During the three-month football break, shelling of Ukrainian territory did not stop. People died. Mass blackouts continued. After all, the national championship games are back on — and that's the highlight of the past week of football.
In the last days of winter, two matches were played, which, including due to attacks from the Russian Federation, were not held in time in the fall. And already on Friday, March 3, the full 16th round started.
From "Dnipro" to "Dnipro-1"
Commentator Mykhailo Tsiruk rightly points out that the current championship intrigue makes the UPL-2022/23 draw special. After all, for the first time since 2014, when competition between Dynamo and Shakhtar was imposed by Dnipro, we have a contender for the championship that is not among the recognized giants.
"And now, in 9 years, Dnipro-1 is already fighting for the victory in the national championship." And his chances of success in this fight look quite real for several reasons: the lack of a star lineup in the main competitors, Shakhtar and Dynamo, the loss of their leaders by these competitors, while the club from Dnipro kept its main asset - the forward of the Ukrainian national team Artem Dovbyka
In terms of the selection of players, the Dnipros are not too inferior in their class to more famous competitors. In addition, the excellent first part of the season, where both Shakhtar and Dynamo were confidently beaten, makes us believe in the possible success of Dnipro-1. And most importantly, there were very few unnecessary points lost to teams below the level." (Khsport.ua, 27.02.23), - emphasizes the author, and it is hard not to agree with him. Even in spite of the fact that over the weekend the Dnipro residents allowed Shakhtar to catch up. There are still many matches ahead and anything can happen.
Again, taking into account the current situation, it is necessary to accept the fact that, most likely, the draw of the national cup will not start this season. For the first time in the years of independence. At least yes, according to journalist Mykhailo Spivakovskyi, citing his own sources.
On the air of the TaToTake program, he noted that the majority of UPL and PFL clubs voted against holding the tournament. Grands are against excessive load, others are not satisfied with the regulations of the competition:
"The path of the UPL and the First League was proposed. They wanted to make the seeding at the moment of the start of the championship. Then "Kryvbas", which is currently ranked eighth, should have been seeded 15th or 16th. They did not agree. Some clubs did not want the first four teams to be seeded before the 1/4 finals" (Fanday.net, 01.03.23).
Well, last year the war prevented the completion of the cup tournament, and now it looks like it won't even be allowed to start. Let it be so. It remains to concentrate on the championship, the value of which is currently only increasing.
On the eve of the start of the second part of the season, the "1+1 media" group announced the return of Ukrainian football to its resources. We are talking about the TV channels "2+2" and UNIAN, as well as the Digital sports project FootballHub, which acquired the rights to broadcast the matches of "Dynamo", "Dnipra-1", "Zori", "Metalista" and "Rukha". At the same time, FootballHub offers viewers not only live reports from matches, but also pre- and post-match broadcasts with comments from players and coaches.
Such measures would definitely not interfere with Setanta Sports, which owns the rights to show the home matches of the remaining UPL participants. As a matter of fact, the Premier League itself or even the UAF could very well come up with similar initiatives to try to warm up the fans' interest in their own football product. Who, if not they, should take care of the popularization of the game on Ukrainian territory? Unfortunately, no know-how from our football officials.
"UPL is coming back. And everything is somehow mundane. There is no global interest in the tournament. No one anywhere says, writes or shows about it. What is the UPL, what is the Makarov Memorial or the PFL Winter Cup... Promotion, fan warm-up - all the same, absent. Where are our notable football businessmen? Where are the sellers of television rights for 100-500 thousand million? Where are those who shouted: "But in Turkey, clubs get paid for the rights!" In Poland, they get the rights, and in our country they sell for pennies!"?
All? Forgot? Don't you need more? How many times have you met during a break in the championship and discussed your future actions?, - well-known commentator Viktor Vatsko reasonably asks. The answer, as they say, is silence...
Dazzling Themis
It is a pity, but the first full-fledged tour of 2023, despite the productive, unpredictable and full of intrigue matches, will be remembered first of all for a whole series of strange refereeing decisions. Decisions that affected the final accounts and forced to speak again at least about the non-compliance of the referees with the existing requirements. Meanwhile, the national federation is fully and completely responsible for the training of these referees.
