Back in January, CAFE's Head of Development in Eastern Europe Elena Karpukhina and Project Coordinator in Ukraine Olena Zhyvaikina travelled to Kharkiv to meet FC Metalist’s SLO\DSO Anton Ivanov and Stadium Operations Manager Alexander Rogatchevskij. FC Metalist have been running a long-standing social policy at the club, and have had significant success with this.

As a host stadium of UEFA EURO 2012, major improvements have taken place at the stadium. Metalist Stadium provides 104 places for wheelchair users and their PA’s, which is an improvement on the facilities prior to the tournament.

FC Metalist are now stepping up efforts to attract more fans to the stadium, and especially disabled fans. Particular attention is given to partially sighted and blind supporters, and the club plans to implement audio described commentary in the near future. This is a service that was first made available during UEFA EURO 2012 as part of the disability awareness project CAFE delivered around the tournament in all eight host cities across Poland and Ukraine.

The representatives of the club are also willing to support the initiatives of CAFE’s legacy project. FC Metalist is open for cooperation and is ready to adopt European practices in the matters of social responsibility.

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

Published 05/03/2013