FC Dynamo Kyiv

FC Dynamo Kiev is a Ukrainian Premier Team based around the capital Kiev. Dynamo Kiev has been a powerhouse in the country and Europe for many years.HISTORY OF THE CLUBThe club was founded in 1927 as an amateur team, part of Dinamo, a nation-wide Soviet sport society. This society later became officially funded and patronized by the NKVD (a KGB predecessor), and later by the interior ministry (MVD). In the 1950s–1980s, team players were even officially ranked as police or interior armed forces officers. However, thousands of ordinary Soviet citizens paid symbolic membership fees for the "sport society". During the Soviet era, the club was one of the main rivals, and often the only rival, to the football clubs from Moscow. Its ability to challenge the dominance of the Moscow clubs in Soviet football, and frequently defeat them to win the Soviet championship, was a matter of national pride for Ukraine. Leaders of the Ukrainian SSR unofficially regarded the club as their national team and provided it with generous support. Thus, Dinamo became a de-facto professional team of international importance. After the Soviet Union's collapse, the club, now using the Ukrainian name Dynamo Kyiv, became a member of the new football league of Ukraine. Dynamo's status as the country's principal club did not alter as they went on to dominate domestic cups. This dominance has recently been challenged by FC Shakhtar Donetsk from the eastern region of Donbass, which won the national championship in 2002, 2005, and 2006, leaving Dynamo in the second place.