The first joint action of DTEK and FC Shakhtar under the above memorandum will be to expand the ‘Let’s Play!’ project promoting children football. The project will make it possible for 1,100 children in seven towns and villages across Ukraine to learn football skills free of charge.
In 2018, the ‘Let's Play!’ project will be expanded to ten more villages and towns: the settlement of Dobrotvir, the town of Chervonohrad (Lviv region), the towns of Dobropillia, Bilozerske, Kurakhove (Donetsk region), the town of Shchastia, the settlement of Petropavlivka (Luhansk region), the town of Burshtyn, the villages of Demeshkivtsi and Demianiv (Ivano-Frankivsk region). DTEK and FC Shakhtar will build new modern football grounds, arrange training sessions and regular competitions for young football players, and organise professional training, internship and master classes with European specialists for their coaches. The sportsmen will be provided with all the necessary equipment and gear.
The partnership between DTEK and FC Shakhtar will develop through the specialised charity Shakhtar Social set up by the football club. According to the memorandum, DTEK becomes the charity's general partner. In 2018 alone, our company is going to allocate UAH 7.6 mln for its operations.
"We are joining our efforts with Shakhtar to make the sports even more accessible to Ukrainians. First and foremost, in small towns where there is no appropriate infrastructure and specialists. Only last year, our cooperation created opportunities for another 1,000 kids to take part in the most popular game in the world: they can develop, keep themselves healthy and fit, and learn how to be part of the team. Symbolically, the new stage of our cooperation with FC Shakhtar begins at the time when our team is celebrating two victories at once—in the Ukrainian Premier League and the Ukrainian Cup. I am sure that our joint initiative aimed at popularizing football on a mass scale will give impetus to equally amazing and unforgettable feats achieved by Ukraine and Ukrainians—both in sports and in other domains," said Maxym Timchenko, DTEK's CEO.
"Today one of the most important social problems is children's low interest in regular sports participation. Shakhtar's mission is to change generally accepted approaches and suggest new solutions, as well as foster football culture in our country. Most social activities of our club are related to children's sports, namely football. Though Shakhtar is a professional football club participating in the most famous European tournaments, we believe it important to develop children's amateur football on a mass scale. Together with DTEK, we plan to significantly expand our football efforts in Ukraine and hope that such social initiatives will help achieve the European rates of children's involvement in regular sports activities in the regions of our presence," said Sergii Palkin, CEO of FC Shaktar.