COLOGNE Video: Drive to safety – Ukrainian kickers in Cologne Sugar Mizzy March 24, 2022 Video Train in safety – Ukrainian kickers in Cologne STORY: The training grounds of 1. FC Köln are located in Cologne’s green belt. The footballers from FC Kryvbas from the Ukraine have found a new sporting home here. With the support of the 1. FC Köln Foundation, the entire team and support staff were able to take a bus from the Ukrainian border directly to Cologne last week. The women’s team is staying in a hotel managed by a sponsor and is supposed to keep fit as much as possible in Cologne. Thorsten Friedrich is a project manager at the 1. FC Köln foundation and sees other possible uses for the team in the future. “These girls, for example, or the support team can also act as trainers or contact persons, for others possibly amateur or professional athletes who end up stranded somewhere in Cologne. In any large refugee camp, 90/95 percent are women with children of all ages. And these children can then also experience football training. That’s the vision of the horrible everyday wartime life, then here in a supposedly positive training session. But the goal is achieved when maybe one or two of the girls or other girls or young people simply teach, enable free time in football.” But there is only time not to think about it. The uncertainty about the situation of the relatives in Ukraine is too deep. Anna Ivanova is the captain of the team and her feelings. “To be safe here while my family is under siege is very difficult. We haven’t been able to sleep for several nights because we are afraid for our families. We can still reach them. They seek shelter in the basement. Rockets fly, sirens wail, so they spend the nights. Very restless, like ours here.” For Ruslana Levchenko, who is only 17, it is a very big challenge to feel safe here while her relatives are still in Ukraine. “It was very difficult to leave home. Leaving relatives and friends behind. But those in charge of our association have done everything possible so that we can print here in peace. They try to distract us from the bad news and sometimes they succeed.” As a team, you will overcome the problems together in the next few weeks. To enjoy football again. It’s going to be a long road. More The players of FC Kryvbas from the Ukraine have found a new sporting home at the training ground of 1. FC Köln. #The men