At the 2023 FIFA annual gala, 36-year-old Polish Oleksi heard the award presenter Del Piero pronounce his name.
With warm applause from the scene, he got up and walked to the stage. The road wasn't long, but countless flashes and television footage made Olexi, wearing a prosthetic leg, nervous. Not to mention that he is surrounded by a number of stars, including Messi and Mbappe, who he wanted to see the most.
Olexi adjusted his mood, took the trophy, and said slowly towards the microphone: "Thank you to the whole football world, because we created this beautiful sport so that everyone, including us amputees, can realize our dreams." ”
Text: Yuze
The award that Oleksi received was called the Puskas Prize. Named after legendary Hungarian star Puskas, the award is one of FIFA's annual awards for football around the world. Whether men's and women's soccer, professional and amateur, or special football projects, there are equal opportunities to participate.
There is only one criterion for selection: a good goal.
And Oleksi was eventually named the best goal of the year, and this goal came in the Polish Amputees Football League. At that time, a teammate sent a cross, and he took off with his left crutch to send the ball into the goal with a side hook.
Even by the standards of a sound footballer, this goal is stretchable and amazing. What's more, he only has one right leg left.
"I can't die, but I don't know how"
Oleksi was born in the Polish town of Norbasol and grew up living in Luki, another small town not far away. Like so many ordinary people, his upbringing doesn't have many special stories.
Grew up ordinary, and then became a construction worker in an ordinary way. The only difference is probably that on weekends they sometimes represent local teams in a Polish fourth-tier amateur league.
Before Olexi was injured
Goalkeeper, idol is Casillas. Played about 20 games and won several tournament bests. Olexi said: "I felt good at the time, but it was just good. ”
But this calm routine was completely shattered on November 20, 2010.
It was supposed to be just an ordinary Saturday, with 23-year-old Olexi and his colleagues filling a collapsed hole in the road. While waiting for the machine to fill the cement, he did not and could not have noticed that danger was coming behind him.
A truck driver who suddenly became unwell lost control of the steering wheel and directly knocked Olexi and others out. He didn't know exactly what was going on, but he remembered hearing a loud bang and falling to the ground, seeing his uncle running around crying, and then losing consciousness in the ambulance.
"The only thing on my mind is: I can't die."
The next time Olexie woke up, he found himself lying on the operating table and soon fell asleep again due to anesthesia. When he regained consciousness, it was already after the operation, which lasted more than three hours.
Fortunately, Olexie saved his life. The price was to lose his left leg forever. Strong, he made a joke about one-legged to the sad family around him. "I can't make the people who love me more upset, I want to try to face them with a positive attitude."
But how easy is that? In the first two years after amputation, Olexi tried to cheer up several times but was overwhelmed by reality. "How can I live as I used to, and how can this family be enough on subsidies alone?" What about the future? And when you get old? I really didn't know how to survive. ”
And the turning point that cheered him up was when a new life came to this home.
The birth of his son unleashed Olexi's boundless potential. He would no longer sit alone in his room, start walking and shopping alone in a wheelchair, and learn to return to full self-care with crutches and prosthetics.
He gradually changed back to his cheerful self. A year later, he was able to help his wife take care of the children. After a few more years, he studied and passed the excavator certificate, found a job and regained his income.
As life gets back on track and the children grow up, Olexie remembers the long-forgotten dream again.
"When I was a kid, I always had a dream to play football with my son in the future."
On crutches, keep flying
Using his income from driving an excavator, Olexie bought a sporty professional prosthetic leg and took his son to the football field again.
And in the green field, he found all of himself.
In addition to playing with his son, Olexi also began teaching the children around him how to be a good goalkeeper. After another friend's introduction, he heard that Poznańvata, a nearby city, is not only a Bosnia club, but also teams to participate in the amputees' league and even international competitions.
Football, leagues, international competitions... The spark in my heart burned again.
Olexi found the Vata Club and began the long and hard training again. Amputee football is not as simple as people think, although there are no tackles, but there are a lot of collisions and falls because of crutches. After countless struggles to get up and countless bruises on his body, Olexi played for Poznanvata in 2019.
This time, he became a striker. From being selected in Poznan Watta to the Polish national team to last year's World Cup for Amputees.
