Ukraine FA visit to UEFA

Europe's national football associations continue to reinforce their relationship with UEFA by visiting the European body for discussions on football's development in their country and across the continent.

The president of the Football Federation of Ukraine (FFU), Andriy Pavelko, and general secretary Volodymyr Geninson came to the House of European Football in Nyon for talks with UEFA President Michel Platini and senior UEFA national association managers.

The FFU became a self-sufficient entity in March 1991. Until then, Ukraine had been part of the USSR Football Federation, with its clubs contesting the Soviet championship. Since 1991, Ukraine has become a competitive football country in its own right and has enjoyed its share of positive experiences.

On the club scene, FC Shakhtar Donetsk won the last-ever UEFA Cup in 2009, and FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk took part in an entertaining UEFA Europa League final in May this year, losing to Sevilla FC by the odd goal in five in Warsaw. Ukraine's national side first impressed in a major final round in 2006, reaching the last eight of the FIFA World Cup in Germany. Three years ago, Ukraine co-hosted a memorable UEFA EURO 2012 with Poland, and the country's football administrators and fans are hopeful for future successes.

Great players from Ukraine have graced the European and world stage. Three of them have been European Footballers of the Year: Oleh Blokhin (1975), Igor Belanov (1986) and Andriy Shevchenko (2004). FC Dynamo Kyiv twice won the European Cup Winners' Cup, in 1975 and 1986, as well as the UEFA Super Cup in 1975.

Diligent grassroots work in conjunction with the Ukrainian authorities has already brought success – a runners-up position in the 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, and the European Under-19 Championship title on home soil in 2009. The national futsal side were runners-up at the UEFA European Futsal Championships in 2001 and 2003.

Dnipropetrovsk-born Andriy Pavelko played football at grassroots level and headed the football association of Dnipropetrovsk from 2001. He was elected to the FFU executive committee in 2003, became association vice-president in September 2012 and was elected as president of the FFU in March this year. "My visit left me with great emotions and impressions," he told UEFA.org. "In football, UEFA is our home, and most importantly, we are part of the European footballing family."

"I took the opportunity, first of all, to once again thank [UEFA] for giving the possibility to Ukraine and Poland to host EURO 2012. It genuinely gave a huge boost to the development of football in Ukraine. We had the opportunity [in Nyon] to understand what the routes of development are going to be both on a European level and on a Ukrainian level, and where we might count on UEFA's support in our regional and national football development projects."

Pavelko welcomed UEFA's specific support to Ukraine through its HatTrick assistance programme. "I believe that the programme is one of the best opportunities for Ukraine and other European associations," he said. "It is necessary today, more than ever before, to tackle specifically infrastructural objectives, namely stadiums and artificial surfaces. Thanks to the HatTrick programme, children now have the opportunity in Ukraine to play on modern artificial surfaces."

Work in Ukraine is ongoing to decentralise football development decision-making to the regional associations, and the FFU is working alongside UEFA to tackle the issue of match-fixing. "One of the first aims is to fight against this evil, starting with mass youth football and going right up to the professional leagues," said Pavelko. "We have taken our example from UEFA - we are handing out more power so that we have the ability to effectively fight against one of the biggest problems of football." Draft laws are being registered in Ukraine's parliament to implement effective measures as part of the campaign.

Does Andriy Pavelko have any special hopes for football's future in his country? "My main objective as someone who was born and lives in Ukraine," he reflects, "is that children all over the territory have the opportunity to play football, to make their parents happy, to be sporty and healthy and successful thanks to football...to enjoy life and football, bringing joy to everyone with their victories for their teams."