*This report includes photographs on the ground by Pablo Ortega.
No matter where in the world, I have always found a standing goal. In the middle of a war while everything falls apartbelow zero in the last corner of Europe or enduring the shock of an earthquake in North Africa.
Three sticks that form an unmistakable figure, sometimes painted in a pristine red and white that contrasts with the black background of a building burned by Russian bombing in eastern Ukraine.
When I was little I played as a goalkeeper and I always liked the mystique that surrounded the goal. The last hope. One chance for everything or nothing. Be the last one standing protecting the last thing standing.
When I see a goal those words come to mind: “The last thing standing“. The only clue of something that existed. The remaining hope that something exists again.
Ighil, Morocco (2023)
A child walks in front of a goal located in a camp for displaced people in the town of Ighil, in the epicenter of the earthquake that shook the Atlas days before and left more than 2,500 dead.
Kharkiv, Ukraine (2022)
Two intact goals remain standing in the residential area of Saltivka, one of the hardest hit areas at the start of the 2022 Russian invasion.
Vera, Almeria (2024)
In one of the most desert areas of Andalusia, a goal stands among the bushes.
Imatra, Finland (2023)
Snow covers a soccer field in Imatra, just seven kilometers from the Russian border, now closed due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
[Este reportaje pertenece a Relevo Mag, un proyecto especial de Relevo con motivo de la celebración de la Eurocopa. Abajo, todos los reportajes que ya han sido publicados en la web de Relevo].
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