page_title: Berliner FC Dynamo
section_title: Golden era
hierarchical_section_title: Berliner FC Dynamo / History / Golden era
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. ADN-ZB-Mittelstädt-19.5.84-ma-Berlin: Fußball-Oberliga. Meisterehrung für den BFC Dynamo im Berliner Jahn-Sportpark. Nach der Oberliga-Begegnung gegen den 1. FC Lok Leipzig (0:2) nahm der sechsmalige Titelträger um Kapitän Bodo Rudwaleit (rechts) die Goldmedaillen für die Erringung des DDR-Meistertitels entgegen.
context_page_description: Berliner Fussball Club Dynamo e. V., commonly known as BFC Dynamo or BFC, is a German football club based in the Alt-Hohenschönhausen locality of Berlin. BFC Dynamo was formed in 1966 from the football department of SC Dynamo Berlin and was one of the key clubs of East German football. The club is the record champion of East Germany with ten consecutive league championships from 1979 through 1988. BFC Dynamo competes in the fourth tier Regionalliga Nordost.
context_section_description: The 1978-79 DDR-Oberliga marked a change in East German football. BFC Dynamo opened the season with ten consecutive wins and finally captured its first league title in 1979. The title was secured after a 3–1 win against Dynamo Dresden in the 24th match day in front of 22,000 spectators at the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn-Sportpark.  The team had managed an astounding 21 wins, four draws and only one loss. Hans-Jürgen Riediger became second placed league top goal scorer with 20 goals.
  During a shopping tour in the city of Gießen in Hesse after a friendly match against 1. FC Kaiserslautern on 20 mars 1979, midfielder Lutz Eigendorf broke away from the rest of the team and defected to West Germany. Lutz Eigendorf was one of the most  promising players in East German football. He was a product of the elite Werner-Seelenbinder Sports School (KJS) in East Berlin and had come through the youth academy of BFC Dynamo. He was often called "The Beckenbauer of East Germany" and was considered the figurehead and great hope of East German football. Lutz Eigendorf was nicknamed "Iron Foot" by the supporters of BFC Dynamo and was said to be one of the favorite players of Erich Mielke. His defection was a slap in the face of the East German regime and  allegedly taken personally by Erich Mielke. Due to his talent and careful upbringing at BFC Dynamo, it was considered a personal defeat of Erich Mielke. Afterwards, his name would disappear from all  statistics and annals of East German football. All fan merchandise with the name or image of Lutz Eigendorf were also removed from the market. Lutz Eigendorf would later die in mysterious circumstances in Braunschweig in 1983.
  Winning the league title in the 1978-79 season, BFC Dynamo qualified for its first appearance in the European Cup. BFC Dynamo eliminated Ruch Chorzów and Servette FC in the first two rounds of the 1979-80 European Cup. The team reached the quarter finals, where it faced Nottingham Forest led by Brian Clough. BFC won the first leg 1–0 away, with a single goal scored by Hans-Jürgen Riediger, but was eliminated on aggregate goals, after a 1–3 loss in front ot 30,000 spectators at the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn Sportpark. Nottingham Forest would later go on and become champions. The win against Nottingham Forest away, made BFC Dynamo the first German team to defeat an English team in England in the European Cup.
  The success continued and BFC Dynamo won the league also in the following years. BFC Dynamo was set for a prestigious encounter with the West German champions Hamburger SV in the first round of the 1982-83 European Cup. The first leg was to be played at the Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahn Sportpark and many fans were looking forward towards the match. But fearing riots, political demonstrations and spectators expressing sympathies for West German football stars such as Felix Magath, the Stasi imposed restrictions on ticket sales. Only 2,000 tickets were allowed for carefully selected fans. Most seats were instead allocated to Stasi employees, Volkspolizei officers and SED functionaries. BFC Dynamo managed a draw, but was eliminated after a 0–2 loss in Hamburg.
  The players of BFC Dynamo had political training and were held under a strict discipline, demanding both political reliability, obedience and a moral lifestyle. No contacts with the West was allowed. The players were also under surveillance by the Stasi.  They would have their telephones tapped, their rooms at training camps tapped and be accompanied by personnel from the Stasi during international trips. The Ministry of Interior and the Stasi had employees integrated in the club and it is likely that some individual players were recruited as informants, so called Unofficial collaborators (IM), with the task of collecting information about other players. During an away trip to Belgrade for a match against Partizan Belgrade in the 1983-84 European Cup, players Falko Götz and Dirk Schlegel defected to West Germany. With help from the West German Consulate general in Zagreb, they received false passports and managed to escape to Munich
caption: The team of BFC Dynamo celebrating the title after the 1983-84 season.
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