23. The Dramatic Soccer Death Match
One of WWII’s most dramatic sporting stories revolves around a soccer match that took place in Nazi-occupied Kiev on August 6, 1942. Pitting Ukrainian side Start FC, composed mainly of Dynamo Kyiv and Lokomotyv Kyiv professional players, against German team Flakelf, the match ended with the locals winning 5 to 1. The sides met again three days later, and the Ukrainians beat the Germans once more, 5 to 3. The Germans proved to be sore losers: upset that Slavic Untermenschen had trounced Aryan ubermensch, they had the Ukrainian players liquidated.
The story of what came to be known as “The Soccer [or football for most of the world outside America] Death Match” is quite gripping. However, it is also quite false. Two matches did take place on August 6 and 9, 1942, between German side Flakelf and Ukrainian team Start FC, whose players worked in a factory operating under Nazi management. About a week later, the Gestapo arrested eight Start players, and five of them were executed. However, as seen below, the arrests were unrelated to the match against Flakelf.
