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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
Athletes are always in the spotlight, so it’s no surprise that others strive to get as close to them as possible. However, friendship and even family ties don’t always withstand the test of time and circumstances.
Being a godparent in sports is often accompanied by scandals and unpleasant revelations. 24 The channel has gathered five most conspicuous stories.
Who is the godfather of Andriy Shevchenko
Many people believe that the controversial pro-Russian politician, Putin’s ally, the former Italian prime minister, and Milan president Silvio Berlusconi was Andriy Shevchenko’s godfather.
However, as Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty writes, this is not true: in 2005 the year Jordan, the son of the football star, was born, the Catholic Church forbade Berlusconi from becoming his godfather. The reason was his divorce and a second marriage, which are not allowed for believers. So Berlusconi attended the ceremony and even held Jordan in his arms, but he was not officially the godfather.
Instead, Shevchenko became related to Andriy Pavelenko in 2001 the year — a politician and future head of the Ukrainian Association of Football. He baptized Pavlenko’s daughter Anastasia.
Andriy Shevchenko and Anastasia Pavlenko / photo from social networks
Fate would play a cruel joke with once friends: it would be Shevchenko who would replace Pavlenko as head of the Ukrainian Association of Football, and the former deputy would be accused of corruption and embezzlement of state funds on the construction of artificial football fields.
Does Liliya Podkopayeva still speak with her godmother?
Two-time Ukrainian Olympic champion Liliya Podkopayeva invited the famous singer Ani Lorak to baptize her daughter Karolina. But many years later she regretted her choice.
As the former gymnast admitted in an interview with TSN, after the start of the full-scale invasion she cut ties with the Russian “bubble,” which includes Lorak. Yet she chose to continue singing in Russia for blood money and did not condemn the Russians’ atrocities in Ukraine in a single word.
Whom did Vladimir Klychko baptize?
World heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko once became related to the controversial pro-Russian member of parliament Nestor Shufrych, who is now on trial for attempting to overthrow the constitutional order.
Vladimir Klitschko baptizes Shufrych’s daughter / photo from Instagram
Together with the boxer, spiritual guardianship over Mariya Shufrych was taken by Oksana Marchenko — wife of the famous anti-Ukrainian politician Viktor Medvedchuk. Marchenko and Medvedchuk are godparents to Russian bloody dictator Putin, who christened their child.
Why don’t Usyk and Lomachenko godparents talk?
Boxers Oleksandr Usyk and Vasyl Lomachenko have long been friends and trained under the same coach, Anatoliy Lomachenko, so it’s not surprising that they became godfathers, baptizing each other’s sons.
Oleksandr Usyk and Vasyl Lomachenko with coach Anatoliy Lomachenko / photo from social networks
But while Oleksandr, after the start of the full-scale war, demonstrated a clearly pro-Ukrainian position, Vasyl became an outcast in society for unwillingness to part with Russian narratives. Rumor has it that the godparents no longer communicate because Lomachenko is terribly envious of Usyk’s success.
Who is the godfather of Serhiy Rebrov?
Rumors link Ukraine’s national football team head coach Serhiy Rebrov with former head of the Office of the President Andriy Yermak — supposedly a powerful politician won’t allow him to fire his godfather from his post, despite failures in the Nations League and a collapse at Euro-2024.
Serhiy Rebrov and Andriy Yermak / photo from the President’s Office Telegram channel
But in reality, Rebrov and Yermak are just old friends, and they are not each other’s godparents. Instead, they share a common godparent — Member of Parliament Mykola Tyshchenko, known for his strange statements and scandalous behavior.
Tyshchenko told the project "Days of Our Lives" that he baptized Rebrov’s son, whereas Andriy Yermak became the godfather for Tyshchenko’s own son.
Document: PDF proof of the original version of the news item "Єрмак, Ані Лорак і Шуфрич: найскандальніші куми українських спортсменів". It records the publication content at the moment of the first scan, the preservation date and the source: Channel 24.
