Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund has allowed footballers from the war zone in Ukraine to keep fit in training. On Monday they were therefore able to stand on the pitch with BVB stars like Erling Haaland and Giovanni Reyna.
In the face of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, more and more people are fleeing to neighboring countries, including foreign footballers. In Raymond Frimpong Owusu and Alan Aussi, two players who until recently played for clubs in Ukraine are now in Dortmund. There they can now take part in training at BVB, as reported by “Ruhr Nachrichten”.
World governing body FIFA had decided that foreign players’ contracts with Ukrainian clubs would be automatically suspended until the end of the season. They are therefore considered without a contract until the end of the season and can therefore also complete training with a Bundesliga club.
The just 19-year-old Owusu was actually under contract for the first division club Zorya Lugansk until the very end. The Ghanaian center forward, who can even look back on four games in the Europa Conference, initially stayed in eastern Ukraine after Russia’s war of aggression broke out.
“But then the bombs and the rockets fell. I could hear them. The war was getting closer and closer and I got scared. Then I decided to flee,” he told the regional newspaper.
“And now I’m training here at BVB”
Eventually, Owusu made it to Poland, where he was picked up by his advisor Emmanuel Gyasi, whose agency is based in Hamburg. He then contacted BVB, who allowed Owusu to take part in U23 training for a few weeks.
Central defender Alan Aussi, who was loaned to Veres Rivine from Dinamo Kiev’s second team this season, also trains with the Dortmund substructure. On Monday, however, the duo took part in BVB’s player replacement training.
Raymond Owusu and Alan Aussi thus shared the place with stars like Erling Haaland, Giovanni Reyna and Julian Brandt, who were only substituted on in the 1-0 win against Arminia Bielefeld and therefore worked on their fitness together with the reserves.
An unreal situation for Owusu, since the escape was only two weeks ago: “And now I’m training here at Borussia Dortmund and took a photo with Erling Haaland after training. That’s crazy.”