Yes, the World Cup.
Although amputee football is not well known to the general public, the sport has been in the field for more than three decades. Under the leadership of official institutions such as FIFA and UEFA, amputee football has formed a set of universal rules: seven-a-side, the field is 2/3 of the ordinary football field, the first and second halves are 25 minutes each, there is no offside can be unlimited substitution, the goalkeeper is disabled in the upper limb and the incomplete arm should be tied in front of the body, and other players are disabled in the lower limb to participate on crutches.
This is also the reason why Olexi "switched" from goalkeeper to striker.
In recent years, amputee football has begun to receive more attention. Many countries have formed regular leagues with sponsors and donations. In 2022, the U.S. Amputee Soccer Association alone raised more than $200,000. In major competitions like the European Championship and the World Cup, the average audience has exceeded 10,000, and the final can even be close to 40,000 people.
The 2022 Amputee World Cup is already the 17th edition of this event. A total of 48 national teams signed up and 24 teams came to Turkey through the qualifiers.
Among the final contestants were 18-year-olds who mistakenly kicked grenades as balls in Congo, college students who were born without an arm and had been depressed for years, and veterans who twice served on a mission in Afghanistan and were later rescued by service dogs after sticking a gun into their mouths.
Like Olexi, they have lost hope in life, and it is football that has helped them find the light.
At that World Cup, the host country Turkey finally won the title. Oleksi did not score for Poland and were eliminated by Brazil in the round of 16. But soon after, that magical goal was born.
"There will be better goals!"
Speaking about the goal scored in the Polish league, Oleksi is still very excited. "I saw my team-mates pass the ball and I thought that height might be able to do something wonderful. I kept my eyes on the ball and the movements of my body connection were very fluid, so I managed to kick. You can see how proud I was after I scored, I stood up straight and my chest up, it was like magic. ”
The next day, Olexie soon discovered that he wasn't the only one who was excited. The referee of that match posted the video of the goal on the Internet, and the number of views and interactive data increased wildly, and the media of various countries continued to retweet.
Two months later, he was shortlisted for the 11-man FIFA Puskas Prize.
Olexi was ecstatic, but didn't expect much from the award. Because in this year's shortlist, it can be called a fairy fight. There is Balotelli's flower arrangement foot after pedaling on his bicycle, and there is a dragon of Teo; There was the barb of Richarlison's best World Cup goal, and Mbappe's volley in the World Cup final in Qatar; The women's team has two explosive super long-range shots, as well as two volleys from Payet and Gonzalez.
"My favorite goal was Payet, followed by Mbappe and then Gonzalez. As for me, being able to line up with them is enough contentment. ”
But getting into the candidacy is just the beginning. Stars such as Lewandowski have retweeted video goals on social media, calling on fans to vote for Olexi and pay more attention to paralytic sports such as amputee football. Olexi was then informed by FIFA that his goal was in the top three in the total score voted by the legendary judges and fans and invited to the award ceremony.
Before leaving, Olexie still felt as if he was living in a dream in the face of the reporter's interview. "I really don't expect to win the award, I just want to see if I have the opportunity to talk to Messi and Mbappe!"
In the end, there was such a moment: Olexi got up to accept the award, and all the star legends laughed and applauded him.
Olexi said: "I can't thank the accident, but I have now found a new way of life. I thought I had to live, and I thought it was better to die, but I'm really happy now that I'm alive. Because I can continue to work hard for my family and I can continue to play. The honor of the Puskas Prize belongs to everyone in amputee football. ”
When asked if it was his best goal, Olexi, who had just taken photos with competitors Payet and Richarlison, gave this answer: "This is definitely my best goal from the past to the present, but not necessarily the best one from the past to the future." There will be a better goal, more beautiful. It's on its way. ”
Turning the body into wings and using crutches as energy, Olexi and many other amputee footballers will continue to fly on the field. And they, like the stars who never give up, convey the true meaning of football and sport.
The world is inherently unfair, and life is more or less miserable. The ordinary is always the majority, and the hard work may not be smooth. But as you stumble forward, there will always be some strength and emotion coming together.
Tell you, there will be light ahead.
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