On 9^th April 2014, CAFE Project Coordinator in Ukraine Oleksandr Ostapa presented Virni Levy with the Ukrainian Disabled Supporters Association (DSA) Award as part of the 2014 CAFE Week of Action.

The Virni Levy DSA has passionately supported Karpaty Lviv for the last five years, and members of the DSA have attended all home matches in this time. They have also visited seven other cities to watch their team play.

The award was presented to Taras Kontsevich, the head of Virni Levy. Taras Pavliv, the head of the NGO Zavzhdy Virni and Karpaty midfielder Yaroslav Martynyuk also attended the ceremony with a number of disabled fans. Zavzhdy Virni owns a 50% stake in Karpaty Lviv.

Taras said, “We are pleased that CAFE has recognised our achievements. It can be really difficult even to get around the city of Lviv so our stadium visits, particularly in other cities, really are something we are proud of”.

Yaroslav added, “All of our players know our disabled fans. Their support is especially important to us as no matter what, they are always with the team. Whether there is poor weather or we are losing, our disabled fans are there”.

Virni Levy are eager to continue their good work and are already looking at how they can retain the award next year. We congratulate them on their great work and look forward to hearing about many more achievements.

A version of this article is also available in Ukrainian and Russian.

Published 10/04/2014