Dynamo Dresden

Dynamo Dresden

Full name	SG Dynamo Dresden
Nickname(s)	The Kreisel, Dynamo, SGD, Dresden, The black-yellows
Founded	12 April 1953
Ground	Rudolf Harbig Stadion, Dresden (Capacity: 32,296)
Chairman	Hauke Haensel
Manager	Matthias Maucksch
League	3rd Liga (III)
2008/09	3rd Liga, 9th
Home colours Away colours Third colours

SG Dynamo Dresden is a German football club, based in Dresden, Saxony. They were founded in 1950, as a club affiliated to the East German police, and became one of the most popular and successful clubs in East German football, winning eight league titles. Since reunification, the club has not enjoyed the same level of success, although they did play in the Bundesliga, the highest level of German football, for four years (1991–95).

History

In 1950, Dresden's most popular local club, SG Friedrichstadt, ran foul of the occupying Soviet authorities as being too bourgeois and not properly representative of East Germany's new socialist society. After their appearance that year against Horch Zwickau in a farcial national final manipulated by the authorities, the club was broken up and its players exiled to other cities with many fleeing to the west. What was left of the club was tacked onto the worker's side BSG VVG Tabak Dresden that April.

Uncertainty and success

Logo of predecessor side SV Deutsche Volkspolizei Dresden.

Sportvereinigung Deutsche Volkspolizei Dresden was established after the war in October 1948 and was groomed as an ideologically safe "replacement" side for the city after the dismantling of SG Friedrichstadt. In July 1950, 17 players from 11 other police-sponsored clubs, most of them from SG Mickten, were delivered to SV DVP Dresden to create a competitive team wearing green and white – the state colors of Saxony. The new club soon enjoyed some success; they began to attract a following and inaugurated a new stadium, won the FDGB Pokal (East German Cup) in 1952, and sent their first representatives to the national side.

The club was formally re-established as SG Dynamo Dresden on 12 April 1953 in the Schauburg cinema and changed its colors to wine-red and white. It was part of Sportvereinigung Dynamo, one of a group of multi-sport clubs built on the Soviet model to promote sport for political and nationalistic purposes. Each of these societies was affiliated to or identified with a sector of the national economy or government: in the case of Dynamo that affiliation was with the state security and police forces, including the Stasi (Ministry for State Security).

The original green Dynamo logo reflecting the club's origins as a Saxon club, the logo in use ca. 1960s–70s, and a recent variant showing championship stars.

Erich Mielke, head of the Stasi, was upset that Dresden was represented in the top-flight national league by several good sides while Berlin did not have even one. In late 1954, Dynamo Dresden was packed up and moved off to the capital to become Berliner FC Dynamo. What was left of the team – reserves and younger players – ended up as a 2nd division side which fell to the third tier after just one season of play. The club regrouped, however, and made their way back to the top tier in 1962.

From December 1965 to January 1966, 11 East German clubs including Dynamo Dresden were separated from their parent sports clubs to be designated as Fußballclubs – football-only "focus clubs" where the country's best talent would be transferred with the object of developing players for the national team. In 1968, Dynamo Dresden took on the current team colors of black and yellow, the city colors of Dresden. They soon emerged as one of the DDR-Oberliga's best sides, enjoying a run of five championships and two Cup wins in eight years from 1971 to 1978 under coach Walter Fritzsch. During this time Dresden were the country's most popular side, regularly drawing crowds of 25,000, when most other clubs were attracting less than a third of that.

Second place to the Stasi

The Dresden team celebrate winning the cup final in 1990

Dresden and the rest of the league then came hard up against Stasi-sponsored Dynamo Berlin. After a decade-and-a-half of football that had been relatively free of interference from above, there would not be a real opportunity to challenge for the title on fair terms for a decade as circumstances were manipulated in favour of Mielke's pet side: between 1979 and 1988, Dynamo Berlin won 10 consecutive titles. Dynamo Dresden earned six second-place finishes in that same period and could take some consolation in becoming East Germany's top performing side internationally. Once the hold of the secret police on the nation's football was loosened, Dynamo Dresden started winning titles again, winning the title in 1989 and the double (national and cup titles) in 1990. The title Zentralorgan of a Dynamo fanzine refers to this past.

