(14 Jan 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kyiv, Ukraine – 12 January 2025
1. Mid of Valentyn Osovskyi, captain of Pokrova AMP soccer team, passing to his teammate
2. Close of Pokrova AMP players celebrating goal in final against AMP FC Kyiv
3. SOUNDBITE (Ukrainian) Valentyn Osovskyi, captain of Pokrova AMP: ++STARTS ON PREVIOUS SHOT AND PARTIALLY OVERLAID BY SHOT 4 AND 5++
“Our team has one and a half years of experience, it is really small compared to the teams abroad. But we are the first who created an AMP football team in Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. That is why we are trying to develop things in order to have our inner championship as well as creating a strong team to represent our country at the international level.”
4. Mid of Pokrova AMP players being congratulated after winning final
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kyiv, Ukraine – 11 January 2025
5. Various of players standing as former soccer player and president of the Ukrainian Association of Football, Andriy Shevchenko, opens tournament
6. SOUNDBITE (Ukrainian) Andriy Shevchenko, president of Ukrainian Association of Football: ++STARTS ON PREVIOUS SHOT AND PARTIALLY OVERLAID BY SHOTS 7 AND 8++
"Most of you are soldiers who were injured while defending our country. That is why I want to say thank you for your courage. This tournament is very important. It is important because it gives hope, it gives the opportunity to all of our people who were wounded to go through rehabilitation both physically and mentally with football."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kyiv, Ukraine – 12 January 2025
7. Various of amputee soccer players training and warming up
8. Mid of Osovskyi raising trophy of League of the Mighty
STORYLINE:
The players were chosen from among the thousands of Ukrainians wounded in the war.
With limbs lost to Russian attacks, they gathered at a stadium in Kyiv over the weekend, ready to embark on a new contest: a soccer tournament.
Organized by Ukraine’s Association of Football, the “League of the Mighty” is Ukraine’s first soccer championship for amputees.
Over the past year, the association has invested in local communities to establish teams, recognizing the growing number of war-wounded citizens as a result of the nearly three-year conflict.
With six outfield players and one goalkeeper on each side, they engaged in intense matches.
Outfield players, all lower-limb amputees, and goalkeepers with upper-limb amputations, played without prostheses, relying on wrist clutches for control.
Pokrova AMP won the tournament, with captain Valentyn Osovskyi describing the triumph as exhilarating.
He said that the goal is to have their own championship and to create a strong team to represent Ukraine at the international level.
Andriy Shevchenko, president of the Ukrainian Association of Football, said this goal would be a priority for the next few years as he noted there are more than 100,000 amputees in the country, most of them “soldiers who were injured while defending" the country.
For Olena Balbek, advisor to the president of the association, the sport is one way to provide mental and physical rehabilitation for amputees, but also for society to normalize their growing numbers.
Citing their own research, Balbek said the association boasts at least 60 professional amputee players in Ukraine – a significant number considering there are around 1,000 worldwide.
A dedicated department within the association assists local groups in creating teams.
AP video shot by Alex Babenko
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