BFC Dynamo

Background: SC Dynamo Berlin (1954–1966)

BFC Dynamo started as a football department of sports club SC Dynamo Berlin. SC Dynamo Berlin was founded on 1 October 1954 as one of the new elite sports clubs in East Germany. The sports club was affiliated to sports association SV Dynamo.

The new sports club SC Dynamo Berlin became a center of excellence (German: Leistungsschwerpunkte) of sports association SV Dynamo. In order to establish a competitive side in Berlin, the team of SG Dynamo Dresden and its place in the DDR-Oberliga was transferred to the new sports club SC Dynamo Berlin. The relocation was designed to give the capital a team that could rival teams from West Berlin, such as Hertha BSC, which were still popular in East Berlin. Among the players delegated from SG Dynamo Dresden were Johannes Matzen, Herbert Schoen and Günter Schröter. The team played its first match as SC Dynamo Berlin on 21 November 1954 against BSG Rotation Babelsberg in the 1954-55 DDR-Oberliga. Most players of the former SG Dynamo Dresden team had aged by the late 1950s. The team was now instead shaped by a new generation of players, including Martin Skaba, Werner Heine, Waldemar Mühlbächer, Hermann Bley and Konrad Dorner. SC Dynamo Berlin won its first trophy in the 1959 FDGB-Pokal. However, the team was not allowed to participate in the 1960–61 European Cup Winners' Cup. The East German Football Association (German: Deutscher Fußball-Verband der DDR) (DFV) decided that local rival and league runner-up ASK Vorwärts Berlin was a better representative.

SC Dynamo Berlin had some success in early 1960s; finished runners-up in the 1960 DDR-Oberliga and reached the final of the 1961-62 FDGB-Pokal. However, SC Dynamo Berlin found itself overshadowed in the capital by the army-sponsored ASK Vorwärts Berlin. By the end of the 1962–63 DDR-Oberliga, SC Dynamo Berlin had become a lower-table side.

Founding and rise (1966–1978)

East German football was reorganized in 1965–1966 when the football departments of ten sports clubs (SC) were made into ten designated football clubs (FC). As part of this reorganization, the football department of SC Dynamo Berlin became football club Berliner FC Dynamo. BFC Dynamo was founded on 15 January 1966. Manfred Kirste was elected club chairman and the SV Dynamo President Erich Mielke was made honorary chairman.

The new designated football clubs were formed as centers of excellence in East German football, with the right to draw on talents within designated geographical and administrative areas. BFC Dynamo was initially assigned Bezirk Cottbus and one third of East Berlin as catchment area. BFC Dynamo was officially a club of the Ministry of the Interior and the club's official sponsor was the Volkspolizei. However, Honorary Chairman Mielke was the head of the Stasi, and BFC Dynamo would eventually come to receive personal, organizational and financial support from the Stasi.

BFC Dynamo was relegated to the second-tier DDR-Liga in 1967 and subsequently began a rejuvenation of the team. The team eventually dominated the 1967-68 DDR-Liga Nord and immediately won promotion back to the DDR-Oberliga. Among the talented players from the youth department who were integrated into the first team in the late 1960s and early 1970s were Harald Schütze, Norbert Johannsen, Peter Rohde, Frank Terletzki, and Bernd Brillat. BFC Dynamo reached the final of the 1970-71 FDGB-Pokal. The team lost the final 1–2 in overtime to SG Dynamo Dresden, but qualified for the 1971-72 European Cup Winners' Cup as runner-up.