EuroTrip | Part 7 | Moving To Eastern Europe

Panathinaikos dominated the Greek Super League with a record-breaking season that saw them claim three successive titles. But more penalty heartache in the Champions League had Trebor Mahtal questioning whether he’d achieved all that he could in Greece.

He explored a few exciting opportunities in the summer of 2028, attending interviews with Universitatea Craiova, FCSB, Dynamo Kiev and Dinamo Zagreb, which gave Mahtal a massive decision. He didn’t see any point staying in Greece despite the squad he’d built, as they were likely to lose their better players. Craiova and FCSB posed interesting rebuild challenges, while Kyiv and Dinamo had great finances and infrastructure. So he decided to see who came calling first – which proved to be the Ukrainian side.

Who Are Dynamo Kyiv?

Футбольний клуб «Динамо» Київ (Football Club Dynamo Kyiv) is a professional club based in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. The club was founded in May 1927 as a branch of the Soviet Dynamo Sports Society, from which it gained brand rights in 1989. Intriguingly, the club was involved in the so-called The Death Match in 1942, in which a side under the name of Start, City of Kyiv All-Stars defeated an All-Star German forces team and was allegedly executed by firing squad. The validity of this claim remains debatable, but the story behind it has inspired several movies including Escape To Victory.

Dynamo has spent its entire history in the top tier of Soviet then Ukrainian football, establishing a fierce rivalry with Spartak Moscow in the 1970s. The club has won 16 titles in real life, adding two more during this save. But it’s one of only two Soviet clubs, along with Dinamo Tblisi, to win a European trophy, lifting the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup in 1975 and 1986 and the UEFA Super Cup in 1975. So far in this save, Dynamo won VBet Liha in 2025 and 2027 with Shakhtar winning the other three titles.

Mahtal’s new board expects him to qualify for the Conference League then challenge for the title in three seasons. He has a bank balance of £33m, £14m transfer budget and £440k wage budget of which £80k was going spare. He also has a massive stadium in the 70,050-capacity NSC Olympiyskyi, along with 17 training and youth facilities, 14 junior coaching and 18 youth recruitment.

Meet The Dynamo Kyiv Squad

The best player at Dynamo is centre back Maksim Diachuk along with striker Vladyslav Vanat, midfielders Volodymyr Brazhko and Mykola Shaparenko, who suffered a fractured skull in training in late July, centre back Oleksandr Syrota, Brazilian winger Vitinho, striker Roman Yaremchuk and former Barcelona full back Moussa Wagué. Mahtal also had plenty of exciting youth prospects to work with, led by first-team strikers Artem Skydan and Mikhail Ivanov. They also had full back Yevhen Riabtsev and centre backs Vladyslav Sychov and Jhonatan Sánchez in the youth team.

As expected, there was plenty of deadwood, so Mahtal sold 20 players for a £15m profit. He invested some of that in promising attacker Darko Dmitrovic for £4.5m from Partizan and holding midfielder Pavel Kovac for £5.5m from Sparta Praha. With his squad finalised, Mahtal tinkered with the unconventional 3-4-3 he’d devised in Greece with a few more conservative tweaks that made it more of a 3-5-2.

A Different European Competition

Mahtal needn’t worry about being knocked out of the Champions League on penalties this season as his Kyiv career began with the Europa Conference League second qualifying round. They breezed past Azerbaijan side Zina 8-2 on aggregate then Swiss side Luzern 6-2. Vanat scored twice in a 3-1 win at Utrecht before Vitinho’s brace secured their place in the league phase.

The league phase began with a humbling 3-0 defeat at Rapid Bucharest, which was not only the first loss of Mahtal’s reign but the manager’s first in 20 games since the European exit to Chelsea. Another away day followed at fellow Soviet European trophy winners Tbilisi, where they ran riot with Brazhko’s hat trick, a Vanat brace and four assists by midfielder Anton Tsarenko leading an 8-0 demolition.

First Taste of Ukrainian Football

Shakhtar Donetsk are massive 2/9 favourites to retain their title with Dynamo at 9/1 and Dnipro way back at 25/1. Mahtal’s time in Ukraine began with two solid 2-0 wins at Veres through Shaparenko’s penalty and a Diachuk header then at Kryvbas with Vanat’s brace. Dynamo’s fans enjoyed their first look at Mahtal as they dominated Rukh 4-1 before winning 4-0 at LNZ.

Mahtal’s first impression of Ukrainian football was that it was even easier than in Greece. That was proven as Dynamo cruised past 3rd-place Kolos 3-0 away led by another Vanat double. Realistically, it looked like their only threat was Shakhtar and the two rivals went near enough blow for blow before their first meeting at NSC Olympiyskyi in late October.

Dynamo began terribly, conceding to Shakhtar’s first shot (shocker) after seven minutes. But they grew into the game and levelled as Wagué picked out Dmitrovic, who turned and fired home from 10 yards. And they were quickly ahead as Tsarenko latched onto a loose ball and sent Vanat to finish superbly. They maintained the pressure after the break as Vanat hit the post and the second half was a bit of an edgy affair. But Dynamo held Shakhtar at arm’s length to earn a massive three points.

That victory took Dynamo six points clear of their rivals and still undefeated after 13 of the 30-game season. They’d only conceded six times and scored 33, so a push for the Ukrainian title looked a real possibility in Mahtal’s first season in the country.