 The movie was inspired by an actual series of games in Kiev, during  the German occupation of the city. Several members of Dynamo Kiev,  the top soccer team in Ukraine, found work in a bakery. There they  formed a soccer team with other bakery employees. They began playing  in a new league against teams supported by the Ukranian puppet  government and German military. After they beat a team from a local  German Air Force base, the league was disbanded and several of the  team members arrested by the Gestapo and four were executed.