Dinamo Minsk

Soviet Union

Dinamo Minsk was founded in 1927 as a part of the Soviet Dinamo Sports Society. They spent some of their history in the lower leagues of the Soviet Union, but in 1940, they were promoted to the Soviet Top League, becoming the first and only Belarusian team to compete in the Soviet top division. They were relegated to the second level in 1952, but returned to the top level the next year. In 1954, they finished in the third place, their best performance in the top flight to date, and were dissolved, being re-founded as Spartak Minsk, only to be renamed as Belarus Minsk in 1959, in honor of the Soviet republic in the national championship. However, in 1962, they returned to the original name of Dinamo Minsk. They were relegated again from the top level in 1955 and in 1957. They played in the top level again in the 1960 season. They were relegated again in 1973 and returned to the top level in the 1975 season. But they relegated immediately in 1976. They returned to the top level after 2 years.

In 1982, Dinamo Minsk won the Soviet championship for the first and only time in their history. The following year saw them debuting in the European Cup against Grasshopper of Switzerland. They reached the quarter-finals of the European Cup after eliminating Grasshoppers and Győri ETO of Hungary, only to be eliminated by Dinamo București. In the 1984–85 season, Dinamo Minsk reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup after beating HJK Helsinki, Sporting CP and Widzew Łódź, but were eventually stopped by Željezničar Sarajevo. 1988 saw Dinamo Minsk up to a new European performance, the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, passing through Gençlerbirliği and Real Sociedad, but being eliminated by Mechelen.

Dinamo Minsk also participated in Belarusian SSR league. Since the mid-50s, their appearances were only sporadic and they were represented by youth teams in later seasons. They have won the championship 7 times.

Belarus

Dinamo Minsk won the inaugural season of the Belarusian Premier League in 1992. They won 5 league titles until 1995, making only one appearance in the UEFA Champions League, in 1993. However, after a title in 1997, Dinamo Minsk last won the championship in 2004. The 2000s saw Dinamo Minsk failing to secure any league title in the battle against BATE Borisov, thus finishing in lower places.

In 2014, Dinamo Minsk beat MYPA, CFR Cluj and Nacional to be drawn in Group K of UEFA Europa League, along with Italian side Fiorentina, French team Guingamp and Greek side PAOK, becoming the second team, after BATE Borisov, to reach group stages of Europa League. Dinamo finished at the bottom with four points, after a draw with Guingamp and a historical 2–1 victory over Fiorentina.

Name history

• 1927, club founded as Dinamo Minsk as part of Dynamo sports society
• 1954, re-branded as Spartak Minsk being transferred to Spartak volunteer sports society
• 1959, formed to Belarus Minsk based on better teams of the 1959 Class B Spartak Minsk and Urozhai Minsk
• 1962, renamed to Dinamo Minsk being transferred back to Dynamo sports society