Former head coach and football player of the Ukrainian national team Andriy Shevchenko gave an interview to the famous magazine Vogue. We bring to your attention a publication site edition.
Andriy Shevchenko (photo: Stephan Lisowski)Andriy Shevchenko, soccer superstar, Ballon d'Or winner, soccer player, 46 years old. Uses all his influence and resources to talk about the war in the world and raise funds to help Ukraine.
On February 24, Andriy Shevchenko woke up to a call. It was 3:30 in the morning in London. His mother called.
"I immediately understood everything," Shevchenko recalls. — Mother was crying, the house she lived in was shaking from the explosions. "We were attacked, we were attacked," she repeated. I felt confused, helpless, and guilty. After all, I was so far away. Told my mother that I was leaving for her right now. "No way," she protested. "Go to journalists, go to television." It was the hardest day of my life."
Shevchenko hung up. Turned on the TV and saw the invasion in full swing live on the BBC. A couple of hours later, he already gave his first interview for this war. There will be several hundred of them during the year. Do they have a real impact on the situation? "I don't know, I'm not a professional speaker," says Andriy. "But I use every opportunity to talk about the war."
He downplays the power of his voice. Each of his interviews has a direct impact on fundraising for Ukraine and gives huge coverage. For example, at the Ballon d'Or award ceremony in Paris, where Shevchenko was invited to award the best soccer player of 2022, Alexia Putelias. A short speech dedicated to Ukraine gained millions of views on social networks and caused a very emotional reaction from the audience in the hall. The athlete himself did not hold back tears.
2022 is the first in 30 years when football took a back seat for Shevchenko. "I couldn't think about anything else but what was happening in Ukraine. We gave humanitarian aid, held joint meetings with guys who played in England - Zinchenko, Yarmolenko - created the Play Your Part for Ukraine platform to raise funds to help children, women and elderly people fleeing the war. England, Italy, America - I was constantly going somewhere in search of support. But this still seemed not enough. I remember the rally in Trafalgar Square, where we came as a family. There were blue and yellow colors all around, and I thought that a full-scale war had done what athletes had been trying to achieve for 30 years, to fill the world with Ukrainian flags. Unfortunately, it cost us too much."
At the beginning of May, Shevchenko received an offer from Volodymyr Zelenskyi to join a new project, the state fundraising platform UNITED24. "Back then, no one knew what it was. How will it work? Will the project be successful? There were no analogues, but I agreed immediately."
On May 18, Andriy Shevchenko met with the President in his office in Kyiv and became the first ambassador of UNITED24. Soon he was joined by Imagine Dragons, Balenciaga creative director Demna Gvasalia, actress and singer Barbra Streisand, actors Liev Schreiber and Mark Hamill, astronaut Scott Kelly, historian Timothy Snyder and other world stars. In 10 months of operation, the UNITED24 platform raised more than $290 million to support Ukraine, and Shevchenko himself organized a dozen charity projects — from bracelets made from the last batch of metal from Azovstal to the collection of generators for hospitals.
He recalls the meeting with Zelensky, entering the solemnly decorated hall of the Excelsior Hotel Gallia in Milan: on February 20, 2023, the United for Ukraine charity evening is taking place here. Among the sponsors is Giorgio Armani, among the guests are the entire establishment of the city and the management of Italian Serie A football clubs. The collected funds will go to the reconstruction of the stadium in Irpen, destroyed by Russian bombs and shells. It was at this stadium that Shevchenko happened to be on his first visit to Kyiv in May 2022. He saw how children were playing football among the ruins and debris, and decided that he should rebuild it.
"It was important for me to come to Ukraine. In fact, for the first two months I felt as if something had been taken away from me. I wanted to go to my native land, to my native city. I have never seen Kyiv like this. Very few people in general - and many soldiers with weapons. I walked around the city, went to the places I loved. I don't know why I needed it. The burnt house on Obolon, where I grew up. Roadblocks and hedgehogs near the house where I live. On the one hand, you feel enormous pain from the realization of what happened, how much suffering, how much death and destruction they brought to us. On the other hand, you admire the indomitability of people."
At the auction in Milan, it is the turn of the main lot - a Ukrainian flag with the autograph of Volodymyr Zelenskyi. Shevchenko interrupts to hear what the rates will be. 5 thousand euros are offered for the flag. "It's not serious," says Shevchenko and raises his hand. — 20 thousand." The hall is rapidly coming to life. And in 10 minutes the bet reaches 100 thousand. After all, for 110,000 euros, the flag is bought by the Serie A League, an association of Italian football clubs. "This is a different conversation," says Andriy, and to applause he goes up to the stage to take a joint photo with the auction winners.
"You know, it was the Italians who taught me charity. Here, it is sewn into the DNA level. Therefore, I understand very well how we should act, how to collect help. During the first wave of attention, for 2-3 months, the donations went by themselves, because people constantly saw Ukraine in the news. We are less written about now and we have to look for other formats. Big events, football matches, concerts - any event to combine rest and the opportunity to do a good deed."
Shevchenko recalls how he starred in a joint video with astronaut Scott Kelly and boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk, and how he went to Borodyanka and Irpen with actor Liev Schreiber. "There was not a single surviving house on the central street. We drove into a hospital that was completely destroyed. To the stadium. There were a lot of children there, we did a small master class, chatted, scored a penalty. I saw this spark in them - the desire to play, no matter what. And then we went to a temporary town where people live who have lost almost everything. Of course, they cried, told terrible stories of the occupation. But Liev was most impressed by the fact that we were treated to lightly salted cucumbers and jam. Even in the dark, in the most difficult time of their lives, Ukrainians show resilience and hospitality that are fascinating."
The auction is over. Andriy has a tired but satisfied look. During the dinner, one of the donors of UNITED24 confirms a contribution of 200,000 euros, which means that the collection for the stadium, which Shevchenko looks after, is closed. Soon the children will return to it. Andriy promised them to play the first game together.
Yaroslav Gres
