On Wednesday, July 27, a working meeting took place at the House of Football involving the leadership of the UAF, UPL, and PFL with representatives from Ukraine's Ministry of Youth and Sports, Ministry of Defense, State Emergency Service of Ukraine, and National Police of Ukraine.

The topic of the meeting, which was attended by first vice-presidents of the UAF Oleg Protasov and Vadim Kostyuchenko, presidents of the UPL and PFL Yevgen Diky and Oleksandr Kadynko, was to discuss changes in additional security measures for organizing and holding football matches in Ukraine under martial law. The meeting also approved regulatory documents for conducting competitions among teams of the UPL and PFL by the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine this week at the UAF Executive Committee for the 2023/2024 season.

The participants discussed issues related to the start of next football season in the UPL and PFL competitions. Specifically, Oleg Protasov, Yevgen Diky, and Oleksandr Kadynko proposed considering the possibility of increasing the number of accredited individuals involved in organizing matches based on requests from football clubs.

According to current regulations, professional football matches of the UPL and PFL are held without spectators with a total of up to 280 people involved in organizing the match, including players, coaching staff, referees, security personnel, media representatives, stadium operators' staff, team representatives, medical service representatives, State Emergency Service and National Police representatives, regional or city military administrations and government agencies, etc.

Photo by Pavel Kubanov

"I want to thank the Armed Forces of Ukraine and each of you for our joint efforts in conducting the first, I hope last, football season under martial law," said First Vice President of UAF Oleg Protasov as he opened the meeting.

"Currently, there are requests from all clubs of the UPL regarding returning spectators to stadiums and reviewing the quota for people allowed to attend matches in the new season. Yes, there is a decision by the Ministry of Youth and Sports concerning holding matches without spectators, and we understand the high level of risk involved since the war continues and no place is safe from Russian bombardments. Nevertheless, the previous season demonstrated shortcomings related to the current limit on people involved in organizing matches that need to be addressed as soon as possible," said UPL President Yevgen Diky during the meeting.

Photo by Pavel Kubanov

"Today, the UAF is receiving many requests from military hospitals where our soldiers are undergoing rehabilitation due to war injuries regarding visiting football matches. We see our mission in using football to help these heroes return to normal life and integrate into society. Therefore, we consider it appropriate to increase the quota of people involved in football events and support this decision for our defenders," noted Oleg Protasov during his speech.

"The UAF already has a positive experience with military personnel attending matches involving Ukraine's national team that took place within the UEFA Nations League 2022/2023 and Euro-2024 qualification in Krakow, Poland, and Trnava, Slovakia. Such football visits are a real holiday for our soldiers and an opportunity for them to rest from war and all its horrors as witnesses on the front line," added First Vice President of UAF Vadim Kostyuchenko.

Photo by Pavel Kubanov

Representatives from football and state institutions reached a consensus on this issue, deciding to send relevant appeals to regional/city military administrations and launch special commissions at the venues where UPL and PFL matches will be held in the 2023/2024 season. These commissions are expected to soon provide information about stadium capacities for hosting larger numbers of people at football events, including readiness levels of shelters to ensure match participants' safety during air raid alerts.