Oleg Sobutsky: "Legends match Ukraine - Georgia became a gift for fans"

27.06.2018 16:29

Photo by Yevhen Kraws

It took place on June 16 at the Lviv Arena friendly match of national veterans of Ukraine and Georgia. The hosts won - 3: 1, deserving the applause of almost five thousand spectators, who on this warm summer evening preferred football. Its organizer, FFU Vice-President Oleh Sobutskyi, told in more detail about the meeting of football legends of the two countries:

- First of all, I would like to thank the players and coaches of both teams, the hospitable Lviv and all the spectators that a wonderful football holiday took place at the wonderful Lviv Arena. This is the fourth meeting of the national veterans of Ukraine and Georgia in the last year and a half, and it so happened that each of the teams wins at home. So now the score is 2: 2, and all our next confrontations, and I have no doubt that they will be, will become even more exciting and interesting for the fans.

Photo by Yevhen Kraws

- Presidents of national federations Andriy Pavelko and Levan Kobiashvili took part in the starting lineups of the teams ...

- It was a surprise for the audience. Before the game, Andriy Pavelko held a working meeting with the Georgian side, which outlined ways to deepen cooperation between the federations. Our footballers themselves offered Andriy Vasyliovych to bring the team to the field with a captain's armband. By the way, it was the same a year ago at the NSC "Olympic", so we have a new good tradition. As for Levan Kobiashvili, he is a master of football with a capital letter, his game became the decoration of the match, almost every touch to the ball caused applause from the audience.

- Did you manage to gather all the best football players of Ukraine and Georgia on the field?

- This is the prerogative of the coaching staffs of both national teams, Anatoliy Demyanenko and Volodymyr Lozynsky, Alexander Chivadze and Revaz Dzodzuashvili. The line-ups were really famous, which is worth the names of Vitaliy Kosovsky, Serhiy Nagornyak, Vladyslav Vashchuk, Oleg Shelayev, Oleksandr Kosyrin, Vyacheslav Shevchuk, Serhiy Popov, Yuriy Maksimov, Serhiy Fedorov, Vitaliy Reva, Eduard Tsikhmeistruk and many others. Myron Markevich did a lot to organize the game at the highest level and spent half an hour on the field, entertaining the Lviv audience. As for the Georgian national team, it was also on par. The only thing was that Kakha Kaladze was not enough. He is now the mayor of Tbilisi and due to the difficult situation in the city was forced to postpone the trip.

- Lviv is oversaturated with sports and cultural events. How did you manage to interest the audience?

- A real fan understands everything himself, you can't drag him to the stands with just a beautiful sign. I would like to note the fruitful work of the Football Federation of the Lviv region and its chairman Oleksandr Shevchenko, advisor to the FFU president Vasyl Orletsky. Our military heroes were also invited to the stadium. Before the match, ten of them went on the field, receiving autographed balls from the players. What made me happy was that there were a lot of children, after the game they just tore up the players, took photos, took autographs. Such moments are worth appreciating.

Photo by Yevhen Kraws

- Did the Georgian guests like Lviv?

"Not your word." They spent three days with us and were amazed by the beauty and hospitality of the city. On the streets they were recognized by fans, invited for coffee. In addition to the players, the leaders of the federation Levan Kobiashvili, Kakha Chumburidze, David Mujiri, as well as a famous winemaker, owner of the largest wine producer in Georgia Zurab Chkhaidze came to the game. By the way, his son Sandro, having arrived at the Kyiv final of the Champions League, gladly joined the team of veterans of Ukraine in the game in Vasylkiv and even joined our team. When the score was 2: 2, Sandro scored two goals and helped the team win. We humorously mentioned the match, which became another confirmation of the friendship and mutual support of the Ukrainian and Georgian peoples.

- The game at Arena Lviv became the 98th in the history of the national team of veterans of Ukraine. Did you expect to reach such a milestone so quickly?

- There is no team of legends for two and a half years, so we play an average of 40 matches a year. Among the nearest plans are a game on June 29 in Kropyvnytskyi at the Zirka Stadium with the team of the 3rd Special Forces Regiment and a visit to the Chernivtsi region and a match in Hlyboka on July 1. We have many offers for the second part of the year, we carefully form a program of performances to meet with spectators in all regions, to give everyone the opportunity to see the legends of national football in the game.

Photo by Yevhen Kraws