Shakhtar: while the war continues in Ukraine, the football club wants to send hope with a “wonderful” season



CNN

A football club expelled from its home in Donbass in 2014. Shakhtar Donetsk accustomed to the changes and upheavals brought about by the war, playing in stadiums across the country for nearly a decade.

But even by Shakhtar’s standards, the events that unfolded after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last February were unprecedented.

“What we do on the field is to support our people, our refugees, our Ukrainian army,” says Serhiy Palkin, general director of the club. CNN Sports.

“All the performances of our coaching staff and me in front of our players were focused only on [the fact] that we are playing for Ukraine”.

At the beginning of the Russian invasion Ukrainian Premier League was delayed for six months, during which time Shakhtar embarked on a “Global Peace Tour” across Europe to raise money for those caught in the war.

Shakhtar Donetsk players are getting ready to face Olympiacos as part of the team's peaceful tour last year.

Games resumed in August, but only after FIFA announced that foreign players could leave Ukrainian teams once the war broke out. Soon the coaching staff of Shakhtar also left the club.

“We lost half of our team … we lost the coaching staff and basically started all over again, from scratch,” says Palkin.

Shakhtar hired a new coach, Croatian Igor Jovicevich, ahead of the resumption of the Ukrainian Premier League and added Ukrainian players to the roster.

Games resumed in August and Shakhtar are playing in the western part of the country. But against the backdrop of the specter of war, football often seemed something far away.

“For the players it is difficult because almost all the players live without families, [who] live abroad in safe zones,” says Palkin.

“It’s difficult from a psychological point of view … Incredibly difficult to survive and stay there [Ukraine] and experience all these moments of life.

Few expected Shakhtar’s makeshift squad to make any progress this season in the Champions League, Europe’s premier club football competition, not least because the team would be playing their home matches in the Polish capital of Warsaw.

But after beating RB Leipzig and draws against Real Madrid and Celtic, Shakhtar finished third in Group F and qualified for the second-tier Europa League play-offs.

Shakhtar players pose with the Ukrainian flag after defeating RB Leipzig in the Champions League in September.

“When you have problems at home — big problems, a lot of people are dying — it’s hard to focus,” says Palkin.

“For us, what we did in the Champions League group stage was a miracle – almost a new team and a new coaching staff, and we finished third in the group. I am very proud of our team.”

The Ukrainian Premier League is now on its winter break. It will resume in the coming weeks, shortly after Shakhtar take on Rennes in two Europa League games on 16 and 23 February.

The club will start the second half of the season without a star player Mikhail Mudrikwho was signed by English Premier League club Chelsea for $75 million, with an additional $35 million expected as a bonus payment, a record amount for a Ukrainian player.

Mudrik, who has scored three goals in the Champions League group stage this season, arrives at Chelsea with a club in 10th place on the back of a disastrous run of results.

Palkin, however, believes the 22-year-old winger can help revive Chelsea’s fortunes.

“Mikhailo is a great professional and a very ambitious guy,” he says. “He is very ambitious on and off the field. I have never seen such a player in the last 20 years… I am sure this guy will bring many titles to Chelsea.”

Mudrik celebrating a goal against Celtic in the Champions League last October.

Following Mudrik’s transfer, Shakhtar president Rinat Akhmetov announced that he would allocate $25 million to Ukraine’s military needs, including medical treatment and psychological support.

And besides funding aid to Ukraine, Shakhtar have a broader, less tangible goal: to inspire hope every time the team takes the field.

“When we play football, we show the whole world that we are alive, we continue to live, and we must continue to fight,” says Palkin.

“We are sending messages to the whole world that we need to support Ukraine. We need to win this war because democracy must defeat autocracy.”