For Shakhtar Donetsk, the grim reality of war in Ukraine is a constant companion. The shadow of conflict looms over every match, training session, and decision made by the club. The most recent stark reminder came in September, when a Russian missile strike hit the hotel the team was scheduled to stay at ahead of their match against Kryvbas. The attack, which took place in Kryvyi Rih, claimed four lives, underscoring the dangers that players and staff face on a regular basis.
Sergei Palkin, Shakhtar’s chief executive, reflected on the harrowing incident. “Can you imagine this? Our team staying in this hotel and what could have happened?” he told BBC Sport. The psychological toll on the team has been immense. Players’ families expressed their fears, and agents raised concerns about the safety of their clients. Yet, despite the ever-present danger, Shakhtar continues to play, holding on to a sense of normalcy amidst chaos. The match against Kryvbas eventually went ahead, though it was interrupted by an air raid alert in the 51st minute and had to be postponed.
For Shakhtar’s players, the fear of conflict is a constant burden. Captain Taras Stepanenko admitted after the Kryvbas incident that the situation has been deeply unsettling for both Ukrainian and foreign players. “It’s hard, it’s not very pleasant,” he said, urging those organizing matches to pay more attention to safety. The strain of playing football in a war zone is exacerbated by the need to maintain mental and physical focus, with air raid sirens and missile attacks being an all-too-common interruption.
Midfielder Georgi Sudakov described the emotional weight of being away from his family. “It’s psychologically hard when your family is far away,” he explained, noting how even simple texts from loved ones about seeking shelter during an attack could disrupt a player’s focus.
The war has also forced Shakhtar to become a nomadic club, constantly on the move. Since the conflict in Donetsk began a decade ago, the team has been playing their “home” matches in cities across Ukraine and Europe, including Lviv, Kharkiv, and Kyiv, as well as Warsaw, Hamburg, and Gelsenkirchen. Palkin lamented the toll this has taken on the club. “You understand what kind of life we have?” he said. “We lost our local fans, our beautiful stadium, our city, and our [training] camp.”
Shakhtar’s Donbas Arena, once a state-of-the-art venue that hosted matches in the 2012 European Championship, now sits empty in a war-torn region. The club has had to relocate west to Kyiv and use makeshift facilities, making it increasingly difficult to attract top talent. “In Kyiv, we had nothing. Just a small training facility, our stadium is rented,” Palkin explained.
Despite the adversity, Shakhtar remains a competitive force, continuing to play in Ukraine’s Premier League and the UEFA Champions League. Their participation in European competitions has provided a brief respite from the realities of war, though even that comes with challenges. Travelling to away matches is a logistical nightmare, with long bus journeys and flights. Ahead of their Champions League fixture against Arsenal, the team had to travel from Kyiv to Lviv by coach, train in Lviv for a day, and then travel to Poland before finally flying to London. “When you arrive, you are already less competitive than your opponent because of physical and mental conditions,” Palkin admitted. The toll of war makes every game an uphill battle, both on and off the pitch.
Shakhtar Donetsk was not always a club in exile. Before the war, they had established themselves as Ukraine’s most dominant footballing force, regularly challenging Dynamo Kyiv for domestic supremacy. Since the early 2000s, the club has won the Ukrainian Premier League 15 times and captured the UEFA Cup in 2009, solidifying their reputation on the European stage.
One of the key factors in Shakhtar’s rise was their success in the Brazilian market, where they scouted and signed future stars like Fernandinho, Willian, and Douglas Costa. At a time when the club was based in Donetsk and enjoying the benefits of a stable infrastructure, attracting top talent was relatively easy. “When we bring in a player and he sees what kind of stadium we have, our training camp, the city, everybody signs the next day,” Palkin recalled.
However, since relocating, the club’s transfer strategy has been forced to adapt. While they continued to scout and develop Brazilian players, the ongoing war and the FIFA ruling allowing foreign players to suspend their contracts have made recruitment more difficult. Recent seasons have seen Shakhtar rely more on homegrown talent, such as Mykhailo Mudryk, who was sold to Chelsea in a club-record £89 million deal.
Despite the many challenges, Shakhtar remains committed to using football as a force for good. The club has focused on supporting those affected by the war, including soldiers, displaced families, and children who have lost their parents. One of the most significant initiatives has been the creation of Shakhtar Stalevi, an amputee football team, which recently played a match against Arsenal’s amputee team in London.
“These players have lost limbs but gained immense respect from us and our fans,” said Yurii Svyrydov, Shakhtar’s director of strategy and communications. The amputee team represents the resilience and mental strength that has come to define Shakhtar as a club.
In the face of adversity, Shakhtar Donetsk continues to fight—not just for victories on the pitch, but for the future of Ukraine. As Palkin said, “We are fighting because we believe we have a good future.” That belief, in the face of such unimaginable hardship, is perhaps Shakhtar’s greatest victory of all.
