years, no official championship existed in Georgia, so the teams played friendly games against each other. The first match was played with Azerbaijan team Dinamo Baku on 26 January 1926, with the more experienced Azerbaijan squad winning 1–0. The Dinamo team starred: D. Tsomaia, A. Pochkhua, M. Blankman, I. Fedorov, N. Anikin, A. Gonel, A. Pivovarov, O. Goldobin, A. Galperin, S. Maslenikov, and V. Tsomaia. Three days later, Dinamo played another Azerbaijani team, "Progress", and easily beat them 3–0. Despite their success in the middle years of the 1930s, the Football Federation of the Soviet Union placed FC Dinamo Tbilisi in the first league instead of the Top League. Dinamo continued to show good form against the top teams, winning 9–5 in Tbilisi against probably the best team in the USSR championship, Dynamo Moscow. They later beat Dinamo Leningrad 3–2, winning 5 matches out of 6 plus a draw against Stalinec Moscow. This was enough for Dinamo to qualify for the top league. World War II: 1930s and 1940s The second championship started in autumn 1936. Altogether Dinamo played 1424 matches in the Soviet Union Championship. The first match was against Dynamo Kyiv, finishing 2–2, with goals by Nikolas Somov and Boris Paichadze. The team sheet was: A. Dorokhov, S. Shavgulidze (E. Nikolaishvili), B. Berdzenishvili, N. Anikin, V. Jorbenadze, G. Gagua, I. Panin, M. Berdzenishvili, B. Paichadze, M. Aslamazov, and N. Somov. The first victory in the USSR championship was in the match against Spartak Moscow on 25 September with Mikheil Berdzenishvili scoring the winning goal. Dinamo finished the season in 3rd place. They challenged for the title, but this faded after the 2–3 loss against Krasnaia Zaria Leningrad. Dinamo also played an unforgettable match in Moscow against Spartak Moscow in the Soviet Cup quarter-final, when Dinamo beat them 6–3. They reached the first edition of the Soviet Cup final, but lost 0–2 to Lokomotiv Moscow. Their first international match was against the Spanish team Baskonia in 1937, which Dinamo lost 0–2. In the 1930s and 1940s, Dinamo was one of the top Soviet football teams, even though they did not win a title. They were often referred to as the "crownless champions" with the team including S. Shavgulidze, A. Dorokhov, S. Shudra, B. Frolov, M. Berdzenishvili, A. Kiknadze, V. Paniukov, V. Berezhnoi, G. Gagua, V. Jorbenadze, and G. Jejelava. 1950s In the 1950s, the team was led by Avtandil