Ukraine and Israel on the same field: how Nahariya reached the final of the international tournament in Berlin and became part of a great European story

A youth football delegation from Nahariya returned from Berlin with silver, but the story itself turned out to be broader than the usual sports result. The Israeli city represented the country at the II International Youth Football Tournament of City Partnerships in the Berlin district of Tempelhof-Schöneberg, where teams from Germany, France, Poland, and Ukraine played alongside the Israelis.

The main thing here is not just the score and not just the second place. This tournament was part of Berlin’s network of municipal connections with partner cities, and therefore a platform where sports, memory, youth diplomacy, and international relations were part of the same story.

For the Israeli audience, two lines are especially important: Nahariya has been connected with Tempelhof-Schöneberg since 1970, and Ukrainian Mykolaiv joined the district’s partnership network during the great war — after signing a solidarity partnership agreement in 2025. That is why the participation of Ukraine and Israel in the same tournament did not look like a random detail, but part of a broader European map of connections.

What kind of tournament was this and why is it connected with twin cities

Officially, it is about the II International Youth Football Tournament of City Partnerships of Tempelhof-Schöneberg. In German, the name is formulated as Internationales Jugendfußballturnier der Städtepartnerschaften von Tempelhof-Schöneberg.

Simply put, this is not a national team championship and not an ordinary club tournament. Youth teams from cities and regions connected with the Tempelhof-Schöneberg district through partnership relations were invited to Berlin.

And here it is important not to confuse: Nahariya is not a twin city of Mykolaiv, and Mykolaiv is not a twin city of Nahariya. They are united by another connection — both cities are part of the partnership relations orbit with the Berlin district of Tempelhof-Schöneberg.

According to the German side, more than 150 girls and boys participated in the tournament. Among the teams were representatives from Charenton-le-Pont from France, Paderborn and Penzberg from Germany, Koszalin from Poland, Levallois-Perret from France, Werra-Meißner-Kreis from Germany, Nahariya from Israel, and a team from the Ukrainian port city of Mykolaiv.

Ukrainian sources specify that the tournament took place in Berlin from May 22 to 24, 2026. The competitions involved 14 teams from Germany, Israel, France, Ukraine, Poland, and Nigeria, and Ukraine was represented by students from Youth Sports School No. 5 from the Korabelny district of Mykolaiv.

Who is officially connected with whom

The key connection for the Israeli story is:

Tempelhof-Schöneberg — Nahariya, Israel.

This partnership has special historical significance. The official website of the district states that the municipal connection between Nahariya and the then district of Tempelhof was established in 1970 and became the first such partnership connection between a German and an Israeli community.

For Israel, this is not a minor archival detail. Twenty-five years after the end of World War II and the Holocaust, the German district and the Israeli city established direct municipal contact. Since then, this connection has been maintained through official delegations, youth exchanges, and professional visits.

The second important line:

Tempelhof-Schöneberg — Mykolaiv, Ukraine.

The connection with Mykolaiv is new and was born in a different historical reality. In May 2025, the Tempelhof-Schöneberg district and Mykolaiv signed a solidarity partnership agreement. The German side separately notes that the Ukrainian port city participated in this football tournament for the first time, and the partnership was supposed to develop further.

This makes Ukrainian participation particularly noticeable. Mykolaiv is a city that has been experiencing the consequences of the Russian war since 2022, with strikes on infrastructure, alarms, and constant pressure on civilian life. When teenagers from such a city come to Berlin to play football, it is no longer just about sports.

It is a way to return a space of normalcy to children.

Nahariya reached the final: sports, city honor, and Israeli representation

The Nahariya team performed strongly and reached the final. In the decisive match, the Israeli delegation lost to the Polish team with a score of 0:1 and took second place.

Such a result for a youth team from the northern Israeli city is a significant achievement. But in Nahariya itself, the emphasis was not only on the sports side. The city delegation represented Israel, Nahariya, and the local football school on an international platform, where each match was simultaneously a competition and a meeting with teenagers from other countries.

