Liubomyr from Ukraine
Liubomyr from Ukraine
Hi everyone, my name is Liubomyr and I’m a Watford fan from Ukraine. I live in Kyiv (and that’s the correct spelling, not Kiev) which is the capital of Ukraine, a beautiful city on the banks of the Dnipro river. The city has a lot of historical churches and beautiful parks. My country is a mixture of diverse cultures which in general are close to European cultures.
One of the most important times of year in Ukraine...
...are the winter holidays. In our culture, the winter holidays are usually spent with the family. Since the Orthodox Christian Church is the largest church in Ukraine Christmas is traditionally celebrated on January 7th. It’s a tradition and even Ukrainian Catholics like me celebrate Christmas on January 7th. On Christmas Eve, everyone gets together with their families for the ‘Twelve-dish’ Christmas Eve supper. The Twelve-dish Christmas Eve supper is an ancient tradition originating from pre-Christian times when it was dedicated to family members who had died. The essential meal of the Christmas Eve is kutia, which is prepared from wheat berries, poppy seeds, honey, walnuts, dried fruit and raisins. We also cook some other dishes such as pickled herring, wild mushrooms, red borsch and dried fruit compote.
I've been a football fan...
...since I was a child, and I can say that I’ve been a fan of the Ukrainian national football team since its first ever match in 1992. The thing I remember most of that time was the World Cup in 1994 which is when I became a football fan. The greatest football event in Ukraine happened in 2012 when Ukraine hosted Euro 2012 together with Poland. I had a chance to visit two England matches, against Sweden and Italy. Both times my seat was among or very near to the English fans and I really enjoyed the great atmosphere they created.
I like to watch...
...Match of the Day. However, at the moment I don’t have much time to watch Premier League football and rarely have time for live matches but I like to watch Match of the Day. It's a football highlights programme on the BBC in the UK. I watch this to stay in touch with the latest Premier League results. If I have some free time to watch a match I prefer to do it at the bar.
I like to travel around Ukraine at the weekend and if I have free time in a new city I never miss the chance to watch a Premier League game together with other fans.
I support...
...Watford. I have been watching the Premier League since the early 90’s. At that time Watford had only played one season in the Premier League (1999–2000). I liked Watford because of their unusual yellow and red kit (maybe I like Watford because they play in yellow like Ukraine!). I’ve never liked the ‘big boys’ like Man Utd, Chelsea or Arsenal because for me it’s not interesting to support a club with lots of money. It’s much more exciting when a small club has their moment of glory, even if it’s just for one season.
If I had a chance to ask Watford FC a question...
...it would be something about their Community Trust program. How are they going to develop it in the future and what are the main goals they would like to achieve?
My favourite football quote is...
Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and most of all, love of what you are doing or learning to do.
Pele
I like this quote because it's about football but also about life in general.
Six things you might not know about Ukraine
Quiz
Please login to take this quiz.
What do you think?
Did you learn anything new about life in Ukraine? Do you do any of the things that Liubomyr wrote about?
Tell us about where you are from and some of the things that are special about where you live.
If you want to be one of our featured fans, let us know in the comments section and we will contact you by email.
Don't worry about your English we are here to help you with that! All you need to do is answer a few questions and send us a few photos from your country.
Leave a comment
Log in to leave a comment
Comments
13/06/2020
points
I'm excited to hear your story Liubomyr and good to know more about the beautiful country Ukraine
I was wondering about your favourite team but you answered the questions in my mind so you are not a Glory Hunter though :)
All respect for you and Watford
Thanks for sharing your story and wish you and your family the best of luck :)
13/06/2020 14:26
Manchester United
6536
I'm excited to hear your story Liubomyr and good to know more about the beautiful country Ukraine
I was wondering about your favourite team but you answered the questions in my mind so you are not a Glory Hunter though :)
All respect for you and Watford
Thanks for sharing your story and wish you and your family the best of luck :)
27/10/2017
points
Thanks sabanoleg! Glory to the Heroes!
27/10/2017 13:45
Watford
4417
Thanks sabanoleg! Glory to the Heroes!
28/09/2017
points
Nice quiz Liubomyr!!!Glory to Ukraine!!!
28/09/2017 18:32
Arsenal
2337
Nice quiz Liubomyr!!!Glory to Ukraine!!!
14/07/2017
points
Actually i learned a lot about Ukraine especially their food,nd also i learned a lot of new vocabularies.
14/07/2017 12:13
Liverpool
3705
Actually i learned a lot about Ukraine especially their food,nd also i learned a lot of new vocabularies.
03/08/2017
points
Thank you assemjuve for your feedback.
03/08/2017 10:29
Watford
4417
Thank you assemjuve for your feedback.
09/05/2017
points
Thanks Liubomyr for letting us know somethings about yourself and Ukraine. It's interesting that you support the Hornets. I know that Ukraine is the biggest country in the EU. Although the quiz was very difficult, but anyhow I enjoyed it
09/05/2017 20:56
Liverpool
2903
Thanks Liubomyr for letting us know somethings about yourself and Ukraine. It's interesting that you support the Hornets. I know that Ukraine is the biggest country in the EU. Although the quiz was very difficult, but anyhow I enjoyed it
12/05/2017
points
Hi Ahmed Adam Mamado,
Thank you for your comment. Unfortunately Ukraine is not an EU member yet, Ukraine has an Association Agreement with EU, but it’s not the same as a membership. Also from June 2017 Ukrainian will have the right of visa-free travels to EU. I hope that in future Ukraine became the member of EU, but now it is complicated issue.
