Words: Christos Kazantzoglou // @CKazantzoglou
The Berliner Fussball Club Dynamo, known as BFC Dynamo, were one of the most recognizable football clubs in East Germany. Their history is deeply intertwined with the political and social realities of the Cold War, while their successes, challenges, and evolution make it a club that continues to spark interest and debate—albeit mostly negative. They received help from referees whenever necessary, had players forcefully transferred to them, granted special privileges to players, engaged in doping with illegal substances and many more dark tricks of the trade.
BFC Dynamo were the defining team of the Cold War era, not only because of their founding but also because of how their fate changed when they came under the control of the head of the secret police, the infamous Stasi leader Erich Mielke.
The club was founded on January 15 1966 in East Berlin, as the successor to Dynamo Berlin which had been established in 1949. They were modeled after similar Soviet Russian and other Eastern Bloc clubs, with the goal of becoming the leading football club in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). They were part of the sports federation SV Dynamo, which was supported by the security services; People’s Police, Ministry of State Security, Fire Brigade, and Customs.
Aiming to replicate the success of Dynamo Moscow, Mielke and the East German Ministry of State Security sought to create a powerful sports organization. This was the Berlin Dynamo Sports Club, which included various sports such as swimming, athletics, volleyball, and, of course, football. Some of the best German athletes of the era emerged from this club—albeit through questionable means, as numerous doping cases came to light, often without the athletes’ knowledge.
Football teams in East Germany were categorized based on their affiliations. As mentioned earlier, the "Dynamo" clubs were associated with state security, while the "Vorwärts" teams were linked to the Ministry of Defense. There were also "Worker's teams" who used prefixes like Lokomotive, Turbine, Stahl, Rotation and Traktor, and of course you also had clubs independent of these such as FC Magdeburg, FC Carl Zeiss Jena, and FC Chemnitzer.
BFC Dynamo in the modern day. The player on the right is Azerbaijan player Rufat Dadashov.
Photo Credit: Azeri Sport
The Early Years: 1949-1966
Initially, SV Dynamo did not achieve significant success, apart from winning the East German Cup in 1959. The team experienced ups and downs, including relegations from the top tier, the Oberliga.
However, with the backing of Erich Mielke, himself a passionate football fan, the club gained access to resource and talent, giving them a competitive edge over their rivals.
The regime, encouraged by Mielke, envisioned a team that could represent socialism beyond the country's borders. They found this representation in BFC Dynamo.
Before the regime decided that BFC Dynamo would be the flagship football team of East Germany, Dynamo Dresden was the dominant force. Up until the mid-1960s, Dresden was the powerhouse of East German football. However, from that point onward, a fierce rivalry developed between the two teams—despite both being state creations, one was the "favored child," while the other became the "neglected stepchild."
After the Berlin Wall was built, Dynamo permanently relocated its home matches to the Dynamo Stadium in Weissensee (now Sportforum Hohenschönhausen).
During the winter break of the 1965-66 season, East German football was reorganized. The football departments of ten sports clubs (SC) were separated and restructured into ten specialized football clubs (FC), forming the elite of East German football. These clubs were created to ensure stability at the top level and to supply the national team with talent. Promising players were required to join them.
As part of this restructuring, the football department of SC Dynamo Berlin was detached from the sports club in 1966 and reorganized as BFC Dynamo. At the same time, the football department of SG Dynamo Hohenschönhausen was dissolved after the 1965-66 season, with its players being transferred to BFC Dynamo’s second team, BFC Dynamo II, which took Hohenschönhausen’s place in the Bezirksliga Berlin for the 1966-67 season.
Thus, overnight, players found themselves forcibly transferred from one Dynamo team to another, without any say in the matter. Faced with the alternative of ending up in a Stasi interrogation cell—and knowing they would now play for the country’s top team—they switched jerseys and allegiances to the new Dynamo.
BFC Dynamo squad photo, 1980.
Photo Credit: Beyond The Last Man
Who Was Erich Mielke?
But who was Erich Mielke? The central figure of the Stasi, the secret police, could have made George Orwell envious with his methods, as he turned 1984 from a novel into a state control manual.
Mielke was born in Berlin to a working-class family; his father was a carpenter, and his mother a seamstress. After finishing secondary school, he joined the Komsomol in 1921 and the Communist Party of Germany in 1925. In 1931, after participating in the murder of two police officers, he fled to Moscow to escape the death penalty in Berlin.
In Moscow, he studied at the International Lenin School and later joined the Spanish Civil War on the side of the Republicans, where he held the rank of Captain and took part in the arrests and interrogations of Spanish Trotskyists.
After the Republicans were defeated in Spain and World War II began, he was arrested by German authorities and forced to work on fortification projects. In 1944, he escaped and surrendered to Allied forces.
