Andriy Pavelko: “We will reach separate strategic goals for the development of football infrastructure a year earlier than planned”

18.05.2019 16:17

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

On May 17, the XXII Congress of the Football Federation of Ukraine was held in Zaporozhye. Speaking to congressional delegates, FFU President Andriy Pavelko noted significant achievements in the development of the country's football infrastructure.

"The main goal of the Football Federation of Ukraine is to promote football among children and youth and to involve as many young people as possible in the game. Our organizational and infrastructural decisions within the framework of the football development strategy in Ukraine are also aimed at its implementation. Over the last year, we have made significant progress in this direction. First of all, it is the implementation of a systemic program of restoration and development of sports infrastructure throughout the country, which brought together the football community, central and local government, as well as business. Reconstructed and erected new football fields and stadiums, many football fields with high-quality artificial turf, including the production of the FFU plant, have already created in large cities and small towns in different parts of Ukraine comfortable and safe conditions for training and competitions of thousands of young players. said Andriy Pavelko.

As you know, the implementation of a unique program to revive the football infrastructure continues, but even now it is clear that the number of new facilities created since 2015, far exceeds the number of football arenas and playgrounds built from 1991 to 2014. In particular, from 2015 to 2018, more than 1 facilities were built in the country. It is obvious that the emergence of new fields and areas with artificial turf not only helps to attract new players, but also allows for greater endurance at times to increase their workload.

"We can say that starting from 2015 in Ukraine by the end of 2019 will be put into operation at least 50 standard full-size football fields and about 2 thousand smaller grounds, which indicates the pace of work of our program," he said proudly. President of the FFU. - Also during 2017-2019, we sent more than 104 brand new balls to the regions for training and sports and health-improving activities.

That is, a year earlier we achieve our strategic indicators planned for 2020, from the number of full-size fields and stadiums (50 out of 50) and balls (104 thousand instead of 100). And given the dynamics of construction of sites, the stated goal - 2 sites - next year can not only be achieved but also exceeded.