So, it’s time to refresh our memory about the arena, which has witnessed a lot of historical football events.
On June 12 1933 Dynamo Stadium opening took place. The jewel of the night was the battle of bitter rivals – teams from Kyiv and Kharkiv. Home side won (2:1) and the first goal at the arena was netted by Mykola Makhynia.
After Kyiv became the capital of UkrainianSovietSocialisticRepublic it was decided to make the entrance of the stadium fancier. Thus impressive colonnade was built. Back then the arena was named after different secret police chiefs, such as Vsevolod Balytskyi and Mykola Yezhov. Still later these castigators were executed and their surnames disappeared from the colonnade. Today one can see the name of our genius maestro Valeriy Lobanovskyi there.
On May 24 1936 FC Dynamo Kyiv played the first Soviet Top League match at their arena. They opposed FC Dinamo Moscow.
The first goal was scored by Mykola Makhynia again. He hit the target 10 minutes before the time.
Then the war started… Still the stadium survived. On May 13 1945 it hosted the White-Blues Soviet Top League match against FC Lokomotiv Moscow (1:1).
After the bigger arena was constructed in Kyiv Dynamo Stadium took backseat, but fans followed masters’ training sessions and reservists’ games there. Later it was decided to prepare the stadium for 1980 Olympic Games.
In May of 2002, after death of the outstanding coach Valeriy Lobanovskyi, FC Dynamo Kyiv shareholders’ council decided to name the club arena after him.
For several years it was the place, where Kyivans and sometimes Ukraine national team played home matches. This is where people saw Andriy Shevchenko for the first time after his return to Dynamo.
Today Dynamo Stadium will host the domestic league home game of our team again. White-blue flags will encourage the new generation of players so that they could demonstrate their skills at the native arena.
* photo by V. Rasner
Oleh Zadernovskyi
Copyright © 2015 FC Dynamo Kyiv
