Olbia, the football at war of the little Ukrainians fleeing the bombs

From Ukraine at war to Gallura where the only bombs are those thrown into the net : on the pitch, in the international under-14 football tournament Manlio Selis, eighteen players from Lokomotyv Kyiv, the oldest and most promising youth team in Eastern Europe, not only to defend the honour of their team, but also to represent a country fighting for freedom and the history of a generation that refuses to give up.

Thirty-six hours of travel, from Kiev on a bus to Krakow to Olbia, the young Ukrainians descended on the Gallura fields to kick the fear of the bombings and make the strength of their nation win, which has resisted Russian attacks for four years and which, in 2024, also destroyed the structure where they trained. They come from the occupied territories, Donetsk, Kherson, Kharkiv. Evacuated and welcomed by the club chaired by Alex Yegorov, they debuted in Gallura with the Ukrainian flag on their shoulders.

Lokomotyv Kyiv was founded in 1919 and since the 1930s has been based in the building razed by the explosion where initially football matches between railway workers and employees were played. Before the attack, it housed seven hundred children and young people, many of whom were displaced from the occupied territories, almost half of whom lost a family member in the war.