‘Come on, Let’s Play!’ programme – Shakhtar Social Foundation

‘Come on, Let’s Play!’ programme – Shakhtar Social Foundation

FC Shakhtar Donetsk have been running the ‘Come On, Let’s Play!’ project since 2013. The project is aimed at the development of grassroots football and its popularization throughout Ukraine. The ‘Come On, Let’s Play!’ project today includes 51 playgrounds in 28 different cities and towns of Ukraine: Donetsk, Severodonetsk, Dobropillia, Kurakhove, Mariupol, Kramatorsk, L’viv, Zelenodolsk, Ivano-Frankivsk, Shchastya, Chervonohrad, Dobrotvir, Burshtyn, Bilozerske, Krasnohorivka, Mari’inka, Volnovakha, Avdiivka, Toretsk, Stanytsia Luhanska, Pokrovsk, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Dem’yaniv, Ladyzhyn, Demeshkivtsi, Popasna, Zaporizhzhia. The project has 3318 participants in 2019.

FC Shakhtar Donetsk created its own subsidiary Charity Organisation ‘Shakhtar Social’ in 2018. The Charity Organisation ‘Shakhtar Social’ took over the management and control of the club’s social projects.

The project participants are mainly boys and girls aged 7 to 12, including kids with disabilities. The 47 Shakhtar Social coaches conduct free football training sessions in 28 different cities and towns of Ukraine. The club provides all the necessary equipment. Local tournaments have been held twice a year in each location of the ‘Come On, Let’s Play!’ project since 2013.

Since 2017, the final tournament ‘Come On, Let’s Play!’ conducted usually once a year in May at the venue of FC Shakhtar Academy for the best teams from each location. Since the beginning of the project, the total number of children ever involved has reached 3318. Most of the project coaches successfully completed the programme ‘Young Coach Education – Disability Football’ in tandem with FCSA, Scort Foundation and UEFA Foundation for Children during the period of 2016-2018. Coaches of the ‘Come On, Let’s Play!’ project participated in the joint workshop ‘Changing Lives through Football’ in 2017 together with their counterparts from Feyenoord Rotterdam. The coaches of ‘Come On, Let’s Play!’ project completed first educational module for grassroots coaches in tandem with LaLiga in September 2018.

The project was awarded by UEFA Foundation for Children grant in December 2019 and included in the list of 45 best sports social programmes in the world. ‘Come On, Let’s Play!’ grassroots football project was selected for the initial 10 projects long list of More than Football Award in 2019.