Following the establishment of the German Democratic Republic on October 7, 1949, Mielke began working in the newly formed security service. By October of that year, he had become the General Inspector of the Central Directorate for the Protection of the Economy. From 1955, he was Deputy Minister, and from November 1957 to November 1989, he served as the Minister of State Security—the infamous Stasi.
For more than 30 years, Mielke led the Stasi, turning it into one of the most effective counterintelligence and foreign intelligence services among the Warsaw Pact countries.
A devoted football fan, Mielke wanted his favorite team to be the best. And in an authoritarian regime, what could be easier than making that happen?
Erich Mielke makes a speech at a BFC Dynamo celebration dinner, 1982.
Photo Credit: Beyond The Last Man
The Birth of BFC Dynamo
BFC Dynamo was founded on January 15, 1966, as one of the newly established football clubs in East Germany. The club's founding ceremony was attended by Erich Mielke, now Minister of State Security and President of SV Dynamo, as well as the Minister of the Interior and head of the Volkspolizei, Friedrich Dickel.
The club's first official match as BFC Dynamo was against BSG Motor Zwickau on Matchday 14 of the DDR-Oberliga 1965-66, on February 12, 1966, at the Dynamo Stadium, where the team won 2-0. The club finished its first season under its new name in ninth place.
During the 1966-67 season, the team finished in the relegation spots and was demoted to the second division, the DDR-Liga Nord. However, after a strong second half in the 1967-68 season, the team was promoted back to the Oberliga.
The team qualified for the 1971–72 European Cup Winners' Cup as the runner-up of the FDGB-Pokal 1970–71.
The football landscape in East Berlin changed dramatically before the 1971-72 season. The Ministry of Defense decided to relocate Vorwärts Berlin to Frankfurt (Oder) on July 31, 1971. The exact reasons for this decision remain unclear, but the move was likely the result of political intrigues by the Stasi and the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED).
This relocation allowed Dynamo to move to the larger 30,000-seat Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark.
The team finished second in the DDR-Oberliga during the 1971-72 season, marking its best season in club history to that point.
Dynamo also participated in the Fuwo-Pokal at the end of the season. The Fuwo-Pokal was a tournament for all DDR-Oberliga 1971-72 teams, sponsored by the East German weekly sports newspaper *Die neue Fußballwoche*. BFC Dynamo lost 2-0 to FC Karl-Marx-Stadt (now Chemnitzer FC) in the final, played in front of 12,000 spectators at the Dr.-Kurt-Fischer-Stadion on June 17, 1972.The team reached the semi-finals of the FDGB-Pokal during the 1972-73 season but was eliminated by Lokomotive Leipzig. Throughout the 1973-74 season, many players were used and rotated, and none played all 26 league matches. The following season started with eight consecutive losses, yet the team managed to finish in fourth place by the end of the campaign. This placement cost the team a spot in European competitions, as they finished behind Dynamo Dresden on goal difference.
BFC Dynamo finished the 1975-76 DDR-Oberliga season in second place behind Dynamo Dresden. That season, the club had the youngest team in the league, with an average age of just 22.5 years.
Dynamo secured its participation in the 1976-77 UEFA Cup. The team was drawn against FC Shakhtar Donetsk, losing the first leg 3-0 away at Shakhtar Stadium on September 15, 1976. The return leg was played at Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark on September 29, 1976, ending in a 1-1 draw.
BFC Dynamo won ten East German Oberliga titles in a row - but rival fans suspected foul play.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
The Golden Era: 1979-1989
The 1980s were the most successful period for BFC Dynamo. From 1979 to 1988, the club won 10 consecutive Oberliga championships, setting an unprecedented record. Their success was built on a strong squad, including players like Hans-Jürgen Riediger and Rainer Ernst, as well as a coaching system that focused on developing young talent.
However, their achievements were accompanied by allegations of political interference and referee favoritism, leading to resentment from fans of other clubs. Their reputation as the "team of the regime" made it unpopular with many.
The 1978-79 season brought the club its first Oberliga title, secured with a 3-1 victory over their biggest rival, Dynamo Dresden, on Matchday 24 in front of 22,000 fans at Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark. The season was also marked by the defection of Lutz Eigendorf to West Germany during a friendly match in Kaiserslautern. This act was seen as an insult to East Germany, as it undermined the "socialist paradise" the regime aimed to project to the outside world.
During the 1979-80 season, the club reached the quarter-finals of the 1979-80 European Cup, where they faced Nottingham Forest under Brian Clough. After winning the first leg 1-0 away, they lost the second leg 3-1 at home. Clough’s Forest went on to win their second consecutive European Cup that season.
