Over 70 years ago, the city of Kiev was in the Soviet Union, under the harsh rule of Joseph Stalin. The city’s football club, Dynamo Kiev, was and always has been a significant source of national pride. They have won countless national titles and three European trophies. In the 1940’s, they played revolutionary, attacking football. But in the summer of 1941 and the middle of what would have been another successful season, life in Kiev was dropped on its head as the Nazis steamrolled into the Soviet Union and occupied the city. During WWII, several Dynamo players formed FK Start. There are many different versions of the story of FK Start and the famous “Death Match”. The main two of these are the eyewitness version, and the rather more romanticized Soviet version. The latter version states that the team comprised of bakers who were former professional footballers played and, against Nazi orders, defeated a German team, and were all shot as a direct result. The truth is, the Soviets presented the story of FK Start in a way that would stir up patriotic feelings, so the more reliable, and more complex, eyewitness account is presented here. 

​

At a place on the outskirts of Kiev called Babi Yar, one of the worst atrocities of World War II occurred. This is where the Nazi’s began their solution to what they called the Jewish problem, and here, all of the Jews in the city were rounded up, executed, and their corpses tossed into the ravine. Over 2 days following Nazi occupation, 33,771 men, women and children were executed at Babi Yar. Thousands more Kiev citizens were murdered over the next several months, and by the following winter, the Germans had full control over life in Kiev, and the locals had lost all hope. Under these circumstances, it became necessary to keep a low profile in order to survive. Anyone without a job would be arrested, and on their release from local internment camps back onto the streets of Kiev, several former Dynamo Kiev players found themselves in this situation. Luckily, they procured employment at Kiev’s Bread Factory No. 3. The bakery’s boss was Joseph Kordik, who was a big Dynamo fan and gave the players the jobs. Survival, not soccer, was the main thing on their minds.

 

Simultaneously, the ruling Nazis needed a way to placate the surviving population of the city. They decided that the best way to achieve this, would be through football. Thus, a season was organised with clubs that were made up of Romanian, Hungarian and German soldiers as well as local Ukrainian sides. One of these teams was made up of ex-Dynamo and Lokomotiv players from the bread factory. They called themselves: FK Start, put together with the encouragement of Kordik. They were all professional level athletes with high levels of skill. Their disadvantages were that they were weak, tired, war wounded, starving and they had no equipment. Starts first game took place in June 1942, and admission was free. A crowd of a few thousand watched the team take to the field in red kits. The Soviet version tells that the team wore the red kits to taunt the Nazi occupiers, red being the colour of Communism, but this isn’t the case – the kits had actually been provided to the club by the Germans. When the final whistle blew after their first game, start had won 7-2. So began one of the most unlikely runs of success in the sports history, and with hardly any practice, the team would leave their jobs at the factory and dominate on the football pitch.

 

Start defeated Hungarian and German military teams, and the German railway team, winning every match they played by enormous margins. The more matches Start played, the more popular they became with the locals, causing the citizenry to become more fired up against their German overlords. Before long, the Germans realised that what they had on their hands could be seen as a team representing their enemies the Soviet Union, and what was worse, they were winning. FK Start finished the season undefeated by a total aggregate score of 47-8. Alarmingly for the Germans, FK Starts games gave the people of Kiev a place to gather, a spirit that united them, and a sense of defiance. The Germans decided that Start represented Ukrainian nationalism, and that the best thing that they could do was put together a rival team that represented German nationalism and superiority, and crush them. Thus, the season was extended by one game for a match between Start, and a new club that were suddenly added to the league, named Flakelf.  Flakelf included 6 professional athletes hand-picked by the Germans to represent the Arian ideal, and their remaining players were highly fit and regimented German airmen, the best the Luftwaffe had to offer. Start knew that this game would be much harder than any up to that point.