12/05/2017 16:08
Watford
4417
Hi Ahmed Adam Mamado,
Thank you for your comment. Unfortunately Ukraine is not an EU member yet, Ukraine has an Association Agreement with EU, but it’s not the same as a membership. Also from June 2017 Ukrainian will have the right of visa-free travels to EU. I hope that in future Ukraine became the member of EU, but now it is complicated issue.
03/05/2017
points
Liubomir congratulations for the article. Very good! There are many Brazilians playing in Ukraine, Bernard for example, how is he playing?
I liked very much to know more about the traditions in your country, mainly the Christmas.
03/05/2017 05:45
Arsenal
663
Liubomir congratulations for the article. Very good! There are many Brazilians playing in Ukraine, Bernard for example, how is he playing?
I liked very much to know more about the traditions in your country, mainly the Christmas.
04/05/2017
points
Hi RafaelRC,
Yes, there are a few Brazilians in Ukrainian League, but not so much at the moment as few years ago. And most of Brazilians are playing for FC Shakhtar Donetsk.
It seems to me that, unfortunately, Bernard is doing not so well as you may expect from Brazilian international. Such Brazilians, who may be not so well-known in Brazil, as Marlos, Fred (prior to his temporary disqualification) and Taison are playing really well and fully deserved to be named among the best players of Ukrainian League.
04/05/2017 13:08
Watford
4417
Hi RafaelRC,
Yes, there are a few Brazilians in Ukrainian League, but not so much at the moment as few years ago. And most of Brazilians are playing for FC Shakhtar Donetsk.
It seems to me that, unfortunately, Bernard is doing not so well as you may expect from Brazilian international. Such Brazilians, who may be not so well-known in Brazil, as Marlos, Fred (prior to his temporary disqualification) and Taison are playing really well and fully deserved to be named among the best players of Ukrainian League.
28/04/2017
points
Liubomir, thank you for the article. Despite our countries are close to each other, I've never heard abour kutya. I was in Ukraine several times but have never visited the capital. Hope, that I will be able to do it when the reltions between our countries will become better than now.
I still remember that supported 2 teams during Euro-2012 - the first was, of course, Russian, and the second one was Ukrainian. I hoped that Ukraine could cope with their group rivals and qualify to the play-offs, especially after my national team failed to do this. There was countless number of dirty words towards Kassai after his terrible mistake.
What club do you support in Ukraine? Is it a small club or not?
28/04/2017 22:48
Manchester City
989
Liubomir, thank you for the article. Despite our countries are close to each other, I've never heard abour kutya. I was in Ukraine several times but have never visited the capital. Hope, that I will be able to do it when the reltions between our countries will become better than now.
I still remember that supported 2 teams during Euro-2012 - the first was, of course, Russian, and the second one was Ukrainian. I hoped that Ukraine could cope with their group rivals and qualify to the play-offs, especially after my national team failed to do this. There was countless number of dirty words towards Kassai after his terrible mistake.
What club do you support in Ukraine? Is it a small club or not?
30/04/2017
points
Hi Shobonenok,
Thank you for your comment. I’m a supporter of Skala Stryi football team which is currently playing in a second tier of Ukrainian football. I support that team because it represents a town were I spent my childhood. Anyway for last 10 years I’m living 400 miles far from it so I can’t visit home matches. From time to time I visit home matches of Dynamo Kyiv.
30/04/2017 08:39
Watford
4417
Hi Shobonenok,
Thank you for your comment. I’m a supporter of Skala Stryi football team which is currently playing in a second tier of Ukrainian football. I support that team because it represents a town were I spent my childhood. Anyway for last 10 years I’m living 400 miles far from it so I can’t visit home matches. From time to time I visit home matches of Dynamo Kyiv.
30/04/2017
points
Liubomir, " I've been living 400 miles..." - with FOR + time period,
30/04/2017 17:35
Liverpool
6570
Liubomir, " I've been living 400 miles..." - with FOR + time period,
01/05/2017
points
HI Alex and Liubomyr
This is a difficult one. This is how I would write this sentence:
Rich - The Premier Skills English Team
01/05/2017 10:45
Liverpool
594
HI Alex and Liubomyr
This is a difficult one. This is how I would write this sentence:
Rich - The Premier Skills English Team
28/04/2017
points
Liubomir, thanks for your story. Do you agree that if not for the pouring rain in Donetsk on the 15-th of June 2012 and the game suspension of almost an hour, the Ukrainian team could win the game and go further from the group?
28/04/2017 17:28
Liverpool
6570
Liubomir, thanks for your story. Do you agree that if not for the pouring rain in Donetsk on the 15-th of June 2012 and the game suspension of almost an hour, the Ukrainian team could win the game and go further from the group?
30/04/2017
points
Hi Alex,
Thank you for your reply. I agree with that, unfortunately Ukraine is a little bit unlucky with weather conditions, the similar situation was in the game versus Nothern Ireland on Euro2016.
30/04/2017 08:32
Watford
4417
Hi Alex,
Thank you for your reply. I agree with that, unfortunately Ukraine is a little bit unlucky with weather conditions, the similar situation was in the game versus Nothern Ireland on Euro2016.