On Sunday, March 5, FootballHub even published a special video- cutting “How are they allowed to judge? Ihor Paschal and his decision in the match Metalist - Rukh". The directors cite four points that were overlooked by the refereeing team - three fouls that should have led to potentially dangerous standards (including one penalty) and a goal from a clear offside. In three cases out of four, "Metalist" was in the role of the injured party, which in the end lost with a minimum of 1:2.
On the same day, the official website of "Dnipra-1" provided photo evidence that in the first minute of the team's Saturday match against "Olexandria", the referee Maksym Kozyryatskyi was obliged to assign an 11-meter penalty to the home team's goal, but did not do so.
"Probably, the team of referees was so impressed by the goalkeeping skills of the field player that they forgot: only goalkeepers are allowed to play with their hands in football. And the price of such a violation of the rules should have been a penalty and a red card already in the 1st minute of the game..." (Scdnipro1.com.ua, 05.03), the Dnipro press service quips.
It is worth noting that the Alexandrians also had a reason to complain about fate - when in the 58th minute Artem Dovbyk ran away to meet the goalkeeper and led his team forward. It is very similar to the fact that during the transfer, the forward of "Dnipro-1" was in an "offside" position, although the TV picture does not allow us to draw unanimous conclusions. However, if the VAR system was working at the meeting, it would surely help to deal with both this moment and the one mentioned by the Dnipro residents.
The expediency of having the appropriate equipment in Alexandria was determined by the fact that applicants for European Cup tickets met here on Saturday. What's more, two other clubs with "international" goals, Vorskla and Zorya, clashed in the same arena the next day, matches which certainly also required a sharp eye from VAR. Lugansk's Nazariya Rusyn's goal in stoppage time with a hint of offside is an additional confirmation of that.
Currently, there are three fully equipped VAR systems in Ukraine, but two of them, partially purchased with UPL funds, are currently idle. According to the UAF, this was agreed upon by the organizers and participants on the eve of the start of the season. The same, the only system that was supposed to be used in the 16th round, the commission consisting of the first vice-president of UAF Oleg Protasov, the executive director of UPL Yevhen Dykyi and the head of the UAF Referees Committee Luciano Lucci decided to leave it in Kyiv - for the match between "Dynamo" and "Ingulets". Even such a dubious choice could be justified, but the referee of the capital meeting, Kateryna Monzul, seemed to fundamentally refuse the help of a video assistant. Or the latter refused to interfere in the course of events.
Be that as it may, Monzul made two controversial decisions in favor of "Ingulets", which preceded both goals in the "white and blue" goal. Thus, having lost Georgy Bushchan and Mykola Shaparenko due to injuries, saying goodbye to Viktor Tsygankov and Ilya Zabarny, who went to conquer Spain and England, respectively, Dynamo with its young team is still far from ideal, and Saturday's game demonstrated this once again. However, can this be an excuse for refereeing blunders?
"Both of our goals came after gross mistakes by the referee. In the first case, there was a foul - the play was not with the ball, but with our football player, in the second case, it was a handball. These refereeing errors and misinterpretations in other episodes led to more than just missed goals. Our players constantly argued with the referee and eventually lost control of the game" (Dynamo.kiev.ua, 03.04.23), - stated after the final whistle the coach of Kyiv, Mircea Lucescu, expressing the hope that this referee will not work at his team's matches in the future.
Monzul's mistakes were also recognized by an independent expert, former FIFA referee Myroslav Stupar:
"Of course, Dynamo can complain that the first goal was scored with a violation. I don't know why VAR didn't pay attention to this. Sitalo pushed Diachuk in the back and won the fight thanks to this. The hand was withdrawn - there was no shoulder play. Pushing in the back is a violation of the rules. Neither Monzul nor VAR paid attention to this, unfortunately. In the second episode with the goal, it was also worth considering a moment with a possible handball, which for some reason was again missed by VAR" (1927.kiev.ua, 03.04.23).
