Vadim Kostyuchenko: «Organization of the Duffle Tournament - an example for other children's competitions»

13.04.2018 18:02

On April 14, competitions will resume in the Children's and Youth Football League of Ukraine, where 324 teams play in four age groups. Before the start of the second round of competitions, the first vice-president of the Football Federation of Ukraine Vadim Kostyuchenko spoke about the prospects of competitions in DUFLU and the FFU's plans for changes in children's football in general.

- Vadym Kostiantynovych, considering that FFU President Andriy Pavelko identified the issues of development and popularization of children's and youth football in the work of the federation as a priority, and you are the head of this direction, please inform us that today is the main committee of FFU .

— Indeed, it is the development and promotion of youth football that the leadership of the FFU considers to be the most important and promising in its work. The Committee of Children and Youth Football of FFU, headed by Yaroslav Moskalenko and Andriy Prokhorovich, which includes qualified specialists, currently works in several directions.

In cooperation with DUFL Ukraine, regular All-Ukrainian competitions among teams of children's and youth sports institutions are clearly organized and organized at a high organizational level. For this, a special thanks to DUFL President Vitali Bort! On April 14, the DUFL Ukraine teams, which, by the way, number 324, will start the spring part of the competition. We are facing serious confrontations in every match. I note that we are constantly improving the rules of competition, trying to improve the quality of the sport component.

By the start, almost everything is ready. Although, of course, weather cataclysms have added problems. However, DUFLU and FFU have taken all necessary measures to ensure the quality of the matches.

Starting in February, immediately after the III All-Ukrainian DUFLU Winter Cup, which was held among U-16 teams (players born in 2002) and the victory in which was celebrated for the third time by Kyiv Dynamo, and the first in the history of FFU Winter Cup among U-19 teams, where The players of Poltava's Vorskla won. Let me remind you that there will be seven such tournaments, namely: four - among the teams of the major leagues (age categories U-14, U-15, U-16 and U-17), two - among the teams of the first league (age categories U-15 and U-17) and the final among U-19 teams (first league).

It should be noted that the final tournaments of the All-Ukrainian football competitions among the teams of children's and youth sports institutions is the apogee of the entire competition year for the participating teams, which is why the FFU pays great attention to the preparation and holding of these competitions. I would like to note that the Federation is fully responsible for the financial costs of providing quality conditions for the best youth teams during the final tournaments.

Photo of FFU press service

This work is already in its final stages. Selected cities for the final tournaments of the older age groups, U-17 and U-16. These finals will be held in Zaporozhye. There is a great deal of interest in finals in this city, which has great traditions in youth soccer.

The final tournaments among the teams of the first league this year will be hosted by Konotop in Sumy region. This city also has a wonderful tradition of hosting major football holidays. Ardent fans of children's and youth football should remember the great international children's and youth tournaments that were organized and held in Konotop. Giving the right to hold the finals to this city, we are taking a step towards the fans of children's and youth football of Sumy region, hoping for the revival of the glorious football traditions in the agricultural region of Ukraine.

The final among the U-19 (first league) teams is likely to be held in Chernivtsi this year.

But the determination of the final venue for the U-15 and U-14 teams is still ongoing. But I have to assure that the level of organization of the final tournaments, which is improving every year, will definitely be high.

I must also inform you that one of the distinguished guests of one or even two final tournaments should be a leading expert on the development of UEFA's elite children's and youth football - Roger Meichtry. His visits to our capital, which took place twice last year, give us the right to hope that UEFA considers Ukraine to be one of the most promising countries in the development and promotion of children's and youth football.

- Recently, more and more people are talking about the mechanism of compensation for the training of football players, which is being developed in Ukraine. Can you tell us more about this FFU initiative?

- So. We are working to create an effective mechanism for professional clubs to pay compensation in favor of children's and youth sports facilities for the training of young football players.

Immediately inform about the statistics, which indicate the status of the situation in Ukrainian football in this matter.

