A CHARITY football match raising funds for an artificial pitch at a Ukrainian boys’ orphanage will be held next month.

Bolton’s branch of the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain (AUGB) will host a game on Sunday August 11 at Powerleague Bolton, Leverhulme at 2pm in aid of the Christian home in Western Ukraine.

The all-weather pitch and its installation are believed to cost the equivalent of £10,000 and would mean the boys can escape from their country’s troubles by playing football all year round.

Chair of the branch Yaroslaw Tymchyshyn said: “With the war in the East going on, they need our help because they’re not going to get handouts from the government on this.

“These young boys are not there because they want to be there but because circumstances have put them in that place.

“To give them some relief, some freedom to play a sport they all love, football, would be greatly accepted."

The match is free to attend, and organisers will be going around with collection buckets to raise as much as possible to send back to Ukraine.

Pokrova Football Club are the only Christian team that takes part in the Youth Football League of Western Ukraine, but their current pitch is too frozen to be used between November and the end of February

The desired 4G pitch would be made of artificial grass filled with sand and small pieces of rubber, meaning the surface would be better prepared for the country’s weather conditions.

Mr Tymchyshyn added: “We’ve got to remember that in winter it can get to -20 degrees, so if it was a 4G pitch then they’d be able to play all year round.”

Powerleague have donated one of their pitches for the game, which will be followed by a raffle and barbecue taking place afterwards at Bolton's Ukrainian Cultural Centre on Castle Street.

Anyone able to offer donations for the raffle should leave them behind the centre’s bar ahead of the event.