Alongside Shakhtar Donetsk, Dinamo Kyiv is the strongest side in Ukrainian football. They won the Europa League, but they didn’t
repeat that success in the Uefa Champions League, even though they are a fairly regular member of it.
Almost all of the players that made Dinamo what it is today are Ukrainians, Igor Belanov, Oleg Blokhin, Andry Bal, Aleksey Mikhaylichenko, Andrey Husin, Oleg Luzhny, Oleksandr Shovkovskyi, Serhiy Rebrov, and of course Andrey Shevchenko. Their best manager, a man with great talent was the team’s brain, Valery Lobanovsky.
They were able to reach the semi-final of the UCL 3 times, in 1976/77, 1986/87, and 1998/99. In 1977 they lost to Borussia M’Gladbach on aggregate 1-2, in 1987 2:4 on aggregate against Porto and in 1999 Bayern knocked them out of the competition.
They reached the quarter-finals in 1973, 1976, 1982, 1983 and 1998.
The day to be remember for Dinamo was in 1977 when they were too strong for Bayern Munich. Led by Andrey Schechenko in 1998/99 they were able to eliminate Real Madrid 3-1 on aggregate.
Their most painful defeats came in the semi-finals they played. That remains their best chance to have reached the UCL trophy.
