In the summer of 1942, in the Nazi-occupied city of Kiev, a football match was played that has become legendary. A team of Ukrainian prisoners of war and former professional footballers — many of them starving, working in a bakery to survive — formed a team called FC Start. They played a series of matches against occupying forces: Hungarian, Romanian, and — most fatefully — German teams. FC Start won every match, humiliating the occupiers on the pitch. On August 6, they defeated the German Luftwaffe team Flakelf 5-1. The Germans demanded a rematch. On August 9, in front of 2,000 spectators at the Zenit Stadium, FC Start defeated Flakelf again — 5-3. Before the match, an SS officer entered the Ukrainian dressing room and warned them: "You must lose." They won. Days later, the Gestapo arrested the FC Start players. Several were tortured and executed at the Babi Yar ravine — the site of the massacre of over 33,000 Jews a year earlier. Others were sent to concentration camps. The Death Match became a symbol of defiance — proof that even in the darkest hour, football could be an act of resistance. The story inspired books, films (the 1981 film "Escape to Victory"), and a monument in Kiev. But the full truth of what happened remains contested: was it really a "death match"? Or was the myth larger than the reality? What is certain is that a group of hungry, brave men chose to win — and paid with their lives.
Summary: FC Start was a team of former professional footballers in Nazi-occupied Kiev, many of them former Dynamo Kiev and Lokomotiv Kiev players. They worked at the Kiev Bread Factory No. 1, which became their base. In the summer of 1942, they played a series of matches against occupying forces. On August 6, they beat the German Flakelf team 5-1. On August 9, in a rematch, they won 5-3. Shortly afterward, the Gestapo arrested at least 8 FC Start players. Several were executed at Babi Yar or in the Syrets concentration camp. The story became known as the "Death Match" — a symbol of Ukrainian resistance to Nazi occupation. While the exact details are debated by historians, the core of the story — a football team choosing to win rather than submit — is true.
🍞 The Bread Factory Team
After the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, Kiev fell in September 1941. Over 600,000 Soviet soldiers were captured in the Kiev pocket. Among them were former footballers. Nikolai Trusevich, the goalkeeper for Dynamo Kiev, was captured but released. He found work at Kiev Bakery No. 1, where other former players had gathered. The bakery owner, Josef Kordik — of Czech origin — was a football fan who used his influence with the German authorities (he was classified as a Volksdeutsche, ethnic German) to protect his workers. He encouraged the formation of a football team. The players were given marginally better rations. They trained after work, hungry and exhausted. They called themselves FC Start. Their shirts were red — the color of the Soviet flag, though the occupying authorities may not have realized the symbolism. They played their first match on June 7, 1942, beating a Hungarian garrison team. They won again and again — against Romanians, Hungarians, and a German railway team. With every victory, FC Start became a symbol of Ukrainian pride. Thousands came to watch them at the Zenit Stadium. The Germans noticed.
⚽ The Rematch: August 9, 1942
On August 6, FC Start crushed the Luftwaffe team Flakelf 5-1. The Germans — proud, humiliated — demanded a rematch. It was scheduled for August 9, a Sunday. Before the match, an SS officer entered the FC Start dressing room. He did not speak Russian. The referee — a German — translated. The message was clear: you must lose. The players looked at each other. They said nothing. When the SS officer left, they made their decision silently. They would not lose. Not to these men. 2,000 spectators filled the Zenit Stadium, sitting on wooden planks salvaged from bombed buildings. The match was fierce. Flakelf scored first. FC Start equalized. By half-time, it was 3-1 to Start. The Germans played rough — kicking, pushing. The Ukrainian players were smaller, hungrier, but more skilled. The final score: FC Start 5, Flakelf 3. The crowd roared. The Ukrainian players, breathing hard, knew what they had done. They had won. They had defied the Reich. They had signed their death warrants.
"We were not afraid. We were playing for our people, for our city, for our pride. We could not lose to them."
💀 The Arrest and Execution
The Gestapo arrested the FC Start players about a week after the match. The official reason was not the football match — it was their status as former Soviet operatives, including NKVD connections (some of the players had worked for the Soviet secret police). But everyone knew the real reason. Of the arrested players, at least three — Nikolai Trusevich (the goalkeeper), Ivan Kuzmenko, and Alexei Klimenko — were executed at the Syrets concentration camp or at Babi Yar. According to survivor testimony, the goalkeeper Trusevich was forced to wear his FC Start kit before he was shot. Other players, including Makar Goncharenko and Mikhail Sviridovsky, escaped or survived the camps. After the war, the survivors were treated with suspicion by the Soviet regime for having "collaborated" — a bitter irony for men who had defied the Nazis. The full truth of who was arrested and exactly who died has been muddied by time, propaganda, and the chaos of war. But the monument outside the Zenit Stadium in Kiev — featuring a football trapped in a barbed-wire net — commemorates their sacrifice.
Victory or Death
"The Death Match is a story about the power of sport in the most inhuman of circumstances. A group of starving, exhausted footballers — former professionals reduced to bakery workers — faced the army of the Reich and chose to win. They knew the consequences. They played anyway. The match has been mythologized: some accounts claim the Germans warned them they would be shot if they won; others say the players were executed immediately after the match. The truth is murkier. But the essential story is true: FC Start won, and some of them paid with their lives. In the hell of occupied Kiev, a football match became an act of defiance. The monument in Kiev — a football in barbed wire — is not just a memorial. It is a reminder that even in the face of evil, human beings can choose dignity."
🤔 Frequently Asked Questions
1) Did the players really get executed because of the match? The direct cause was their NKVD connections, but the match was the trigger. The Germans could not tolerate such public defiance.
2) Was there really an SS warning before the match? Several survivors confirmed it. The exact wording is uncertain, but a warning was given.
3) What happened to the survivors? Some were sent to concentration camps and survived. After the war, they were viewed with suspicion by the Soviet regime.
4) Did the movie "Escape to Victory" tell this story? Partially inspired, but the 1981 film (with Pelé, Stallone, Michael Caine) fictionalized the story and moved the setting to a Paris prison camp.