in 1953 kanevskyi received an invitation to play for fc dynamo kyiv. kanevskyi appeared in dynamo along with such players as valeriy lobanovskyi, oleh bazylevych, valentyn troyanovskyi, and others, with whom later in 1961 he became soviet top league winners and the first non-moscow team to ever become soviet league champions. yet his first year in the club was not successful and in 1955 kanevskyi played only one game. he later played in football competitions of the kiev city garrison for some military detachment team which served as a farm-team of dynamo. at some point dynamo's head coach oleg oshenkov wanted to let kanevskyi go.