President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with President of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Aleksander Čeferin, who arrived in our country on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Ukrainian Football Association.
The Head of State noted that he was glad to welcome the UEFA President to Ukraine, where football is very popular.
"The situation with football in Ukraine is important for us, so I want to talk about it today," said Volodymyr Zelenskyy, addressing Aleksander Čeferin.
The President of Ukraine thanked the head of European football for the implementation of projects on the development of football infrastructure in Ukraine. He noted that UEFA provides support in the implementation of programs for children - IDPs from the temporarily occupied territories of Donbas and Crimea.
According to the President, Ukraine seeks to hold various competitions under the auspices of UEFA and other sports organizations, but at the same time makes sure that sports is attractive and accessible to every citizen.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed that our country is interested in holding the UEFA Super Cup in 2024 or 2025. The Ukrainian Football Association is also considering applications for the 2025 European Women's Football Championship, the European Men's Beach Soccer Championship, the European U-21 Championship, the European U-17 Championship, the European Futsal Championship and the UEFA Conference League Final.
“Ukraine together with Poland successfully held the final part of the European Football Championship 2012 and hosted the final match of the UEFA Champions League in 2018 at a high level. Our country has quite a rich tradition of holding high-level world and European championships in Olympic sports," he said.
The President of Ukraine told the European football official that despite some difficulties, the Ukrainian authorities are doing everything possible to develop physical culture and sports in the country.
"We are doing and will do everything to make sports attractive to Ukrainians. It is important for us that in every town, people have the opportunity to play sports for free and at any time," said the President.
To this end, the programs "Healthy Ukraine", "Large Construction", "Active Parks" initiated by Volodymyr Zelenskyy were launched. They are aimed at promoting an active lifestyle and creating a modern sports infrastructure.
In particular, in 2022 the construction of the National Training Base of the national football teams of Ukraine will begin - a state-of-the-art complex, where both men's and women's national teams, as well as children's and youth teams, etc. will be able to undergo training.
At the end of the meeting, Volodymyr Zelenskyy presented Aleksander Čeferin with the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise of the IV degree.