Ukraine's leading English-language newspaper since 1995

Ukraine shares football with Europe as the continent’s favorite pastime.

The game, called soccer in North America, has spawned rugby, and American and Australian-rules football around the world. In Ukraine, televised matches can be watched practically every night, with stations showing games from major European leagues, including Ukraine’s own Premier League. Then there are the star-studded matches of the Union of European Football Association’s Champion League and, once every four years, the European and World Cups.

But watching the game is not as fun as playing it. If every park in major U.S. cities has a basketball court and baseball diamond, then almost every residential building complex in Kyiv has a mini-soccer field nearby.

Many Ukrainian footballers, including AC Milan striker Andriy Shevchenko, grew up playing on these gravel-laden, sporadically-grassed fields. Shevchenko played in Kyiv’s north side Obolon district until he was scouted by Dynamo Kyiv’s youth school for his amazing talent.

Kyiv’s football enthusiasts are no different today. They cut school early for a chance to kick around a ball regardless of the weather or field conditions. On the weekends, they force late risers out of bed with their hoots and hollers and the sounds of soccer balls striking steel fences.Conditions are far from ideal on the football field near Livoberezhna metro stop, featured in this photo report. But just like their idols from the big leagues, these players will not be prevented from playing by mud, snow, severe heat or frigid cold. All that is required is an outdoor ball and a desire to play.