Surprising headlines came from Belarus last year. Dynamo Brest, an unknown local team, decided to appoint Diego Maradona as the team's chairman.
Maradona, who probably never has been to Belarus before, accepted the offer. He got $20 million offer for three seasons. Unsurprisingly, a few months later, Maradona signed for Mexican side Dorados, but Dynamo Brest has become a household name.
A year later, as Dynamo Brest returned to their day by day business, they are running to an incredible achievement – winning the Belarusian championship. It wouldn't be only their first-ever title, it will also be an end for the BATE Borisov dominance, who won 13 consecutive championships and became the richest club in Belarus due to constant participation in the Champions League and the Europa League group stage. So how did the mid-table club become the club that will most probably create history?
Dynamo Brest was one of the first clubs to play in the Belarusian top tier. Their best achievement was at the debut season in 1992, when the club finished at the 3rd place. Since then, they always ended in a mid-table spot. Their only achievements were winning the Belarusian cup in 2007 and a short European campaign a year later. The team wasn't a real contender for domestic titles.
Everything changed in 2016. The club announced that they have a new owner, Paul Daher. He wasn't the ordinary owner in a league that is familiar with local businessmen and oligarchs. Daher is a Lebanese that was born in Dubai. Today he is the owner of SOHARA Overseas, a company that exports Belarusian made industrial vehicles to the Middle East. There is nothing else known about Daher. His name or the company's name aren't mentioned on the club website, and there are no photos of him.
Besides this mysterious investor, Dynamo Brest began to rise. Although Daher wasn't seen at the club since that day, the team got more and more money and started to buy players. They brought local players with international caps such as Syarhey Kislyak, Sergey Krivets, Aleh Veratsila and Pavel Savitski. They also tried to bring foreign talents. Some of the tryouts weren't successful, such as with Belgian Marvin Ogunjimi, but among the successful foreigners, there is the former Ukrainian national team player, Artem Milevskiy.
As the squad is becoming stronger, the club finished in higher places. They won two domestic cups in 2017 and 2018, which secured for Dynamo Brest a berth at the Europa League. Last season, Dynamo Brest even made their first-ever international win after defeating Greek side Atromitos.
Behind the scenes, there was also an inexperienced Czech manager, Marcel Lička. He arrived at the club as an assistant manager for another Czech manager, Radoslav Látal. Látal got fired, and the management decided to appoint Lička as the manager. He stabilized the club, which eventually finished at the 6th place.
For Dynamo Brest, 2019 was hugely successful. It began with winning the Super Cup after defeating BATE Borisov 3-1. During the season, Dynamo Brest had only one league defeat. Meanwhile, BATE has faced a crisis, after they failed to qualify for the Europa League group stage. Dynamo Brest used it to widen the gap from BATE and to run to the title.
Those who helped were the two top scorers, Dzyanis Laptsew with 12 goals and Pavel Nyakhaychyk with 11. Their performance helped them receive a call to the Belarus national team squad. Although the national team didn't impress at the Euro 2020 qualifiers, both are willing to lead the team to their debut Euro through the Nation League playoffs.
Now Dynamo Brest is facing its most prestigious moment. They are getting closer to clinching the title in the next few weeks. They will hope to also make a similar European success as BATE Borisov has made in the last decade. Still, the question marks remain about who stands behind the club. For the Dynamo Brest fans, it doesn't matter, as long as they are leading the table.