Ukrainian flags fly over Coverciano's auditorium, one of the Technical Centre's sumbols. Yellow and blue mix with white, red and green, in a fusion of colours that emanates sincere friendship and cooperation. From 5 July until next Monday, 15 July, forty young Ukrainian footballers born in 2010, 2011 and 2012, accompanied by ten male and female coaches, as well as a representative from the Ukrainian Football Federation, have had the opportunity to get away for a few days from the horrors of war, training in the heart of Italian football.

Thanks to the cooperation agreement, signed last February by the presidents of the FIGC and the Ukrainian Football Association, Gabriele Gravina and Andrii Shevchenko, this initiative was able to be put into practice, which has involved boys and girls registered with the Ukrainian FA coming from the most affected areas by the ongoing conflict, such as Kharkiv, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia and Mykolaiv, with the aim of overcoming the difficulties encountered in carrying out training and sporting activities in Ukraine.

"We are proud of the message that Coverciano is a symbol in these days and we are honoured that the FIGC was the first European organisation to host Ukrainian girls and boys by virtue of a beautiful project created by a friend of Italy in Andrii Shevchenko," declared the FIGC President, Gabriele Gravina. "Football represents an extraordinary vehicle of peace and friendship. We strongly believe in cooperation initiatives and, as we have done in the past since the beginning of the conflict, we will continue to support our Ukrainian friends".

In addition to the on-field activities for the young players, led by the FIGC Youth and School Sector's national and regional coaches, the ten Ukrainian coaches were able to follow training workshops coordinated by the central structure of the SGS with the support of the Technical Sector in recent days. Among the topics covered were the organization and development projects for youth football, the principles and methodology of training, valuing the area and the growth paths of individual footballers.

Finally, the awarding of certificates of participation to the footballers and coaches, male and female, this morning: a small memory, with the hope that in the future, by looking at them, they will remember these happy days, in such a difficult period, in which football and sport can represent a glimmer of hope.