The Ukrainian Soccer Federation board and executive committee decide to convene an extraordinary USF congress
Hryhory Surkis, President of the Ukrainian Soccer Federation (USF), has announced that an extraordinary USF congress will be convened to take up the formidable challenges the federation leadership is facing. It will be easier to solve these problems if this country’s general soccer public accepts and supports the new deal in Ukraine’s number one sport.
The USF president’s report says that building a really powerful soccer system requires digging up previously-untouched “new layers of soil.” What must crown the soccer pyramid is mass soccer. Soccer classes introduced this fall in schools on USF initiative are supposed to become both a factor of instilling a healthy way of life in the new generation of Ukrainians and a source of recruitment for the teams playing in competitions between schools, streets, and neighborhoods under the auspices of the Youth Soccer Union. Further on, a Leather Ball club is to be instituted, with its most talented players to fill soccer teams. No doubt, this is not the matter of one year only, so the whole federation structure will be aimed at providing soccer schools with genuinely highly skilled replacement. What also requires improvement is the institution of this country national teams from that of under-fifteen boys to the adult squad.
The national teams, now preparing to challenge less than in a month the right to play in the Europe’s under-21 championship and the 2002 World Cup finals, were in the focus of discussion. Volodymyr Onyshchenko, the youth national team coach, was admonished for the unsatisfactory state of training in the team, which has jeopardized not only it’s final results but also the reputation of Ukrainian soccer. It was decided that the under-21s would find the best conditions for playing their Swiss peers in Kyiv, where they will hold the first match at Dynamo Stadium on November 11 at 5 p.m. The return match will take place in Switzerland on November 14.
There is no doubt that the encounter between the national teams of Ukraine and Germany will be a star event. It was confirmed that the first game at Kyiv’s Olympic Stadium will kick-start at 7 p.m. instead of 5, as the German side suggested. USF Vice President Lashkul announced that most tickets for the Ukraine vs. Germany match are already on sale at 10-20 hryvnias, with the most expensive ones costing UAH 50. All the spectators will be issued specially made raincoats of the blue (the upper tier) and yellow (the lower tier) color, so that Olympic Stadium grandstands look like the national flag.
And, finally, among the other agenda items, composer Tatarchenko and poet Vratariov presented the newly-made anthem of the Ukrainian Soccer Federation. For quite obvious reasons, the audience was unprepared to appreciate the artistic level of this opus. As to assessing the very fact of composing the federation anthem, it is somewhat doubtful that the latter is so indispensable. There is no denying our soccer leadership strives to bring its domain into line with international standards. It is common knowledge that the Champions League and each final stretch of the world and European championships do have an anthem. The Champions League anthem was in the making for five years: first, there was only a signature tune, then a complete melody came, and, still later, these were complemented with an English text. Conversely, the anthems of final tournaments, usually being a one-day song, in any case do not lay claim to immortality. Should we go this way, anthems will be written here on the occasion of every domestic championship and cup tournament, thanks to no dearth of artists ready to fulfill such an honorable order in a short time. But is it worth hurrying? For example, pop composer Ihor Krutoi has written an anthem for Donetsk Shakhtar. Did it help the club which soon sank into a crisis?
Undoubtedly, we need a lot of good and different songs about soccer — for adults and children, in a dancing and a ceremonial style. Matvei Blanter’s Stalin period tune, under which the soccer players of independent Ukraine are still coming out on the pitch, must remain behind in the glorious history together with the old Soviet soccer. But to immediately approve a made- to-order tune as the anthem of our soccer? Or shall we take our time? The anthem will be composed by life itself. It must sing praises of our soccer’s long-awaited new victories — which we hope to see as early as November.
A gala festival at Ukraine Palace, to be timed with the USF congress, dedicated to the tenth anniversary of our independent national federation, the fortieth anniversary of Dynamo Kyiv’s first USSR championship victory, and the ninetieth anniversary of soccer in Kyiv, will be a far brighter and solemn function if we manage to add today’s achievements to the glorious jubilees. And anthems can wait.
