flags, banners, delayed match… The world of football shows its support for the Ukrainian people

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The world of football shows solidarity with Ukraine. On many sites, in the four corners of the Old Continent, support actions have multiplied. In Ligue 1, the Stade de Reims symbolically delayed the kick-off of its match against Monaco, whose owners are Russian, by five minutes on Sunday February 27.

“We had to symbolically show that we totally disagreed with Russia’s acts of war there.“, explained the president of Reims, Jean-Pierre Caillot, at the microphone of Prime Video before the meeting. The French club may have taken inspiration from Italy, where every Serie A match was kicked off five minutes after the scheduled time.

Bordeaux’s Josuha Guilavogui dedicated his goal on the lawn of Clermont to his Ukrainian teammate Danylo Ignatenko. Very affected, the midfielder, whose partner is stranded in Ukraine, received the support of his entire club. On the meadow, the Girondins wore a blue and yellow armband.

At the same time, the Metz supporters sent a banner “No war in Ukraine”in line with PSG and Saint-Etienne the day before with the banner “peace for all“worn by the players of both teams as they enter the pitch.

This slogan was also the general watchword of the weekend in Europe. In Munich, the Allianz Arena was illuminated on Friday for three hours in the colors of Ukraine. The following day, Polish striker Robert Lewandowski wore a yellow and blue armband, hoping that “the whole world will support” Ukraine. A minute’s silence was also observed in many matches on the continent

Several Ukrainian players have been preserved, like Andriy Lunin (Real Madrid) or Andriy Yarmolenko (West Ham). The Hammers warmed up in their teammate’s jersey. A message was also broadcast on the luminous panel of the Olympic Stadium, addressing “prayers” at “Yarmolenko and the Ukrainian people”.

Other players have been lined up. Ole Zinchenko (Manchester City) and Vitaliy Mykolenko (Everton), opposites on Saturday, embraced during the warm-up to the applause of Goodison Park. The actors of this meeting entered the meadow with Ukrainian flags on their backs. The left side of the Citizens appeared in tears on the bench.

In Benfica, the Ukrainian Roman Yaremchuk was the object of all the attention during his team’s match against Guimaraes on Sunday. The international with 36 caps entered the game in the 63rd minute, taking the captain’s armband and receiving an ovation from the entire Estadio de la luz, and a very strong emotion on his part. The Portuguese club then tweeted a video of this very special pre-match for its player with 36 selections, with the word “Unidos” (“united”) and the Ukrainian flag.

The Ukrainian player had unveiled under his Benfica tunic a shirt with the national emblem of Ukraine a few days before, celebrating his goal against Ajax Amsterdam, in the Champions League.


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