It is a thrilling story that is supposed to have a happy ending in Upper Austria: Denys Norenkov, a Ukrainian war refugee, has been playing in the lower house for a few weeks. In his home country, the 25-year-old, who was born in Odessa, was active in the highest leagues – he is currently distracting himself from the dramatic pictures in his home country with his love for the round leather at state league club ATSV Sattledt. “I’m happy to be part of this team,” says Norenkov, who landed in Upper Austria through Sattledt’s assistant coach, Denys Tarchenko, also from Ukraine. “His wife is a childhood friend of mine. We haven’t had any contact for years – until recently,” says Tarchenko.
How Norenkov managed to escape? “When the war started I was with my last club, FC LNZ Cherkasy, at a training camp in Turkey. My wife decided to go to Austria and of course I supported that.”
Parts of his family, on the other hand, remained in Ukraine: “My mother, my brother and my uncle stayed. They live with the sound of the air raid sirens and the thunder of the rockets. Every day when I talk to them, I worry. But unfortunately they can’t go because men are currently not allowed to leave the country.” Like Alexander Verbitsky, the head doctor of his former club: “He went back to Ukraine after the training camp to defend our fatherland.”
“Want to be a pro”
In the case of a change outside the transfer deadline, the consent of all league clubs is required in order to be allowed to play in a fighting team. That is why the trained defender is currently only allowed to be active in the reserve area. He’s already driving Sattledt’s opponents to despair, scoring three times in the 3-1 win in Schalchen and has already scored eight goals after four games: “I really want to continue playing professional football in Austria.” The chances are good.
Source: Nachrichten
