Killed in the war in Ukraine: “Maccabi Haifa” mourns with Mark Golenkov – the brother of the goalkeeper of Israel’s youth football team died defending Ukraine

On April 14, 2026, Israeli football received news that immediately went beyond sports. “Maccabi Haifa” reported the death in the war of a Ukrainian Armed Forces serviceman Vladislav Golenkov — the brother of Mark Golenkov, a 17-year-old goalkeeper of the club’s youth team and the Israeli national football team. Israeli sports media conveyed this as a heavy family tragedy, and the club itself publicly expressed support for the player and his loved ones.

The young goalkeeper received the heavy news in Kfar Galim, where he lives and studies as part of the club project, and it shocked his surroundings and teammates.

“The football club “Maccabi Haifa”, management, professional staff, and players bow their heads in sorrow upon receiving the sad news of the death of Vladislav Golenkov, the brother of the club’s youth team goalkeeper Mark Golenkov, who died in battle in Ukraine.
We sympathize with Mark and his family in this unbearably difficult time. The club is in constant and close contact with the family and is ready to provide them with any necessary assistance.
The entire “Maccabi Haifa” family embraces Mark and expresses sincere condolences to the Golenkov family. May there be no more sorrow.
May his memory be blessed.”

Separately, in the information field, there was a message that Mark Golenkov might fly to Ukraine for his brother’s funeral. However, at the time of publication, this detail appears as a widely circulated assertion in social networks and the sports community, rather than an independently confirmed fact, so it should be treated with caution.

For Haifa, this is not just a sad message in the news feed. When the war in Ukraine enters the life of one of the country’s most prominent young goalkeepers, it ceases to be a distant plot from international chronicles. It is nearby — in the club, in the locker room, in the family, in the city where football has long been part of everyday identity.

The special strength of this story is also given by the path of Mark Golenkov himself. Not so long ago, his name in Israel was mentioned in the context of a major sports breakthrough, and now the same surname is associated not with a sensation on the field, but with a personal loss that the entire football country heard.

From Kyiv to Haifa: a biography that now reads quite differently

The story of Mark Golenkov in Israel began after the start of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine.

We have already written more about Mark – “The Path from Kyiv to Haifa: Mark Golenkov — a product of Kyiv’s children’s football, the hero of “Maccabi” Haifa U19’s victory over “Barcelona” in the UEFA Youth League”

According to published materials about his career, he came to Israel from Kyiv as a teenager, went through the youth system of Hapoel Beer Sheva, and then since 2023 has been in the structure of “Maccabi Haifa”. In open profiles and publications, he is described as a Ukrainian-Israeli goalkeeper, a product of Kyiv football, associated with the children’s school “Zirka” and the “Dynamo” Kyiv academy.

In Israeli football, he became noticeable not only for his biography but also for his play. In February 2026, it was Mark Golenkov who became one of the main heroes of the loud victory of the “Maccabi Haifa” youth team over “Barcelona” in the UEFA Youth League, when he saved three consecutive penalty kicks. After such a match, his name went far beyond the usual youth agenda, and in the club and media, he was talked about as a goalkeeper with a very big future.

This makes the current tragedy even heavier. Before the reader is no longer an abstract “young player from the club system,” but a teenager who has gone through war, relocation, a new country, a new language, a new football environment, and by the spring of 2026 became a recognizable face of Haifa’s youth.

When condolences come not only from one club

The plot turned out to be wider than one club emblem. The fan page Hapoel Beer Sheva Fans — Vasermilia — also published condolences to the Golenkov family, writing about Vladislav’s death in battles in Ukraine and reminding that Mark was previously a goalkeeper in the youth system of the Be’er Sheva club. For Israeli football, where rivalry is often tough and principled, such a gesture sounds especially strong.

“We share the deep sorrow of the Golenkov family over the death of Vladislav in battles in Ukraine. Vladislav was the brother of our former youth team goalkeeper Mark Golenkov.”

This is where the true cost of such news is revealed. When words of support come not only from Haifa but also from the south of the country, it becomes clear: it is no longer about the private pain of one team. It is about a human tragedy that the entire Israeli football space has heard.

Why this story resonates so sharply in Israel

Israel understands all too well what it means to live in a country where war at any moment ceases to be a backdrop and becomes a personal story of a specific family. Therefore, the news about Vladislav Golenkov is read here not only as a Ukrainian tragedy but also as a reality understandable to Israeli society: the brother of a young athlete died in the war, and the player himself learns about the loss already in another country, within another life he has just begun to build.

This is where NAnews — Israel News | Nikk.Agency sees the main meaning of the whole story for the Israeli reader. Behind the short message of condolence lies a much deeper plot: Ukraine and Israel today are connected not only by politics, war, and news but also by the biographies of people who physically live here, but emotionally and family-wise remain connected to what is happening there. When Haifa mourns the brother of a young goalkeeper who died in Ukraine, it is no longer an external crisis. It is part of a shared human reality that Israel understands all too well.

There is another important nerve in this story. Mark Golenkov is a generation of teenagers who were supposed to think about training, competition, contracts, and big matches. But instead, they are repeatedly confronted with the fact that war catches up even where a new peaceful chapter seemed to begin. One day you are remembered as the hero of a penalty shootout against “Barcelona,” and the next — the whole country reads condolences about the death of your brother.

Football ends here, and only the person remains

In the usual sports logic, news is built around results, form, transfers, or the next match. But there are moments when football retreats entirely. Only the person, his family, his pain, and the reaction of those around him remain.

And perhaps that is why this story will remain in memory longer than one day. Not because it is loud. But because it is very alive. A young goalkeeper from Haifa, who came to Israel from Kyiv, lost his brother in the war. The club stood by him. Fans of another club also responded. And everything else — league tables, results, future matches — becomes secondary against this background for a while.