History of Berliner FC Dynamo (1978–1989)

Young talented players in the team were Hans-Jürgen Riediger, Lutz Eigendorf, Norbert Trieloff, Michael Noack, Roland Jüngling, Rainer Troppa, Bodo Rudwaleit, Ralf Sträßer, Hartmut Pelka and Arthur Ullrich.

BFC Dynamo continued to integrate young players from the youth department into the first team, such as Rainer Ernst in 1979, Bernd Schulz in 1979, Olaf Seier in 1979, Frank Rohde in 1980, Falko Götz in 1980 and Christian Backs in 1981.

[9][nb 1] The team included several young talented players such as Hans-Jürgen Riediger, Lutz Eigendorf, Norbert Trieloff, Michael Noack, Roland Jüngling, Rainer Troppa, Bodo Rudwaleit, Ralf Sträßer and Artur Ullrich.

[40] The 17-year-old midfielder Rainer Ernst from the youth department made his debut for BFC Dynamo in the DDR-Oberliga away against BSG Chemie Böhlen on the 25th matchday on 6 June 1979.

[57] Bodo Rudwaleit, Arthur Ullrich, Norbert Trieloff, Frank Terletzki, Hans-Jürgen Riediger, Ralf Sträßer and Bernd Schulz finished as runners-up with the East Germany U-21 team in the 1980 UEFA European Under-21 Championship after losing the second leg of the final against Soviet Union on 21 May 1980.

But fearing riots, political demonstrations and spectators expressing sympathy for West German football stars such as Felix Magath, the Stasi imposed restrictions on ticket sales.

The 18-year-old talented forward Andreas Thom from the youth department made his debut in the DDR-Oberliga in the match against FC Carl Zeiss Jena, as a substitute for Bernd Schulz.

Coach Bogs then decided to give young forward Andreas Thom the chance to make his international debut as a replacement for Falko Götz.

[149] 19-year-old midfielder Eike Küttner from the youth department made his debut for BFC Dynamo in the DDR-Oberliga away against BSG Wismut Aue on the 14th matchday on 18 February 1984.

Young defender Mario Maek from the youth department made his debut for BFC Dynamo in the DDR-Oberliga away against BSG Stahl Riesa on the 17th matchday on 10 March 1984, as a substitute for Andreas Rath.

19-year-old defensive midfielder Jörg Fügner from the youth department made his debut for BFC Dynamo in the DDR-Oberliga as a substitute for Frank Terletzki in the match against BSG Sachsenring Zwickau.

[198] The team was joined by defender Burkhard Reich and forward Peter Kaehlitz from SG Dynamo Fürstenwalde and midfielder Michael Schulz from BSG Stahl Brandenburg for the second half of the 1985–86 season.

Alleged referee bias had caused riots already during the first season, when ZSG Horch Zwickau defeated SG Dresden-Friedrichstadt 5–1 on 16 April 1950, in a match which decided the title in the 1949–50 DDR-Oberliga.

[221][7][217] Inexperienced linesman Günter Supp had missed a clear offside position on Hans-Jürgen Riediger in the situation leading up to the equalizer and allowed the goal to stand.

[223] The privileges of BFC Dynamo and its overbearing success in the 1980s made fans of opposing teams easily aroused as to what they saw as manipulation by bent referees, especially in Saxon cities such as Dresden and Leipzig.

[221] Petitions to authorities were written by citizens, fans of other teams and local members of the SED, claiming referee bias and outright match-fixing in favor of BFC Dynamo.

[228] A petition written to the Secretary for Security, Youth and Sport in the SED Central Committee Egon Krenz in March 1986 was even answered by Hellman with a personal meeting.

Two days later, the DTSB President Manfred Ewald and the Head of the Department for Sport of the SED Central Committee Rudolf Hellmann convened an extraordinary meeting of the DFV Presidium.

He was also approached by the incensed DFV Vice President Franz Rydz after the match, who took him to office for his performance with the words: "You can't always go by the book, but have to officiate in a way that placates the Dresden public".

Referee Reinhard Purz and linesman Günter Supp were questioned for their performances during the controversial match between FC Rot-Weiß Erfurt and BFC Dynamo and on the ninth matchday of the 1985-86 DDR-Oberliga on 26 October 1985.

[257] The DFV was under intense pressure to take action against referees that allegedly favored BFC Dynamo, notably from the Department for Sport of the SED Central Committee under Rudolf Hellmann.

"[220] The benefit of controlling important matches in Western Europe, gifts to wives and other forms of patronage, might have put indirect pressure on referees to take preventative action, in so-called "preemptive obedience", towards BFC Dynamo.

[229][216][237][272] The German Football Association (DFB) has concluded that "it emerged after the political transition that Dynamo, as the favorite club of Stasi chief Erich Mielke, received many benefits and in case of doubt, mild pressure was applied in its favor".

The former East German sports journalist Gottfried Weise has stated: "BFC Dynamo did not win its ten titles only thanks to Mielke’s sponsorship and compliant referees".

[276] The picture that the success of BFC Dynamo relied upon referee bias is dismissed by ex-coach Jürgen Bogs, ex-goalkeeper Bodo Rudwaleit, ex-forward Thom and others associated with the club.

"[281] Jörn Lenz said in an interview with CNN: "Maybe we had a small bonus in the back of referees' minds, in terms of them taking decisions in a more relaxed way in some situations than if they'd been somewhere else, but one can't say it was all manipulated.

[293] Steffen Karas calculates in his book "66 Jahre BFC Dynamo - Auswärts mit 'nem Bus" that five of the top 10 delegations in the DDR-Oberliga instead involved FC Carl Zeiss Jena.

17-year-old midfielder Marco Köller made his debut for BFC Dynamo in the DDR-Oberliga in the match against FC Carl Zeiss Jena, as a substitute for Frank Pastor.

The Stasi claimed that the main reason for the defeat was that "the team was not morally and ideologically prepared for the match" and "did not have a functioning management that met all the requirements for a stay in Bremen".

FC Union Berlin fielded four former BFC Dynamo players in the starting eleven: Olaf Seier, Thomas Grether, Mario Maek and Norbert Trieloff.