Wearing the names of heavily bombarded cities on their jerseys, Ukraine’s Shakhtar Donetsk opened a series of charity games on a government-backed Global Tour for Peace with a 1-0 loss at Super League Greece 1 leaders Olympiakos on Saturday.
The tour aims to raise money for Ukraine’s military in the war against Russia, and also help Ukrainian refugees displaced by the war.
Shakhtar are also to play Fenerbahce, Hajduk Split and Lechia Gdansk, with other opponents still to be confirmed. Clubs around Europe have been offering to play matches against Ukrainian clubs and host youth players after soccer in the country was shut down when Russia invaded in February.
Photo: AFP
Shakhtar were already displaced from their original home of Donetsk in 2014.
At Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus, Greece, on Saturday, Shakhtar players replaced their names on the back of their jerseys with those of cities bombarded by Russian forces, including Mariupol.
“The names of those cities, where so many people died, will remain forever in our hearts. The guys were crying in the locker room after the game,” Shakhtar captain Taras Stepanenko said. “We thank Olympiakos for giving us the opportunity to play the game... We hope we passed our message against war and for peace.”
Shakhtar, which had been playing in Lviv and Kharkiv before the war, had not played a game since December, and Stepanenko said his team did well given the lack of preparation.
All the team’s foreign players have been released and replaced by players from the youth academy, Stepanenko said.
A lively contingent of Ukrainians occupied one end of the stadium, but the opposite end, where Olympiakos hardcore fans normally sit, was empty. Their official fan club, called Gate 7, boycotted the match, saying that it “refused to take sides” and “play political games.”
A small section of seats was filled with 176 teddy bears and other children’s toys in memory of the 176 children who, Ukraine said on Saturday, have died in the war.
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