Striker Roman Zozulya was one of many Ukrainian soccer players to exit from 2015 Europa League finalist Dnipro Dnipro-petrovsk in the summer of 2016, signing with Real Betis. Soon after his arrival in Seville, he was viciously attacked by the Spanish press for wearing what they claimed was a T-shirt with the symbol of Right Sector, a Ukrainian ultra-right nationalist party and paramilitary organization.
This turned out to be a stunning act of journalistic ignorance at the very least. The graphic on Zozulya’s T-shirt was the Ukrainian coat of arms, a design dating back to the Kyivan Rus’ in the 900s. The totally inaccurate coverage by the Spanish press would severely damage the Ukrainian footballer. In six league appearances he did not score a single goal. Not feeling very welcome, Zozulya pursued a transfer and agreed to a loan move to Madrid-based Rayo Vallecano on January 31, 2017. In retrospect, he could not have made a worse decision.
Local leaders in the working-class neighborhood of Madrid were known as far-left leaning in their political views. Rayo supporters immediately seized on the false reports of Zozulya’s “neo-Nazi” sympathies, greeting him with graffiti pronouncing “Vallecas is at War” and “Get Away from Vallecas, Nazi,” upon the Ukrainian’s initial arrival at the Rayo Stadium. The same reception occurred at his first training session, when fans displayed similar banners. The environment was vile and Zozulya was in shock.
Rayo supporters vowed Zozulya would never take the pitch for their club. He did not, choosing to immediately return to Seville and resume training with Betis. Unfortunately Zozulya could not re-sign with Real Betis due to a federation rule limiting a player to two teams per season and ended up in soccer exile for the remainder of 2016-2017.
A Ukrainian patriot
Zozulya has always been transparent about his personal political views. He openly supports the Ukrainian forces in their war against Russia and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. For his efforts he has received the civilian honor “For Services to the Armed Forces of Ukraine” and has auctioned off his Europa League runner-up medal to raise funds for the war effort. He has also invested much personal time to assist Ukrainian children affected by the conflict and dedicated his efforts to rebuild infrastructure in the war-torn regions.
Zozulya has gone on record stating unequivocally he has no sympathies for neo-Nazi or ultranationalist groups. None of this made a difference in Madrid. One leader of a Rayo fan group claimed to have a folder full of evidence proving Zozulya’s neo-Nazi views, only to never reveal the contents with the public.
ESPN journalist Samuel Borden referred to Zozulya as a real-life victim of fake news.
The footballer returns
This should have been the end of Zozulya’s soccer days in Spain. The 2017-2018 season saw him attempt to rejoin Betis only to have his number and locker given to another player. He saw action in a few friendlies and never dressed for any of Betis’ official La Liga matches.
Zozulya voided his contract with the club on September 1, 2017, and defied the rumors of his return to Ukraine by deciding to stay in Spain, signing a one-year deal with Albacete Balompie. A rival of Rayo’s in the Segunda Division, the club was having a rough go of it, one spot from last place.
Zozulya experienced a rather inauspicious debut with his new club. Entering his first game as a substitute, he collided with a Lugo defender and ended up with a bloodied head. What the Ukrainian referred to as a small scratch had to be closed up with a stapler. In Albacete’s next match against Gimanstic, Zozulya tallied his first goal in some 16 months, which was really only 639 minutes because of his lack of playing time. He kept up his good play, winning Marca team of the week honors in the Segunda Division and Albacete’s player of the month for September.
Zozulya proceeded to score nine goals in 30 matches during the 2017-2018 season, helping his new club turn its season around and moving to the middle of its division standings. He won player of the month a second time, and twice more was named to Marca’s Top-11 (team of the week). His signing with Albacete turned out to be a blessing for all parties involved.
Zozulya’s relationship with his new club’s supporters flourished as well. He made it a point to express his gratitude to the Albacete faithful for their support starting with his first day with his new team. After one home match he gracefully acknowledged a female fan’s sign in the colors of the Ukrainian flag by giving her his jersey.
He even garnered favorable press from the local media who chose to ignore the fabricated political controversy and draw their own conclusions about their Ukrainian import. Local news outlets referred to the striker as one of the club’s most active players, very much relied on by the manager for the first minutes of the match and a player who conquered the hearts of the fans.
The only negative of his first season was Albacete’s match against Osasuna, whose supporters are politically left-wing and have a close relationship with Rayo. The Basque club’s fans chanted “death to Zozulya,” perhaps sinking to a low even the Rayo supporters did not show. To avoid more controversy, Zozulya did not play in the matches against Rayo and Osasuna.
On March 25 of this year, at an away game against CD Lugo, Zozulya endured more harassment when the local fans directed chants at Zozulya which explicitly wished him death.
His resurgence did not go unnoticed in his native land. Former coach Myron Markevych described Zozulya as the strongest of the Ukrainian forwards, definitely in contention for a starting position on the Ukrainian national team. The last time he appeared for Team Ukraine was in 2016.
Heading into 2018-2019, it was reported La Liga’s Alaves expressed interest in Zozulya. Albacete’s general director was hopeful the Ukrainian would remain with his club and Zozulya proved happy with his new football home. Year two saw him score eight goals in the club’s first 28 matches.
What started out as an absolute nightmare has evolved over time into a true success story, on and off the pitch.
Zozulya zingers: He is the founder of the Narodna Armiya organization, part of the civil volunteer movement helping Ukrainian forces in the ongoing war in eastern Ukraine. Zozulya’s organization provides food, clothing and technical equipment to the Ukrainian Army and assists military families. He received a special commendation from Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense for his support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in 2016. He and fellow footballer Ruslan Rotan are co-founders and sponsors of the Rotan-Zozulya Academy of Football in Dnipro.
Ihor Stelmach may be reached at [email protected].