At a hospital in Zaporizhzhia, the city that received thousands of evacuees from Mariupol, he met a boy who had sustained 18 bone fractures along with shrapnel wounds to the head and chest. He lands upon one in particular that made the job required of him crystal clear. Pavelko spends the next half‑hour offering a whirlwind precis of the visits – he has travelled to every region of Ukraine at least twice since February – and personal stories that convinced him football was fundamental to the country’s resistance and recovery. The president was prepared to give us everything we needed to let the world know Ukraine is a strong country and that we are confident in our victory.” “They were conversations about what our society needs right now. “I raised the question and heard a firm ‘Yes’,” he says. Top-flight clubs were unanimous in giving it a go but two meetings with Volodymyr Zelenskiy in late May were pivotal in garnering political will. Work there never really stopped: as soon as Russia invaded there were round‑the‑clock efforts to evacuate teams, players, referees and coaches efforts to help on the humanitarian front quickly followed and then came the issue of getting back under way. “It’s been a great challenge in my life,” says Pavelko, speaking animatedly at the FA’s headquarters. This is new, barely precedented territory and tweaks are expected along the way. Referees will confer with military advisers to make that decision. What will happen if and when air raid sirens interrupt play? Nobody can be entirely sure how that will feel but games may be abandoned if they sound for longer than an hour. Ought the precise time and location of games be kept secret? That was up for discussion but ultimately rejected. Should fans be allowed in? That question was easy enough to answer during wartime.

That was when the security protocols were finally signed off after exhaustive conversations that were not always plain sailing. Only last Wednesday did Pavelko feel certain the sport would return on the date, one day before the celebration of Ukrainian independence, he had earmarked. Football will be the breath of fresh air that reminds people what we are fighting and dying for.” “And it’s going to be the same this time. “When our national team played against Scotland in June I cried as soon as the anthem started playing, I just couldn’t believe it,” says the Ukrainian FA president. I n one sense Andriy Pavelko feels prepared for the moment Shakhtar Donetsk and Metalist 1925 kick off a new football season on Tuesday.

Good titles for a football story