A language of survival: The perseverance and heart of the Ukraine women’s national team

A language of survival: The perseverance and heart of the Ukraine women’s national team

class="wp-block-paragraph">Growing up between Manchester and Kherson — a port city in the south of Ukraine — has always felt like existing between two worlds. Each city shaped me in different ways, through my beliefs, way of life, friendship groups, family, and a sense of identity that continues to shift between them. Never fully rooted in one place.

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class="wp-block-paragraph">And yet, I carry a kind of Cossack spirit within me (historic Ukrainian warriors known for their independence and resilience). Even in England, my home life remains deeply Ukrainian. It is in the food, the conversations, the songs I sing, the jokes I make, and in the memories that travel with me. A part of me that refuses to fade no matter where I am.

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class="wp-block-paragraph">And still, there is Kherson — the place that shaped most of who I am. I think of it now as something altered, distant and completely changed by war, yet never removed from me.

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class="wp-block-paragraph">And it is perhaps why I find myself drawn to the Ukrainian women’s national team. Because in them, I recognise the same endurance, that same refusal to disappear. Even when everything around them has changed. It is in these thoughts that I realise why football matters to me so deeply.

class="wp-block-paragraph">It has always fascinated me because it makes people believe.

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class="wp-block-paragraph">Football fuels the strongest of emotions, weaving love and faith into the fabric of every chant, dance, celebration and heartbreak. In those 90 minutes, sorrow and joy can exist in the same air.

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class="wp-block-paragraph">A physical and rhythmic performance dictated by hunger, passion and teamwork. The pitch becomes a stage where football becomes more than just a game for Ukraine. It becomes a performance of resilience and national identity.

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class="wp-block-paragraph">While many teams step onto pristine pitches, institutional funding and technical support from domestic federations, Ukraine’s women have carried the weight of something much heavier. Playing with the knowledge that home is hurting, heartbreak has no expiry date, and that our women are having to build success from a starting point far behind their international counterparts.

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class="wp-block-paragraph">The ground beneath them is not as level as it is for others.

A powerful attack in Kyiv, Ukraine where a residential building was destroyed. Photo by Dmytro Tolokonov on Unsplash.

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class="wp-block-paragraph">Although facing limited resources and greater obstacles than many other national teams do, they continue to stand proudly for their nation, demonstrating that their identity, determination and hope remain unbroken.

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class="wp-block-paragraph">Every match becomes an act of resistance, alchemising struggle to perseverance, where unity can prevail even in the most difficult circumstances. Every cheer becomes a reminder that the nation’s heartbeat continues to echo far beyond the battlefield. Guiding the girls’ dance on the pitch as they form into a blue and yellow sea.

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class="wp-block-paragraph">Every chant turns into an outstretched arm, draped across the shoulders of those carrying Ukraine with them in their hearts. It becomes a chorus of love drifting through the stadium like a familiar lullaby, guiding the players as a reminder that they are never alone.

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class="wp-block-paragraph">And in those moments, for me, Ukrainian football becomes greater than victory or defeat. It becomes something that distance dissolves and borders blur. The echo for something greater than just a win against the opposing team, and proof that football is never only 90 minutes.

Photo by Ivan Bandura on Unsplash

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class="wp-block-paragraph">When the final whistle fades into the air, what remains is the fact that Ukraine’s pain does not silence connection. Because even in its most fragile moments, football still finds ways to hold people together.

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class="wp-block-paragraph">Football at its heart is not just played. It is felt, carried, and then remembered.

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class="wp-block-paragraph">And in the story of the Ukrainian women’s national team, it becomes a language of survival written in movement, sound, and belief. The secret to their survival is their perseverance.

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class="wp-block-paragraph">I hold onto the hope that the same perseverance that carries the Ukrainian women’s national team forward will also carry Ukraine itself to freedom from war, and bring back my Kherson, even as it exists now only in fragments of what it once was.

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