Dmytro Zabrodin had to flee war-torn Ukraine and his new life in Aberdeen has led him to the UEFA Futsal Champions League.
The goalkeeper is part of the Aberdeen Futsal Academy squad competing in European competition in Linz, Austria.
Zabrodin admits he hadn’t heard of Aberdeen until he arrived in the Granite City in June 2022.
The 34-year-old, his wife Kateryna and 10-year-old daughter Sofiia chose to leave their home in the city of Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine following a chilling brush with death.
Zabrodin, who mother is in still in his homeland, explained: “In Mykolaiv we were not struggling as badly as some other parts of Ukraine. But we still saw bombs going off and things like that.
“The Russians hit the main pipe which supplied Mykolaiv with water and after that life became horrible. People were standing in queues to get water from the river.
“After that a missile hit our building and we decided to go.
“The missile wasn’t directly where my flat was, but my flat is in a big building in the right hand side of the building and the missile hit the middle of the building.
“After that, my wife said: ‘That’s enough for me, we need to move.’
“So that’s why we ended up moving.
“When the missile hit it felt horrible – it felt like an earthquake.
“When you are there you need to make a very fast decision about what you’re going to do.
“It was really scary to look out the window asking if people had died, and people are still struggling because of Russian attacks.
“My mum is still living in Ukraine, but thankfully she is safe at the moment.”
‘We have settled in Aberdeen’
After leaving Mykolaiv, the family headed to Gdansk in Poland before arriving in Edinburgh, after which they were relocated to Aberdeen by the Scottish Government.
Zabrodin, who hopes to be able to return to Ukraine in the future, works as a painter and decorator – and is hugely thankful for the life he has been able to build in the north-east.
He added: “When we were moving I was looking for an English-speaking country because I had been learning English. I found Scotland because it has a good programme for refugees with good government help.
“It was good for me because from the first day I arrived I could start working because I didn’t need to learn the language.
“We were in the Ukrainian hub in Edinburgh, and we were told: ‘Tomorrow you will travel to Aberdeen.’
“I Googled Aberdeen and it said it was the coldest place in Scotland. My wife hates the cold – we arrived on June 17 and I remember this well that the temperature was eight degrees and it was really rainy.
“We didn’t have warm clothes. We had given them to help support the army, so we had just shirts and t-shirts.
“We have settled in Aberdeen and I have to thank the Scottish people and the Scottish Government because they are very nice.
“It was really easy to settle in Aberdeen. The government helped us with our first steps and helped me get a job.
“The Scottish people and the Scottish Government have helped us a lot and I will keep saying thanks.
“My daughter is at school and has friends, my wife is studying and I am busy with my job, so there’s no time for bad thoughts really.”
Challenge to find futsal
Zabrodin has been playing futsal for 10 years with the sport – which is the Fifa-accredited version of five-a-side football – hugely popular in Ukraine.
However, when he arrived in Aberdeen he couldn’t find a team… until Grant Campbell founded Aberdeen Futsal Academy in October 2022.
Zabrodin has helped Aberdeen win their regional league, the Scottish Cup and the Scottish Futsal Super League, which earned them a place in the Champions League.
He admits it’s surreal to be playing in such a prestigious competition.
Zabrodin said: “It was difficult to find a team in Aberdeen. When I arrived I was struggling without futsal but when I asked people ‘does anyone play futsal here?’
“They all said ‘what is futsal?’
“I was surprised because there are lots of facilities and many clubs who could have teams, but I found there was nobody playing.
“I put an advertisement on Facebook that I was looking for a team to play for at any level, and Grant contacted me.
“At the time he was just creating Aberdeen Futsal Academy and a regional league in Aberdeen.
“I’ve been really lucky to be involved from then – and I still can’t believe we won the national league and we’re here in the Champions League.
“The thing about being here is to advertise futsal as a sport in Scotland and to show it’s a really interesting game and to try to make futsal more popular in Scotland.”
Day Three Diary
Friday is the rest day at the Futsal Champions League and Aberdeen were perhaps grateful for that following Thursday’s loss to Linz.
Aberdeen conclude their Group F campaign at 10am UK time on Saturday against Greek side AEK Athens.
Ahead of that, Grant Campbell allowed the squad to spend Friday however they wished – with most keen to explore Linz, which is Austria’s third-largest city.
Throughout the tournament, the travelling party from the Granite City have been based at a hotel in Ansfelden, which is on the southern outskirts of Linz, about a 20-minute drive from the city centre.
Within Linz there are a number of historic buildings such as the tallest church in Austria, St Mary’s Catherdral.
Another is Mozarthaus, which dates back to the 16th century and is named after the famous composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – who composed the Linz Symphony and Linz Sonata during a three-day stay in November 1783.
Linz was also regarded as the home town of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler, who grew up in the city, with Linz used as a major industrial complex during World War II to support the Nazi war effort.
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