Pavelko: Football has disappeared into the background, because children are dying in Ukraine

The President of the Ukrainian Football Association recorded a video message to the participants of the FIFA Congress.

He greeted the representatives of all the countries of the world, except one. Ukrainian Football Association President Andriy Pavelko recorded a video message to FIFA.

In it, the functionary told participants of the organization’s 72nd congress in Doha about the critical situation in which the country was driven by the invasion of the Kremlin’s occupying troops.

Separately, Pavelko cited the killings of civilians, especially children, by the Russian occupiers.

“Since February 24, we have not had the opportunity to develop our beloved game. For more than a month we have been defending our country and resisting military aggression from the Russian Federation. Unfortunately, during this time we regularly receive sad news about the deaths of representatives of the Ukrainian football community.They died from bullets and ammunition of the aggressor – one of the largest armies in the world.

Football has disappeared into the background, because every day adults and children are dying in our country. Ukraine gave the football world three Golden Ball winners. Among the dead children may be another golden talent of our country.

The UAF has created a special crisis headquarters, working 24/7. I express my gratitude to the football associations that help our country and support the Ukrainians. I am grateful to the hosts of our football representatives, especially the football youth who were forced to leave their country to escape the war.

We thank everyone who sent us humanitarian aid or just called us on the phone and asked how we were. All of this is very important for us today. A big thank you from all over Ukraine.

I personally thank UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin, who initiated the creation of UEFA coordination groups to assist the football community in Ukraine. I also thank my colleagues from FIFA and all the national associations who joined this initiative to share our misfortune. At the level of UEFA and FIFA, we have been your colleagues for 8 years, many of you, like me, have children and grandchildren, so you fully understand how high the price of restoring peace in Ukraine is.

We, Ukrainians, are confident that we will fight the aggressor and we will surely win, because the truth is behind us. But our children received a horrible psychological trauma. Perhaps it is football that will help them forget all the terrible wars. This will be our most important work.

The world football community has had a huge impact. I believe that every word, every prayer you make, every action or gesture of helping Ukraine against the war has serious weight and has the ability to prevent it. Therefore, we have no right to remain silent. Do not hear the signals of air raids in our cities, but the songs of football fans. Let the battles take place not in the streets with weapons in their hands, but in crowded stadiums in duels between clubs and teams. Do not let the bombs explode, but the spectators on the stands when your favorite team has scored a goal and won. We believe it will be so. Glory to Ukraine. Glory to the heroes, “Pavelko said in a video message to FIFA.

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