Maccabi Tel Aviv host Dynamo Kyiv on Matchday Two of the UEFA Champions League Group Stages at Sammy Ofer Stadium in Haifa. Over 30,000 rabid fans will be in attendance and will welcome the Yellow-and-Blue back to Europe’s grand stage on Israeli soil.
How much do you know about the Ukrainian club that will be visiting the Holy Land? Can you name the club’s top players, coach and what their expectations are this season? The Sports Rabbi Josh Halickman speaks to a couple journalists who intimately cover Dynamo Kyiv and the Ukraine Football League to give us the lowdown on what Maccabi fans can expect.
After a two year hiatus, Dynamo Kyiv returns to the Champions League Group Stages. However, this won’t be the first time that Maccabi will be taking on Kyiv in European play as the sides battled in the Europa League back in 2011 when the teams drew both matches 3:3 and 1:1.
A very young player by the name of Andriy Yarmolenko was just 20 years old then, but now he is unquestionably the club’s star, notes Chris Dewar of the Ukraine Premyer Liha Twitter account @Premyer_Liha: “Yarmolenko is the main danger man and he had a terrific Europa League campaign last season. He also was vastly important in winning the league and cup double last year on the domestic front. He missed the game against Porto due to falling ill just before the match and never featured. Another player to look out for is Vitaliy Buyalskiy. The youngster has made a great impression since breaking onto the scene last season and headed Dynamo’s equalizer against Porto on Matchday One.”
Manuel Veth, editor-in-chief of futbolgrad.com who recently finished his PhD on the economics and politics of football in the Soviet and post-Soviet space, chimed in saying that other players who could cause Maccabi trouble are: “Derlis Gonzalez, Evgen Khacheridi, and Aleksandar Dragović.”
2014 saw Kyiv undergo some major changes with the club hiring former star striker 
Serhiy Rebrov to be their manager. Rebrov was a prolific scorer in his day as he scored over 150 goals in all competitions with 113 of them coming for Dynamo Kyiv. Thankfully for the club and its supporters he has been able to bring back some of the team’s former glory explains Dewar: “Rebrov has installed a fresh approach to what Oleh Blokhin had. Blokhin was an old school coach stuck in the Lobanovskiy era and Shakhtar were leaving Kyiv way behind. Rebrov has moved up a good few academy players and definitely sees this approach as the way to go, with keeping the balance of solid foreign players he has at the moment.”
Veth also commended the coach, as well as commented on his style of play: “Rebrov did a fabulous job last season guiding Dynamo to their first title since 2009. The club plays a typical 4-2-3-1 formation with Younes Belhanda as the play-maker and Artem Kravets on top. Yarmolenko roams the right wing, but can be found switching sides to increase scoring chances.”
Expectations are high for the renewed and reinvigorated Ukrainian club as Veth continues to explain: “Domestically Kyiv are once again on top of the table, and the expectation is for the club to defend the Ukrainian championship, although it will be a close race with Shakhtar Donetsk. But this is Serhiy Rebrov’s first-ever campaign in the Champions League, and Dynamo’s performances in the league thus far haven’t been all that impressive. A third place finish and a trip to the Europa League wouldn’t be a 
disaster.”
Dewar echoes the almost identical thoughts: “The precedent has been set from last season – not winning the league this year would be a huge disappointment. As far as the Champions League is concerned, it’s a tough group but Dynamo need to be looking for points against Maccabi and a draw in Porto to have a chance of moving on in my opinion. Anything from Chelsea would be a bonus.”
There is a deep connection between Dynamo Kyiv and its supporters to Israel as there are many former Ukrainians living currently in Israel proper tells Veth: “There are strong ties between the Ukrainian and Israeli community, and in the past plenty of Dynamo fans travelled to the training camps and mini-tournaments that took place in the country and I therefore expect a decent turn out of Kyiv fans for the match in Haifa.”
Dewar went one step further as to what the Yellow-and-Blue faithful will be seeing from the Kyiv supporters: “Dynamo regularly visits Israel for winter training camps so there should be some familiarity. But you can no doubt expect at least 200 hardcore fans that will go anywhere in Europe and will be in Haifa cheering Kyiv on.”
