№ 320/кор. “To the 75th Anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945” series. 75th Anniversary of the Football Match between “Spartak” Moscow and “Dynamo” Stalingrad

The Dynamo – Spartak Moscow match was a friendly game that took place on 2 May 1943 in the liberated Stalingrad.

The idea of the match was to create a festive mood for the people and to show that the city was getting back to its normal fully-fledged life. Spartak Moscow, a leading national team, was invited to the game to give the event a higher profile.

Many footballers were among the defenders of Stalingrad, such as Vasily Ermasov, the local Torpedo goalkeeper. After the Battle he was assigned Secretary General of the Dynamo Regional Council to form a team for the game against Spartak. He personally entered the field as a goalkeeper. Another WWII participant, Konstatin Belikov was the team captain. The famous footballers playing for Spartak were goalkeeper Anatoly Akimov, defenders Serafim Kholodkov, Vasily and Viktor Sokolovs, halfbacks Oleg Timakov and Konstantin Malinin, strikers Georgy Glazkov and Boris Smyslov.

Despite Spartak’s fierce attacks, the Stalingrad team won 1:0. Alexander Moiseyev scored the goal by handsomely picking the corner.

The match sparked great interest. The Azot Stadium was overcrowded, it hosted about 10 000 spectators – three times its admission capacity. The territory around the stadium had been cleared of land mines, the trench shelters had been transformed into changing rooms.

The envelope with a commemorative stamp features the emblem of the 75^th Anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945; the main image depicts footballers at play during the match.