It should be noted that Stupar says not so much about the lack of qualification of the woman from Kharkiv, but about her improper preparation for the season.
"From the very beginning, Monzul did not get into the rhythm of the game. But what game tone can she have when assistants and referees are gathered for five days and none of them spent a single minute, did not judge during this time, but just engaged in theoretical and physical training? (1927.kiev.ua, 03.04.23).
The poor form of the referee was directly indicated by another moment in the first half: after Ingulets goalkeeper Oleksiy Palamarchuk won a duel with Vladislav Vanat, passing the ball over the front line, a goal kick was awarded. That is, the referee could not cope in an extremely simple episode. The bewildered smile on the face of one of Dynamo's coaches Oleg Gusev, who was caught on camera once, became the best illustration of this mess...
We would like to believe that appropriate conclusions will be drawn, and competition organizers will be able, if not to prevent such scandals, at least to significantly reduce their number. And if there is a place for football in a country in a state of war, then you want to talk about football, putting players and coaches in the main roles, not referees and officials.
At the same time, it is worth agreeing with Mykola Nesenyuk: the main thing in the continuation of the championship draw in three leagues is the very fact of its holding. Everything else will require a lot of patience and tolerance from us.
The well-known journalist admits that a kind of murky atmosphere has formed around the much-needed country of the football championship, in which abuses are quite possible with the goal of taking a higher place.
"There will be no one to complain about these abuses - the "premier league" actually does not exist, but around the football association-federation, which actually conducts the competition, such a swamp has been created that you don't even want to approach" (Dynamo.kiev.ua, 27.02.23).
At the same time, Nesenyuk emphasizes on his Facebook page: this football spring is ours. The one we suffered and deserve:
"Therefore, let's preserve all that is left of our football during the war. Let's support our teams as they are. Let's rejoice in their small and sometimes difficult victories. Because as long as our football is alive, Ukraine is still alive! For me personally, the most important thing is that this football spring of ours takes place! And then everything will be fine! Our football, just like everything else, will survive and be reborn, bringing us all joy, albeit not very big, but victories. And approaching the main Victory!" (Dynamo.kiev.ua, 27.02.23).
From football to the Armed Forces
It is important that the central figures of Ukrainian football remember the value of the most important of victories and really do everything to bring the moment of triumph closer.
So, before the start of the second part of the championship, famous Ukrainian players and coaches within the framework of the "Heroes' Tribune" initiative addressed football fans, thanking them for their dedication and patriotism, as well as assuring them of their support. Volodymyr Yezereskyi, Roman Zozulya, Taras Stepanenko, Serhii Sydorchuk, Ruslan Rotan, Maksym Imerekov, Dmytro Khomchenovskyi recorded the appeal to the ultras.
"Heroes' Tribune" is a unique charity fund created for systematic financial assistance to the families of football fans from all over Ukraine who died in the war. The project has already received support from football players, clubs, federations and famous personalities
"I have supported the "Heroes' Tribune" charitable foundation from the very beginning of its activity and I continue to say that today the football family should be united like never before. The time will come, and we will be able to meet again in the stadiums of our free Motherland, enjoy a good game on the field and remember all the Heroes of this war.", - quotes Volodymyr Yezerskyi Sportarena.com (27.02.23), noting that from August 2022 to January 2023, the fund provided UAH 6.21 million to the families of deceased fans.
For his part, Shakhtar president Rinat Akhmetov spoke about the help provided by his foundation, the SCM company, and the Donetsk club to ZSU:
"We're doing everything we can to help our military hold the line and our civilians to survive. These include body armor, vehicles, equipment and fortifications for the Defense Forces of Ukraine, medicines and other humanitarian aid for the civilian population, as well as efforts to support critical infrastructure. Today, each of our businesses has its own front, which is held by our brave employees" (Ua.tribuna.com, 26.02.23).
Dynamo Kyiv, which, together with the Surkis Brothers Foundation, has been financially supporting hospitals, hospitals and orphanages since the beginning of the war, provides food and hygiene products to IDPs, provides assistance to the Armed Forces, purchases technical equipment and basic necessities, medicines, communications, Starlink systems, reconnaissance drones, generators, vehicles including cars and boats.
