History of FC Dinamo București facts for kids
Dinamo București is a famous Romanian association football club based in Bucharest. The club started in 1948 and has spent almost its entire history playing in Liga I, which is the top football league in Romania.
Dinamo is one of the most successful football teams in Romania. They have won the Romanian Liga I title 18 times, the Romanian Cup 13 times, and the Romanian Supercup 2 times. They were also the first Romanian team to reach the semifinals of the European Champions' Cup in the 1983–84 season.
Contents
How Dinamo București Started
Dinamo București was formed on May 14, 1948. It was created when two other football clubs, "Unirea Tricolor MAI" and "Ciocanul București," joined together. The new club represented the country's Internal Affairs Ministry. Some important people who helped start the club were Teohari Georgescu and the brothers Alexandru and Turi Vogl.
The name "Dinamo" was first used on May 1, 1948. The team officially debuted in the 1947–48 Divizia A season, finishing 8th. On July 14, 1948, Dinamo played its first international match against Zidnice from Czechoslovakia, winning 4–1. August 22, 1948, marked Dinamo's first game in the top national division. Early players included Titus Ozon and Gheorghe Lăzăreanu. The team's first coach was Coloman Braun-Bogdan.
.jpg)
The current Dinamo Stadium opened on October 14, 1951. The first game played there was Dinamo against Locomotiva Timişoara, which Dinamo won 1–0. Dinamo finished second in the league in both the 1951–52 and 1952–53 seasons. In 1953, they also played in the Romanian Cup Final but lost 0–2 to Metalul Reşiţa.
In 1955, Dinamo won their very first championship title! With Angelo Niculescu as coach, the team had a strong attack with players like Alexandru Ene and Valeriu Neagu. Their defense was also the best in the league, letting in only 19 goals.
In the fall of 1956, Dinamo became the first Romanian team to play in the European Champion Clubs' Cup. This competition had just started a year before. Their first European game was on August 26, 1956, where they beat Galatasaray 3–1 in front of 32,000 fans.
European Successes
Dinamo won their second championship title in 1962. Key players at that time included Ilie Datcu and Constantin Ștefan. In 1963, they won their third title. The team also won the Romanian Cup in 1964, beating their biggest rival, Steaua, 5–3. In the European Cup, Dinamo played against the famous Real Madrid team, which had legendary players like Alfredo Di Stefano. The game in Bucharest set a new stadium record with 100,000 spectators.
In 1964, Dinamo faced another strong team, Inter Milan, in the European Cup. Dinamo lost both games. However, in 1965, Dinamo won another championship and welcomed new players like Mircea Lucescu. The next season, Dinamo played Inter Milan again and managed to win the home game 2–1, showing great improvement.
Dinamo won their 6th league title in 1971. A new important player, Florea Dumitrache, joined the team. Two years later, in 1973, Dinamo won their 7th title. In the European Cup, they had a huge 11–0 home victory against Crusaders Belfast from Northern Ireland. This is still the biggest win in the history of the European Cup!
Their 8th big success came in 1975, the year Dudu Georgescu won the "European Golden Boot" award for scoring 32 goals. In 1976, in the UEFA Cup, Dinamo played against AC Milan, a very strong team. The 1976–77 season brought Dinamo their 9th title, and Dudu Georgescu won another Golden Boot, this time with an amazing 47 goals!
Golden Years
The 1981–82 UEFA Cup season brought some great wins for Dinamo. They beat Levski Sofia and then faced a tough opponent, Internazionale. Dinamo managed a 1–1 draw in Milan and then won 3–2 at home in Bucharest in extra time! They were eventually eliminated by the Swedish team IFK Göteborg, who went on to win the trophy.
Dinamo won their 10th national title in 1982. They also won the Romanian Cup that year. After five years, Dinamo returned to the European Champions Cup. They eliminated Vålerenga Oslo and Dukla Prague. They were eventually eliminated by Aston Villa. The 11th title came just one year later, in 1983.
The 1983–84 season was very special. Cornel Dinu, a legendary player who had won 6 national titles with Dinamo, retired. Still, Dinamo won their 12th league title that same year.
