Germany

Football Travel: BFC Dynamo

Tucked behind the eclectic Mauerpark is a very attractive sports complex. In it plays something of a fallen giant. We visit BFC Dynamo.

Nearly five decades of Soviet influence in East Berlin led to a shake up in the way football in the city was structured. While West Berlin’s Hertha BSC played in the West German Bundesliga, East Berlin sides played in East German leagues, the pinnacle of which was the Oberliga.

One of those prominent Oberliga teams was Dynamo Berlin, the old Stasi-backed team who won ten successive titles between 1979 and 1988. Since reunification, many former East German teams have sought to ditch their former names, and Dynamo is now known as Berliner Fussball Club (BFC) Dynamo and plays in the fourth tier of Germany’s national league structure in the Regionalliga Nordost (North East Regional League).

Attractive seating at BFC Dynamo’s ground.

BFC Dynamo plays at the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark next to the famous Mauerpark, an open space that ran alongside the Berlin Wall. The stadium is a wonderful multi-purpose oval with views across to the distinctive silver orb of the Funkturm (TV tower) at Alexanderplatz.

A modest crowd of 583 was in attendance to watch opponents VfB Auerbach hold Dynamo to a 0-0 draw in a game marred by numerous squandered chances on both sides.

VfB Auerbach attack the BFC Dynamo goal.

The atmosphere was fairly flat. Having seen BFC’s away fans in action before in a Berlin derby at Viktoria I’d been expecting a bit more vibrancy. Tickets only cost €12 and, while the match wasn’t up to much, the setting on a warm Sunday in May was pleasant enough.