The last few months that Ukrainians have lived through are summed up in the terror of the conflict involving the country with Russia, due to Ukraine’s possible entry into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Since then, some passions have been abruptly interrupted by military movements.
In Donetsk, part of the wealthy Donbass region vital to Ukraine’s economy and financial independence, the city’s club, Shakhtar Donetsk, is in constant agony after the arrival of Russian troops. “We lost our homes and many lives,” said the club’s CEO, Dimitry Kirilenko, in an interview with MARCA in Spain.
O, who had to flee to Croatia with his family, stated that all Ukrainian football was deeply shaken by the Russian military operation, but still not paralyzed, and said, “We recently organized some friendly matches to raise money and donate to the most needy.” .
The donations collected from the matches organized by the Ukrainian club are also directed to the Shakthar staff, “We pay the staff a certain amount to support them and it’s good to know that everyone is alive”.
Shakthar, who has not played in Donetsk since 2014 due to the start of hostilities between Russians and Ukrainians, played his matches in Lviv and then in Kharkov in 2017. All cities are already under Russian control.
Revenue fell dramatically as the stadium emptied, “we lost revenue in the stadium but also increased in other additional services,” said Dimitry.
The strained relationship between Ukraine and Russia began in 2014, when Vladimir Putin ordered the annexation of Ukraine’s separatist region, the Crimean peninsula.
On February 24, with the Russian occupation, Shakthar Donetsk and other Ukrainian clubs received international support, he declared, “When the war started, all football clubs in Europe supported Ukraine. All fans in the world were united by Ukraine.”
However, saying that not everyone supports the Ukrainian cases, Dimitry criticized “no”, saying that Russian clubs did not signal support for Shakthar or Ukraine, “I don’t think the Russian teams act differently from their governments”.
“There is no chance to play in Ukraine”
Much has been said about a return to normalcy in the country, which is living under curfew in at least 18 regions, with the creation of humanitarian corridors that have already helped more than 3 million Ukrainians flee the war.
Noting that he is one of the leaders striving for the return of Ukrainian football, Kirilenko said, “This month we will hold a meeting with the Federation (Ukraine) and team presidents to discuss how we can start the championship.”
Alternatives for the resumption of football in the country go through a discarded option: to play in Ukraine. According to Shakthar’s CEO, “There is no chance to play in Ukraine”, the solution to this problem will allow Ukrainian clubs to play in Poland or Turkey.
Time is running faster for the country and the risk of this season being shelved is quite high. If that happens, Ukraine could remain without a representative in European tournaments, “The World Cup starts very early this season, so we only have two or three months to complete the championship.”
The Ukraine national team has already gathered the country’s players and is training in Slovenia for the qualifiers against Scotland in Glasgow, “they are very motivated to fight for Ukraine and qualify for Qatar”.
Ukraine and Scotland will face off on 5 June, with the winner England, the United States and Iran playing Wales for the honor of qualifying for the Qatar World Cup, where they will be placed in Group B.
Brazilian players expected
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With a good offer to play with Valencia and the expectation of playing with Real Madrid or Barcelona, Dimitry Kirilenko does not give up on his Brazilian players, whose contracts were suspended until June by the decision of FIFA.
The coach, who added Dutch Ajax’s David Neres for 12 million euros in January 2022, said, “He has permission to leave Fifa until June and the decision on what will happen to his contracts will be discussed later.” He already admits he’s negotiating with Benfica because he doesn’t use it regularly.
The Brazilian was in the group of foreign players, who decided to wait for the conflict to be resolved instead of signing a temporary contract, along with other fellow countrymen in the squad, such as the striker ex Corinthias and Dodô, ex Vitória.
In total, 44 Brazilian players from the first divisions of Ukraine and Russia took this advantage to suspend their contracts until June. He accepted 23 substitutions, of which 13 returned to Brazilian football.
source: Noticias
