The Mriya-Gostomel football team was assembled by members of the volunteer headquarters of Restovator. The Potato Army" blogger Dmytro Dubas and well-known journalist Mykola Vasylkov, a former assistant to Andriy Shevchenko in the Ukrainian national team.
The team consists entirely of IDPs - internally displaced persons; the coach and manager of Mriya also have IDP certificates. The geography of the migrants is wide, including guys from the temporarily occupied territories: Donetsk, Crimea, Kakhovka, Lysychansk.
Mykola Vasylkov:
- Our goal is primarily humanitarian. We do a lot of work with refugees as part of Restorator's activities, and we hold IDP Days twice a week. But now it is time not only to provide direct material assistance to people from the affected areas, but also to give them a social impetus and integrate them into a new social environment. That is why every Mriya match is a charity event attended by other IDPs from the Gostomel community, who, according to statistics, number over 2000 people.
"Mriya immediately entered the Bucha District Premier League, and in cooperation with the Gostomel village council, began reconstructing the roof of the local stadium and the grass pitch, which were damaged by rockets in the spring of 2022. The volunteers also started creating an original identity for the team.
Dmytro Dubas:
- "We have developed a logo using the outline of the world-famous Mriya aircraft, which is a symbol of the future recovery of our country. The team will hold photo shoots in the airport hangar where the aircraft was parked. The main slogan of the club will be "We dream of victory, dreams cannot be stopped!".
Famous football personalities have already joined the promotional campaign of the unique project: Oleksandr Karavayev, Yuriy Maksymov, Viktor Leonenko, Bohdan Butko and others. Now the "dreamers" are looking for a title partner or sponsor for the club. On Saturday 20 May at 13:30, Mriya will play its debut home game.
