The Ukrainian Football Association and the Volyn Football Association, with support from UEFA, are implementing a powerful assistance project for children — "Open Football Lessons."

Before the full-scale war began, one of its main tasks was to help displaced children adapt and make friends with local peers. Today, children across Ukraine find themselves in difficult conditions. Not every adult can imagine what a child feels like whose father or mother is at the front, or God forbid, who has lost someone. Therefore, "Open Football Lessons," which took place in Rozhyshche village of Volyn Oblast, aimed to provide psychosocial support for children during wartime through a social gaming tool, open football events, and to get kids interested in football.

Photo by AFV

At the event in Rozhyshche, 72 children — boys and girls from three villages of Volyn Oblast — participated.

The football festival was opened by Rozhyshche City Mayor Vyacheslav Polischuk and the regional coordinator of the project, Vice President of the Volyn Football Association Vasyl Kohnovskyy.

The football field at Rozhyshche DYSHS was divided into six squares, where coaches conducted classes with different tasks on each square.

Photo by AFV

In the safety square, experts from the Lutsk District Emergency Service Administration Mykhailo Salov and Oleksandr Sloboda, along with volunteer coach Oleksandr Dulyk, taught children mine safety rules. "They told us about mine safety, we learned signs. We liked that everything was presented as ball games; we stopped to outline imaginary dangers with balls, informed others by passing the ball, and completed other tasks," — said festival participants, 6th-grade students from Dorosinivsky Lyceum.

Photo by AFV

In the square of a healthy lifestyle, coach Oleg Medvid explained to children through an intellectual game with football elements what a healthy lifestyle is and how to eat properly, follow drinking regimes, exercise, and strengthen their immune system.

The psychological aspect of the project was successfully implemented by volunteer leader Yevheniya Yuzvyak. "Our task is to psychologically unburden children, divert them to sports activities, and provide an opportunity for them to feel protected," — she explained the main goal of this square.

This was facilitated by a lively warm-up for all children.

"These are not just kids who love football above all (though there are such), but those whose current lives, so to speak, are tied to the war — these are children of fallen Heroes, children of active servicemen, displaced children... Of course, the children do not know who among them is local and who isn't — they're all together. Our task is for them to start communicating and bonding through football," — said Yevheniya Yuzvyak.

Photo by AFV

The square of fun games was organized by coach Liliya Abramovich, while the squares for football technique and development were run by coaches Dmytro Dmitruk and Oleksiy Katerinuk.

All participants received t-shirts and diplomas, while lyceums also got balls, textbooks, and sports equipment from UFA.

The Ukrainian Football Association's project "Open Football Lessons" (OpenFunFootballSchools) with support from UEFA is:

— psychosocial support for children of military personnel, children of internally displaced persons, and those affected by the war;

— uniting and friendship between IDP children and local children, social integration;

— an inclusive environment where participants are independent of their abilities, gender, as well as the inclusion of children with special educational needs;

— knowledge about safety in wartime conditions;

— philosophy of mass football — joy from playing instead of results at any cost;

— fostering a healthy lifestyle;

— promoting volunteering;

— activating local communities through cross-sector networks (teachers, coaches, psychologists, safety experts, parents, youth leaders, local authorities, benefactors, and others).

All project events are held in regions with the approval of oblast military administrations.