Honorary president of "Dnipra-1" Yury Bereza talked about the role of football in Ukraine during the war.
Yuri Bereza— Yuri Mykolayovych, how do you feel about holding a football season during the war?
— If we don't want to remain on the sidelines of world football and then recover our positions for a long time after a victory, we have to play. Football trends are fleeting, and you have to keep up with progress. What can be the result of absence from the football arena, we will see on the example of the Russian bastards - they will not overcome the consequences of their suspension for at least 10 years. The lack of international matches is especially affecting, so I'm in favor of playing. At the same time, I am convinced that special attention should be paid to youth football. Perhaps the current generation of players will lose some opportunities, so we have to look after the prospects of the youth.
— How important is the role of the players in telling the world the truth about the war, in the call not to end aid to Ukraine?
— If we, the military, are the first front, the rear is the second, then journalists, athletes and all those who convey the truth are a single powerful third front. Remember how fashionable it was to say that football is out of politics? And it turned out that this is not so. Why, for example, did the Turks hang a portrait of Putin at the Dynamo match if it doesn't matter? Football is one of the components of state defense. Every football player becomes a fighter who must convey the truth that we do not have a civil war or an armed conflict, but an occupier who wants to destroy the Ukrainian nation and state. And the task of clubs and national teams is to declare to the world that Ukraine was, is and will be. Therefore, I want to appeal to every player: you bear the burden no less than the fighters on the front line.
— What is the importance of football for the fighters on the front lines? Do they follow the team? What are they asking you?
- Oh, this is a whole story! Thanks to Starlink, our fighters watch football even in the trenches. So, the team simply has no right to play badly! Military and football players of "Dnipro-1" are a continuation of each other. Our team's matches, the play of the club's representatives in the national team are all under close scrutiny. After every bad match, I hear so much from my fighters - and they don't even look at the title (laughs). Football is one of the moments that inspires the military, gives emotions to fight, connects with peaceful life, families. I have already promised the fighters that the tribune behind the gates of the Dnipro-Arena will belong to them. And football players should know that their names are always on the lips of fighters.
— The Dnipro-1 team has been in Slovakia for a long time...
— Yes, and we are very grateful to the city of Košice and the Košice Football Arena. I would like to express my personal gratitude for the fact that in difficult times they provided an opportunity for training and holding matches. We will give the city a special sign from Dnipro-1, which will be a symbol of our friendship and victory.
