The Euro-2012 Ukrainian flag bearers’ competition jury has selected the best people for the job among members of Ukrainian children’s soccer clubs.
The selection followed the latest competition for the Leather Ball club prizes that is conducted annually by the Amateur Football Association of Ukraine in partnership with Coca-Cola and with support of other companies.
The tournament was launched in 1965 and changed its name to the Leather Ball and Coca-Cola Cup in 2010.
This year’s competition’s winners have been selected to bear the Ukrainian flag at Euro-2012 events, with 8 best players performing before the final match on July 1, 2012 and 32 more of them serving at earlier matches.
The official selection ceremony followed a soccer technique and shooting on goal competition and friendly matches between children’s clubs. All in all, almost 80 percent of Ukrainian schools participated in the tournament during its 2010-11 season.
The eight winners and flag bearers of the final match are Vladyslav Omelchenko (Kirovohrad region), Bohdan Kokoshko (Chernivtsi), Oleksandr Shulha (Transcarpathia), Vladyslav Siry (Donetsk region), Arkadii Petukhov (Kyiv), Andrii Lutsky (Ivano-Frankivsk), Roman Syveiko (Kyiv region), and Oleksandr Remezov (Chernihiv). One of the jury members and a former national team player Vladyslav Vashchuk told The Day that the kids’ overall skills level was quite decent: “These children have been training for a long time, and they are able by now to make reasonably good and sensible decisions when passing the ball. Their future successes depend completely on their willingness to develop their skills further.”
At the same time, kids need adequate facilities for proper training. The first vice-president of the Amateur Football Association of Ukraine Oleksandr Kadenko said in his comment to The Day: “Clearly, the state pays some attention to the development of children’s soccer. More importantly, though, we are fortunate to have people on the ground throughout the country who support it because they really like the game and can afford the funds needed. Indeed, soccer is alive in rural districts and small towns because of these soccer enthusiasts. There are about 700 districts in Ukraine. Almost all of them have such people living there, and we are very grateful to them.” By the way, it was the Leather Ball Cup that launched the soccer careers of Andrii Rebrov and Yevhen Konoplianka.
