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Paulo Fonseca, the previous Shakhtar Donetsk and AS Roma soccer supervisor, and his Ukrainian spouse Katerina, first tried to flee the nation by automotive, together with their toddler and Katerina’s dad and mom.
After encountering gridlocked visitors, they had been compelled to spend one other evening within the capital inside a lodge bunker, earlier than enduring a 30-hour automotive journey by way of Moldova to Romania.
“This battle is, I imagine, one of many cruelest within the story of the entire world, as a result of the troopers which might be killing us, they’re speaking the identical language and it is unbelievable.”
“We left the whole lot in Ukraine,” Katerina added, together with buddies and family who’ve remained within the nation, “All of the locations that imply a lot for us are nonetheless there, so my coronary heart is there and my coronary heart is damaged for the whole lot.”
Greater than three million Ukrainians have fled in a refugee exodus following Russia’s invasion of the nation, in line with the United Nations. To place that into context, it took six months for a million refugees to go away Syria in 2013, practically two years after that nation’s civil battle started.
Many cities in Ukraine have been devastated, Katerina mentioned, including that it was necessary to cease the battle and forestall it from spreading to different European nations.
The Fonseca household arrived in Paulo’s dwelling nation of Portugal on February 28 and are actually working with the Portuguese Soccer Federation as ambassadors of an initiative with Portuguese nationwide soccer golf equipment which goals to assist Ukrainian refugees discover properties and jobs.
After his enjoying profession, primarily with Lisbon membership Estrela da Amadora, the 49-year outdated Fonseca first grew to become a supervisor in Portugal in 2005. He then went on to earn the excellence of greatest coach within the Ukrainian Premier League in 2016-17 as Shakhtar Donetsk coach, the place he received seven trophies in three seasons.
“I am very proud to be a part of this world, to be a part of soccer, what the folks in soccer are doing, it is superb. However I feel we will do extra,” Fonseca informed CNN Sport.
“I want to see the nice personalities of soccer defending the peace in Europe. I feel it may be essential,” he mentioned.
Throughout the 2017-18 UEFA Champions League season, Fonseca’s Shakhtar Donetsk dealt Pep Guardiola’s Manchester Metropolis their first defeat in 29 video games to progress to the knockout phases.
Memorably, he made headlines after that well-known victory when he appeared within the post-match press convention dressed as his childhood hero, Zorro.
A transfer to Italy adopted and after an nearly two-year run with AS Roma, the Portuguese was final 12 months linked with the highest jobs at English Premier League golf equipment Tottenham and Newcastle United.
Since ending his time at Roma in Might 2021, the supervisor had engaged in varied talking occasions in Ukraine.
He returned to Ukraine early from a vacation to assist his spouse and household escape.
In an Instagram put up asserting the Fonsecas’ new roles as ambassadors for the Ukrainian refugee initiative, the previous Roma supervisor added that the Portuguese Soccer Federation had “demonstrated that soccer can and needs to be used as a instrument for social change.”
He appealed to all golf equipment to hitch in solidarity with the initiative.
Katerina expressed her gratitude for the Portuguese Soccer Federation, saying: “They’re receiving with open arms our little younger gamers. It’s a actually massive assist for the children, which misplaced all of the happiness of their on a regular basis lives.”
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