According to the information provided by the PFL of Ukraine, since the beginning of the 2017/2018 season, about a hundred young football players have applied for the PFL team. That is, about a hundred professional contracts have been signed with young football players. Let me remind you that the obligation to pay compensation for training arises during the conclusion of the first professional contract. But the professional teams did not make almost any payment for training in favor of children's and youth sports facilities that trained these players.

How did this become possible, you ask. The fact is that the FFU Regulations on the Status and Transfers of Footballers contain one norm, which was adopted during the management of Ukrainian football under the previous leadership and which gives children and youth sports institutions the right to refuse to receive appropriate funds for training young footballers. This norm is taken as a basis by professional teams, which in fact require young football players to have so-called "absentee" letters with the obligatory remark that a children's and youth institution refuses to receive compensation for training.

Photo of FFU press service

It at least looks confusing, but it works! That is why the FFU leadership has set tasks to the profile committees, namely: the FFU Committee for Children and Youth Football, the FFU Committee on the Status and Transfer of Football Players, the Football Club Certification Committee - together with the UPL and PFL of Ukraine to understand the situation and provide proposals for amendments to the main document regulating the mechanism for payment of compensation.

We also aim to consolidate, at the level of official documents of the FFU, the possibility of receiving funds as a percentage directly from the coaches of institutions that trained young football players. This work is ongoing and we will be briefing on its results shortly.

In the same format, the Executive Committee of the FFU has given the relevant authority to the working group to propose for examination the documents for the certification of children and youth sports institutions, which carry out their work on the development and promotion of football. We aim to create a base for all youth football clubs and give them the appropriate status.

I will also note that in connection with the work of our parliamentarians in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, in particular, FFU President Andriy Pavelko, the signing of the law "On Patronage in Sports" is not far off, and the main criterion for concluding relevant agreements is the requirement to work for all institutions. in the field of so-called organized football.

That is why we have to work out the requirements for all participants in the football economy. And the sooner we do it together with clubs, CYSS and institutions of various forms of organization and subordination, the easier it will be for these clubs to work in the legal field of organized football. Our goal is to make the work in children's and youth football clear, transparent and clearly organized.

- In social networks, there are a large number of comments from dissatisfied parents and coaches about the organization of competitions in the sector of children's and youth football, where the so-called fictitious players. How are you trying to deal with this outdated problem?

- We understand that this problem exists. It is the sole responsibility of the coaches of the teams participating in such competitions. There is no such problem in tournaments that are clearly organized and in which all participants follow the rules of the competition. We have a great example of such a tournament - the Children's and Youth Football League of Ukraine, which works very well in this matter. Recently, there have been no such incidents in competitions organized by this organization. You ask why? Clear organization and constant monitoring of compliance with regulations is part of the success of this work. To this it is expedient to add a serious responsibility for this violation, which is also clearly spelled out in the Regulations of the All-Ukrainian football competitions among children and youth sports institutions. Let me remind you that these regulations are approved by the relevant decision of the FFU Executive Committee at the beginning of each season.

I will also note that in this matter it is very important to register all players in a single FFU database. The relevant FFU department registers all players involved in DUFLU competitions, which is why there are no complaints about the so-called "stands". But we do not shy away from this problem. In particular, a meeting was held in Kyiv with the participation of representatives of DUFLU and the FFU Committee for Children and Youth Football in order to clarify the relevant provisions in the fight against this negative phenomenon.

- Training coaching seminars - what they give to coaches and how FFU treats them?

- FFU always supports such measures. We realize that holding them is very important for coaches. We are going to hold such seminars on a regular basis, involving high-quality speakers - both domestic and foreign. The program of the next seminar is currently being prepared, which, in our opinion, should be held in the near future. It is possible that such seminars will be held during the final tournaments of DUFLU, which will be attended by coaches of national teams of Ukraine in the relevant age categories. They will be the main speakers at these seminars, and all coaches who wish to attend will receive such a right.