Ukrainian Association of Football (UAF) development of football

 UEFA, the Ukrainian Association of Football (UAF) and three of Ukraine’s regional football associations have been taking part since late January in a series of online seminars to adapt and implement European approaches to the strategic development of football within the framework of the UEFA Grow programme.

The UAF’s own Grow project is being implemented in cooperation with UEFA with regard to the strategic development of football at regional level.

The aim is to increase the number of active players of all ages and genders, build partnerships with local stakeholders, analyse the current situation and potential opportunities for the development of amateur club structures, and to study the impact of grassroots football on society and its values as a social and economic phenomenon. Dnipropetrovsk, Ivano-Frankivsk and Kyiv are the three regions currently involved in the project.

“Given the progress of UEFA Grow in Ukraine, we can say that it is productive, successful and has already given us a lot of important data that will help develop and promote football at regional level. Our team has done a lot to increase the number of active players of all ages and genders in selected areas, and we have been working out solutions that will form the basis for further development of grassroots football in Ukraine. We want to spread the principle across the country that football is an activity for everyone,” said the UAF president, Andrii Pavelko.

Since the UAF launched its Grow project in July 2019, the three regions have registered 15,332 players in the association’s database, a 27% increase.

The football associations of Estonia, Moldova, Norway and Serbia have also shared their experience with the UAF about increasing the popularity of football through the development of local amateur clubs. UEFA grassroots development mentor Igor Janković from Serbia, alongside colleagues from the other aforementioned European associations, presented the process and achievements of FC Apollo 04 (Kragujevac, Serbia), FK Petlić (Smederevo, Serbia), FC Elva (Elva, Estonia), JK Tulevik (Viljandi, Estonia), FC Petrocub (Sărata-Galbenă, Moldova) and IF Ready (Oslo, Norway).

This article originally appeared in UEFA Direct 194