Andriy Pavelko: “2019 gave us the opportunity not only to enjoy success but also to plan future victories”

03.12.2019 01:15

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

Today in Kyiv at the NSC "Olympic" was a solemn ceremony of awarding "Football Stars of Ukraine" -2019 - a joint project of the Ukrainian Football Association and the All-Ukrainian Association of Professional Footballers.

The ceremony was opened by the President of the Ukrainian Football Association, member of the UEFA Executive Committee Andriy Pavelko:

The Football Stars of Ukraine 2019 ceremony is a special occasion to congratulate the friendly football family of Ukraine on all the historical achievements we can only be proud of.

2019 gave Ukrainian fans vivid emotions from the game of our teams and excellent results in various areas of football development. I would like to thank our fans, the best fans in the world, and ask them to prepare for an equally responsible new football year, in which our national team will face no less difficult test - the final part of Euro 2020. Next year will be rich and interesting for all Ukrainian national teams, of which we have 21. They are part of our football community, and they also need attention and support.

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

Thank you to all the regional federations and their leaders for their excellent work on the development of football on the ground. Thank you to our veterans, who even after the end of their playing careers continue to give fans in different parts of Ukraine and the world wonderful football emotions.

Sincere thanks to the representatives of women's, student's, beach football and those who have devoted themselves to the development of futsal. I admire people with disabilities who also love and play football. I thank the referees committee and everyone who is part of our great friendly team.

I am sure that this year gave us the opportunity not only to rejoice in our achievements, but also to plan new victories and strategic goals for the development of Ukrainian football.

I thank our football clubs, their presidents, patrons and sponsors, city mayors, local government representatives, the country's leadership for their support and active stance in promoting football.

Our work is sometimes criticized - in particular for some reason for too active development of football infrastructure. But we can be proud of the fact that millions of people sing the National Anthem of Ukraine together with the national team, that tens of thousands of children have the opportunity to come to football sections and train on modern comfortable grounds.

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

That is why, in the new year, we will continue to work hard on our football infrastructure development program.

At the beginning of 2019, it seemed that last year was extremely successful, as it was the year of the Ukrainian Champions League finals and the year of victory of the national team of Ukraine in its group in the first Nations League draw.

But in 2019, we have some outstanding achievements. Our women's futsal team made it to the Final Four of the first European Championship draw. We saw how much positive emotions the performance of the Ukrainian deflympic team, which won the European Championship, brought the U-17 and U-19 teams to the elite round.

Of course, all this was achieved by the hard and hard work of everyone without exception of our team members.

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

The emotions from the performance of our national team, which reached the final part of Euro 2020 in a brilliant style, were special. Moreover, we did a lot of work to make the team visible to the fans of five cities of Ukraine at once: Kharkiv, Kyiv, Lviv, Dnipro and - for the first time - Zaporizhia. But the highlight of this year was the grand victory of Alexander Petrakov's wards at the U-20 World Cup! It is a pleasure to announce that on December 16 at a special gala dinner the champions will receive a well-deserved award - record bonuses.

Thank you to the best UAF team, regional federations and national teams for a wonderful, unique year! ”