On November 2 at the «MSK Dnipro» stadium in Cherkasy, the third all-Ukrainian amputee football tournament — Autumn Cup of the «League of Strengths», a project laureate of the prestigious international UEFA FootbALL Awards 2025 award, took place.

This is already the third cup stage of 2025 after winter and spring ones, and it became debut for new teams that are taking their first steps at a professional level. The tournament continues the main mission of the project — to discover new names, inspire, and create opportunities for people with amputations to return to an active life through sports.

Participants of the Autumn Cup«League of Strengths»-2025:

—«Sich» (Zaporizhzhia);

—«Veres Mriya» (Rivne);

—«Dnipro Chast» (Dnipro);

—«Kryvbas AMP» (Kryvyi Rih).

Photos by the press service of the UAF

For all four teams, this was their debut in professional amputee football competitions.

In total, 70 new players joined the «League of Strengths» community this season, which testifies to the rapid development of the movement across Ukraine.

Results of matches in the Autumn Cup«League of Strengths»-2025:

«Veres Mriya»—«Kryvbas AMP»—1:0

«Dnipro Chast»—«Sich»—6:0

«Kryvbas AMP»—«Sich»—0:0, pen. — 1:2

«Veres Mriya»—«Dnipro Chast»—2:3

Photos by the press service of the UAF

Thus, according to the results of the matches, victory was won by the «Dnipro Chast» team, which, along with «Veres Mriya», will join the fight in the first league of Ukraine's amputee football championship from the next, fourth round.

Photos by the press service of the UAF

During the opening ceremony and awarding, welcoming words were addressed to participants by CEO of the UAF Foundation Olena Balbek, head of Cherkasy Oblast Football Association Andriy Poltavets, and head of the adaptive sports department at D «Sports Mass Agency of Ukraine» Yegor Aleksienko.

“Welcome to the family of the «League of Strengths»! We have been following your development on social media and during training sessions — we are impressed by how quickly you adapted to the demands of amputee football. I wish you bright emotions, inspiration, and satisfaction from the game!”—said Olena Balbek.

Photos by the press service of the UAF

The Autumn Cup is held by the Ukrainian Football Association in partnership with Ukraine's Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Agency for Mass Sports of Ukraine. Official partners of «League of Strengths» are Mastercard and Oschadbank. Also, partners of the project include adidas, Lviv Brewery, and MEGOGO.

*Amputee football — is a sport for people with amputations or congenital limb deficiencies. The game follows these main rules. Seven players are on the field (six outfield and one goalkeeper). Outfield players must have an amputation or lower limb deficiency, while the goalkeeper must have an upper limb deficiency. Outfield players move around using crutches without prosthetics, while goalkeepers play without crutches. The game consists of two halves of 25 minutes each with a 10-minute break in between. The pitch is smaller than a standard football field (60x40 m). Adapted rules of football are used with an emphasis on player safety. There are women's, men's, and mixed teams. This dynamic and exciting sport promotes inclusion and inspires through its spirit of struggle and teamwork.

Over 100,000 people in Ukraine live with amputated limbs. For many of them, amputee football opens the path to physical and psychological recovery, returning to an active life and joining a community of like-minded individuals.

*«League of Strengths» — is a social project by the Ukrainian Football Association that helps people with amputations or limb deficiencies to return to an active life, find inspiration through sports. The project covers a wide range of tasks: attracting new players, creating teams in cities, organizing training sessions, preparing professionals (coaches and managers), as well as equipping teams with full-fledged sports equipment. UAF also develops the competitive component: it holds cups and initiates championships. Official partners of «League of Strengths» are Mastercard and Oschadbank.

In a year, training centers for amputee football were established in 18 cities across Ukraine: Boryspil, Vinnytsia, Dnipro, Zhytomyr, Zaporizhzhia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kyiv, Kryvyi Rih, Lutsk, Lviv, Odesa, Rivne, Ternopil, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, Cherkasy, Chernivtsi, and Chernihiv. The project encouraged the creation of 20 teams that are dynamically developing, contributing to the popularization of amputee football across Ukraine. In total, over 500 players have joined the teams, actively training, improving their skills, and participating in competitions.

In January 2025, the first tournament, Winter Cup «League of Strengths», was held with five team participants. In March, the «League of Strengths» team played an historic match against the Red Flamingos in Belgium and won with a score of 1:0. And already in May, the second tournament took place — Spring Cup «League of Strengths», which was attended by eight teams.

Less than a year after its inception, the «League of Strengths» became a laureate of the prestigious UEFA FootbALL Awards 2025 in the category “National Association.”

*UAF Foundation — is a charitable foundation established by the Ukrainian Football Association that implements social projects and fundraising aimed at developing football in Ukraine. The main areas of activity of the foundation include adaptive football, mass children's football, women's football, social support, and restoring sports infrastructure. The foundation also initiates projects related to combating war consequences, using the unifying power of football for positive changes in society.