The full restoration of Ukrainian football, according to Surkis, will take place after the end of the war
The president Dynamo Igor Surkis spoke about the first days of Russia’s full-scale military invasion of Ukraine, assistance for the Ukrainian military and the development of football in Ukraine.
“First of all, today we must help our military, which is what we are doing. Dynamo and the Surkis Brothers Foundation donated more than a billion hryvnia and various assistance to our defenders. We will continue to do this until we win. We must drive the enemies out of our land and live in a free Ukraine.”
“It was very important for us to preserve the club’s young students, because many went with their parents in all directions. In the first days of the war, we could not understand where they were at all. A lot of help came from my brother, who was able to gather everyone and, in fact, we did not lose our children. Everyone is back, and this is very important for the club’s development prospects. Therefore, I can say that Dynamo has a future, our school is doing its job.”
“Currently, almost all the guys who play at Dynamo, except for Ramadani, Benito, Diallo and several Ukrainians, have gone through the club’s Academy. It is very important. When the war ends and we need to strengthen ourselves, we will definitely do so. Now hope rests on these guys. They must be responsible, not only when they talk about our soldiers in interviews.”
“On the first day of the war, everyone gathered in the basement of the base – children with mothers, families of football players. The President of Ukraine said that he did not need a taxi, but needed weapons, this phrase impressed everyone, there was confidence that we would fight. Yes, there were difficult times, we assembled a team either in Poland or in Bucharest, here we need to express our gratitude to Mircea Lucescu, who did not leave the team. Dovbik and Stepanenko even came to us and trained.”
“On the third or fourth day of the war, we took out all the women and children and relatives of the football players, and the team left for Uzhgorod. Then we played charity matches, raised funds and transferred them to the UNITED24 platform, rebuilt a hospital in Chernigov, as well as a kindergarten and an outpatient clinic in the Kyiv region. Helping the military is a priority. But football and everything else are out of the question.”
“Let’s hope that this war will end with our 100% victory, and then we will develop football. The main thing is that we didn’t lose him. The level is the same as it was in the 90s, we have already gone through all this. I hope that football in our country will continue to develop and return at least to the level it was 5-8 years ago.”
In November, Dynamo and Ukraine national team midfielder Andrei Yarmolenko addressed the Russian military and called for surrender under the “I Want to Live” program. Yarmolenko also called on Russian athletes not to remain silent about the war that Russia unleashed against Ukraine.
Early in the morning of February 24, 2022, Russia fired rockets and aerial bombardment of most Ukrainian cities, and then launched a full-scale military invasion. The war against Russia has continued for the 637th day.
Source: Sportarena
I’m Scott Moore, a professional writer and journalist based in the US. I’ve been writing for various publications for over 8 years now, and have been working as an author at athletistic for the past five years. My work has been featured by some of the leading sports websites and magazines across Europe.
