belarusian Premier League Reserves Championship.

Notable managers

 * Eduard Malofeyev (1978–83): USSR Championship 1982
 * 🇧🇾 Mikhail Vergeyenko (1991–94): Belarusian Championship 1992, 1992–93, 1993–94
 * 🇷🇺 Anatoly Baidachny (1997): Belarusian Championship 1997
 * 🇧🇾 Yuri Shukanov (2004–05): Belarusian Championship 2004

League history
🇧🇾 Belarus

European record

 * Accurate as of 14 July 2022

Legend: GF = Goals For. GA = Goals Against. GD = Goal Difference.