WVC Dinamo Moscow () is a Russian professional 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 (today known as CEV Champions League), 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.луЬЙ
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 (Nina Smoleyeva, Rosa Salikhova, Antonina Ryzhova, Tatyana Tretyakova, Larisa Bergen, Nina Muradyan), employed new tactics and focused on improving technical skills. That lead the club to its most successful period, winning six USSR Championships (1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977) and seven European Cups (1968–69, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1973–74, 1974–75, 1976–77), 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 (Lyubov Kozyreva, Nataliya Razumova) 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 (2005–06 and 2006–07) and a third time in 2008–09. Since then, they won four times the Russian Cup (2009, 2011, 2013 and 2018) 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 (in 2005–06) and the CEV Champions League twice (in 2006–07 and in 2008–09).
Honours National competitions USSR USSR Championship : 14 1947, 1951, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1960, 1962, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1983
USSR Cup: 4 1950, 1951, 1953, 1982
Russia Russian Super League: 8 2005–06, 2006–07, 2008–09, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017-18, 2018–19, 2022–23
Russian Cup: 6 2009, 2011, 2013, 2018, 2022, 2023
Russian Super Cup: 4 2017, 2018, 2021, 2023
International competitions CEV Champions League: 11 1960–61, 1962–63, 1964–65, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1973–74, 1974–75, 1976–77
Team roster Season 2022–2023, as of June 2022. Number Player Position Height (m) Weight (kg) Birth date1 Mariia Khaletskaya Opposite Hitter1.95782 Ekaterina PipurynovaOutside Hitter1.88693 Evgeniya StartsevaSetter1.85685 Tatiana ShchukinaMiddle Blocker1.94687 Tatiana Romanova Setter1.82738 Nataliya GoncharovaOpposite Hitter1.96749 Ekaterina EninaMiddle Blocker1.9210 Mariia BibinaLibero1.766211 Margarita KuriloOutside Hitter1.857412 Natalia PereiraOutside Hitter1.858313 Irina FetisovaMiddle Blocker1.907614 Ekaterina PolyakovaMiddle Blocker1.957019 Anna PodkopaevaLibero1.7559
2021–2022 team Number Player Position Height (m) Weight (kg) Birth date1 Mariia Khaletskaya Opposite Hitter1.95782 Ekaterina PipurynovaOutside Hitter1.88693 Evgeniya StartsevaSetter1.85687 Tatiana Romanova Setter1.82738 Nataliya GoncharovaOpposite Hitter1.96749 Ekaterina EninaMiddle Blocker1.9210 Mariia BibinaLibero1.766211 Ekaterina Lyubushkina Middle Blocker1.887312 Anastasia Anufrienko Setter1.8013 Irina FetisovaMiddle Blocker1.907614 Ekaterina PolyakovaMiddle Blocker1.957015 Natalia KrotkovaOutside Hitter1.856916 Yaroslava SimonenkoOutside Hitter1.9017 Anna PospelovaLibero1.7318 Elitsa VasilevaOutside Hitter1.907319 Edina BegićOutside Hitter1.8573
2020–2021 team Number Player Position Height (m) Weight (kg) Birth date1 Sofya Kuznetsova Outside Hitter1.82652 Daria TalyshevaLibero1.82623 Ekaterina EfimovaMiddle-Blocker1.92705 Ekaterina Orlova Middle Blocker1.93776 Yana ShcherbanOutside Hitter1.87717 Tatiana Romanova Setter1.82738 Nataliya GoncharovaOpposite Hitter1.96749 Ekaterina EninaMiddle Blocker1.9210 Mariia BibinaLibero1.766211 Hanna Klimets Opposite Hitter1.867012 Marina Babeshina Setter1.806513 Irina FetisovaMiddle Blocker1.907615 Natalia KrotkovaOutside Hitter1.856917 Anna PospelovaOutside Hitter1.7318 Natalia PereiraOutside Hitter1.8583
2018–2019 team Number Player Position Height (m) Weight (kg) Birth date1 Anna MakarovaOutside Hitter1.94832 Daria TalyshevaLibero1.82623 Ekaterina EfimovaMiddle-Blocker1.92705 Elena GendelMiddle-Blocker1.91796 Yana ShcherbanOutside Hitter1.87717 Ekaterina Raevskaia Libero1.70658 Nataliya GoncharovaOpposite Spiker 1.96749 Daria StolyarovaOpposite1.867911 Ekaterina Lyubushkina Middle Blocker1.887312 Marina Babeshina Setter1.806513 Irina FetisovaMiddle Blocker1.907614 Anna LazarevaOpposite1.907015 Natalia KrotkovaOutside Hitter1.856916 Helena HavelkovaOutside Hitter1.887018 Maja OgnjenovićSetter1.8367
2017–2018 team Number Player Position Height (m) Weight (kg) Birth date1 Yulia MorozovaMiddle Blocker1.92793 Anastasia BavykinaOutside Hitter1.88735 Anastasia MarkovaOutside Hitter1.90716 Yana ShcherbanOutside Hitter1.87717 Ekaterina Romanenko Libero1.70628 Nataliya GoncharovaOpposite Spiker 1.96749 Vera Vetrova Setter1.827310 Ekaterina Kosianenko (c)Setter1.756411 Ekaterina Lyubushkina Middle Blocker1.887312 Aleksandra Crnčević Outside Hitter1.847613 Irina FetisovaMiddle Blocker1.907617 Bethania de la CruzOutside Hitter1.886818 Maja PoljakMiddle Blocker1.947319 Anna MalovaLibero1.7559
2016–2017 team Number Player Position Height (m) Weight (kg) Birth date1 Yulia MorozovaMiddle Blocker1.92793 Anastasia BavykinaOutside Hitter1.88735 Anastasia MarkovaOutside Hitter1.90716 Yana ShcherbanOutside Hitter1.87717 Ekaterina Romanenko Libero1.70628 Nataliya GoncharovaOpposite Spiker 1.96749 Vera Vetrova Setter1.827310 Ekaterina Kosianenko (c)Setter1.756411 Ekaterina Lyubushkina Middle Blocker1.887312 Aleksandra Crnčević Outside Hitter1.847613 Irina FetisovaMiddle Blocker1.907617 Bethania de la CruzOutside Hitter1.886818 Maja PoljakMiddle Blocker1.947319 Anna MalovaLibero1.7559
Notable players
Larisa Bergen Lyudmila Buldakova Aleksandra Chudina Marita Katusheva Irina Kirillova Liliya Konovalova Lyubov Kozyreva Tatyana Kraynova Nina Muradyan Nataliya Razumova Antonina Ryzhova Rosa Salikhova Lyudmila Shchetinina Nina Smoleyeva Tatyana Tretyakova Zoya Yusova Ekaterina Gamova Elena Godina Nataliya Goncharova Tatiana Kosheleva Svetlana Kryuchkova Yulia Merkulova Maria Perepelkina Natalia Safronova Irina Tebenikhina Anastasiya Kodirova Tatiana Gratcheva Marina Sheshenina Maria Borodakova Lesya Makhno Anna Podkopaeva Irina Fetisova Evgeniya Startseva Oksana Parkhomenko Fernanda Garay Natalia Pereira Nataša Osmokrović Maja Poljak Sanja Popovic Yaima Ortiz Angelina Grün Carolina Costagrande Simona Gioli Bethania de la Cruz Logan Tom Maja Ognjenović Helena Havelkova Elitsa Vasileva
References
External links Official website