German reunification and the Bundesliga

After German re-unification in 1990 the club was re-named 1. FC Dynamo Dresden. Following the subsequent merger of the East and West German leagues, they played for four years in the top flight Bundesliga, always finishing in the bottom half of the table. A last place finish in 1994–95 led to relegation, compounded by financial problems that saw the club's president imprisoned for fraud. The club was denied a license and sent all the way down to Regionalliga Nordost (III). Dynamo then struggled for some time, at one point falling to the Oberliga Nordost-Süd (IV), before clawing its way back to the 2.Bundesliga in 2004, despite on-going financial problems. Dynamo played there for two seasons, but were relegated to the Regionalliga Nord (III) in 2006. The 2006–07 campaign saw the team involved in the race for promotion early on, but a disappointing second half resulted in only a 7th place finish. In the summer of 2007 the club re-adopted its old East German name to play as SG Dynamo Dresden.

In 2008 Dynamo qualified for the inaugural 3. Liga, and after a difficult first half of the season, recovered to finish 9th. In doing so, they finished above local rivals Erzgebirge Aue, making them the top-ranked team in Saxony for the first time since 1995. This was capped off by the reserve team winning both the Saxony League and Cup.

Recent seasons

Stadium

The club plays its home fixtures at the Rudolf Harbig Stadion opened in 1923.

Former players

See also: Category:Dynamo Dresden players

Honours

• DDR-Oberliga: 8
  • Champions 1953, 1971, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1989, 1990
• FDGB-Pokal: 7 (Record, shared with 1. FC Magdeburg)
  • Winners 1952, 1971, 1977, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1990
• UEFA Cup
  • Semi-final 1989
• NOFV-Oberliga: 1
  • Winners 2002
• Saxony Cup: 3
  • Winners 2003, 2007, 2009
• GDR Junior Champion: 2
  • 1982, 1985
• Junge Welt Junior Cup: 2
  • 1976, 1985
• Indoor-Regio-Cup: 1
  • 2007 ^[1]

Current squad

As of 21 July 2010 (2010 -07-21)^[update]

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Axel Keller 2 DF Marcel Wächter 3 DF Tim Kister 4 MF Denny Herzig 5 DF Thomas Hübener 7 FW Marc Sand 8 MF Timo Röttger 9 FW Tore Andreas Gundersen 10 FW Shergo Biran 11 MF Gerrit Müller 13 GK Benjamin Kirsten 14 MF Maik Kegel 15 DF Florian Jungwirth 17 MF Lars Jungnickel

No. Position Player 18 DF Jonas Strifler 20 DF Thomas Franke 21 MF Dennis Bührer 22 DF Florian Grossert 23 MF Sascha Pfeffer 24 MF David Solga 25 FW Robert Koch 26 MF Maik Wagefeld (team captain) 27 MF Sebastian Schuppan 28 MF Marcel Franke 30 MF Oliver Merkel 31 FW Paul-Max Walther 40 MF Cristian Fiel 90 FW Alexander Esswein

Technical staff

Name	Role
Matthias Maucksch	Manager
Nico Däbritz	Assistant manager
Nikica Maglica	Assistant manager
Thomas Köhler	Goalkeeper Coach/Reserve Team Manager
René Beuchel	General Manager
Maik Schulz	Masseur
Timo Lorenz	Doctor
Arndt Prohl	Physiotherapist
Jan Seifert	Reserve Team Manager
Tom Stohn	Scout
Ivo Ulich	Scout

Dynamo Dresden II

Dynamo Dresden's reserve team are managed by Thomas Köhler and play in the NOFV-Oberliga Nord (V).

Reserve team squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player GK Marcel Berndt GK Oliver Jansen Beckmann DF Gregor Hoppadietz DF Tim Krömer DF Sepp Kunze DF Carl Labisch DF Stefan Süß DF Ronald Wolf MF Yves Dießner MF Marcel Franke MF Marcus Hüppe MF Tony Mamodaly MF Daniel Mazar

No. Position Player MF Oliver Merkel MF Willi Richter MF Martin Scholze MF Mirko Soltau MF Max Worbs FW Robert Koch FW Ronny Kreher FW Telatko Rocky FW Kristof Schmid FW Richard Schöne FW Paul-Max Walther FW Thomas Weiss FW Sebastian Zahn

Managers

Dynamo enjoyed its greatest successes under Walter Fritzsch, capturing the first division DDR-Oberliga title in 1971, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1978, as well as finishing as vice-champions four times. The team also took the East German Cup (FDGB Pokal) in 1971 and 1977.

