EU ambassador plays football with children in Kyiv region

May 21, 2018.

    Ambassador Hugues Mingarelli, Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Ukraine, has opened the children's festival "Open Fun Football Schools", which took place at the stadium in the town of Vyshneve, Kyiv region, on May 21, 2018. The event was organized by the Football Federation of Ukraine.
    “The European Union supports many projects in Ukraine which encourage citizens to use opportunities and build a better future for themselves. This festival is part of the support for the east of Ukraine, where a conflict is taking place. Many of you had to leave, change the usual way of life, schools and friends. You deserve to feel secure, have an opportunity to learn and play. Open Fun Football Schools can help you to move forward, find new friends at your new home, become healthier and have fun out in the fresh air”, Ambassador Hugues Mingarelli told the festival participants.
    Over 200 children attended the festival. Volunteer coaches held educational games with elements of football, and police officers and psychologists taught them how to behave in different life situations and prevent conflicts in teams. At the end of the holiday, all participants received memorable gifts.
    All in all, in April-May 2018, the sports holidays united more than 4,000 boys and girls in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhia, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Odesa and Kyiv regions.
    The festival is open to all boys and girls aged from 6 to 12, regardless of the level of their abilities, including orphans and children with special needs. Half of the participants are internally displaced persons from eastern and southern regions of Ukraine. Through football the event organizers try to help them adapt to the new environment and find friends in host communities, plant the seeds of a healthy lifestyle and prevent conflicts.
    In 2018, the project involved 17 local communities in the east and south of Ukraine. Each festival lasts 3-5 days and includes social games with elements of football, lectures on the prevention of juvenile crime in cooperation with the National Police, "School of Young Football Fans", communication between children with the participation of a school psychologist, involvement of children in the ceremony of teams going out onto the field before the beginning of a match, "football" tours: meetings with football players of regional clubs, the national team, etc. All schools participating in the project receive sports equipment, while volunteers and children-participants get football uniforms.
    Background information:
    The EU project Open Fun Football Schools is implemented by the Cross-Culture Project Association (Denmark), the Football Federation of Ukraine, the All-Ukrainian Foundation for Children Rights, StreetFootballWorld (Germany) in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and the National Police of Ukraine. The project will last for four years: from 2017 to 2021.
    In 2018, a total of 17 local communities were involved in the project in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhia, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Odesa and Kyiv regions.
    For more information contact Andriy Mayorov by email: mayorov@ffu.org.ua or by phone: +38 095 011 38 60