The following season was overshadowed by the suspicious death of Eigendorf, who was now playing for Eintracht Braunschweig in West Germany. He suffered severe injuries in a car accident on March 5 when a truck flashed its high beams, causing him to lose control and crash into a tree. He died in the hospital two days later. Fans of Dynamo created a supporters' club in his honor, which led to dissatisfaction within the Stasi and increased surveillance of the club’s fans.
An autopsy revealed high alcohol levels in his blood, despite witness statements suggesting he had only consumed a small amount of beer that evening. Speculation about Stasi involvement remains unresolved, and a Berlin prosecutor reopened the investigation into Eigendorf's possible murder, but the case was eventually closed without definitive proof.
In the 1982-83 season, the club was drawn against Hamburger SV in the first round of the European Cup, sparking excitement among its fans. However, the Stasi restricted ticket sales, allowing only 2,000 tickets to be sold to selected Dynamo supporters' clubs. The remaining tickets were given to Stasi employees, Volkspolizei officers, and SED officials.
"When we walked out for the match, we realized something was wrong," said Norbert Trieloff. "We felt that the usual fans who supported us in the Oberliga were not in the stadium," added Christian Backs. Only 300 West German supporters were allowed to attend. The match ended in a 1-1 draw.
A 2-1 loss to FC Karl-Marx-Stadt during the 1983-84 season marked the club's first league defeat since April 24, 1982, a 2-1 loss to Dynamo Dresden. Dynamo had gone 36 league matches unbeaten, setting a new record.
In Mielke’s "socialist paradise" at Dynamo, players were expected to show loyalty, political reliability, and moral conduct, avoiding any contact with the West. They were constantly monitored by Stasi agents, who accompanied them on international trips. Some players were even recruited as unofficial collaborators, while surveillance devices were placed in their homes and rooms.
On November 1, 1983, the team flew to Belgrade for a European match against Partizan Belgrade. Players Falko Götz and Dirk Schlegel defected to West Germany, arriving in Munich with forged passports. In East Germany, they were labeled "athlete traitors." Dynamo won another league title that season, finishing just two points ahead of Dynamo Dresden.
During the 1984-85 season, the team faced Scottish champions Aberdeen, managed by the young and still relatively unknown Alex Ferguson, in Europe. The Germans advanced to the next round after a dramatic penalty shootout.
The team secured its seventh consecutive title with a 5-1 victory over Hansa Rostock on Matchday 24.
In 1985-86, Dynamo won its eighth consecutive championship, finishing two points ahead of Lokomotive Leipzig. Despite having the strongest squad, complaints about refereeing persisted. Dynamo Dresden received 45 yellow cards, Lokomotive Leipzig 36, and Dynamo only 16.
The 1986-87 season brought renewed competition to the DDR-Oberliga, but BFC Dynamo managed to secure the title again. The following season, 1987-88, saw a close battle with Lokomotive Leipzig, but Dynamo won the championship on goal difference. Andreas Thom finished as the league’s top scorer with 20 goals.
In 1988, longtime club president Manfred Kirste was replaced by Herbert Krafft. In the European Cup, Dynamo faced West German champions SV Werder Bremen. After winning the first leg 3-0 at home, they lost the return leg 5-0, a match known as the second "Miracle of the Weser."
In 1989, Helmut Jäschke became the club’s new coach. Dynamo won the first and only DFV-Supercup, defeating Dynamo Dresden 4-1.
BFC Dynamo celebrate their seventh DDR-Oberliga title in 1985.
Photo Credit: WikimediaCommons
Name Change, Decline and Recovery
The fall of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent dissolution of East Germany brought many changes to German football. With the dissolution of the Stasi, which officially took place on January 13, 1990, the team lost its primary sponsor. On February 19, 1990, BFC Dynamo was renamed FC Berlin. At the same time, club president Herbert Krafft was dismissed, and Jürgen Bogs took over as interim president until the elections in May 1990. FC Berlin finished in fourth place in the DDR-Oberliga and, for the first time in years, failed to qualify for a European competition. Attendance dropped from 7,271 in the fall of 1989 to 3,383 in the spring of 1990.
At the end of May 1990, Dr. Klaus Janz was elected as the new club president. The club was officially transformed into a registered association (e.V.) on May 28, 1990. The team participated in the 1990 Intertoto Cup. That same year, a wave of hooliganism swept across East Germany, and one of the largest hooligan scenes formed around FC Berlin. On November 3, 1990, an 18-year-old FC Berlin fan, Mike Polley, was fatally shot by police during riots in Leipzig before the match between FC Sachsen Leipzig and FC Berlin.
The 1991–92 season was the first in which teams from East and West Germany played in the same league system. The NOFV-Oberliga became the third tier of German football. FC Berlin participated for the first time in the DFB-Pokal (German Cup), where they were eliminated in the first round by Freiburg. The team dominated the NOFV-Oberliga 1991–92 but once again failed to gain promotion to the 2. Bundesliga, losing in the playoffs.
In the early 1990s, the club faced severe financial difficulties. Average attendance dropped to just a few hundred fans. Due to the club's association with the Stasi, securing sponsorships was challenging. FC Berlin continued to rely on developing young talent, but sporting success was limited.
In 1999, the club decided to restore its original name, BFC Dynamo. Financial problems persisted, and in 2001, the team was on the verge of bankruptcy. Supporters and former players raised funds to save the club. Nonetheless, insolvency proceedings officially began on November 1, 2001. The team was relegated to the fifth tier but gradually managed to recover.
In 2004, the club was promoted back to the NOFV-Oberliga Nord. That same year, the insolvency proceedings were successfully concluded, giving the club a new sense of hope.
BFC Dynamo finished the 2003–04 season in first place in the Verbandsliga Berlin, earning promotion back to the NOFV-Oberliga Nord. Mario Weinkauf was elected as the club's new president on June 18, 2004, with a vision of running the club in a "serious sporting and financial manner."
BFC Dynamo completed its first season back in the NOFV-Oberliga Nord after recovering from financial crisis, finishing in sixth place.
On January 16, 2006, BFC Dynamo celebrated its 40th anniversary. The club's management worked to improve its reputation. BFC Dynamo secured a new sponsor from Israel and terminated agreements with controversial sponsors. Among the terminated deals were several companies linked to the Hells Angels. The second-leg match against 1. FC Union Berlin at Stadion im Sportforum on May 13, 2006, was abandoned when BFC Dynamo fans stormed the pitch to attack Union Berlin supporters.
The club faced another financial crisis following the incidents at the Union Berlin match. The club's finances were saved by sponsor Infinity-Net Telefon GmbH. The company's owner, Peter Meyer, became the club's new steward. BFC Dynamo were at risk of relegation after the first half of the 2006–07 NOFV-Oberliga Nord season.
A power struggle between President Weinkauf and key sponsor Meyer led to Weinkauf's removal at the general assembly on June 23, 2007, with Meyer being elected chairman of the Economic Council.
In the 2008–09 season, the team started well in the NOFV-Oberliga Nord. Norbert Uhlig was elected as the new club president on October 11, 2008. By the end of the season, the team finished in second place. In the 2010–11 season, the team won the Berlin Cup final against SFC Stern 1900, securing their second title.
BFC Dynamo won the NOFV-Oberliga Nord title in the 2013–14 season without suffering a defeat, securing promotion to the Regionalliga Nordost. The club's return to Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark for the 2014–15 season also marked its return to live television broadcasts. BFC Dynamo won the Berlin Cup in 2014–15 and finished fifth in the Regionalliga Nordost.
BFC Dynamo reached the Berlin Cup final again in 2017–18 and won the title. In the 2021–22 season, the team finished first in the Regionalliga Nordost and contested promotion to the 3. Liga via the playoffs. Despite securing the necessary financial guarantees, they failed to gain promotion due to goal difference.
For the 2024–25 season, the team is competing in the Regionalliga Nordost, the fourth tier of German football, aiming for promotion to the 3. Liga.
BFC Dynamo players facing their supporters after a match against Luckenwalde.
Photo Credit: Berliner Kurier
Club Crest
The emblem of BFC Dynamo was officially presented at the club's founding ceremony at the Dynamo-Sporthalle on January 15, 1966. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the club abandoned its East German emblem. On May 3, 1999, BFC Dynamo reclaimed its original name and reinstated its traditional crest. However, the club no longer had legal ownership of the emblem, as it had been registered by Peter Klaus-Dieter Mager, known as "Pepe," a well-known Hertha BSC supporter and memorabilia dealer. The club attempted to regain the emblem through legal proceedings but was unsuccessful. In 2022, through the efforts of Economic Council President Peter Meyer, the club successfully reacquired the rights to its traditional emblem. From the 2023–24 season onwards, BFC Dynamo once again competes with its traditional emblem, which was reintroduced in a friendly match against Hertha BSC on July 7, 2023, in front of more than 10,000 spectators at Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark.
In 2004, the German Football League (DFL) granted clubs the right to display stars on their badges according to the number of championships won. The system awarded one star for three titles, two stars for five titles, and three stars for ten titles. However, this did not include clubs from East Germany. BFC Dynamo fought a long legal battle, and from the 2005–06 season onwards, the club was permitted to display one star above its emblem. The new regulation allowed clubs to wear a unique star for championships won in former East Germany and in unified Germany since 1903. Clubs were also allowed to indicate the number of championships inside the star. This ruling also affected other former East German teams, such as Dynamo Dresden with eight titles, 1. FC Frankfurt with six titles, and Magdeburg with three titles in the Oberliga.
BFC Dynamo crests through the years.
Photo Credit: Beyond The Last Man