Football in Times of War: What Ukrainian Amputee Football Reveals About Belonging

Football in Times of War is a 2026 short documentary by Italian filmmaker Fabio Izzo, about Ukrainian amputee football and the League of the Mighty, a project developed to build an organised amputee football community in Ukraine Filmed during the ongoing war, the documentary explores football not simply as a sport, but as a space for identity, community and belonging.

Football does not stop when everything around it changes. Sometimes, it becomes more important. In Ukraine, where war has reshaped everyday life, a football pitch can become something more than a place to play. It can be a place to meet, compete, laugh, belong, and, for a while, simply be a footballer. That is the starting point for Football in Times of War, a 2026 short documentary by Italian filmmaker Fabio Izzo about Ukrainian amputee football and the League of the Mighty.

For this O4 feature, I spoke directly with Izzo about the film, what he saw on the pitch, and how the story changed once he met the players. Much of the documentary's 10 minutes and 40 seconds is simply football: players calling for the ball, encouraging each other after mistakes, arguing, joking and celebrating goals. Izzo also appears on screen and guides the viewer in Italian, making no attempt to be an invisible observer.

Football in Ukraine During the War

How Fabio Izzo Came to Make a Film About Ukrainian Amputee Football

The story began before the League of the Mighty. Izzo is a writer with a long interest in Eastern Europe, and that interest took him to Ukraine, where he made his first short film there. As a lifelong Napoli supporter, he started asking what football means in a country at war, and what happens to clubs, supporters and players when everything around them changes.

That question led him to the League of the Mighty. What caught his attention was how familiar it looked. In his words:

"There was something very powerful in seeing football continuing to exist not as a distraction from reality, but as part of reality itself."

What is the League of the Mighty in Ukraine?

The League of the Mighty is a project launched in 2024 by the Ukrainian Association of Football (UAF), supported by the UAF and its foundation, to bring people with amputations and limb dysfunctions into organised football. The project aims to build an amputee football community and the structure of a separate sport.

Teams train in cities across Ukraine, including Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Odesa and Zaporizhzhia, with men's, women's and children's teams. The project also works with coaches and supports the creation of new teams. The 2026 Ukrainian Amputee Football Championship runs from April to October, with 18 teams in two leagues. More information is on the official site, ampfootball.uaf.ua.

Why does the film show the players as footballers first?

Izzo expected to meet people whose lives had been changed by war and injury. What surprised him was how quickly those circumstances moved into the background once a match began. On the pitch he saw what he would see at almost any game: concentration before a free kick, frustration after losing possession, jokes, arguments and celebrations.

He was aware from the start that the war could become the only lens through which he looked at the players, and he decided against it:

"The war had changed their lives, but I didn't want it to become their identity."

He also did not want the camera to keep reminding viewers why the players were there:

"I wanted, at least for part of the film, to allow the audience to forget that and simply watch them play football."

The small moments, he says, showed more than interviews could. Who wants the ball, who gets angry after a mistake, who encourages a teammate. As he puts it: "Sometimes a few seconds of football can tell you more than a long explanation."

What does football give the players?

For Izzo the answer is above all belonging: "For me, the most powerful thing is the feeling of belonging." Around it come a routine, friendships, competition and a place where the players are simply footballers. Football does not erase what happened to them, but it gives them another way to define themselves.

That belonging was visible before and after matches, not only during them. Izzo says he did not need to explain or stage it for the camera, because it showed in how comfortable the players were with each other. Reflecting on what he saw, he says:

"football can give you a reason to leave the house, meet your teammates, prepare for a match, argue about a goal, laugh together, in other words, to feel that life is still happening."

Why Does Football in Times of War Focus on the Football Pitch, Not the Battlefield?

Izzo became more interested in what happens when you take the camera off the war and look at everyday life. For him the pitch is not an escape from reality. It shows another part of it: people competing, laughing, getting frustrated and making room for something that is not the war. He sums up the idea behind the film:

"The battlefield shows you what war destroys. The football pitch shows you what people are still trying to build."

Who is Fabio Izzo?

Fabio Izzo is an Italian filmmaker and writer with a long-standing interest in Eastern Europe. His 2025 film L'viv–Napoli: The Music That Echoed Back explored the cultural and emotional connections between Lviv and Naples through war and memory.

In Naples, he says, football is tied to identity: "you don't simply support a team, football becomes part of the way you see yourself and your community." That gave him a way into the story, but he is clear about its limits:

"I am Italian, I am not Ukrainian, and I cannot speak for their experience."

He says he did not try to hide that distance, and instead started from something he knew, football, to listen to a reality very different from his own.

How did the film change while it was being made?

Izzo first imagined a journey into Ukrainian amputee football, with football as a way of discovering belonging. He had A League of Their Own in mind, the feeling of people building something together through sport. Once he met the players, that idea no longer worked:

"They were not simply looking for a new sense of belonging. They had already built one."

The film became a story about the choices people make after life has changed them. Izzo links this to the "choosing life" monologue in Trainspotting, not as a comparison of the stories, but because the idea of choice matched what he had seen. The players did not choose what happened to them, but they could choose what came next: returning to the pitch, staying in a team, making plans. In his words:

"Football doesn't magically fix what happened to them. It is one of the ways through which they make choices about what comes next."

What Moments Stayed With Fabio Izzo From Filming Ukrainian Amputee Football?

Two moments stayed with Izzo, both connected to football. The first was two goals, both diving headers, that he missed because his camera battery had run out. For once, the filmmaker was watching the football rather than filming it.

The second came at the end of filming, as the players said goodbye and went their separate ways. It reminded him of A League of Their Own and made him wonder what happens when the attention moves on. That is why he wanted the film to keep some light on the players:

"I didn't want the lights to go out on this league."

Frequently Asked Questions About Football in Times of War and Ukrainian Amputee Football

What is Football in Times of War about?
It is a 2026 Italian short documentary about Ukrainian amputee footballers and the League of the Mighty. It focuses on the pitch rather than the battlefield and shows the players first as footballers and people.

Who directed the film?
Italian filmmaker and writer Fabio Izzo.

How long is the film and in what language?
It runs 10 minutes and 40 seconds and is in Italian, with subtitles in English, Polish, Ukrainian, French and Spanish.

What is the League of the Mighty?
A project launched in 2024 by the Ukrainian Association of Football to bring people with amputations and limb dysfunctions into football and to build amputee football as a separate sport in Ukraine.

Where was the film shot?
In Ukraine, during the war.

Has the film been shown at festivals?
It was a finalist at the Athens International Monthly Art Film Festival and an Official Selection at the Freeze Peach Film Festival.

Where can I watch it?
The full film is not currently publicly available. Screenings and access to the full film can be arranged through the director. The trailer is available on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Js2Xuk8zmTI.

Is the film about the war?
The war is the setting, but Izzo deliberately keeps the camera on the pitch. In his words, the aim was to show "what people are still trying to build."

Quotes are from an interview with Fabio Izzo, from 30.9.2026.