Celtic’s potential Qualifying Round 1 opponents in the 2020/21 Champions League: FC Dynamo Brest of Belarus…
Ahead of Sunday’s draw for the first qualifying round of the Champions League, I’m reviewing the 17 potential opponents who lie ahead for Celtic.
With all but one of the possible options now known, we’ve already covered the first eleven:
• FK Sileks of North Macedonia
• Kuopion Palloseura of Finland
• FC Ararat-Armenia of Armenia
• KI Klaksvik of Faroe Islands
• Connah’s Quay Nomads FC of Wales
12/17: FC Dynamo Brest of Belarus
The Belarusian representatives in the 2020/21 Champions League will be Dynamo Brest, who have a UEFA co-efficient of 3.775, compared to Celtic’s 34.
Founded
The club was established in 1960 as Spartak Brest and has also played under the guise of Bug Brest and FC Brest before reverting to its current name in 2013. Brest is a town in south-west Belarus near the Polish border.
Colours
Dynamo Brest currently wear an all-white strip for home games, whilst on the road they sport blue jerseys with navy shorts and socks.
Stadium
Home games are played at the OSK Bretsky, which holds 10,000 spectators. It was built in 1937 and is deemed suitable for hosting matches in UEFA competitions.
Season 2019/20
As the Belarusian season runs from March until November each year, qualification for the 2020/21 Champions League is based on the campaign which ended in late 2019.
Dynamo Brest finished the 16-team 2019 Belarusian Premier League five points ahead of defending champions BATE Borisov, ending the run of the perennial title-holders at 13-in-a-row.
Domestic record
Last season’s championship was the first-ever won by Dynamo Brest, whilst they have won the national cup three times since 2007. They lost the 2020 Belarusian Cup final to a goal scored in the last minute of extra-time by BATE Borisov defender, Zakhar Volkov on 24 May. Other than a 3rd place finish in the inaugural Belarusian Premier League in 1992, Dynamo have tended to hover around the mid-table positions.
European record
Dynamo Brest has competed in three European campaigns, winning two and drawing three of their eight matches.
They made their continental debut in the first qualifying round of the 2007/08 UEFA Cup, being paired with Liepajas Metalurgs. A late Viktor Sokal equaliser in Latvia set things up nicely for the second leg, however, although he levelled things again in Brest, Liepajas immediately restored their lead through Girts Karlsons then held on to qualify on a 3-2 aggregate.
A decade would pass before Dynamo returned to the European stage, this time in the second qualifying round of the 2017/18 Europa League with a tie against Austrians Rheindorf Altach. Pavel Sedko’s equaliser in Altach again put the Belarusians in a great position to progress, only for Rheindorf to score three goals without reply in the one-sided second leg in Brest.
Dynamo finally won a European game and tie the following season, albeit they did it the hard way. An early Zeljko Filipovic goal in Brest was followed by a Pavel Savitski hat-trick to put them 4-0 up against Atromitos in the second qualifying round of the 2018/19 Europa League.
The Greeks then scored three times in the closing 15 minutes to make the second leg a tense affair, and when Giorgos Manousos netted with just 10 minutes remaining in Athens, Dynamo were heading out despite that huge initial lead. With 96 minutes on the clock, midfielder Pavel Nyakhaychyk then scored the goal which took the Belarusians through on a 5-4 aggregate.
Nyakhaychyk would score another late goal in the second leg in the next round, giving Dynamo a 1-0 win on the night against Apollon Limassol in Brest. Sadly, however, the damage had already been done in Nicosia the previous week, the Cypriots scoring four second-half goals without reply to effectively finish the tie at the halfway point.
Previous meetings
Celtic have never faced Belarusian opposition in European competition.
Current personnel
Whilst the majority of the Dynamo Brest squad are Belarusian, it also includes players from Cameroon, Ukraine, Senegal, Liberia and Albania.
The head coach is also a Belarusian, former Dynamo midfielder Sergey Kovalchuk, who has been involved with the club in various roles since 1996.
I hope you enjoyed that look at the twelfth of our potential European opponents and their previous record in continental competition.
More to follow soon.
Hail Hail!
Matt Corr
Follow Matt on Twitter @Boola_vogue
