SAMSTAG 15:30

Founded: Apr 12, 1953
Club Members: 34,146
Nickname: SGD, Dynamo
Coach: Thomas Stamm
Captain: Stefan Kutschke

DDR Oberliga Champions: 8
FDGB-Pokal: 7
3.Liga Champions: 2
Intertoto Cup Winner: 1
Landespokal Sachsen Winner: 3

Website: www.dynamo-dresden.de
 

Although there has been a team in Dresden since as far back as 1874 (Dresden English Football Club – widely believed to be the first official club outside the United Kingdom), Dynamo Dresden's history is intrinsically linked with the political and social realities of the Cold War. After the end of World War II, the occupying Soviet forces intensified their efforts to stamp out fascism which their paranoia had convinced them lay in the minds of sportsmen and women. As a consequence, the order was given for all sports clubs, including local side Dresdner SC, to disband and start again from scratch. With no team to support, the city were on the look-out for an 'ideologically safe' representative and the East German police stepped forward to help set up a new football club - SG Dynamo Dresden.

With strong links to the police from the outset, they enjoyed advantages that few other teams in East Germany could boast and gathering up talent from other police-affiliated clubs, it wasn't long before they were a force, winning the FDGB-Pokal in 1952 before following up with a first ever DDR Oberliga title in 1953. They were soon to become victims of their own success however. At the time, the state had total control of everyday life including football and the Head of the Stasi, Eric Mielke, wasn't happy that Dresden was enjoying football success whilst the East German capital lacked any decent teams. The Stasi set about putting an end to Dresden's fun by 'transferring' players from the all-conquering Dresden side to the newly formed Berliner Fußball Club Dynamo, known as BFC Dynamo, in a geo-political move to challenge Hertha Berlin and stop them attracting supporters from the East.

Whilst football was being used as a political ... 'football', Dresden were left with a skeleton squad and soon plummeted down the leagues, playing in the fourth tier Bezirksliga by 1957 having learnt the hard way that state support could never be permanent. They recovered over the course of the next decade however and during the 1970s rose again to become the most popular club in the country, winning five league titles and two cups as they battled Saxony rivals 1.FC Magdeburg for Oberliga supremacy. During this period they also established themselves as a force in European football with notable wins against Juventus, FC Porto and Benfica on their way to reaching four quarter-finals. The pick of the thrills came in 1974 with a 7-6 aggregate defeat to FC Bayern München in the last 16 of the European Cup amidst rumours of Stasi-harvested information about the visitors' line-up being given to Dresden coach Walter Fritzsch ahead of the return leg.

Dresden's return to prominence was once again too much for poor old Herr Mielke and after one particular triumph towards the end of the 1970s, the story goes that he marched into the Dresden dressing room with celebrations already in full flow and announced with a degree of contempt that BFC Dynamo would become champions from now on. His prophecy came true amidst rumours of bribes and corruption as the capital club subsequently won ten consecutive titles between 1979-1988. Although they continued to enjoy some domestic cup success throughout the decade, Dresden were the biggest losers when it came to competing against the State's new team, finishing league runners-up on half a dozen occasions and the ill-feeling they share with many other former GDR clubs towards BFC Dynamo remains to this day.

By the end of the decade however, the winds of change were blowing across Europe and the prospect of German reunification gave the Stasi more immediate problems to focus on than football. Without state support, BFC Dynamo were no longer the force they were and, with future Ballon d'Or winner Matthias Sammer orchestrating their midfield, Dresden were able to regain the upper hand with back-to-back Oberliga title wins in 1989 and 1990. Having been drawn against Red Star Belgrade in the following year's European Cup though, after a ruinous 0-3 defeat in Belgrade, rioting by Dresden's fans saw the return leg abandoned and Saxony's capital club were expelled from European competition for a year. They would never return.

The fall of the Berlin Wall meant reunification was in order for German football just as it was in every other aspect of German life; and not only did it lead to the end of the Oberliga, but also its 'Dynamo culture' spearheaded by the state-backed teams such as Dresden and BFC. The East German clubs struggled to compete financially with their western counterparts and after kicking off in the new pan-German Bundesliga, Dresden found themselves having to battle against relegation from the off. After narrowly avoiding the drop in their first couple of seasons, they rallied in 1993-94, finishing in a creditable 13th place with a decent team built around the talents of Manchester City-bound Uwe Rösler and Polish international Piotr Nowak. It proved to be a false dawn however, and by the end of the following season, they'd been relegated from the Bundesliga, finishing dead last and nine points from safety. They haven't returned since.

There have been many ups and downs in the post-Wende years for Dynamo ... but mostly downs. It is no coincidence that they were relegated soon after the Premier League was formed in England and as money became of increasing importance in football, Dynamo were one of many clubs throughout the continent that struggled to keep up. After being relegated from the top-flight, the club faced another battle with adversity in 1995 when, drowning in DM 10 million of debt, they were denied a licence to compete in Bundesliga.2 and unceremoniously demoted to the amateur Regionalliga Nordost. They stayed there for over a decade and at times even the existence of the club that had dominated East German football for so long was in question. Things hadn't quite hit rock bottom yet though and the rollercoaster became one permanent dip at the turn of the millennium when a restructuring of the league pyramid saw them tumble into the fourth tier Oberliga Nordost-Süd – which briefly gave Dresdner SC (remember them?) city bragging rights once again.

After a difficult decade, during which the motto 'Wir kommen wieder' (We're coming back') was adopted, a couple of promotions in three years had seen the 'Beast from the East' claw their way back to the second division by 2004 before dropping back to the then-third tier Regionalliga a couple of years later. And ricocheting between the second and third tiers is essentially what Dynamo have done ever since. In the past 20 years, they've been promoted or relegated eight times; and the closest they got to a Bundesliga return was a distant fifth-place Bundesliga.2 finish in 2016-17. Promotion from the 3.Liga last season sees Dresden line up in Bundesliga.2 once again but, as with many clubs, it's the hope that kills you and they still look as likely to be relegated as promoted on a season by season basis. 

Despite the ups and downs however, one constant has been the incredible level of support the club have retained from their Oberliga heyday. Dresden's supporters have earned themselves a reputation as one of the most fanatical sets of fans in Germany and home matches are partisan affairs with attendances at the 'RHS' averaging over 25,000 despite the fact that the 'Rebel Yell' haven't played in the top-flight for over 30 years. Led by the 'Ultras Dynamo ' and a large active hardcore, they took fan culture to a new level in 2015 when the biggest banner in European football history was unfurled before a home game against former GDR sparring partners 1.FC Magdeburg (see video here). Nearly three years in the making, 70km of thread, eight sewing machines and costing in excess of €25,000; the 35 metre high, 450 metre long banner read 'Die Legende aus Elbflorenz. Der Verein Mit Den Besten Fans' (‘The Legend from Florence on the Elbe. The Club With The Best Fans’). And with an oath of allegiance like that, it's hard to disagree.

SG Dynamo Dresden were just one of many state-backed clubs created to enforce the propaganda of Eastern Bloc nations, but as the biggest club in eastern Germany outside Berlin, their story tends to attract more attention than most. It’s hard to predict what the future holds but even if we don't know the answer, surely the question is: Can this fallen giant of East German football finally overcome its struggle for consistency and be a force again ... in a unified Germany?