Copenhagen v Dynamo Kyiv facts

First place in Group B is the objective for both teams as Copenhagen entertain Dynamo Kyiv in the Danish capital.

• Both clubs have collected five points from their opening three fixtures to jointly head the standings, drawing 1-1 on Matchday 3 when visiting striker Pieros Soteriou's early volley was cancelled out in the second half by a header from Dynamo defender Artem Shabanov.

• Prior to that draw in Kyiv, Dynamo beat Malmö 1-0 at home before drawing 0-0 away to Lugano, while Copenhagen overcame the Swiss side 1-0 at home then held Malmö 1-1 away.

Previous meetings
• The clubs met in UEFA competition for the first time on Matchday 3.

• Copenhagen are now unbeaten in five games against Ukrainian opposition, winning both home fixtures without conceding – 1-0 against Vorskla Poltava in the 2011/12 UEFA Europa League group stage and 2-0 to win a 2014/15 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round tie by the same aggregate score against Dnipro.

• Dynamo have won nine of their 15 UEFA matches against Danish clubs (D4 L2), including five of the seven staged in Denmark (D1 L1). Victorious in all six of their knockout ties, they traded wins with Aalborg in the only previous group stage encounters, a 0-3 defeat in Denmark preceding a 2-0 win in Ukraine in the 2014/15 UEFA Europa League. Both clubs progressed to the knockout phase, Dynamo going all the way to the quarter-finals

Form guide
Copenhagen
• Copenhagen regained the Superliga crown last term, relegating title holders Midtjylland into second place to become Danish champions for the third time in four seasons – and 13th in all. They lost on penalties to Crvena zvezda of Serbia in this season's UEFA Champions League third qualifying round but were 3-2 aggregate winners over Latvian champions Riga (3-1 h, 0-1 a) in the UEFA Europa League play-offs.

• The Danish club are taking part in a seventh UEFA Europa League group stage. However, they have made further progress just twice, most recently in 2017/18, when they lost in the round of 32 to eventual winners Atlético Madrid (1-4 h, 0-1 a). They finished bottom of their group last season with five points.

• Copenhagen's victory against Riga was the first time they had scored more than one goal at Parken in seven European matches, the previous six having yielded just three in total for the home side. They took just one point out of nine on home soil in last season's group stage, but thanks to the Matchday 1 win against Lugano their overall home record at this stage of the competition is now W8 D4 L7.

Dynamo
• Ukrainian league runners-up to Shakhtar Donetsk last term, for the third year in a row, Dynamo entered the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round but were defeated by Club Brugge (0-1 a, 3-3 h), which sent them directly into the UEFA Europa League group stage.

• Like Copenhagen, this is Dynamo's seventh UEFA Europa League group stage campaign, five of the previous six having been successful, including last season when three wins and two draws secured their place in the knockout phase with a game to spare. They then eliminated Olympiacos to reach the last 16, where they were overwhelmed 8-0 on aggregate by Chelsea (0-3 a, 0-5 h).

• Dynamo took seven points from nine on their travels in last season's group stage. The defeat at Stamford Bridge ended a run of six away matches unbeaten in the UEFA Europa League (W2 D4). They have won nine of their 19 group games in the competition outside Ukraine (D5 L5) and five of their previous six Matchday 4 fixtures, home and away, including each of the last four.

Links and trivia 
• Dynamo's Slovenian international midfielder Benjamin Verbić played for Copenhagen from July 2015 to December 2017, when he moved to Kyiv. He made 99 appearances in all competitions, scoring 22 goals, and won the Danish league and cup double in both of his two full seasons at the club.

• Danish midfielder Mikkel Duelund joined Dynamo from Copenhagen's domestic rivals Midtjylland in 2018. He faced Copenhagen nine times in the Superliga, winning four matches, losing five and scoring one goal.

• Copenhagen's Nicklas Bendtner scored Arsenal's late winner at home to Dynamo on Matchday 5 of the 2008/09 UEFA Champions League.

• Copenhagen midfielder Rasmus Falk's next appearance in UEFA club competition will be his 50th.

• Dynamo hold the record for the most draws registered in the UEFA Europa League, group stage to final (21). Ten of those have been away from home.

The coaches
• Ståle Solbakken's second coaching tenure at Copenhagen began in 2013. He has won eight Danish titles in charge of the club – five of those in his first spell from 2006 to 2011 – plus four domestic cups. The former Norway midfielder won 58 caps and scored nine goals for his country, appearing at both the 1998 FIFA World Cup and UEFA EURO 2000, before being forced to retire following a heart attack. He also had short spells coaching in Germany (Köln) and England (Wolves) between two lengthy stints in the Danish capital.

• Following a lengthy stint as Dynamo Kyiv's sporting director, club great Olexiy Mykhaylychenko was appointed as head coach for a second time in August 2019 following the dismissal of Aleksandr Khatskevich. A star of EURO '88 and the same year's Olympic Games in Seoul, where he won a gold medal, the blond left-footer claimed league titles for Dynamo (four) as well as his subsequent clubs Sampdoria and Rangers (five). A two-time Ukrainian champion as a coach in his first stint at Dynamo, from 2002–04, he led the Ukraine national side from January 2008 to December 2009.