The autumn of 1983–84 was a huge step for Dinamo in Europe. Their European Champions Cup journey started by beating Kuusysi Lahti from Finland. In the second round, Dinamo faced the current champions, Hamburger SV. Dinamo won 3–0 in Bucharest, and then had a thrilling 3–2 win away from home! To reach the semifinals, Dinamo had to beat another top team, FC Dinamo Minsk. After a 1–1 draw away, Dinamo won 1–0 in Bucharest. This meant Dinamo was the first Romanian team to reach the European Champions Cup semifinals! There, they met Liverpool. Dinamo lost 1–0 in the first game at Anfield and then 2–1 in Bucharest. Liverpool went on to win the competition.
In 1986, Dinamo won the Romanian Cup again, beating Steaua 1–0. The 1986–87 season saw Rodion Cămătaru win the "golden boot" award for scoring 44 goals.
In the 1988–89 Cup Winners Cup, Dinamo eliminated Lahti again and then Scottish club Dundee United. They were very close to reaching the semifinals but lost on away goals to Sampdoria Genova.
The 1989–90 Cup Winners Cup season brought more success. Dinamo beat Dinamo Tirana and then the Greek champions, Panathinaikos. In the quarter-finals, they eliminated Partizan Belgrade. After six years, Dinamo reached another European semifinal, this time against Anderlecht Bruxelles, but lost both games 1–0.
In the summer of 1990, with Mircea Lucescu as coach, Dinamo won their 13th national title. They also won the Cup final against Steaua with a score of 6–4. In the new European Cup season, they eliminated St Patrick's Athletic Dublin but were then eliminated by FC Porto.
In the 1991–92 UEFA Cup, Dinamo faced Figo's Sporting Clube de Portugal. They qualified after a 0–1 loss and a 2–0 victory. In the next round, Dinamo was eliminated by Genoa 1893.
In 1992, Dinamo added their 14th title to their record. It was an amazing season where they played 34 matches and did not lose a single one!
Ups and Downs
The years after 1992 saw Dinamo playing in the UEFA Cup. However, they didn't have much special success, often being eliminated in the early rounds.
New players like Catalin Hildan, Florentin Petre, and Cosmin Contra joined the team. Along with famous goalkeeper Florin Prunea, players like Adrian Mihalcea also became important. With this new team, in the 1998–99 season, Dinamo played some of the best football in Romania. They finished second in the league that year.
Dinamo won the league title in the 1999–2000 season, with Adrian Mutu playing for them. However, they lost in the Champions League qualifiers because they sold many of their best players. This affected their next season, where they lost the title to Steaua Bucharest.
In 2001–02, Dinamo won the title again after a very close championship race. They won the title in the very last game of the season. In Europe, they were eliminated in the first round of the UEFA Cup.
In the 2002–03 season, Dinamo faced challenges again as players left the team. This became a pattern for the club after winning titles. They changed many coaches and even lost 7 games in a row. After Ioan Andone became coach, Dinamo improved. They won the Romanian Cup that season, beating FC National 1–0 in the final.
After rebuilding the team in 2003–04, Dinamo eliminated Shakhtar Donetsk in the UEFA Cup. They then lost to Spartak Moscow. In the Romanian League, Dinamo won the title after a close fight with Steaua București. They also won the Romanian Cup again, beating Oţelul Galaţi 2–0.
For the 2004–05 season, Dinamo played an exciting game against Manchester United in Bucharest in the Champions League qualifying round. They lost 1–2 at home and 0–3 away. Even though they lost, this showed that Dinamo was making progress in trying to reach the Champions League group stage.
A big moment in recent times was in the 2005–06 UEFA Cup season when Dinamo beat the English team Everton 5–1 at home! They won the overall match 5–2. They also managed to beat CSKA Moscow (who were the Cup holders) 1–0.
In the 2006–07 season, Dinamo qualified for the European Spring (the knockout stages of the UEFA Cup). They were eliminated by Benfica. In Romania, the team was very strong, winning their 18th league title with four games left to play.
