Oleksandr Zinchenko hopes that one day he will be able to look his daughter in the eye and tell her that “we did our best” when she asks him “what did you do to help when war ripped through our homeland?” Oleksandr wants to be able to answer that “we did our best” This is the reason that the Arsenal and Ukraine defense, together with the great striker Andriy Shevchenko, has organized a charity match called ‘Game4Ukraine’ to take place at Stamford Bridge on August 5.
After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, dozens of prominent former players, such as Gerard Pique and Patrick Vieira, have expressed their willingness to help collect funds for the repair of a school in Ukraine that was damaged by missiles. The school was targeted as a direct result of Russia’s invasion of the country.
Zinchenko went to the school in Chernihiv Oblast to assess the level of damage and has chosen to do what he can to assist. This is despite the fact that the game was played the day before Zinchenko is scheduled to play for Arsenal against his former side Manchester City in the Community Shield at Wembley. Zinchenko was quoted as saying, “We are using football to represent our country in the best way possible.”
It is very vital not just to gather funds to build a school, but to send a message to the rest of the world and to the Ukrainian people, who are staying there and fighting for their independence, to say: ‘You are not alone.’ This is why it is so important to raise money for the project. Despite the fact that some people are growing weary from this war, we cannot give up. Fighting for our independence and freedom is a need for us.
