The House of Football welcomed young guests from the Hero City of Hostomel ahead of the New Year and Christmas holidays. Children aged 7 to 11 years old, who practice football in a local section, visited the UAF residence for an excursion.

Photo by the press service of UAF

Despite numerous destructions that the settlement in Kyiv region suffered from the beginning of Russia's large-scale military invasion, football practices were resumed as early as mid-May with support from the Hostomel City Council’s culture, youth and sports department. Currently, under the leadership of coach Serhiy Ivankevych, 68 children of different age categories are engaged in the sports section. The young footballers' trainer himself is from Donetsk but after Russia's temporary occupation of his hometown in 2014, he was forced to move to Kyiv region.

Photo by the press service of UAF

Among the young footballers was 11-year-old captain of Hostomel's "Phoenix", Vlad. Vlad is a talented half-back, with Andriy Yarmolenko, a member of Ukraine’s national team from Hungary, being his idol. The first visit to the House of Football and meeting with legends left a vivid impression on the young footballer and his friends. Especially so — the museum filled with numerous trophies that remind us of the glorious history of Ukrainian football.

Photo by the press service of UAF

President of UAF, UEFA Executive Committee member Andriy Pavelko together with first vice-presidents of the national association Oleksiy Mykhaylichenko, Anatoliy Demianenko, Oleg Protsasov and Vadym Kostyuchenko greeted the children with holiday greetings and presented them festive gift sets. Additionally, UAF leadership plans to organize master classes for children from Hostomel in spring on the fields of NTK named after V. Bannikov. This invitation was received by the children during their meeting at the House of Football.

Photo by the press service of UAF