The “death match” is one of the most famous football games from the Great Patriotic War, played on August 9, 1942 in occupied Kyiv. The game pitted the Soviet team “Start,” made up of former Kyiv Dynamo players, against the German team “Flakelf,” composed of Luftwaffe and anti-aircraft personnel. The Germans lost 3:5.
Actor Sergei Bezrukov during the filming of Andrei Malyukov’s film “The Death Match” (Photo: TASS)
Shortly after the match, several Kyiv players who took part ended up in concentration camps, and some were executed. Reports, books, and a film later gave rise to the legend that a German officer entered the Soviet locker room before the game and demanded they lose under threat of execution.
The first mention of the executed Kyiv footballers appeared in an article titled “That’s How It Was in Kyiv…” published in Izvestia on November 16, 1943. War correspondent Yevgeny Krieger, reporting on life under German occupation, wrote that the players were forced to pave the street in front of the Gestapo headquarters and then were all shot.
Photo: Mikhail Chernichkin and Valery Solovyov / TASS
In 1946, the Ukrainian youth newspaper Stalin’s Tribe published a film story “The Death Match” by Alexander Borshchagovsky, followed by his book Anxious Clouds. In 1958, Pyotr Severov and Naum Khalemsky released the book The Last Duel, dedicated to the events of the “death match,” with a foreword by participant Vladimir Balakin. The authors described how the Dynamo players worked at a bakery and, after defeating the Germans, some were executed in the winter of 1943. This story became a key source shaping the legend.
In 1963–1964, Mosfilm released the feature film The Third Half about the Dynamo players’ game against the German team. It mentioned two matches after which all players were killed for defying the occupiers.
Did the “death match” actually happen?
After the occupation of Kyiv in September 1941, pre-war sports clubs, including Dynamo Kyiv, effectively ceased to exist. Many players went to the front, were captured, or died. Those who remained in the city struggled to survive under occupation, making finding work a priority.
A key figure in creating “Start” was Czech pre-war sports official and coach Iosif Kordik, who became director of the Kyiv Bakery during the occupation. He began inviting footballers still in the city and in need of work to the bakery.
Gradually, enough professional players gathered at the bakery, including former Dynamo players: Nikolai Trusevich, Mikhail Sviridovsky, Makar Goncharenko, Fedor Tyutchev, Mikhail Melnik, Ivan Kuzmenko, Alexei Klimenko, Nikolai Korotkikh, and Pavel Komarov. This formed the team named “Start.”
The team began playing matches against squads formed at local enterprises and military units. The first game, against “Rukh” on June 7, 1942, ended 7:2. Subsequent matches were against teams made up of German, Hungarian, and Romanian soldiers. In total, “Start” played nine games.
Photo: Mikhail Chernichkin and Valery Solovyov / TASS
On August 6, a match against “Flakelf” ended with a German defeat of 1:5. Just three days later, on August 9, the teams met again. The Soviet players won 5:3, infuriating the Germans. Soon after, many players were arrested, sent to concentration camps, or executed, fueling the legend of the “death match” as an act of defiance costing their lives.
