Ukraine recently held its first-ever soccer tournament for amputees, specifically for individuals wounded during the ongoing war. The event took place in Kyiv, where players gathered at a stadium, ready to compete in a unique competition.
The tournament, called the “League of the Mighty,” was organized by Ukraine’s Association of Football. Over the past year, the association has focused on creating local teams, responding to the growing number of amputees as a result of the nearly three-year conflict.
The teams featured six outfield players and one goalkeeper per side. The outfield players, all lower-limb amputees, and the goalkeepers, who had upper-limb amputations, played without prostheses, using wrist clutches for control.
Pokrova AMP won the tournament, and their captain, Valentyn Osovskyi, expressed his excitement about the victory. “We’re really glad that we had to work our way through, it was interesting,” Osovskyi said. He also emphasized the team’s goal of creating a strong squad to represent Ukraine internationally in the future.
Andriy Shevhenko, the president of the Ukrainian Association of Football, highlighted that this initiative will be a priority for the coming years. He noted that more than 100,000 amputees live in Ukraine, the majority of whom are soldiers who fought to defend the country.
Olena Balbek, an adviser to the association’s president, explained that the sport offers both mental and physical rehabilitation for amputees while helping to normalize their increasing presence in society. “This is a societal effort,” she said. “We’re focusing on sports because it’s our area of expertise, to make sure this is normalized.”
According to Balbek, there are at least 60 professional amputee football players in Ukraine, a significant number considering the global total of around 1,000. She acknowledged that while the reasons for the increase in amputees are unfortunate, it presents a unique opportunity to engage people in the sport.
The weekend’s tournament featured five teams from different parts of Ukraine and demonstrated the success of the association’s efforts to develop amputee football since Russia’s full-scale invasion. A special department within the association supports local groups in forming teams.
The association’s work is extensive, involving collaboration with veteran groups, local initiatives, and football clubs to ensure amputee teams are established and supported.
“For me, football is the best rehabilitation,” said Mykola Gatala, captain of the Pokrova AMP-One team. “It has helped me both physically and mentally. I’m doing it with my brothers in arms who went through the same things I did. We understand each other.”
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