On Saturday, August 13, in honor of Youth Day in Kyiv, a charity tournament took place on the football fields of NTK named after V. Bannikov to support children from Chernihiv who were affected by Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Photo by Pavel Kubanov

The tournament, which included matches between children's and youth teams as well as adult teams, was organized by the Ukrainian Football Association, Chernihiv Oblast Football Association, and the civic organization «Mentalita». Its goal was to raise funds for the rehabilitation of young athletes in the Carpathians who were affected by the war.

Photo by Pavel Kubanov

Participants of the charitable games were greeted on behalf of UAF President Andriy Pavelka by First Vice-President of the National Association Vadim Kostyuchenko. He highlighted the efforts of Chernihiv Oblast Football Association Chairman Gennadiy Prokopovich and his team, who in late February and early March evacuated children from local youth academies from the war zone.

Photo by Pavel Kubanov

“While our Armed Forces are reclaiming our territories, we care for young football players. Ukraine has a great football future. Like Croatia, which once also went through war and managed to become a major football power. Thanks to the efforts of our friends Darijo Srna and Luka Modric, Chernihiv youth academy graduates have entered Croatian football academies, left behind terrible memories of war, and today can compete on Ukrainian soil”, — Vadim Kostyuchenko noted.

“Chernihiv is a hero city and a football city. I want to thank everyone who defended Chernihiv. We did not let the enemy into our country's capital, and we never will”, — Gennadiy Prokopovich said during the opening ceremony of the games.

Photo by Pavel Kubanov

In the team competition for players up to 16 years old, four children's and youth teams participated — Kyiv KDJUSSH "Champion" and SK "Champion", as well as Chernihiv SDYUSHOR "Youth" and SDYUSHOR "Desna". Each team received football balls and cups from the UAF for their participation.

The tournament among adult teams was held in two groups. Within Group A, representatives of the Main Department of State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Kyiv, Kyiv Bar Association, Separate Border Control Post "Kyiv" of State Border Guard Service and Kyiv City State Administration met each other. In Group B, relations were settled between Winetime network stores, National University of Defense of Ukraine, High Council of Justice, and the volunteer team.

Photo by Pavel Kubanov

As a result, in the match for third place, Kyiv City State Administration team proved stronger than Winetime network stores team. In the gold medal game, representatives of the Main Department of State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Kyiv defeated the volunteer team. After the end of intense battles, each team received diplomas and signed football balls from First Vice-President of UAF Oleg Protsasov as well as football stars Vladyslav Vashchuk and Volodymyr Yezersky.

The culmination of the football festival was a gala match between the team of charity tournament participants and the national veterans' team, which Anatoliy Demianenko's team won with a score of 3-0.