During the war in Ukraine, football fans buried rivals, found calm in Premier League matches

At football matches in Ukraine, the size of the crowd is determined by the capacity of the nearest bomb shelter.

For the first time since the start of the full-scale war in 2022, the Ukrainian Premier League is holding a full season with fans in attendance, as the martial law ban on public gatherings has been eased.

Despite the constant threat of airstrikes, Dynamo Kyiv fans are determined to snap up the 1,700 tickets available for each home game at the 16,000-seat Valeriy Lobanovskyi Stadium. Many fans are eager for a rare moment of calm, free from the country’s intense sporting rivalry.

While the war forced Dynamo to move their Europa League home games to Hamburg, Germany, they use their home stadium in Kyiv for home league games.

Vitalii Kozubra brought his nine-year-old son, Makar, to watch title contenders Dynamo take on Zorya Luhansk, a club displaced by the Russian invasion of eastern Ukraine.

“Even though there is a war, this is something people can enjoy together,” said Kozubra, noting the friendly atmosphere at the stadium, where Zorya fans were meeting with local people.

Makar was amazed at the difference between watching the game in person and on television.

As the players entered the field, all 22 wearing yellow and blue Ukrainian flags, the crowd, which included soldiers and families with children, erupted in applause.

The stadium was buzzing with the sound of the players’ hard work and the sound of football. Children rushed to the touchline for autographs, drawn by several foreign players from Brazil, Senegal, Ivory Coast and Panama who chose to continue despite the war.

Zorya has never been pierced.

Instruments and shelters

Ukraine’s top-flight 16-team league has managed to continue, despite mounting challenges. The same is planned for the afternoon due to frequent blackouts and access challenges across Europe’s second largest wartime country.

When air raid sirens interrupt play, sometimes for hours, players and fans alike head for shelters as alarms blare from loudspeakers and thousands of cellphones.

“This season, we were lucky in Kyiv, we didn’t have any alarms during our home games,” said Dynamo team spokesman Andrii Shakhov. “But it’s a different story with away games. … The longest we’ve had was 4 1/2 hours because of four wind alarms.”

Ukrainian footballers are subject to the draft at the age of 25 but clubs can apply for an exemption under business protection laws. Two teams are currently playing indefinitely outside their stadium due to the fight, amid major disruptions, while two others withdrew after the fight started due to damage to the field.

The country’s soccer culture dates back to its former Soviet era, when it was a soccer powerhouse, producing top-class players and coaches. In the 1980s, fan movements were often expressions of Ukrainian identity, defying Soviet authority.

After Ukraine declared independence in 1991, soccer continued to be a source of national pride during years of political and financial turmoil. Ukraine reached the quarterfinals of the 2006 World Cup and co-hosted the 2012 European Championship.

Disputes are put aside

At home, fan groups have sidelined violent conflicts for more than a decade, since rallying to support protesters during the deadly 2013-14 uprising against Russian influence. Later, they organized campaigns to recruit soldiers to fight in subsequent wars.

“Dexter,” a red-bearded Dynamo fan who is also a military contractor, explained why there is still a truce between rival fan groups.

“It was necessary because we had to unite and fight against the same enemy. These internal conflicts lost their importance when people from rival fan groups ended up fighting together in the same military groups,” he said, while walking his dog on the banks of the Dnipro. The river.

He added that fan organizations are involved in almost every aspect of the war, from combat work to fundraising, support for veterans, and providing technical skills such as computer systems to the military.

He and others who serve or serve alongside the military spoke on the condition that they be identified only by their call signs in accordance with Ukrainian military protocol.

Dynamo officials estimate that more than 80 percent of their pre-2022 fans are now working on the front lines in eastern Ukraine or doing other military jobs.

Football fans ahead

Eight hours east of Kyiv, in the Kharkiv region on the border with Russia, soldiers of the 3rd Assault Brigade played a game on a field near bombed buildings. Many of these boxers were recruited through football-related channels and acquaintances.

“Organized fans play a big role in this fight because they have a lot of enthusiasm,” said an employee with the logo “Shtahet,” a recently deployed Dynamo fan.

Combat doctor “Poltava” noted that football is always an important morale booster.

“We meet whenever we can and we rent playgrounds,” he said. “There is not much entertainment here, so football is our only pleasure.”

Back in Kyiv, Dynamo fan “Escobar” was happy to catch the game at home at half-time before returning to the front.

“This is football, this is a game,” said a soldier, dressed in uniform and wearing a camouflage bucket hat, after Dynamo’s 2-0 win over Zorya. “There are no bad feelings between the teams, and it’s nice to see such a friendly atmosphere.”

Vitaliy Buyalskyi and Maksim Braharu scored goals for Dynamo in the second half, and although the Zorya players looked dejected as they left the field, the fans continued to applaud.