Dynamo burst onto the scene for Ukraine

On 14 May 1975, FC Dynamo Kyiv made history by claiming the European Cup Winners' Cup. Forty years on, we remember a triumph for Ukrainian football that FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk will attempt to emulate in the UEFA Europa League.

1975 European Cup Winners' Cup final
Ferencvárosi TC 0-3 FC Dynamo Kyiv
St. Jakob-Park, Basel

Until this day, no team from Ukraine, or indeed the Soviet Union, had landed a European club trophy.

However, a Dynamo side coached by the great Valeriy Lobanovskiy played with great panache and never looked in trouble in the final. They had already served notice to Europe by overcoming Eintracht Frankfurt home and away in the second round; indeed, they lost only one match, a 2-1 away defeat by PSV Eindhoven after they had won the first leg of their semi-final 3-0.

Dynamo's opponents in the final, Ferencváros, had also impressed during a run to the final which included victories against Liverpool FC and FK Crvena zvezda, who had eliminated Real Madrid CF in the quarter-finals. But the Hungarian team were without key figures in Basel, with László Balint suspended and László Branikovitz and László Pusztai both injured.

In the event, they had no answer to a splendid display of attacking football from Dynamo. The attacking pace and skill of Oleh Blokhin and Vladimir Onischenko was ably launched by midfielders Vladimir Muntian and Viktor Kolotov.

Onischenko scored in the 18th and 39th minutes and Blokhin added a third in the 67th. The USSR had finally secured European silverware as the Ukrainian side put themselves firmly on the footballing map. Dynamo would go on to beat FC Bayern München to collect the UEFA Super Cup and picked up another Cup Winners' Cup in 1986.