The Match
After their defeat on 6 August 1942, The German Luftwaffe team, Flakelf, asked for a rematch, which took place on 9 August 1942 at Zenit Stadium.[11] Unlike other games, this game had a heavy presence of police and German troops, who were guarding the event.[12] An SS officer was appointed as referee. Before the game the referee visited FC Start in their locker room. “I am the referee of today’s game,” he said, “I know you are a very good team. Please follow all the rules, do not break any of the rules, and before the game greet your opponents in our fashion”[13], “Our fashion” being the Nazi salute.
Although the Start players realized that a victory in this game might have grave consequences, they decided to play the game, and play it well. Upon entering the pitch, the team also refused to give the Nazi salute to the German soldiers and high ranking officials gathered at the game.[14]
As anticipated by FC Start, the Nazi referee ignored Flakelf fouls. The German team quickly pressured the goalkeeper, Trusevych who, after repeated physical challenges, was kicked in the head by a Flakelf forward and left groggy. While Trusevych was recovering, Flakelf went one goal up.
The referee continued to ignore FC Start appeals against their opponents' violence. The Flakelf team reputedly continued to attempt to intimidate FC Start, allegedly going for the man not with the ball, shirt-holding, and tackling from behind, as well as going over the ball. Despite this FC Start scored with a long shot from a free kick by Kuzmenko. FC Start's Goncharenko, against the run of play, is said to have dribbled the ball around almost the entire Flakelf defence, finishing by placing the ball into in the German net to make the score 2-1. At the half, FC Start were up 3-1.
During the half-time break, FC Start once again had visitors in their locker room. The first was Shvetsov, who asked the players to throw the match.[15] He was followed by an SS officer, who told the Start players that the Germans were very impressed with their skill but they should understand that they cannot expect to win, and should consider the consequences should they do so. [16]
During the second half, each side scored twice. Towards the end of the match, with FC Start in an up 5-3, Klimenko, a defender, got the ball, beat the entire German rearguard and walked around the German goalkeeper. Then, instead of letting it cross the goal line, he turned around and kicked the ball back towards the centre circle. The SS referee blew the final whistle before the ninety minutes were up.
Aftermath
A week later on 16 August, Start defeated Rukh again, this time 8-0. Soon after that, the FC Start players were arrested and tortured by the Gestapo, allegedly for being NKVD members. One of the arrested players, Mykola Korotkykh, died under torture. The rest were sent to the Syrets labour camp, where Ivan Kuzmenko, Oleksey Klimenko, and Mykola Trusevich were executed in February 1943. The few survivors included Fedir Tyutchev, Mikhail Sviridovskiy and Makar Honcharenko, who were responsible for the popularisation of this story in Soviet popular culture.