Ukraine kicked off its new football season on Tuesday despite the ongoing Russian invasion of the country, an apparent attempt to boost morale as the conflict enters its seventh month on Wednesday. For the first match of the Ukrainian first division, Shakhtar Donetsk drew 0-0 with Metalist Kharkiv in a match played without spectators at the Olympiski stadium in Kyiv. Before kick-off, the players of both teams and the referees entered the pitch wrapped in Ukrainian flags and unfurled a banner marked with the words: “We have the same courage.”
“Ukraine will win”
Shakhtar players, whose hometown Donetsk has been under the control of pro-Russian separatists since 2014, wore T-shirts reading: “Ukraine will win.” Those from Kharkiv, the second city in the country regularly bombed by the Russian army, had a similar jersey. The Metalist has also added the emblem of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to its jersey, instead of the traditional sponsor logo. After a minute of silence in memory of the dead of the Russian invasion, a Ukrainian soldier symbolically gave a fictitious kickoff.
Футбольний сезон розпочався!
Неймовірне виконання гімну України Михайлом Хомою перед початком матчу #ШахтарМеталіст1925.#Shakhtarpic.twitter.com/dHtcXS5Pak
— ⚒FC SHAKHTAR DONETSK (@FCShakhtar) August 23, 2022
The war has had a devastating effect on Ukrainian clubs, especially the smaller ones, which have little cash. Two first division teams, FC Mariupol and Desna Cherniguiv, have been allowed not to take part in this season, but to take part in the next one. The port of Mariupol on the Black Sea was conquered in May by Russian forces at the cost of much destruction and the Desna stadium in Cherniguiv was hit by a Russian rocket.
Matches behind closed doors
The decision to start the new football season seems to come from the president Volodymyr Zelensky, in order to restore morale to the population. If the matches are held behind closed doors for security reasons, passers-by expressed their support for Ukrainian clubs on Tuesday.
“It shows that the war will not stop us,” Dynamo Kyiv fan Maksym Scherbyna, 35, told AFP. Another supporter, Denys Lazarenko, 41, assured that Ukraine “much needs football”, which “unites people”.
Source: Europe1
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