Teaching Tolerance Through Football in Ukraine

Teaching Tolerance Through Football in Ukraine

© Goal Click/UNHCR/League of Tolerance/Sasha Fomichov

IVANO-FRANKIVSK, UKRAINE – In Ukraine, Sasha Fomichov is CEO and head coach at the League of Tolerance in Ivano-Frankivsk. He took a series of photos for Goal Click Refugees showing groups including underprivileged kids attending a free football school supported by national champions FC Shakhtar Donetsk, and at a women’s league match pitting a team from Ivano-Frankivsk against one from Bilokurakyne, in the less stable Luhansk region. nt.

© Goal Click/UNHCR/League of Tolerance/Sasha Fomichov

The League of Tolerance is a charity focused on social education through sport, democratic participation and entrepreneurship. Fomichov coaches kids from a variety of backgrounds, including the displaced, via a range of football-related projects, trying to interweave themes from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This year, one programme was supported by the FIFA Foundation.

© Goal Click/UNHCR/League of Tolerance/Sasha Fomichov

The League of Tolerance is a charity focused on social education through sport, democratic participation and entrepreneurship. Fomichov coaches kids from a variety of backgrounds, including the displaced, via a range of football-related projects, trying to interweave themes from the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This year, one programme was supported by the FIFA Foundation.

Originally a lawyer, educator and coach from Donetsk, Fomichov fled his home in the east of the country due to the conflict, ending up in Ivano-Frankivsk. “My wife and I were expecting a baby and were not in the mood to leave,” he said. “But when our house was fired upon with mortars twice in one week, there was no point in staying.”

“Personally, I am also an IDP [internally displaced person] and ethnic Greek, and it is very good for my coaching to show integration and be a role model,” he added. “I see football as an excellent tool to create social cohesion and make a safe environment for self-expression. We try to be as inclusive as we can and invite all the kids without any limits.”

© Goal Click/UNHCR/League of Tolerance/Sasha Fomichov

Originally a lawyer, educator and coach from Donetsk, Fomichov fled his home in the east of the country due to the conflict, ending up in Ivano-Frankivsk. “My wife and I were expecting a baby and were not in the mood to leave,” he said. “But when our house was fired upon with mortars twice in one week, there was no point in staying.”

“Personally, I am also an IDP [internally displaced person] and ethnic Greek, and it is very good for my coaching to show integration and be a role model,” he added. “I see football as an excellent tool to create social cohesion and make a safe environment for self-expression. We try to be as inclusive as we can and invite all the kids without any limits.”

Fomichov, an ambassador for the UEFA #EqualGame campaign, also has a personal goal: to see 30% female representation in grassroots football in the country. He noted that last season, there was only one female head coach in the Ukrainian Women’s Premier League.

© Goal Click/UNHCR/League of Tolerance/Sasha Fomichov

Fomichov, an ambassador for the UEFA #EqualGame campaign, also has a personal goal: to see 30% female representation in grassroots football in the country. He noted that last season, there was only one female head coach in the Ukrainian Women’s Premier League.

The photos were taken at the main regional stadium established in the Soviet era, and an artificial pitch at the biggest school in the city. One snap features Diana, who has embraced the sessions and is “one of the brightest female stars in our grassroots initiative.” In 2019, she attended the Cologne for the Social Football Summit, at the invitation of the ex-German striker Lukas Podolski.

“I am sure she will become a great coach in the not-too-distant future,” Fomichov said.

© Goal Click/UNHCR/League of Tolerance/Sasha Fomichov

The photos were taken at the main regional stadium established in the Soviet era, and an artificial pitch at the biggest school in the city. One snap features Diana, who has embraced the sessions and is “one of the brightest female stars in our grassroots initiative.” In 2019, she attended the Cologne for the Social Football Summit, at the invitation of the ex-German striker Lukas Podolski.

“I am sure she will become a great coach in the not-too-distant future,” Fomichov said.

Explore the series

01

Goal Click Refugees Introduction

02

A common language in Kakuma Camp, Kenya

03

Football: A glue that binds in Europe

04

Goal Click Refugees: Jordan and Zaatari

05

Opening doors for Afghan girls in Australia & Austria

06

A game that unifies after displacement in Africa

07

In Conflict-Torn Eastern Ukraine, Football Offers a Path to Hope

08

‘It Makes me Feel Free’ – Football Helps Displaced in Spain Find their Feet

09

Teaching Tolerance Through Football in Ukraine.

10

Football the icebreaker, bringing unity on and off the pitch in Australia

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