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BIFA 2024

'Master of The Ball' Soccer School

  • Photographer
    Oleksandr Osipov
  • Agency / Studio
    Epa (as A Stringer)

Children take part in a soccer training session in Kharkiv, Ukraine, 04 October 2023. The children's soccer school 'Master of the Ball' which resumed training in Kharkiv's Saltivka district in April 2023, is located in an area heavily damaged during fighting in 2022. The school is one of a few soccer schools which have reopened since the beginning of the Russian invasion. Russian troops entered Ukrainian territory in February 2022, starting a conflict that has provoked destruction and a humanitarian crisis.

Oleksandr Osipov (1985) is a Ukrainian reportage photographer based in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Started career in 2009 in sports reportage: FC Metalist Kharkiv as a staff photographer, UEFA and FIBA as a freelancer. Expanded activity in photojournalism highlighting arts, social events, Russia's war against Ukraine. Worked as a stringer for Reuters, EPA. Became internationally known in March 2022 with "In the Streets of Kharkiv" video series – performances of cellist Denys Karachevtsev playing Bach in the ruined streets of Kharkiv. The project received huge coverage on social media and TV.