As a result of rocket attacks, the kindergarten "Kashtan" in the village of Byshiv, Fastiv district, Kyiv region, suffered significant destruction. The Surkis Brothers Foundation undertook the reconstruction of the institution. The work began in the summer and, as planned, step by step, the premises were completely restored and reconstructed.
Also, at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the foundation restored the destroyed X-ray department of the hospital in Chernihiv and rebuilt the outpatient clinic in the village of Gurivshchyna, Buchansky district.
Thanks to the cooperation of "Dynamo" with partners, the Ministry of Health of Ukraine has already been able to purchase ambulances, ventilators, and many important medical equipment and sanitary ware. And the Chernihiv city hospital was equipped with S-arch x-ray machines.
The other day, when Dynamo and its partners - the international charity fund "Ukraine! I'm for you" - appealed to the Irpin Military Hospital and the Sumy Military Hospital, the club responded instantly. Medical institutions needed to purchase and transport German medicines for our wounded defenders, and in a short time the necessary medicines from abroad were delivered to the hospitals.
Another process of transferring humanitarian aid to our heroes took place on Friday, March 3. At once, seven vans of juice left from the Dynamo Stadium named after Valery Lobanovskyi to the soldiers. In total, the delivery of more than 20 juice boxes containing about 1.5 million packets of vitamin drinks has been organized.
"In general, we handed over more than a dozen trucks to various units of the Armed Forces - more than 5,000 tons of various humanitarian goods: medical equipment and medicines, sanitary and hygienic and detergents, food, soups, bars, etc. All efforts are directed to support our Armed Forces, to make their work easier, so that they can eat normally, at least have a tasty and healthy supplement to their diet on the front lines. (Fcdynamo.com, 03.03.23), - noted the first vice-president of Dynamo FC (Kyiv) Vitaly Sivkov.
UAF and its priorities
The ability to set priorities correctly is one of the most important qualities of any governing body. Only the current leaders of the House of Football definitely do not have it.
On the contrary, certain events, which we have already mentioned in the previous review, demonstrate a complete lack of understanding by football officials of their primary purpose.
We will remind that on Tuesday, February 28, the UAF executive committee finally decided on the candidacy of the new head coach of the national team. However, it is not about signing a contract, but only about intentions.
"The Executive Committee of the Ukrainian Football Association agreed with the proposal of the UAF National Teams Committee to hold negotiations with Serhiy Rebrov regarding his appointment as the head coach of the Ukrainian national team with the conclusion of a contract for the period until July 30, 2024, with the possibility of extension by mutual agreement until July 30, 2026." (Uaf.ua, 28.02.23).
As it is known, Rebrov will train the Al-Ain club from the UAE at least until the summer, and until then he will not have the opportunity to work with the national team. And so, before the qualifying match against England, which will take place in London on March 26, the team will be prepared by Ruslan Rotan, the current coach of the Ukrainian youth team and UPL club Oleksandria.
"The agreement with Ruslan Rotan, who currently serves as the head coach of the youth national team of Ukraine, will be valid until the contract with Serhiy Rebrov enters into force, with whom the UAF administration is conducting negotiations on behalf of the executive committee" (28.02.23). The decision from all sides looks unprepared and obviously does not have a "B" option - even though the negotiations with Rebrov are still far from over. In addition, Rebrov himself did not react in any way to the adventurous idea of UAF regarding the possible terms of the contract with him. Probably because it is more offensive to a specialist of his level than an attractive proposition.
"The problem is that there is no contract with Rebrov yet. And formally, such an explanation sounds as if Rotan can be the head coach of the Ukrainian national team forever, if an agreement cannot be reached with Rebrov. It seems like a trifle, just an unfortunate wording on the UAF website, but it is also very revealing, because it symbolizes all the chaos that has been around the main team of the country in recent months. With Rotan's appointment, the chaos did not end, but only continued. At the same time, the most talented generation of players in the history of Ukrainian football is suffering. And with them - and the fans" (Ua.tribuna.com, 28.02.23), columnist Oleksandr Sazhko makes the right points.
