Overall, in the international tournament organized by the Italian Football Federation and held from July 5 to 7 at the National Olympic Training Center in Taranto, teams of refugees from Slovenia, Italy, Ukraine, and a team formed from refugees from Tuscany participated.

Also during these days, on the premises of the center, international beach football competitions were held and athletes who will compete at the Olympics in Paris were present.

This initiative is not an official UEFA competition. It is a tournament organized by the Italian side within the framework of a UEFA grant to support refugees and prepare for the Unity Euro Cup 2024, which will take place on October 10 in Switzerland.

The Unity Euro Cup is a large-scale tournament and a joint initiative of UEFA and UNHCR that was launched in 2022. Then both organizations joined efforts to hold a special football tournament with eight teams at the UEFA headquarters to highlight the role of football in strengthening ties between refugees and host communities.

In 2023, such a tournament took place in Frankfurt am Main with the participation of sixteen teams, among which was also a team representing Ukraine and formed from Ukrainian refugees who found temporary shelter in Germany. The same team of young girls and boys were invited by the Italian side to compete at the training center in Taranto. This time our boys and girls won all opponents: Ukraine — Italy — 3:2, Ukraine — Italy-2 (Tuscany) — 7:0, Ukraine — Slovenia — 8:0.

The condition of these tournaments is to form teams from players and playerettes among refugees and local residents. For refugees, this is primarily an opportunity to use football as an educational tool and means for integration and socialization. That's why the organizers did not declare a winner since the tournament became a unique opportunity for everyone to enjoy the experience of unity, enriched by non-football moments such as visits to the city of Pisa and participation in social activities coordinated by youth sector psychologists from the Italian Football Federation.

Seventeen-year-old Anton moved to Germany from Izium, Kharkiv Oblast. In Ukraine, Anton played football and after moving did not abandon his favorite hobby.

“Participation in the tournament is for me an opportunity to represent my country abroad. And also it's an achievement — to get into a team, even if not the main one. It's like every boy's dream,” Anton said.

One of three players in the Ukrainian team is Karina from Dnipro, who moved to Frankfurt after the full-scale invasion when she was 16 years old. Karina has been playing football for a long time, played for «Dnipro-1», and now plays for a German club.

— Karina, Unity Euro Cup 2023 in Germany and this mini-tournament in Italy are competitions involving teams formed from refugees and locals aimed at uniting people and helping them integrate, find new friends, and highlight the role of those who were forced to leave their homes and country. Was it difficult for you to adapt to a different country, and did football help you with that?

— I came to Germany and immediately started playing in various teams. And despite not knowing the language of this country, football helped me communicate on the field. Of course, it was very difficult, I needed a lot of time to realize that I am in another country. Yes, I wanted this, I wanted to play abroad, but not under such circumstances.