The Open Soccer Lessons will be launched in the spring of 2020

21.02.2020 17:12

Photo by Pavlo Kubanov

The Ukrainian Football Association is preparing for the new season of Open Football Lessons festivals, which, thanks to the support of the European Union, will be held this spring in 17 communities, primarily in eastern and southern Ukraine, for IDP children and their local peers.

In autumn, the UAF will involve at least 16 more communities, thus covering all regions of Ukraine.

On February 19 and 20, the Ukrainian Football Association, the All-Ukrainian Foundation for the Protection of Children's Rights, the Embassy of Denmark in Ukraine and the Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine held working meetings on project preparation and implementation, including current and potential donors.

Photo by Andrii Mayorov

They were attended by UAF First Vice President, football legend Oleg Protasov, national project coordinator Eugene Stolitenko, Deputy Chairman of the UAF Mass Football Committee Alexander Kadenko, Program Director of the Association of Cross-Cultural Projects (Denmark) Hanne Madsen, Deputy Head of Mission of the Embassy of Denmark in Denmark Inge Duran, the representative of the European Commission in Ukraine Nadiya Vertebna, the president of the All-Ukrainian Foundation for the Protection of Children's Rights Yevhenia Pavlova, the representative of the Institute for Modernization of Educational Content of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine Vladyslav Hanchev and others.

Photo by Andrii Mayorov

Oleh Protasov, the first vice-president of the UAF, noted: “The Ukrainian Football Association is very interested in the Open Football Lessons project, thanks to which a huge number of children join the game of football. We are waiting for them with open arms in our football family. " 

Hanne Madsen, Program Director of the Association of Cross-Cultural Projects (Denmark), thanked UAF for its support: “Together we were able to show that OFFS is a really great springboard for change in the future. We very much appreciate that the Ukrainian Football Association uses the idea of ​​OFFS, spreads it throughout Ukraine and supports displaced children and children in difficult life circumstances. "

Photo by Andrii Mayorov

The organization of children's football festivals will be preceded by the training of volunteers. The seminars, which will take place in early April in Zaporizhia, will be attended by 120 physical education teachers, child coaches, school psychologists and juvenile prevention police officers, who in turn will train more than 200 assistants - young leaders who are future volunteers of the project. At the press conference dedicated to the start of the project, a video and an updated guide for volunteers will be presented, in which the participants of the project are addressed by the Head of the European Union Delegation to Ukraine, Ambassador Matti Maasikas, President of the Ukrainian Football Association, UEFA Executive Committee member Andriy Pavelko and head coach. Of Ukraine on football Andrey Shevchenko. 

About 7000 children and more than 800 volunteers will be involved in the project.

We bring to your attention the schedule of the spring part of the festivals: