The Death Match, Soviet Propaganda and the Luftwaffe
The anniverssary of the so called 'Death Match' occurs this week, as it took place on August 9th 1942. The match took place between FC Start from Kyiv and a Luftwaffe team called Flakelf, the Ukrainians winning the game 5-3. FC Start was a team formed in the war by a few professionial footballers who had stayed behind to fight in Kyiv. The central point was a bakery that some of them worked at. The backbone of the team was made up of Dynamo players, but there were also players from Lokomotiv Kyiv represented too. It is a common misconception that it was Dynamo Kyiv who played in the death match, as despite the fact that most of the team were from Dynamo before the war this team was called FC Start. They wore red shirts to stir up emotions and show that they were representing the USSR. FC Start came to prominence in the Kyiv League that took place during the early days of the war and their form against both other Ukrainian clubs and army garrisons led to them being challenged b...