Agency :
Football’s global players association FIFPRO has announced two Ukrainian footballers have died defending their country against Russia’s invasion.
The International Federation of Professional Footballers has confirmed Vitalii Sapylo, 21, and Dmytro Martynenko, 25, lost their lives in combat and have become the first football casualties of the war.
A FIFPRO statement read: ‘Our thoughts are with the families, friends and team-mates of young Ukrainian footballers Vitalii Sapylo and Dmytro Martynenko, football’s first reported losses in this war. May they both rest in peace.’
Sapylo was a goalkeeper who was part of third-division side Karpaty Lviv’s youth team and joined the Ukrainian army as a tank commander but is said to have died defending the capital Kyiv last Friday, reports the Daily Mail.
His club Karpaty Lviv labelled him a ‘hero’ after announcing he had been killed in battle.
Martynenko played for second-division side FC Gostomel and died alongside his mother after Russian bombs hit his home in an apartment block in the capital.