Dynamo Dresden in Europe

Season	Competition	Round	Nation	Club	Score
1967/1968	Inter-Cities Fairs Cup	1st round		Rangers FC	1:1, 1:2
1970/1971	Inter-Cities Fairs Cup	1st round		FK Partizan	0:0, 6:0
		2nd round		Leeds United	0:1, 2:1
1971/1972	European Clubs' Champions Cup	1st round		Ajax Amsterdam	0:2, 0:0
1972/1973	UEFA Cup	1st round		VÖEST Linz	2:0, 2:2
		2nd round		Ruch Chorzów	1:0, 3:0
		Last 16		FC Porto	2:1, 1:0
		Quarter final		Liverpool FC	0:2, 0:1
1973/1974	European Clubs' Champions Cup	1st round		Juventus	2:0, 2:3
		Last 16		Bayern München	3:4, 3:3
1974/1975	UEFA Cup	1st round		Randers Freja	1:1, 0:0
		2nd round		Dynamo Moscow	1:0, 0:1 (4:3 a.p.)
		Last 16		Hamburger SV	1:4, 2:2
1975/1976	UEFA Cup	1st round		ASA Târgu Mureş	2:2, 4:1
		2nd round		Budapest Honvéd FC	2:2, 3:0
		Last 16		Torpedo Moscow	3:0, 1:1
		Quarter final		Liverpool FC	0:0, 1:2
1976/1977	European Clubs' Champions Cup	1st round		S.L. Benfica	2:0, 0:0
		Last 16		Ferencvaros	0:1, 4:0
		Quarter final		FC Zürich	1:2, 3:2
1977/1978	European Clubs' Champions Cup	1st round		Halmstads BK	2:0, 1:2
		Last 16		Liverpool FC	1:5, 2:1
1978/1979	European Clubs' Champions Cup	1st round		FK Partizan	0:2, 2:0 (5:4 a.p.)
		Last 16		Bohemian F.C.	0:0, 6:0
		Quarter final		FK Austria Wien	1:3, 1:0
1979/1980	UEFA Cup	1st round		Atlético Madrid	2:1, 3:0
		2nd round		VfB Stuttgart	1:1, 0:0
1980/1981	UEFA Cup	1st round		FK Napredak Kruševac	1:0, 1:0
		2nd round		FC Twente	1:1, 0:0
		Last 16		Standard Liège	1:1, 1:4
1981/1982	UEFA Cup	1st round		Zenit Leningrad	2:1, 4:1
		2nd round		Feyenoord Rotterdam	1:2, 1:1
1982/1983	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	1st round		B93 Kopenhagen	2:0, 1:5
1984/1985	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	1st round		Malmö FF	0:2, 4:1
		Last 16		FC Metz	3:1, 0:0
		Quarter final		SK Rapid Wien	3:0, 0:5
1985/1986	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	1st round		Cercle Brugge	2:3, 2:1
		Last 16		HJK Helsinki	0:1, 7:2
		Quarter final		Bayer Uerdingen	2:0, 3:7
1987/1988	UEFA Cup	1st round		Spartak Moscow	0:3, 1:0
1988/1989	UEFA Cup	1st round		Aberdeen FC	0:0, 2:0
		2nd round		K.S.V. Waregem	4:1, 1:2
		Last 16		AS Roma	2–0, 2–0
		Quarter final		Victoria Bucureşti	1:1, 4:0
		Semi-final		VfB Stuttgart	0:1, 1:1
1989/1990	European Clubs' Champions Cup	1st round		AEK Athens FC	1:0, 3:5
1990/1991	European Clubs' Champions Cup	1st round		Union Luxembourg	3:1, 3:0
		Last 16		Malmö FF	1:1, 1:1 (5:4 a.p.)
		Quarter final		Red Star Belgrade	0:3, 0:3 (match abandoned)

References

Literature

• Grüne, Hardy (2001). Vereinslexikon. Kassel: AGON Sportverlag ISBN 3-89784-147-9
• Das deutsche Fußball-Archiv historical German domestic league tables (in German)
• eufo.de European football club profiles and current team rosters

External links

• Official team site
• Abseits Guide to German Soccer