However, what can be demanded from Andriy Pavelek and his followers, if the issue of appointing the coach of the national team was only the third item on the agenda of the meeting of the executive committee?! The members of the executive committee considered the distribution of UEFA payments between clubs to be a far more important point...
After all, the country's main team got a coach (yes, only "acting") less than a month before the start of the EURO 2024 qualifying campaign! This could still be called force majeure, but this is not the first time something like this happens.
Let us recall that in August 2021, after the end of the continental championship, UAF unexpectedly did not extend the relationship with Andriy Shevchenko and his staff. Then the "blue and yellow" were decapitated in the midst of the next qualification, and Oleksandr Petrakov urgently had to try on the "fireman's" uniform. The specialist had only two weeks left to prepare for the next match...
That is, the current chaos with the most responsible coaching position is already the norm for Pavelko and the company. Handwriting. The main thing is that you can relax: the responsible person is appointed, let him ensure the result.
Against the background of associations that, choosing a future coach, carefully plan everything, conduct all the necessary negotiations in advance, pay attention to the peculiarities of the style of their football players and the quality of potential coach-candidates, UAF with its "snap-snap" looks simply pathetic...
And one can only imagine what kind of load Ruslan Rotan is currently under.
"There is no need to doubt that he is a good person and a good coach, because he led the "youth" to the European Championship. But as many as three jobs at once? When he needs to conduct the training process every day in "Alexandria", and at the same time constantly follow the candidates for the youth and national teams? How many matches do you need to watch, how many conclusions do you need to draw? If you approach all this in good faith, then there are two or three hours left for sleep a day..." (Sportanalytic.com, 01.03.23), journalist Ihor Tsvyk delves into the details.
"I understand that he is a conscientious guy. It was not necessary to offer him that" (Ukrfootball.ua, 02.03.23), Myron Markevich briefly commented on the decision of the UAF
Indeed, Rotan is a responsible person, and having become a hostage of circumstances, he simply could not help but shoulder a shoulder. And now, understanding all the risks, he will try to do the hard work as best he can. The express comment of the 41-year-old specialist only confirms this.
"Actually, it is a great honor and pride for me to be entrusted with the national team of the country. I would like to emphasize: for the fact that I am now the caretaker manager for the game with England, I must first of all thank our soldiers. To whom it is hard, it is to them. We should not be afraid of responsibility for this match, because it is much more difficult for our soldiers on the front line than for us to prepare for the game and conduct it.
I think that by March 5-6, we will already know all the football players who will be called up for training and will be included in the reserve list. We will talk with the future head coach and, I think, we will come to a common conclusion. My task is to help the national team, and I am ready to make every effort for this. That is why I accepted this offer" (Uaf.ua, 28.02.23).
Corrupt and dangerous
It is only a pity that the main efforts of the head of the UAF are currently not aimed at ensuring ideal conditions for the training of the national team - that is why the issue of Rotan's appointment did not have priority status in the House of Football. After all, for Pavelko, March 26, when Ukraine will play in London, is a far less significant date than April 5, the day for which the 47th regular UEFA Congress is scheduled. One more thing: it is within the framework of this event that voting for the new composition of the Executive Committee will take place, and keeping one's place in it is an obsessive idea of a famous football thief.
The task that Andriy Vasyliovych is solving is not an easy one. Somehow, law enforcement agencies initiated nine criminal cases against him at once - regarding manipulations with artificial grass and pitches, appropriation of state funds, manipulation of finances. And it was because of corruption reasons that the Pechersk court removed Pavelka from the leadership of the UAF.
Is it even possible to continue working with such a train? Journalist Ivan Boiko quite rightly mentioned the ex-president of the French Football Federation, Noel Le Gre:
"Let's draw a parallel with the already former president of the FFF, Noel Le Gre, who announced his resignation due to scandals related to accusations of sexual harassment. As Andrii Pavelko himself noted at a meeting with journalists on January 24, he is not involved in such cases, but this is not a very convincing excuse. After all, Andriy Pavelko is in a criminal case due to corruption. And corruption, like sexual harassment, is a criminal offense. And to appear in such a case is to definitely hit the image of the UAF in the international arena, especially when the world's leading media write about it." (Union.net, 03.03.23).
