Bucha Fortuna head coach Volodymyr Bondarenko has taken the field for Ukraine’s national veterans’ team. The side played a charity match in Lubny, Poltava region, in support of the Special Operations Forces of Ukraine’s armed forces.

FC Bucha Fortuna reported this.

What the match was

Lubny region select 2, Ukraine 7. The game was played at the local stadium and drew a sizeable crowd: in the team’s ten-year history this was its first visit to Lubny, the Ukrainian Football Veterans Association notes.

Vasyl Rats led the side out as captain. Alongside Bondarenko on the pitch were Eduard Tsykhmeistruk, Yevhen Seleznov, Vladyslav Vashchuk, Mykola Moroziuk, Serhii Fedorov, Vitalii Samoilov, Serhii Pohorilyi, Oleksandr Kosyrin, Viacheslav Sviderskyi, Artem Starhorodskyi, Oleksandr Venhlynskyi, Kostiantyn Sakharov and Ivan Kryvosheienko.

All seven of Ukraine’s goals came from a pair of former internationals: Seleznov scored four, Kosyrin three.

Why they played

A charity auction of football lots — shirts and balls — was held during the match. The money raised will go to one of the units of the Special Operations Forces.

The team’s visit to Lubny was supported by Agrobiznes, the Sobutskyi Family Charitable Foundation, the Association of SOF Veterans and the Ukrainian Association of Football. Association president Oleh Sobutskyi was absent — he is serving in the armed forces; on his behalf, match organiser Oleh Savluchynskyi was presented with a shirt signed by the team.

Charity auction lots before the match in LubnyPhoto: Ukrainian Football Veterans Association
Charity auction lots before the match in Lubny
Veterans’ team players with children before kick-offPhoto: Ukrainian Football Veterans Association
Veterans’ team players with children before kick-off
The teams walk out at the Lubny stadiumPhoto: Ukrainian Football Veterans Association
The teams walk out at the Lubny stadium
The match organiser receives a shirt signed by the teamPhoto: Ukrainian Football Veterans Association
The match organiser receives a shirt signed by the team
Officials and captains before the opening whistlePhoto: Ukrainian Football Veterans Association
Officials and captains before the opening whistle
The stands of the Lubny stadium during the matchPhoto: Ukrainian Football Veterans Association
The stands of the Lubny stadium during the match
Spectators with a home-made banner supporting the veteransPhoto: Ukrainian Football Veterans Association
Spectators with a home-made banner supporting the veterans
A moment from the Lubny select v Ukraine matchPhoto: Ukrainian Football Veterans Association
A moment from the Lubny select v Ukraine match

What comes next for Fortuna

Bucha are fifth in the Kyiv region championship, and in the regional cup they lead 9-0 after the first leg of the last 16. On Saturday, 26 September, Fortuna travel to Tytan Kyiv, and on 3–4 October they play the return leg against the Anatolii Trubin Academy.

As a reminder, Bucha Fortuna have signed three new players — a First League striker, a regional champion and a Kyiv-region utility man.