 

Regardless, the plan failed. Despite the game being refereed by a Nazi SS officer clearly favouring Flakelf, Start managed to win easily, 5-1. They had defeated the most elite team in the German military. The next day, posters started appearing across Kiev, advertising a rematch and headed with the word ‘REVENGE’. The Germans arranged for the bakery workers to work for three days straight before the game, and to be put on the nightshift the previous night. The admission for the game was 5 roubles, which was almost half a month’s wages. The idea was that this would keep the impoverished populous away. This didn’t work either, and the stadium overflowed with spectators for the game. The crowd were not allowed to cheer – the Nazis positioned soldiers in the stands with baseball bats to keep them quiet. Legend says that soldiers accompanied by vicious military dogs were also present, and that they took pot-shots at Start players with their rifles throughout the match. Again, this may be part of the Soviet narrative. But, just as the players were about to take the field prior to kick off, a visitor entered Starts dressing room. It was an SS officer, who announced that it would probably not be in FK Starts best interest to win the game. And by the way, just before kickoff, you’ll be expected to give the Nazi salute. The players of FK Start were left with a choice: heed the warning and throw the game, or go for the win, and deal with any consequences that came afterwards. To win, the best they could hope for was to be shipped off to a concentration camp. Or, they could expect to be shot.

 

The teams took to the pitch, and the German side offered the Heil Hitler salute. But SK Start refused. The match began, with the German referee paying very little attention to the rules. Early on, Starts goalkeeper was kicked in the head and concussed. Under the gaze of dozens of German soldiers and officials, Flakelf heavily attacked the Start goal, and within 15 minutes they were 1-0 up - start trailed for the first time all season. They came at Flakelf with a new tactic, all out attack. Soon, Start equalised, and the stadium erupted. The thousands of fans celebrated like crazy and there was little the Germans could do. Flakelf had no response to the skills and professionalism of Start, and at half time the Ukrainians led 3-1. Nothing changed in the second half, and Start won the game 5-2. Start felt the need to win the game to give the people of Kiev some semblance of optimism and to encourage them to hold their heads high. But soon after, the cost of the triumph became all too real.

​

The following weeks went by almost too quietly, until one afternoon, the players were called, one by one, to Kordik’s office, where a Gestapo officer awaited them. The players were thrown into cells and interrogated for days, while the Germans tried to force them into confessing to being Soviet agents. After three weeks of this they were sent to an infamous concentration camp just outside Kiev. They spent half a year there, starving, freezing, doing hours upon hours of backbreaking manual labour, and cheating death for as long as they could. On a snowy February morning, the whole camp was mustered. The Commandant announced that there had been an act of sabotage, and the consequence of this was that every third prisoner would be executed. A long row of prisoners formed up, including members of FK Start, all stood together. The first player the soldiers stopped at, was Klimenko. He knew what was coming. Klimenko was knocked down to his knees, and shot in the back of the head. The footsteps continued until stopping at Trusevich, the team’s goalkeeper. He shared the same demise. He was wearing the only shirt he owned – his FK Start goalie jersey. Kuzmenko was the last to die that morning, and all three bodies were thrown into the Babi Yar.

 

Tkachenko, one of three policemen who represented FK Start, was arrested for beating up a German soldier and was shot trying to escape. Korotkykh was tortured to death by the Gestapo on suspicion of being a spy. 5 other Start players were sent to the camp and were allowed to work outside its walls. Two players eventually escaped when the Germans left Kiev in 1943. Komarov left with the Germans, ending up in West Germany, suspected of being a collaborator, and eventually emigrated to Canada. Timofeyev was sent to a Soviet gulag for 5 years for collaborating with the Germans, surviving to live out his days in Kazakstan. The fate of the other players remains unknown. In the 70 years since the story of FK Start and the Death Match unfolded, it has inspired the nation as well as films including “The Longest Yard” and “Escape to Victory”. It has also inspired various books and articles, like this one. The men of FK Start are not heroes. They are Ukrainian legends. Heroes are remembered, but legends never die.

Achievements: Winners of every game they played, including the penultimate “Death Match”