Ukraine Hosts First Soccer Tournament for War-Wounded Amputees, Plans for International Championships

Ukraine Hosts First Soccer Tournament for War-Wounded Amputees, Plans for International Championships

Kyiv, Ukraine — Players selected from thousands of Ukrainians who lost limbs in Russian attacks gathered at a stadium in Kyiv over the weekend. They participated in a new competition: a soccer tournament.

Organized by Ukraine’s Association of Football, the "League of the Mighty" is the country's first soccer championship for amputees. Over the past year, the association has invested in local communities to form teams, reflecting the increasing number of war-wounded citizens due to the nearly three-year conflict.

Each match featured six outfield players and one goalkeeper per team. The outfield players, all lower-limb amputees, and the goalkeepers, upper-limb amputees, played without prosthetics, using crutches for control. Pokrova AMP emerged as the tournament winner, with captain Valentyn Osovskyi describing the victory as exhilarating. "We are very happy that we had to work hard; it was very interesting," he said, adding that their goal is to create their own championship and build a strong team to represent Ukraine internationally.

"This will be our priority for the next few years," said Andriy Shevchenko, president of the Ukrainian Association of Football. He noted that there are more than 100,000 amputees in the country, most of them soldiers who defended Ukraine.

Olena Balbek, an adviser to the president of the association, said, "This game is a means of mental and physical rehabilitation for amputees and helps normalize their growing presence in society." She added, "We are focusing on sports because it's our area of expertise, and we want to ensure that this becomes normalized."

The championship featured five teams from across Ukraine, showcasing the association's success in developing grassroots amputee football. A dedicated department within the association assists local groups in forming teams.

"Football is the best rehabilitation for me," said Mykola Gatala, captain of the Pokrova AMP-One team. "It has helped me both physically and mentally. I am doing it with my comrades who went through the same experiences. We understand each other."