However, the example of Le Gre is not for Pavelko. On the contrary, a well-known corrupt official is not used to making a righteous and patriot out of himself against the background of even the most terrible background.
On Friday, the authoritative Madrid publication Marca published a text by the Moldovan author Dumitru Garkaliuce about the situation in the Ukrainian Football Association. About the scandals from which the UAF suffers, and about the role of Pavelka involved in them. Some Ukrainian mass media readily picked up the material, most likely without even thinking about its content.
However, any person who is familiar with the work methods of Pavelko and his service brothers, probably immediately noticed the "ears" of Andriy Vasyliovych, which stick out literally from every paragraph of this brilliant article. After all, she gives all the arguments that the UAF is trying to oppose to the numerous accusations of corruption of the clumsy football thief. There is also a coup plot in the House of Football, which was miraculously avoided. And it is as if there is pressure on regional federations from the SBU and local authorities. And the mythical threat posed by the persecution of Pavelka to the joint bid for the 2030 World Cup by Spain, Portugal and Ukraine.
The author even had the conscience, referring to some mysterious sources from the Russian Federation, to hint that representatives of the aggressor country consider Andrii Shevchenko a desirable candidate for the post of head of the UAF. For example, the famous athlete is friends with Roman Abramovich and enjoys considerable authority in Europe, and therefore can order a word for Russian football, contributing to its return to the big game. Well, such a "sensational" assumption contrasts sharply with the colossal work that Andriy Mykolayovych is doing as part of the United24 charity project, and with the efforts he has already spent to close the way to international competitions for representatives of the Russian Federation.
At the same time, Pavelko himself, of course, is named by the author as an undesirable figure for Russians, the main guarantor that UEFA will not give the green light to the enemy...
It is worth paying tribute to the president of the UAF for his perseverance, but in any case his attempt is worthless. The thief's reputation has long been trampled in the mud, and such texts, even in the columns of respectable publications, cannot save it.
As for the role of a patriot and implacable enemy of the Russian Federation, which the wicked embezzler claims, it is better to pay attention to actions - they are the ones that characterize any person better than any words.
On that same Friday, March 3, it became known that the technical sponsor of the Ukrainian national team, Joma, continued to work with the Russians and developed a new uniform for the local club "Zenit". Corresponding photos appeared in social networks. The "Tribune" publication recalled that back in July 2022, against the background of rumors about the company's work in the aggressor market, the UAF was approached with an official request in this regard.
"Then the answer was as follows: "The head office of the Joma company has stopped all sponsorship contracts with Russian and Belarusian sports teams in connection with the beginning of full-scale military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine." But the national team of Ukraine continued to cooperate with Joma even after the information about the company's agreement with CSKA and Akhmat was officially confirmed. (Ua.tribuna.com, 03.04.23).
By the way, Lviv "Karpaty", which used to wear Joma, reacted quickly and already announced the suspension of cooperation with the Spanish brand.
With a little delay, UAF Marketing also woke up (the same one that deposited a bond for Pavelko and the executive director of the federation, Yuriy Zapisotskyi, in the amount of almost twenty million hryvnias for the two of them). Joma's actions were not condemned here - representatives of UAF Marketing only claim that they sent a request to Joma's head office with a request to explain the situation.
"But there was no reaction from the president of the Ukrainian Football Association Andriy Pavelek. We will remind that the head of the UAF previously did not react in any way to FIFA's ban on Volodymyr Zelensky calling for peace before the final of the 2022 World Cup. - appropriately raises the archives FootballHub (03.04.23).
And so it can be concluded that Pavelko's main role in the "one-actor theater" should not so much confuse the invaders from a neighboring country as calm them down. Unfortunately, the current UAF president is capable of doing far more damage to his home state than to an enemy state.
Orest LELEKA
