The president of the Ukrainian Football Federation has talked to President Volodymyr Zelenskyj and Uefa and Fifa about finding a safe way to restart the football leagues in war-torn Ukraine, where the leagues shut down when Russia began the invasion on February 24.
Give faith in the future
Given that Russia's offensive now takes place almost exclusively in the eastern and southern parts of Ukraine, there is optimism in football to be able to make a restart in other parts of the country.
- I talked to our president, Volodymyr Zelenskyj, about how important football is as a distraction.
From children to the elderly, everyone is focused on the war and every day we get information about the dead and the impact of the war, says Pavelko.
- We talked about how football can be a great force to help people gain faith in the future.
Pavelko believes that football can give people the joy back, at least for the moment.
- We decided together with the president that we would start the Ukrainian leagues in August, at a professional level and also the ladies' league.
Safety first
Pavelko says that he met the president of the International Football Association of Fifa, Gianni Infantino, in Paris and the chairman of the European Football Association of Uefa, Aleksander Ceferin, in Ljubljana.
- I informed them that we intend to restart the leagues already during wartime, while bombs fall, and that we counted on their support.
We are discussing the details, says Paavelko, who can not say in which parts of the country football will be played.
- We will talk to the military leadership and the government how we can do it safely.
Shakhtar Donetsk led the league when it was shut down and later declared champions, and has a place in the group stage of the Champions League this autumn.
The team has lived in uncertainty ever since Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014 and has not been able to play matches at home since.