A charity event called "Football for Life" took place in Chernivtsi for a week. In the tournament within the event, 58 teams from football schools and clubs across different age categories (from seven to fifteen years old) participated.

Photo by the press service of the UAF

Among the participants were more than 150 children who were evacuated from Mariupol, Kharkiv, Kramatorsk, Irpin and Bucha and are now able to study and train in Chernivtsi.

Photo by the press service of the UAF

The ceremony to honor the winners and participants of the games was attended by President of the Ukrainian Football Association, head of the Coordination Center of the UAF Andriy Pavelko, President of the Football Federation of Moldova Leonid Oleynichenko, first vice-presidents of the UAF Anatoliy Demianenko, Oleg Protasov, Vadim Kostyuchenko, vice-president of the UAF and head of the oblast association Vasyl Orlytskyi, as well as head coach of Ukraine's youth team Ruslan Rotan. Honored guests presented children with commemorative souvenirs, medals, balls, and backpacks with sports gear.

Photo by the press service of the UAF

"The Coordination Center of the UAF has helped and will continue to help children who have suffered from the war. In addition to humanitarian aid with essential items and accommodation for minors at football bases in western regions of Ukraine and abroad, this also includes support through football. Such events and tournaments help young footballers forget about the horrors of war and find new friends. I wish them a happy fate in peaceful and flourishing Ukraine! I hope to see these talented children in national teams of Ukraine in a few years!" — said Andriy Pavelko after the event.

Photo by the press service of the UAF

The president of the UAF also thanked his Moldovan colleagues for their support during these difficult times. "True friends are revealed in difficult trials. The Football Federation of Moldova and its President Leonid Oleynichenko have been in daily contact with me since the first days of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, always ready to help. Thanks to their active participation, several groups of our football school students, families of foreign football specialists of the UAF and clubs of the UPL were safely evacuated, and humanitarian aid was organized for injured children and families in the frontline zone. For which I am personally grateful to Leonid Oleynichenko! Despite the ongoing war, my friend came from Moldova to Ukraine to participate in the charity event 'Football for Life.'" — noted the president of the UAF.