Dinamo tried again to enter the Champions League group stage but was eliminated by Lazio Roma. After many coach changes, Dinamo finished 4th in the league in 2007–08. Mircea Rednic returned as coach in 2008, but the team finished third.
In the 2009–10 season, Dinamo played in the Europa League playoff against FC Slovan Liberec. In the first game, fans ran onto the field, and the match was stopped. UEFA decided Dinamo lost 0–3. But one week later, in Liberec, Dinamo made an amazing comeback! They won 3–0 after extra time and then won 9–8 in a penalty shootout to qualify for the Europa League group stage!
Dinamo finished 6th in the 2010–11 season and reached the Romanian Cup final, but lost. For the 2011–12 season, Liviu Ciobotariu, a former Dinamo player, became the new coach.
After a disappointing loss in the Europa League Play-Off, Dinamo started the 2011–12 Romanian Championship very well. They were leading the league after 10 rounds, even after selling an important player, Gabriel Torje.
At the end of the autumn season, Dinamo was leading the league. They started the spring season with a 2–0 win at the new Național Arena stadium in front of 20,000 fans. Despite this, the team had a tough spring season and finished 5th. However, Dinamo managed to win two trophies: the Romanian Cup and the Romanian Super Cup.
Changes and Challenges
In March 2013, businessman Ionuț Negoiță bought the club. He made some changes, including appointing former Dinamo player Gheorghe Mulțescu as head coach. However, things didn't go as planned, and Mulțescu was replaced by Flavius Stoican. With Stoican, Dinamo improved and finished 4th in the league.
In May 2014, the club announced it was starting procedures to enter insolvency. This meant the club had financial problems. Because of this, Dinamo was not allowed to play in the Europa League, even though they finished 4th in the league.
On September 24, 2015, a court ruled that Dinamo had met the requirements to end the insolvency process. However, they still couldn't enter European competitions.
In the 2016–17 season, Dinamo finished third and qualified for the Europa League. In the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League, Dinamo played against the Spanish club Athletic Bilbao. The first match in Bucharest was a 1–1 draw, but Athletic won the second match 3–0, and Dinamo was eliminated.
For the next two seasons, Dinamo did not qualify for the play-off and missed out on European competitions.
Difficult Times
Dinamo struggled for three seasons in a row, from 2018 to 2020, finishing in lower positions each time. In 2019, they were in 9th place and then had to fight against relegation in the 2019–20 season. The owner, Ionuț Negoiță, wanted to sell the club. The fans' association bought 20% of the club's shares to help.
Adrian Mihalcea became head coach in March 2020. He started with four losses, and Dinamo reached the bottom of the league. After a win and a draw, Mihalcea was replaced by Gheorghe Mulțescu, who returned for his fourth time as coach.
Dinamo was also affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many players tested positive, and the team had to quarantine. On August 6, the league season was stopped. Dinamo finished 13th, but they were saved from relegation because the Romanian Federation decided to increase the number of teams in the league.
On August 13, 2020, a Spanish company bought the club. The new owners promised to bring Dinamo back to European competitions. Dinamo signed several new players with impressive backgrounds and big salaries. However, the new owner did not pay the players for several months. Many foreign players left, and Dinamo was left with huge debts. At the beginning of the 2021–22 season, the club went into insolvency again.
Relegation and Promotion
The 2021–22 season ended with Dinamo being relegated to Liga II, the second division. They played a play-off against Universitatea Cluj. Universitatea Cluj won the first match 2–0, and the second match ended 1–1. This meant Dinamo Bucharest was relegated for the first time in its history.
In March 2022, a businessman named Dorin Șerdean became the main owner of Dinamo. In February 2023, he sold the club to a company called Red&White.
Ovidiu Burcă was named head coach on July 21, 2022. With a completely new team, Burcă had a tough start. But then, Dinamo improved a lot, losing only one game until the end of the regular season and reaching the play-off. They finished fourth in the play-off, which meant they would play in the Liga I promotion/relegation play-off.
On May 29, Dinamo had a huge 6–1 victory against FC Arges Pitesti in the first play-off game. In the second game, they lost 4–2, but with a total score of 8–5, Dinamo returned to the Superliga (Liga I) after only one year in Liga II!