For Nahariya, this is an important step beyond the internal Israeli agenda. The city in the north of the country is often perceived through the geography of the border, the sea, security, and life away from the center. But in Berlin, it became part of the European municipal network — alongside Poland, France, Germany, Ukraine, and other participants.

Why Ukraine’s participation changes the meaning of the story

The Ukrainian team in this tournament is not a background. Mykolaiv’s Youth Sports School No. 5 from the Korabelny district represented a city that itself became part of the Tempelhof-Schöneberg partnership network after the start of the full-scale war. The tournament involved partner cities of the Berlin district, and Mykolaiv was represented by football players from the Korabelny district.

For the Israeli reader, this is an understandable parallel.

Israel knows well what it is like for teenagers growing up near war, alarms, shelling, evacuations, political pressure, and international disputes. Ukraine today lives in a similar logic of constant testing, only in a different geography and with a different scale of war.

Therefore, the joint tournament in Berlin became a platform where Ukrainian and Israeli teenagers could be not objects of news about the war, but participants in normal international life.

This does not cancel the tragedy and threat. But it shows something else: even in difficult times, cities continue to build connections, send children to competitions, support sports, and create a space where the future is not reduced only to survival.

Berlin, memory, and diplomacy from below

The program of the Israeli delegation was not limited to football matches. According to a publication from Nahariya, participants also visited the Holocaust Memorial in Berlin, got acquainted with city institutions, met with the leadership of the Tempelhof district, and studied the history of Berlin and the Jewish community of the city.

For teenagers from Israel, such a route has special significance. Berlin is not just the capital of Germany and the venue of the tournament. It is a city connected with one of the most difficult pages of Jewish history, but at the same time with the post-war attempt of Germany to build a new culture of memory, responsibility, and partnership.

That is why Nahariya’s participation in the partner cities tournament looks deeper than an ordinary football news.

NANews — Israel News | Nikk.Agency considers such stories not as “light city chronicles,” but as part of a broader picture: Israel and Ukraine today are going through questions of war, memory, international support, and the right to their own voice in different but very acute ways.

Partner cities as an alternative to cold diplomacy

Big diplomacy often sounds harsh: statements, votes, sanctions, crises, accusations, official visits. Municipal diplomacy works differently.

It does not solve the war with one tournament.

But it creates connections between people before politicians have time to spoil the language of conversation. Teenagers from Nahariya, Mykolaiv, Koszalin, Levallois-Perret, Paderborn, Penzberg, and other cities meet not in the format of press releases, but on the field, in buses, on excursions, at memorials, and in ordinary conversations.

This is the meaning of such tournaments.

For Germany — to continue the network of partnerships and show that cities can take responsibility for international connections. For Israel — to represent the country not only through war and politics, but also through youth, sports, respect, and memory. For Ukraine — to show that even during Russian aggression, its children remain part of Europe, and Ukrainian cities do not fall out of international life.

Why Nahariya ended up on the international map

Nahariya returned from Berlin with second place, but the main achievement is broader than medals. The city reminded of its long-standing connection with Tempelhof-Schöneberg, which began back in 1970 and became the first municipal connection between a German and an Israeli community.

Mykolaiv, in turn, entered this story as a Ukrainian city that, through solidarity partnership with Berlin, gets the opportunity for youth exchanges even in wartime conditions.

In one tournament, different historical layers came together: the memory of the Holocaust, German-Israeli reconciliation, Ukrainian resilience during the Russian war, European municipal diplomacy, and ordinary teenage football.

Therefore, this story should not be told as a note that “Nahariya lost the final 0:1.” It is much more accurate to say otherwise: Nahariya reached the final in Berlin, Israel and Ukraine found themselves side by side on the field of partner cities, and youth sports once again showed that international connections often begin not with big speeches, but with a simple match where children from different countries learn to see each other as people.