Friends, we continue to leaf through the pages of the glorious history of FC Dynamo, which will celebrate its centenary in May 2027!
The famous club from the capital of Ukraine is the owner of many titles - 13-time champion and 9-time winner of the Union Cup, 16-time champion of Ukraine and 13-time winner of the National Cup and 9-time winner of the Super Cup.
Dynamo has three Euro trophies (Cup Winners' Cup 1975, 1986 and UEFA Super Cup 1975).
In different years the team was coached by famous coaches - Oleg Oshenkov, Vyacheslav Soloviev, Viktor Maslov, Valeriy Lobanovsky, Oleg Bazilevich....
Many Dynamo players from Kyiv were invited to the USSR and Ukrainian national teams and Olympic teams. Only at the 1986 World Championship in Mexico there were a dozen of them.
Three players of Kyiv Dynamo Oleg Blokhin, Igor Belanov and Andriy Shevchenko were awarded the "Golden Ball" of France Football for the best footballer in Europe.
The seasons for Kyiv players were different - there were triumphant and not quite successful. Today we are talking about the events of 1968.
Dynamo played their home games at the Republican Stadium. After the reconstruction (the upper tier was added) its stands began to accommodate 100 thousand spectators. The cozy Dynamo arena also changed for the better. It hosted understudies, who pleased the fans of the club with exciting game and loud victories. In the season-68 Dynamo reserves won "gold".
In early February, Yevgeny Rudakov, Vladimir Levchenko, Jozsef Sabo, Fedor Medvidya and Anatoly Byshovets were called up to the national team. Ahead of this team had two matches of the 1/4 finals of the European Cup with the national team of Hungary and two qualifying matches of the Olympic tournament with the team of Czechoslovakia. The first team won the right to play in the final tournament, the Olympians in Mexico City did not get.
Dynamo's winter training camp was held on the Black Sea coast of Georgia, in Gagra (Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia). Viktor Maslov, the coach of Kyiv team, involved 31 players in training work. We prepared perfectly and confidently started in the championship.
I would like to note at once that the fight for the "gold" was between our Dynamo and Spartak. In Moscow the meeting of the contenders ended in a draw - 3:3, and in Kyiv the hosts won minimally - 1:0.
There were 20 clubs in the top league of the 30th USSR champion. The Kyivians won 21 meetings, 15 drew, 2 lost (Dynamo Moscow - 0:1 and Zenit - 0:1), scored 57 points. The goals are 58-25. Great indicators.
"Silver" at Spartak - 52 points, "bronze" at Moscow "Torpedo" (50).
The Kyivians defeated Lokomotiv Moscow - 3:1 and 1:0, Zenit - 5:2, Chornomorets - 4:2, Torpedo (Moscow) - 2:1, Zarya - 2:0, Pakhtakor - 2:0 and 2:0, CSKA - 2:1, Dynamo Moscow - 2:0, SKA (Rostov-on-Don) - 4:0, Shakhtar - 3:2, Dinamo (Minsk) - 2:1, Neftyannik - 3:0, Kairat - 1:0, Ararat - 1:0, Krylya Sovetov - 1:0, Torpedo (Kutaisi) - 2:0 and 1:0, Dinamo (Kirovobad) - 1:0.
It was the third consecutive championship peak of Dynamo Kyiv. Anatoliy Puzach became the best scorer of the team - 11 goals in 33 games.
The title was won by: Yevgeniy Rudakov, Viktor Bannikov, Vasyl Turyanchyk (captain), Vladimir Levchenko, Sergiy Krulikovskiy, Vadim Sosnikhin, Fedor Medvid, Vladimir Muntean, Jozsef Sabo, Anatoliy Puzach, Vitaliy Khmelnitskiy, Viktor Serebryanikov, Valeriy Porkuyan, Anatoliy Byshovets, Anatoliy Pilipchuk.
Played, but did not receive medals: defenders - Yuri Vankevich (11 matches), Leonid Ostrovsky (6) and Alexander Shpakov (1), midfielders - Sergei Shklyar (8), Viktor Nazarov (6-1 goal), Anatoly Bogovik (2), Vyacheslav Semenov (2) and Viktor Goroza (1), forwards - Viktor Kaschey (4-1) and Vladimir Veremeev (3).
Shpakov, after finishing his career as a player, became an excellent children's coach. After all, under his guidance Andriy Shevchenko made his first steps in the Dynamo school.
The coach of the champions is Viktor Maslov, assistants are Mikhail Koman and Viktor Terentyev.
In the cup tournaments in 1968 for various reasons Kyiv did not achieve success. Although everything started quite well. In the 1/16 finals of the USSR Cup the lot brought the Kiev club with Moscow "Spartak". July 28 in Kiev, the guests suffered a defeat (0:3). And a month later in the 1/8 finals in Donetsk, Kiev expected disappointment. "Shakhtar", which played ex-Dynamo players Valeriy Lobanovsky and Oleg Bazilevich, won - 1:0.
And in the European Champions Cup Dynamo suffered a setback. At the start of this prestigious tournament on September 18 and October 20 the Kyiv team had to play with Swiss Zurich. But two weeks before the start of the tournament UEFA made a new draw.
The reason? The invasion of the USSR and other Warsaw Pact countries into Czechoslovakia to suppress a popular uprising. Therefore, a number of leading clubs in Western Europe resolutely refused to meet the teams of the countries participating in that shameful aggression.
UEFA made a decision that in the first round the teams of Eastern Europe should find out the relationship in duels between themselves. Dynamo's opponent was Polish Ruch (Chorzów).
However, the soccer federation of the former USSR cynically insisted on canceling this decision. This protest was supported by the soccer federations of Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria. The UEFA Executive Committee was unwavering and rejected the protest.
Teams from the "socialist camp" (except Romania) under pressure from their leaders refused to participate in the tournament.
That was how the 1968 season was for the "white-blues" from Kiev. After this dramatic event Dynamo won six finals of the USSR Cup and won 9 sets of gold medals of the All-Union championships.
Oleksandr LIPENKO for Dynamo.kiev.ua