FK Dinamo Tirana

The club was officially founded on 3 March 1950 by the Interior Ministry of Albania during the communist regime under dictator Enver Hoxha. They won four consecutive championships from 1950 to 1953.[2] During this time, Dinamo recorded a hot streak of 25 consecutive wins, a record in Albanian football and 4th longest domestic winning streak in Europe.[2]

In 1967, Dinamo won its 9th championship by leaving Tirana, then 17 Nëntori, one point behind, who was expelled for the tournament three weeks before the end.[3] This championship is not officially recognized by UEFA, however.

In 1989, Dinamo eventually finished third in the league which was won by 17 Nëntori, which made eligible to play in European Cup Winners' Cup for the third time in their history.[4] In the preliminary round of the tournament the team faced Chernomorets Burgas, losing the first leg 1–3 (Demollari scoring the lone goal for Dinamo Tirana) but winning the second 4–0 at home, thus recording its biggest win in a UEFA club competition.[5] The team then was eliminated in the first round by Dinamo București despite winning the first leg in Tirana 1–0. Dinamo București won the second leg 2–0.

In 1995, the team were renamed KS Olimpik Tirana to leave behind the "communist past", but the club returned to their original name two years later.[6]

After finishing third in the table in 2005–06 season, Dinamo Tirana named Faruk Sejdini as their new coach. One of Albania's best teachers of footballing fundamentals, he had a spell at the club last term before being dismissed by president Besnik Sulaj. Having returned following a spell at Shkumbini Peqin, Sejdini said: "It's nice to be back." On 23 October 2006, he was fired.

At the start of the 2007–08 season, Agim Canaj took over as head coach, replacing Ilir Daja who led Dinamo towards the championship title, after a dramatic win against Partizani 2–1 in the final match, playing for 36 minutes with 9 players. In the summer of 2008, Ilir Daja moved into a position as director in order to make place for Marcelo Javier Zuleta from Argentina. The Argentinian coach also brought with him four Argentinian players; goalkeeper Daniel Bertoya, defender Alejandro Palladino, midfielder Agustín González, and striker Cristian Campozano. Zuleta only lasted for the first Champions League qualification match against Bosnians FK Modriča before he was replaced as coach by Artan Mërgjyshi, for only one match.

Together with Zuleta, the four Argentinian players also left the club. After Mërgjyshi left, Zlatko Dalić, the actual coach of Croatia, was appointed as new coach for Dinamo. He signed a two-year contract with the club. That deal was broken when Dinamo lost its second game in the re-beginning of the 2008–09 season against Partizani. Shkëlqim Muça was then appointed manager of the club five days after of Zlatko Dalić's leave. In the 2009–10 season, Dinamo won the championship again, registering its 18th success.[7]

In 2011–12 season, the club experienced its worst period of all time, finishing last in the league with 13 points from 26 matches, winning only 3 times. They were relegated to the Albanian First Division for the first time in their history.[8] Since the 2012–13 season, the club have played in the Albanian First Division and have risked relegation to the third tier several times.[9] After spending 9 seasons in the second division, Dinamo clinched the promotion to the Superliga, confirming first place in Group A following a 2–0 win against FK Vora.

FK Dinamo Tirana has historically played at Selman Stermasi Stadium which was also known as Stadiumi Dinamo when it first became a stadium. FK Dinamo Tirana now plays on Internacional Complex, Pezë Helmës. This is also known as the main field for FC Internacional Tirana and the training ground for FK Kukësi and FK Partizani Tirana. The stadium is a 1,000 seater stadium and FK Dinamo Tirana also has a training field known as Kompleksi Dinamo in Tirana by the Grand Park of Tirana and next to the Tirana Olympic Park.

The "Blue Boys" are an Ultras group for the Albanian football team, Dinamo Tirana. The group were formed in 2008 and have gained 5,000 followers as of 2021. They organise meetings and trips to matches in Tirana and also away matches in Albania and even abroad. They promote Dinamo Tirana to the local public and influence fans of the club in a number of ways.[10]

Dinamo Tirana have given good performances in Europe among Albanian squads, winning 3 ties in Europe.

Submarine blues In their European path, Dinamo have played against "big guns" such as: Ajax, Austria Wien, etc. Drawn against teams such as Sporting Lisbona, Beşiktaş, Dinamo București, Olympique Marseille, Brøndby, CSKA Sofia, Sheriff Tiraspol, CZ Jena, Aberdeen,etc. Dinamo has passed 3 rounds in the European cups, defeating opponents like Ħamrun Spartans, Chernomorets Burgas and Kaunas.

Season	Competition	Round	Country	Club	Home	Away
1961–63	Balkans Cup	Group B		FC Dinamo București	1–1	3–2
				Levski Sofia	0–0	2–2
				Fenerbahçe	3–2	0–1
1963–64	Balkans Cup	Group A		Beşiktaş	2–0	0–1
				Rapid București	1–1	1–2
				Levski Sofia	1–1	1–1
1967–68	European Cup	1R		Eintracht Braunschweig	(w/o)	(w/o)
1969	Balkans Cup	Group A		Universitatea Craiova	2–0	1–3
				OFK Bor	4–1	2–2
		Final		Beroe Stara Zagora	1–0	0–3
1971–72	European Cup Winners' Cup	1R		FK Austria Wien	1–1	0–1
1976	Balkans Cup	Group B		Dinamo Zagreb	1–2	1–2
				Ethnikos	2–0	3–4
1980–81	European Cup	1R		AFC Ajax	0–2	0–1
1981–82	UEFA Cup	1R		FC Carl Zeiss Jena	1–0	0–4
1982–83	European Cup Winners' Cup	1R		Aberdeen F.C.	0–0	0–1
1985–86	UEFA Cup	1R		Ħamrun Spartans	1–0	0–0
		2R		Sporting Clube de Portugal	0–0	0–1
1986–87	European Cup	1R		Beşiktaş JK	0–1	0–2
1989–90	European Cup Winners' Cup	QR		PFC Chernomorets Burgas	4–0	1–3
		1R		FC Dinamo București	1–0	0–2
1990–91	European Cup	1R		Olympique Marseille	0–0	1–5
2001–02	UEFA Cup	1QR		FC Dinamo București	1–3	0–1
2002–03	UEFA Champions League	1QR		FBK Kaunas	0–0	3–2
		2QR		Brøndby IF	0–4	0–1
2003–04	UEFA Cup	QR		KSC Lokeren	0–4	1–3
2004–05	UEFA Cup	1QR		FC Oțelul Galați	1–4	0–4
2005	UEFA Intertoto Cup	1R		NK Varteks	2–1	1–4
2006–07	UEFA Cup	1QR		PFC CSKA Sofia	0–1	1–4
2008–09	UEFA Champions League	1QR		FK Modriča	0–2	1–2
2009–10	UEFA Europa League	1QR		FC Lahti	2–0	1–4
2010–11	UEFA Champions League	2QR		Sheriff Tiraspol	1–0	1–3

• QR = Qualifying Round
• 1R = 1st Round
• 2R = 2nd Round
• Clubs which ultimately won the tournament in that same season are indicated in bold

• Official website
• Dinamo Tirana at UEFA.COM
• Dinamo Tirana at EUFO.DE
• Dinamo Tirana at Football-Lineups.com
• Soccerpedia schedule Dinamo Tirana
• Albania-sport.com
• Albanian Soccer News
• Shqiperia-Futboll