(Munich) Before Ukraine’s entry into the Euro 2024 on Monday, a piece of the grandstand from a Kharkiv stadium destroyed by bombing was exhibited in Munich, in the presence of Andriï Shevchenko, president of the Ukrainian federation.
This temporary exhibition was inaugurated in a central square in the Bavarian capital, a twin city of Kyiv since 1989, in front of several hundred supporters of the Ukrainian national team.
Blue and yellow seats, the colors of Ukraine, shredded and carried by a piece of mesh from the Sonyachny stadium in Kharkiv, in the north-east of the country, were exposed at the foot of a statue of Maximilian I, Duke of Bavaria.
This 5,000-seat stadium was built in 2011 to serve as a training ground for Euro-2012. With the bombing of Kharkiv, it was destroyed and has been unusable since May 2022.
On the occasion of Euro-2024 in Germany, the organizers wish to shine the spotlight on the destruction of the country’s sports facilities since the outbreak of war in Ukraine by Russia on February 24, 2022.
“It means a lot to me to be here,” said Andrei Shevchenko. “We start our tournament today, with a team on the field, but millions of soldiers defending Ukraine. We’re all together,” added the 2004 Ballon d’Or.
The Ukrainian selection plays its first Euro-2024 match against Romania on Monday at 3 p.m. in Munich.
On Ukrainian territory, the Ukrainian Football Federation recalls that 77 stadiums have been destroyed since the outbreak of the conflict. More than 500 sports facilities were damaged by Russian bombing, forcing many Ukrainian athletes to train outside their country, particularly to prepare for the Olympic Games in Paris (July 26-August 11).
This piece of destroyed stand will then be exhibited on Friday in Düsseldorf (west), where Ukraine will challenge Slovakia for its second match of the first round, then in Stuttgart on June 26 before the match against Belgium.
