On November 2 at the «MSK Dnipro» stadium in Cherkasy, the third all-Ukrainian amputee football tournament — Autumn Cup of the «League of Strengths», a project laureate of the prestigious international UEFA FootbALL Awards 2025 award, took place.

This is already the third cup stage in 2025 after winter and spring ones, and it became debut for new teams that are taking their first steps at a professional level. The tournament continues the main mission of the project — to discover new names, inspire, and create opportunities for people with amputations to return to an active life through sports.

Participants of the Autumn Cup«League of Strengths»-2025:

—«Sich» (Zaporizhzhia);

—«Veres Mriya» (Rivne);

—«Dnipro Chast» (Dnipro);

—«Kryvbas AMP» (Kryvyi Rih).

Photos by the press service of the UAF

For all four teams, this was their debut in professional amputee football competitions.

In total, 70 new players joined the «League of Strengths» community this season, which testifies to the rapid development of the movement across Ukraine.

Results of matches in the Autumn Cup«League of Strengths»-2025:

«Veres Mriya»—«Kryvbas AMP»—1:0

«Dnipro Chast»—«Sich»—6:0

«Kryvbas AMP»—«Sich»—0:0, pen. — 1:2

«Veres Mriya»—«Dnipro Chast»—2:3

Photos by the press service of the UAF

Thus, according to the results of the tournament, victory was won by the «Dnipro Chast» team, which, along with «Veres Mriya», will join the fight in the first league of Ukraine's amputee football championship from the next, fourth round.

Photos by the press service of the UAF

During the opening ceremony and awarding, welcoming speeches were given to participants by CEO of the UAF Foundation Olena Balbek, head of the Cherkasy Oblast Football Association Andriy Poltavets, and director of the adaptive sports department at the «Ukraine Mass Sports Agency» Yegor Alekseyenko.

"I welcome everyone to the family of the «League of Strengths»! We have been following your development on social media and during training sessions — we are impressed by how quickly you adapted to the demands of amputee football. I wish you bright emotions, inspiration, and satisfaction from playing!" said Olena Balbek.

Photos by the press service of the UAF

The Autumn Cup is held by the Ukrainian Football Association in partnership with Ukraine's Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Mass Sports Agency of Ukraine. Official partners of the «League of Strengths» are Mastercard and Oschadbank. Also, partners of the project include adidas, Lviv Brewery, and MEGOGO.

*Amputee football — is a sport for people with amputations or congenital limb deficiencies. The game follows these main rules. Seven players are on the field (six outfield and one goalkeeper). Outfield players must have an amputation or deficiency of the lower limb, while the goalkeeper must have an upper-limb amputation. Outfield players move around using crutches without prostheses, while goalkeepers play without crutches. The game consists of two halves of 25 minutes each with a 10-minute break in between. The pitch is smaller than a standard football field (60x40 m). Adapted rules of football are used with an emphasis on player safety. There are women's, men's, and mixed teams. It is a dynamic and exciting sport that promotes inclusion and inspires through its spirit of competition.

Over 100,000 people in Ukraine live with amputated limbs. For many of them, amputee football opens the way to physical and psychological recovery, returning to an active life, and joining a community of like-minded individuals.

*«League of Strengths» — is a social project by the Ukrainian Football Association that helps people with amputations or limb deficiencies to return to an active life, find inspiration through sports. The project covers a wide range of tasks: attracting new players, creating teams in cities, organizing training sessions, preparing professionals (coaches and managers), as well as equipping teams with full-fledged sporting equipment. UAF also develops the competitive component: it holds cups and initiates championships. Official partners of the «League of Strengths» are Mastercard and Oschadbank.

In a year, training centers for amputee football were established in 18 cities across Ukraine: Boryspil, Vinnytsia, Dnipro, Zhytomyr, Zaporizhzhia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kyiv, Kryvyi Rih, Lutsk, Lviv, Odesa, Rivne, Ternopil, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, Cherkasy, Chernivtsi, and Chernihiv. The project has spurred the creation of 20 teams that are dynamically developing, contributing to the popularization of amputee football across Ukraine. In total, over 500 players have been recruited who actively train, develop their skills, and participate in competitions.

In January 2025, the first tournament, Winter Cup «League of Strengths», was held with five teams participating. In March, the «League of Strengths» team played an historic match against the Red Flamingos in Belgium and won 1-0. And already in May, the second tournament took place — Spring Cup «League of Strengths», which was attended by eight teams.

Less than a year after its inception, the «League of Strengths» became a laureate in the prestigious UEFA FootbALL Awards 2025 in the category of “National Association.”

*UAF Foundation — is a charitable foundation established by the Ukrainian Football Association that implements social projects and fundraising aimed at developing football in Ukraine. The main areas of activity of the foundation include adaptive football, mass children's football, women's football, social support, and restoring sports infrastructure. The foundation also initiates projects related to overcoming war consequences, using the unifying power of football for positive changes in society.