History of a Club: The Ups and Downs of "Dynamo" (Video)

Davit Jishkariani's book "From Leather Cloak to Leather Ball" chronicles one of the most popular clubs of the Soviet era. Dynamo was crowned national champion twice, finished as a prizewinner 18 times, and won the USSR Cup twice. The club’s most significant achievement was winning the 1981 Cup Winners' Cup. In the final Dynamo defeated the German team Carl Zeiss.

The Dynamo of Tbilisi was established by the elite of the USSR’s special committee, the Chekists, to provide their employees with alternative physical activities, such as football. Lavrentiy Beria, who was deeply involved in football, personally selected players in 1929, bringing the best talents from across Georgia to Tbilisi. He was the first in the Soviet Union to initiate football “transfers.”

However, football and Chekists had a complex relationship. In the early years, young players were recruited into the special agency through football, as their careers were typically short, with players often considered veterans by age 28. To survive, these players became special service employees by day and football players by night. This arrangement allowed them to solve otherwise insurmountable problems, such as obtaining residency in the capital or acquiring emergency housing, and ultimately to earn substantial sums of money.

As the era of professional Chekists waned, the professional football era began in 1936. Boris Paichadze and other prominent footballers of the later period were only registered as employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and could no longer serve as active Chekists.

Despite the professional shift, Beria remained actively involved with Dynamo, being an extremely devoted fan of the club. In the final of the USSR Cup in 1939, when Spartak Moscow deservedly won, Beria received an order to replay the semi-final against Dynamo Tbilisi.

The surprised Spartak players had no choice but to comply with Beria’s order. Following this, the club’s development trajectory changed, and despite its Chekist origins, it followed Beria’s plans and became one of the strongest teams in the USSR. Today, Dynamo is the most title-winning club in independent Georgia and regularly represents the country on the European stage.

Georgian fans remain hopeful that one day legends like Giorgi Daraselia and Giorgi Paichadze will emerge again to instill fear in European clubs and restore Dynamo Tbilisi’s renowned legacy.