On Tuesday, December 5, a friendly match took place on the NTK named after V. Bannikov football field between the UAF team and the 112th territorial defense brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, dedicated to a national holiday — Army Day, which is celebrated today.

The opening ceremony was attended by first vice-presidents of the Ukrainian Football Association Vadim Kostyuchenko, Oleg Protasov, Anatoliy Demianenko, and Oleksiy Mykhaylichenko, as well as deputy commander of the 112th separate territorial defense brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Andriy Zubov.

Photo by Pavel Kubanov

"It's very pleasant to celebrate this important national holiday on a football field together with you. On behalf of the players and coach of the national team of Ukraine, as well as the entire football community, we congratulate the Armed Forces of Ukraine! Thanks to your unwavering will, our country has the opportunity to play football. League championships are taking place, our teams are represented in European tournaments, and the national team has a chance to qualify for Euro 2024. 

Photo by Pavel Kubanov

Unfortunately, Ukrainian teams are still forced to play their home matches abroad, but I am confident that you will do everything possible to bring them back to their home stadiums,"—Vadim Kostyuchenko addressed the Ukrainian defenders before the start of the friendly match.

Photo by Pavel Kubanov

The UAF leaders presented footballs and souvenirs to military personnel. In turn, Andriy Zubov handed over a badge of the 112th brigade to the national association and expressed confidence that Ukrainian soldiers will defeat enemies on the front lines, while Ukrainian teams will defeat their opponents on football fields. All participants also took a group photo in honor of the festive event.

Photo by Pavel Kubanov

The match itself was played in "9 on 9" format with two halves of 20 minutes each. The UAF team turned their playing advantage into three goals scored in the first half, while the 112th brigade's team failed to capitalize on several goal-scoring opportunities.

Photo by Pavel Kubanov

The situation changed after halftime, when the military team scored twice against UAF. In the end, the main time of the match concluded with a score of 4-2 in favor of the UAF team. The post-match penalty shootout ended in a friendly draw — 3-3!