New Delhi: Last week on Friday, Kolos Kovalivka resumed the second half of the Ukrainian Premier League season playing a home game against Chornomorets Odesa who have been struggling in the season so far. The match started with Dmytro Orel’s kick-off, who has been a soldier for the country on the frontlines in the eastern region of the country.
The small crowd appreciated Orel and witnessed the hosts score in just two minutes though they then ended with a 2-1 loss as Kolos continued their fight for relegation.
The day before though, the club received a sad that Mykyta Kalin, previously with the Kolos youth team had been killed during a combat mission in the Kharkhiv region, which has been most affected by the war. It has been three years now since Russia invaded Ukraine and life is slowly returning to normal with football becoming a regular part of the country. Still the violence and grief that has been inflicted still remain fresh in people’s memories.
How war affected football in Ukraine
🚨 𝗢𝗙𝗙𝗜𝗖𝗜𝗔𝗟: Andriy Shevchenko has been elected the new president of the Ukrainian FA. 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/MlSddkn9FX
— Transfer News Live (@DeadlineDayLive) January 25, 2024
Andriy Shevchenko, who has just been president of the Ukrainian Association of Football for just over a year recently has said that they are equipped with two plans for development catered for when the war ends and if the war continues. For now the challenge mainly is to keep the sport feasible.
Shevchenko recently noted that the funds for infrastructure are protected by UEFA and FIFA and would be used only when Ukraine is in a situation where they can show growth opportunities. While the country’s financial condition may have improved more recently it still remains a tricky situation.
Shakhtar Donetsk chief executive Serhii Palkin recently commented that Ukraine’s “level of football” impacts the country’s economic scenario. He noted that the money wasn’t earned from TV rights, sponsorship or from the tickets but the nation’s owners investing the money in the clubs. He felt that there needs to come a point where the clubs can make money without any outside help, making the teams run like a proper business.
Palkin felt they were far away from the days before the war had broken out. Shakhtar has the financial backing from Rinat Akhmetov to maintain their footballing standards, having played away from their home city for more than a decade. They have maintained some shred of the transfer strategy which largely depends on the South Americans’ high ceiling which has contributed to the country’s rise.
One prime example is Brazilian forward Kaua Elias, who came to Fluminense in a January signing of £14m a couple of weeks ago and is their third most expensive deal ever. Shakhtar though have felt the expense of playing European games abroad and the two extra league phase games have made it only more costly.
Having won six of the last seven domestic titles, are currently trying to catch up to rivals Dynamo Kyiv who have had a much lesser presence in the Ukrainian army. Neither team could make it to either the Champions League or Europa League knockout stage and the gap has only increased.
Palkin has admitted that the clubs are not making good impressions in the European competitions but these were hard times and for now it was more critical to keep the sport running and surviving the war. While the big teams are looking for improvement, others are just content with being able to play football at any level.
Karpaty Lviv defender Denys Miroshnichenko, felt that football was offering a distraction for people away from the border troubles and felt sports can deliver positive emotions. Miroshnichenko and his teammates were sent home without any specific return date, which was during a time when no one knew the future.
The league resumed six months later and now a small amount of fans can attend the football which Miroshnichenko views as a victory of the country’s courage amidst all the tragedy. He felt that it was crucial that fans should be in stadiums instead of fighting for the country and giving away their life.
How Ukrainian football is fighting Russia through bureaucracy
In the Ukrainian Association of Football, there have been talks that Shevchenko is looking for a place at the European top table. He has been running for a place at the UEFA’s executive committee table as well and will only learn if he has been successful at the congress in April. Shevchenko has been impressive as an administrator and is on the rise.
An increase in his influence would be welcomed at a time when Russian football power is also working out an opportunity for their sides to have despite the geopolitical situation still remaining tricky.
Sevastopol and Rubin Yatra, who are currently based in occupied Crimea are still competing in Russia’s fourth-tier amateur football and neither is allowed a place in the Russian Cup. Yatra last season had come very close to earning a promotion which would have been unwelcomed by the authorities.
Russian U15 and U16 teams are taking part in the UEFA-validated development tournaments. In Ukraine the feeling remains that football cannot be a medium which turns a blind eye to the horrors that Russia has inflicted. They feel it should promote the idea of hope and resilience more, something that the country has repeatedly shown.
It was a message that the country endorsed even when Irish musicians Bono and The Edge had gone to perform in the underground stations of Kyiv. Shevchenko along with UAF have undertaken a pathbreaking project revolving around amputation football, in order to counter the effects of war-returning soldiers and for their rehabilitation. Shevchenko felt that football could promote the idea of positivity for the soldiers and bring about change. Kolos and other teams do know that war can be bound in an unbroken bond with sports.
Ukraine club football is slowly returning to life before war with a limited number of fans coming back to the stadium, but the grief and trauma inflicted during the war still remains. Football Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
