The occupying Allied authorities dissolved organizations across Germany, including sports clubs like Dresdner SC, after the war as part of the process of denazification.

[8] ZSG Horch Zwickau had been founded only one year earlier and embodied the form of organization that the SED and the state leadership wanted to promote for the sports movement they propagated.

[7][9] East German sports authorities took these events as a pretext to dissolve SG Friedrichstadt and delegate the players to BSG VVB Tabak Dresden.

[13] The order from Fischer also contained the passage that the best football players in the sports communities of the Volkspollizei should be concentrated in the now first-tier SV Deutsche Volkspolizei Dresden.

[15][16][7][13][2][nb 1] SV Deutsche Volkspolizei Potsdam lost its five top performers to Dresden, including Herbert Schoen, Johannes Matzen and Günter Schröter, and was severely weakened.

[22][21][20] Dynamo Dresden was left with a team composed of youth and reserve players and had dropped to the fourth tier by 1957, playing in the local Bezirksliga.

This relegation came after a fourth-place finish in 1967, which enabled Dynamo's first foray[tone] into European football – they entered the 1967–68 Fairs Cup, where they were eliminated by Scottish side Rangers in the first round.

The best talents in the country were meant to be concentrated in the new dedicated football clubs, with the object to bring stability to the game at the top level and to develop players for the national team.

A message with information about the line-up of Bayern Munich was quickly sent by motorcycle to the coach of Dynamo Dresden Walter Fritzsch in preparation for the match.

[32] Kreische was the league's leading goalscorer on four occasions,[33] and was named in East Germany's squad for the 1974 World Cup, along with teammate Siegmar Wätzlich.

[36][37] Under the patronage of Erich Mielke and the Stasi, BFC Dynamo would get access to the best training facilities, equipment, coaching staff and talents.

[47][45] Walter Fritzsch had retired in 1978, and was succeeded by Gerhard Prautzsch,[5] who was in turn followed by former players Klaus Sammer (1983–86), Eduard Geyer (1986–90) and Reinhard Häfner (1990–91).

[48] The Stasi somehow got wind of[tone] this plan, and, in January 1981, the three players were arrested at Schönefeld Airport, from where the national team was about depart for Argentina, and banned for life from the DDR-Oberliga.

[48][49] Former SED First Secretary in Bezik Dresden Hans Modrow believes the measures against the three were "probably cautious overall", given the completely different consequences for other East German citizens in similar contexts.

Dynamo Dresden lost two star[tone] players during the summer of 1990: Ulf Kirsten and Matthias Sammer joining Bayer Leverkusen and VfB Stuttgart respectively.

The fall of the wall brought the influx of Dynamo's first foreign players, and the club saw internationals from Australia (Mark Schwarzer), Poland (Piotr Nowak), Russia (Stanislav Cherchesov) and Sweden (Johnny Ekström), among others.

Dynamo sought to regroup in the Regionalliga, and again looked to former players to manage the team, being led by Hans-Jürgen Kreische (1995–96), Udo Schmuck (1996) and Hartmut Schade (1996–1998), but did not seriously challenge for promotion.

Having finished 11th in the previous season they turned to Colin Bell,[4] an English coach who had had some success with youth football in Germany, but he left in March 2000 after poor results and a player revolt.

[58] Cor Pot, a Dutchman, was brought in to replace him,[58] and he turned the team around,[tone][vague] but it was too late – they finished in eighth place, and were relegated to the fourth-tier Oberliga Nordost-Süd.

[58] For the following season, Christoph Franke was brought in as manager,[58] and led the club to promotion – they won the league[58] with only two defeats, and beat Hertha BSC's reserve team in a playoff to earn their place in the Regionalliga Nord.

during this period, with players including Lars Jungnickel, Silvio Schröter, Maik Wagefeld and Daniel Ziebig going on to play at a higher level.

They recovered strongly in the second half of the season though, and finished in 8th place, thanks in part to signings such as Ansgar Brinkmann, Joshua Kennedy and Klemen Lavric.

A number of former star[tone] players returned, including Lars Jungnickel, Marek Penksa and Maik Wagefeld,[58] but results were not consistent, and Meier was sacked, replaced by former coach Eduard Geyer.

Maucksch led the team to contention for a playoff place during the 2010–11 season, but was sacked in April after a run of five games without a win, and was replaced by Ralf Loose.

[59] Loose ended the season unbeaten and secured third place, and a playoff against VfL Osnabrück which Dynamo won 4–2 on aggregate to earn promotion to the 2.

Liga after they lost 3–2 at home to relegation rivals Arminia Bielefeld to drop[vague] into 17th place,[67] a result which ultimately cost Jansen his job.

[80][81] In December 2020, Dynamo fans bought 72,000 tickets for the cup match at home to Darmstadt, even though it was played in an empty stadium – to show support for the struggling club.

[citation needed] After German reunification a number of Dynamo players went on to represent the Germany national team, including Jens Jeremies, Ulf Kirsten, Olaf Marschall and Alexander Zickler.

[citation needed] He later made 51 appearances for Germany, winning the European Championship in 1996 and played at club level for VfB Stuttgart, Internazionale and Borussia Dortmund.

[citation needed] With the latter, he won two German titles, the UEFA Champions League and the Intercontinental Cup, and was named European Footballer of the Year in 1996.