Many Ukrainian professional football coaches and players enlisted to fight against Russia.
Recently, Yuriy Vernydub paused his role as a coach at Sheriff Tiraspol Football club (Moldova) to return to Ukraine to join the army to protect his country.
Remember that, Sheriff Tiraspol (Moldova) is one of the strongest football clubs in Eastern Europe, they beat Real Madrid 2-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu in the Champions League group stage 2021/22.
Coach Yuriy Vernydub joined the army (the middle guy)
Ukrainian player Vitalii Sapylo (who played for FC Karpaty Lviv in Ukraine) died while fighting in Kyiv while trying to defend the Ukrainian capital.
Dmytro Martynenko (who played for local FC Gostomel) died next to his mother when a bomb of Russia was thrown at their building.
Two Ukrainian players died while fighting in Kyiv
Coach Pep Guardiola entrusted the captaincy of Manchester City FC to Oleksandr Zinchenko (a famous player of the Ukraine national team) as support for Ukraine.
Pep Guardiola and Oleksandr Zinchenko
For the past several days, Oleksandr Zinchenko has condemned Russia and called for international support, as well as football federations of European countries to support Ukraine. He welcomed the decision of FIFA and UEFA to ban the Russian national team and Russian football clubs from the World Cup and Europa League.
Manchester City’s Ukrainian football player Oleksandr Zinchenko could not hold back her tears because of the support of the fans and clubs to Ukraine before the match. 💔#ManCity #Zinchenko #Ukrania #nowar pic.twitter.com/tK3B1t4spz
— 10Numara (@10Numarayeni) February 26, 2022
However, when asked when Zinchenko returns to his country to join the army, Oleksandr Zinchenko said he had not thought of enlisting. He wanted to stay in England to “win the trophy” with Manchester City.
Oleksandr Zinchenko is receiving a lot of ridicule from the netizens on social networks.
🚨🚨🚨🗣️ Zinchenko for Putin:
“I hope you die in the ugliest way possible.”
•
🚨 Instagram management deleted the story due to violence.#Zinchenko #Ukraine #Ukrainian #Putin pic.twitter.com/Va8BupWXtr— Koor_a4all (@Abdou13825998) February 24, 2022
Andriy Shevchenko (former Ukrainian professional player) and his family is living in London, the UK. He and his family demonstrated against the war in his hometown.
Andriy Shevchenko protested in London
