Ukrainian football club Shakhtar Donetsk will face English team Crystal Palace next week in the first leg of the UEFA Conference League semifinals knowing that a win could provide a much-needed morale boost to millions of fans watching at home in war-torn Ukraine. The high stakes tie will take place at the Henryk Reyman Municipal Stadium in Kraków, Poland, as Shakhtar are unable to host European matches in Ukraine and have been exiled from the club’s native Donetsk in the east of the country since the start of Russia’s invasion in 2014.
At stake is a place in the Conference League Final, which will take place on May 27 in Leipzig, Germany. This would be enough to make the upcoming encounter with London side Crystal Palace a nerve-racking affair. Shakhtar Donetsk players and club officials will also be well aware that they are flying the flag for a nation that is fighting for survival and struggling to remain in the international spotlight amid a steady decline in media coverage of Russia’s ongoing invasion as the war enters a fifth year.
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Reaching a European semifinal would be a significant achievement for any club hailing from one of the continent’s less fashionable leagues. Shakhtar Donetsk’s success is all the more remarkable as it comes against the backdrop of Europe’s largest invasion since World War II. Like many organizations and businesses in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region, the club was forced to leave its home city in spring 2014 following the onset of Russia’s invasion. Since then, Shakhtar has remained in exile.
The club has had a number of temporary homes in Ukraine over the past twelve years, with Ukrainian Premier League home ties alternating between Lviv and Kyiv since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. Due to security restrictions imposed by European football’s governing body, UEFA, in response to the current wartime conditions, Shakhtar has been obliged to stage all European ties outside Ukraine. The Donetsk side has used a number of stadiums in Germany and Poland, thereby losing the home advantage that is often seen as crucial in European competition.
This is not the first time Shakhtar Donetsk has advanced so far in Europe. The club famously won the UEFA Cup in 2009, defeating Germany’s Werder Bremen 2-1 in Istanbul to secure independent Ukraine’s first European trophy. Since becoming a team in exile, Shakhtar has reached the semifinal stage of a major European competition in 2016 and 2020. However, this year’s Conference League campaign stands out as arguably even more impressive due to the exceptionally challenging circumstances of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
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Many Shakhtar Donetsk players, coaches, and officials have family and friends located close to the combat zone or living under Russian occupation in eastern Ukraine. Others have been unable to visit their homes since 2014. In common with most people in today’s Ukraine, everyone associated with the club has had to come to terms with the uncertainty, anxiety, and trauma of Russia’s invasion. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that the Donetsk team’s determination to not only survive but thrive among the elite of European football has attracted considerable international media attention since 2022.
Despite being prevented from playing at the impressive Donbas Arena stadium in Donetsk and losing multiple foreign players due to wartime disruption and security concerns, Shakhtar has continued to dominate domestically. The club has won a total of eight Ukrainian Premier League titles since 2014. This has been in large part due to continued support from the club’s billionaire owner Rinat Akhmetov.
Not every Ukrainian team has been as fortunate. According to the Ukrainian Football Association, at least twenty Ukrainian football clubs have gone bankrupt since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. The war has also brought financial hardships to the rest of the country’s footballing fraternity, leading to less competition and a slump in status on the European stage. Shakhtar Donetsk’s semifinal appearance is good news for all Ukrainian teams, as it will provide a much-needed boost to the country’s standing in the UEFA rankings.
Millions of Ukrainians will now be hoping the team can go even further and make it through to this season’s UEFA Conference League Final. Next week’s semifinal first leg will likely be watched by a huge domestic audience, including soldiers defending the country. Shakhtar Donetsk has dedicated previous victories to the those serving in the military. Shakhtar’s success is also a source of pride and comfort for the millions of Ukrainians displaced by Russia’s invasion, including many who were forced to flee from the club’s native Donbas region. For them, Shakhtar Donetsk is not just a football team; it is a symbol of a peaceful past and a reminder of a hometown they dream of returning to.
Mark Temnycky is a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center and a freelance journalist covering Eurasian affairs.
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The views expressed in UkraineAlert are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Atlantic Council, its staff, or its supporters.
The Eurasia Center’s mission is to enhance transatlantic cooperation in promoting stability, democratic values, and prosperity in Eurasia, from Eastern Europe and Turkey in the West to the Caucasus, Russia, and Central Asia in the East.
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Image: Shakhtar Donetsk player Oleh Ocheretko holds the Ukrainian flag during the Conference League quarter-final match between AZ and Shakhtar Donetsk at AFAS Stadium in Alkmaar, the Netherlands, on April 16, 2026. (Photo by Marcel van Dorst/EYE4IMAGES/NurPhoto)
