BFC Dynamo

Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark (Capacity: 19.708)

BFC Dynamo vs Berlin Ankaraspor Kulübü 07 (2:1 a.e.t) (Berliner Pilsner Pokal 5th Round, 23. March 2011)
0:1 P.F. Azad (4.), 1:1  F. Karaduman (90 + 2.), 2:1 N. Lemcke (118.)

Attendance: 778
Cost: 8 Euro
Programme: Stadionkurier (1.50 Euro)

There were almost as many police as fans at the game!

Nice view of the stadium at dusk

The main grandstand

Plenty of merchandise on sale

Doing it for Japan!

BAK celebrating after opening the scoring in the
4th minute

BAK on the attack again

The ball boys were loving it!

Players down everywhere in the second half

Dynamo on the attack in search of an equaliser

Dynamo players celebrating with the fans after sending
the game into extra time with a goal seconds before
the full time whistle

CLUB HISTORY: (abseits guide to soccer)
Where to start? This is undoubtedly the most hated team in Germany, and perhaps the world. And yet, this club dominated East German soccer, winning the title 10 years in a row 1979-1988. The problem is, they cheated. Dynamo was the team of the Staatssicherheit, the Stasi, the hated GDR secret police. As a result, they manipulated results and otherwise cheated to win the titles. No wonder!

From 1954-66, the club was simply known as Dynamo Berlin. The club was officially founded as BFC Dynamo in 1966, and really didn't do much until the late 1970s. Despite being the official club of the secret police, apparently the club was allowed to play on it's own terms. However things started going crooked once Erich Mielke, the head of the Stasi, decided that he wanted championships. So whenever they needed a result, they got it. Losing the game? Have the ref call a "penalty." Need another player? Have him transferred to BFC Dynamo. It's not surprising that the club proved unstoppable. Title after title followed. Fans throughout the GDR expressed their hatred to BFC Dynamo, but were forced to grin and bear it.

After reunification, the ties to the Stasi were obviously cut, and a newly constituted FC Berlin was formed in 1990. Obviously, the burden of history was a hard thing to live down. Management attempted to emphasize youth soccer and get away from the disgraceful past of the club. Despite a concentration on youth teams, encouraging fun and fair play, the change was hardly accepted.

In May 1999, the members voted to bring back the old name BFC Dynamo. Some of the reasons were to "capture the glorious past" and attract more sponsors. I guess they figured they couldn't pull the wool over anybody's eyes anyway.

The 1998-99 season was uneventful, as FC-Dynamo ended up midtable. Nevertheless, this really was their best showing since GDR days. However, the next season turned out to be an unmitigated disaster. By mid campaign the team went into a tailspin and never recovered. The goal of reaching the new combined Regionalliga was never even threatened, and in fact they would have been relegated regardless. While most other ex-GDR teams gleefully gloated, Dynamo had to regroup one division lower. That they did, winning the Oberliga. However, they crashed out in the promotion playoffs, and in any case, announced that they didn't have the financial resources to pursue promotion anyway.

During the 2001-02 season, BFC Dynamo was forced into bankruptcy proceedings. All league games were therefore annulled and the club was automatically relegated. However, the federation also took the bizarre decision to force BFC to play out it's remaining games as "mandatory friendlies." Since all player contracts were disolved, all the first team players left the club. The 2nd team was in a battle to stay in the Landesliga, so it was kept intact. Therefore the 3rd team took over the 1st team duties, and was soon losing these games by scores of 11-0 etc. Why this travesty was allowed is unclear, although perhaps the rest of the eastern clubs saw an opportunity to exact some revenge, however minor.

HONOURS:
* DDR-Oberliga: 10 (Record)
o Winners 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988
o Runners-up 1960, 1972, 1976, 1989
* FDGB-Pokal: 3
o Winners 1959, 1988, 1989
o Runners-up 1962, 1971, 1979, 1982, 1984, 1985
* GDR Supercup: 1
o Winners 1989
* Berlin Cup: 1
o Winners: 1999
o Runners-up 2000
* NOFV-Oberliga Nord: 2
o Winners 1992, 2002
* Verbandsliga Berlin: 1
o Winners 2004


STADIUM HISTORY: (wiki)

The Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark is a sports site built in 1951, in the Prenzlauer Berg district of Berlin. In the south it borders on the Eberswalder Straße, in the north on the Max Schmeling Halle, in the west on the Mauerpark, where part of the Berlin Wall once stood. It includes a football and athletics stadium as well as several smaller sports fields. The stadium is the second largest in the city after Berlin's Olympiastadion with 20,000 seats (15,000 covered) and is used by football sides Hertha BSC II, Berliner FC Dynamo and Turkiyemspor Berlin.

From 1963 to 1989 the facility hosted the Olympic Day of Athletics competition modelled on a similar event staged each year in West Berlin. The meet saw the setting of several world records including Uwe Hohn's record javelin throw of 104.80 meters on 20 July 1984 – the first time a throw of over 100 meters was made.

East German first division clubBerliner FC Dynamo played its DDR-Oberliga home fixtures here. In addition, the national side played ten international matches at the stadium between 1951 and 1990, including its 13 March 1974 contest versus Belgium which ended with a 5–2 victory in front of a record 30,000 spectators.

The stadium was used by the Berlin Thunder of the NFL Europe whenever the Olympiastadion was unavailable. The amateur side of Hertha BSC (Hertha BSC II) and BFC Dynamo also use the facility when they expect an unusually large crowd or where there are security concerns related to a match. In addition the final of the Berlin Cup is held here each season.

In July 2006 the first team of Hertha BSC played its UEFA Intertoto Cup semi-final match against FK Moscow (0–0) in front of 8,500 spectators here, as well as its UEFA Cup qualification home contest against Georgian club FC Ameri Tbilisi (1–0).

The facility also serves as a concert venue and has welcomed performers such as Michael Jackson.