End of the Young Coaches training programme in Ukraine for some EFDN Members

End of the Young Coaches training programme in Ukraine for some EFDN Members

At the end of May, instructors from the Football Club Social Alliance (FCSA), including Bayer 04, Werder Bremen, Everton FC and Inter Campus, traveled to Ukraine for the last time for Young Coaches training. Over the past six months, 39 young Ukrainians and Ukrainians have been provided with three modules to provide a safe environment for children who are warriaged and offer children’s football and play activities.

After the second module in the city of Kramatorsk in the armed conflict of the east of Ukraine, the instructors of the Football Club Social Alliance (FCSA) returned to Shchaslyve, a suburb of Kiev, for the third and final module. Throughout the training programme, which took place between October 2016 and the end of May 2017, the 39 Young Coaches were given not only the elementary aspects of children ‘s football, but also the demands on their role as mentors and trust persons for children who were particularly supportive and secure in a fear free environment.

The critical situation in the east of Ukraine has been on the rise since 2014, and the large number of internally displaced persons has also affected the rest of the country, which has already been battered by the economy. More than 1.5 million people have left the country to build a new home for themselves and their families. Many, however, remain to make the life of children bearable and to give them support in everyday life with a lot of commitment and usually few means.

The Young Coach’s programme in Ukraine was funded by the UEFA Foundation for Children, and was supplemented by workshops on children’s rights and psychosocial support from UNICEF and Terre des Hommes. The entire training was provided by instructors from the FCSA clubs FC Basel, Werder Bremen, Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Queens Park Rangers, Everton FC, Sporting Clube de Portugal, Inter Campus (Inter Milan) and Legia Warsaw, as well as instructors from local FC Shakhtar Donetsk.