The Coordination Center of the Ukrainian Football Association has begun preparations for implementing the "Open Football Lessons" project to help internally displaced children in Zakarpattia.

On April 19, a training session for local volunteers of the "Open Football Lessons" took place in Serednie village of Zakarpattia region, involving representatives from Uzhhorod and Husytsk.

The seminar was held in a hybrid format — with participation of the national coordinator of the project from the UFA, Yevhenii Stolitenko, as well as online involvement of leading instructors Viktor Tvardovskyy, Serhiy Chesheyka, Lianna Kopilova, Yuriy Lutsenko and Oleksiy Lazarenko.

Photo by the press service of UFA

Also participating in the seminar were Ivan Duran, head of the Zakarpattia Football Association, Igor Shopin, head of the Luhansk Oblast Football Association, Yuriy Titarenko, member of the Coordination Center of UFA responsible for social work, Viktor Nasakolov, regional coordinator of the project, and Vadim Diorzh, director of Uzhhorod Sports School.

Photo by the press service of UFA

Prior to this, similar preparatory training sessions were held in Khmelnytskyi, Rivne, Lviv and Ternopil regions. Upcoming seminars are planned for Ivano-Frankivsk (April 21) and Chernivtsi (April 27).

Photo by the press service of UFA

The overall goal of the "Open Football Lessons" project is to support children affected by war, unaccompanied minors, orphans and other vulnerable children who have been displaced to Western Ukraine due to the conflict (the project will currently be implemented in seven regions — Zakarpattia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Rivne, Ternopil, Khmelnytskyi and Chernivtsi).

In addition to the overall goal, the project has three specific objectives:

— to provide immediate humanitarian assistance (medical supplies, food and non-food items) to children affected by war and their families;

— to provide psychosocial support to children through a powerful social tool of mass football, through play and open football events that will unite the target groups of children with local children;

— to provide material-technical and moral support to cross-sectoral networks united by football in Western Ukraine in their efforts to help affected target groups of children.