Putting football into perspective is not difficult for Oleksandr Zinchenko.
“I’m saying, in my head and to my wife, I really want to be in Ukraine because this is my homeland,” he says. “Watching and following the news where almost every day people are dying for no reason, you’re just asking yourself: what are they (Russia) trying to achieve?”
It is approaching two years since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Visibility aids defiance and the national team’s Euro 2024 play-offs, in which Ukraine will take on Bosnia and Herzegovina in the semi-final in March, are looming large on the horizon. But other geopolitical issues and conflicts — most notably the war in Israel and Gaza — have left the situation in Zinchenko’s homeland fighting for coverage.
“Maybe some people got fatigued about it, but all of us Ukrainians around the world… we can’t be tired from it because this is our lives, this is our country,” the Arsenal defender tells The Athletic. “It’s so hard to be far away from my country every single day. We need to speak about this more and that’s what we’re trying to do.
“Ukrainian people playing abroad in football, tennis, boxing — we need to represent our country. This is our duty. Everyone with a Ukrainian passport needs to do their…
