On October 14, the Day of Defenders and Defenderesses of Ukraine, a match took place on the NTK field named after V. Bannikov between the UAF team, which this time was composed of football veterans, and the Ukrainian Armed Forces national team.

At the ceremonial event that preceded the start of the game, the president of UAF, UEFA Executive Committee member Andriy Pavelko, first vice-presidents of UAF Oleg Protasov, Anatoliy Demianenko, Oleksiy Mykhaylichenko, Alan Plyev, Vadim Kostyuchenko and Nazar Khodnytskyi, members of the UAF Executive Committee, head coach of the national team of Ukraine Oleksandr Petrakov and his assistant Oleksandr Shovkovich, as well as the head coach of the Ukrainian youth team Ruslan Rotan participated.

Photos by UAF press service

Children of fallen defenders of Ukraine Oleksandr Boyko (son Oleksandr and daughter Inna) and Serhiy Shestak (daughter Milana) were present at the match. They received commemorative gifts, and Oleksandr Boyko's son made a symbolic kick after the starting whistle.

"I am confident that the children of our heroes will live in a beautiful, free Ukraine. We believe in this and do everything possible for it to happen. I want to greet everyone on this holiday and thank the Armed Forces of Ukraine for their heroic work, which also gives us the opportunity to play football!"— noted UAF president Andriy Pavelko before the game.

Photos by UAF press service

"I want to thank our brothers who are now defending our country at the front. Thanks to them, we have the opportunity to hold this football match. We believe in our joint victory! Everything will be Ukraine!"— said captain of the Armed Forces team Vadym Hatsanyuk.

The UAF team was led onto the field by Oleksandr Zavarov with a captain's armband. During the match, its lineup included Taras Luzhnyk, Igor Shuhovtsev, Vitaliy Lisitsky, Volodymyr Yezersky, Yuriy Moroz, Oleksandr Alyev, Edmar, Vitaliy Kosovskyi, Vasyl Kardash, Andriy Annenkov, Vitaliy Mandzyuk, Yevhen Yardynenko and Oleksiy Cherdyntsev.

Photos by UAF press service

The main referee of the match was Dmytro Kubryak from Odesa—a neurosurgeon who was captured in Mariupol, where he had traveled from Dnipro to operate on wounded soldiers. After five horrific months in Oleynivka, Dmytro was released and is now preparing to resume his refereeing career. His assistants for this match were Dmitro Oganesyan and Kyrylo Furmanenko.

Photos by UAF press service

The match itself was principled and meaningful. Both teams won the applause of spectators several times. It ended with a score of 1-0 in favor of the UAF team—Oleksandr Alyev's pass was scored by Vitaliy Kosovskyi. And after the game, everyone wished that if the Armed Forces lost, it would only be on the football field!

Photos by UAF press service