A well-known Ukrainian journalist Mykola Neseniuk dedicated a post on Facebook to today's match between Kyiv's Dynamo and Rivne.
In June 2011, Oleksandr Shovkovskyi came to Rivne for the final of the children's football tournament Cup of Future Champions. At that time, there was no team in Rivne at all, and the cup matches between the local Veres and Dynamo Kyiv in the fall of 1994, when the Rivne team sensationally won, had become folklore. Therefore, the arrival of the best goalkeeper in Ukraine was an event! Shovkovskyi was greeted by the mayor, and children stood in line to get his autograph.
Today, Shovkovskyi is back in Rivne. But this time as a coach of Dynamo, who will play against the local Veres. When he was in Rivne thirteen years ago, it seemed like a fantasy. Now it's a football everyday life.
It turns out that everything was not in vain. Perhaps it was after that meeting with Shovkovsky that the Rivne city government thought about rebuilding the stadium, and local patrons followed the example of those who helped organize those children's tournaments and helped revive Veres. And the same age as those Rivne boys who were photographed in 2011 with Shovkovsky himself will take the field today in a game against Dynamo.
Mykola NESENYUK