In May, a charity auction titled “Buy a lot from the Legends of Ukrainian Sports so that orphans can have a football field” was held at the Valeriy Lobanovskyi Dynamo Stadium in Kyiv.

The goal of the event was to raise funds for the construction of a football field and an inclusive children’s sports playground at the Center for Medical Rehabilitation and Palliative Care for Children in Zhytomyr. In addition to the center’s residents, this infrastructure will also be available to around 6,000 children from the entire region.

The event was organized by the Dynamo Football Club, the Andrii Matiukha Foundation, the Ukrainian Journalists’ National Team, and the News Center information agency.

“Sport must be accessible to all Ukrainian children,” — Andrii Matiukha Foundation

“Participating in such initiatives means contributing to an environment where children can grow up active and socially included. We joined the auction because supporting sports is one of the key areas of our foundation’s work,” explained Andrii Matiukha, the founder of the organization.

The auction featured sports memorabilia signed by famous Ukrainian athletes. These included shirts from Ukrainian national team players Oleksandr Zinchenko and Illia Zabarnyi, footballs autographed by Andrii Shevchenko and other national team members, boxing gloves from Vitalii Klychko and Oleksandr Usyk, a sneaker from Serhii Stakhovsky, and a collectible coin from Usyk.

The Andrii Matiukha Foundation was established in 2024. Its focus is on supporting projects in the fields of sports, education, and healthcare, assisting veterans, and strengthening the resilience of Ukrainian communities.