WVC Dynamo Moscow


WVC Dinamo Moscow is a Russian women's volleyball club based in Moscow which is currently playing in the Super League. It was established in 1926 and dissolved in 1992, but was reestablished in 2004. It is the most successful team in Soviet women's volleyball history with fourteen Championship titles and the most successful team in the CEV Women's Champions League history with eleven titles.

History

Soviet years

The club was created in 1926, when Dinamo Moscow decided to establish a women's volleyball section from its sports club. Its first participation in the USSR Championship was 1940, finishing in seventh place. The championship was not held from 1941 until 1944 due to war, but once it resumed in 1945 the club began achieving success under the coach Nikolay Nikolaevich Benderov, winning the titles in 1947, 1951, 1953, 1954 and 1955. During that period the club also won the USSR Cups of 1950, 1951 and 1953.
From 1957 to 1965 the club had a new coach, Serafima Georgievna Kundirenko who took the team to winning the USSR Championships of 1960 and 1962. The introduction of the new premier club competition with clubs from Europe called European Cup, provided an opportunity for the club to compete against teams from across the continent. Dynamo Moscow won the inaugural 1960–61 edition, as well as the 1962–63 and 1964–65 editions, establishing itself as one of the strongest women's volleyball clubs in Europe. In 1966, under Anatoly Sergeyevich Sarkisov the team won the 1967–68 European Cup.
Givi Alexandrovich Akhvlediani became the new coach in 1969, with the goal of making Dynamo Moscow the country's leading team. Under his guidance, Dynamo Moscow brought new players, employed new tactics and focused on improving technical skills. That lead the club to its most successful period, winning six USSR Championships and seven European Cups, making Dynamo Moscow the dominant force in European women's volleyball during the late 60's and 1970's.
The next head coach was Mikhail Omelchenko. By the 1980s Uralochka began to emerge itself as a dominant force, and Dynamo's winning generation team of the 1970s was ageing. Omelchenko rejuvenated the squad calling new players who helped the club to win the USSR Cup in 1982 and the USSR Championship in 1983. After social and political changes in the USSR, the club could no longer perform at the highest level being relegated at the conclusion of the 1988–89 season. The club kept on playing in the second division for another three seasons and decided to stop its women's volleyball activities in 1992.

Russian years

After a 12-year break, the club was re-established on 12 May 2004. It entered the Super League in the 2004–05 season and the team proved to be competitive right away, finishing second that year. The success came shortly after the club won the league in the following two seasons and a third time in 2008–09. Since then, they won fourfold the Russian Cup in the same time they won the Super League in 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19.
The club is yet to emulate the Soviet era success in Europe, but it has reached the finals of the CEV Cup and the CEV Champions League twice.

Honours

National competitions

;USSR
;Russia
Season 2020–2021, as of May 2020.
NumberPlayerPositionHeight Weight Birth date
1 Sofya KuznetsovaOutside Hitter1.8265
2 Daria TalyshevaLibero1.8262
3 Ekaterina EfimovaMiddle-Blocker1.9270
5 Ekaterina OrlovaMiddle Blocker1.9377
6 Yana ShcherbanOutside Hitter1.8771
7 Tatiana RomanovaSetter1.8273
8 Nataliya GoncharovaOpposite Spiker1.9674
11 Hanna KlimetsOpposite1.8670
12 Marina BabeshinaSetter1.8065
13 Irina FetisovaMiddle Blocker1.9076
15 Natalia KrotkovaOutside Hitter1.8569
Natalia PereiraOutside Hitter1.8583
Mariia BibinaLibero1.7662

Notable players