Under threat of Russian attacks in a war that stopped all soccer in Ukraine in February, a new league season started yesterday in Kyiv with the goal of restoring some sense of normal life.
The elegant Olympic Stadium has staged the biggest European soccer games in the past decade, although none as poignant as the opening-day meeting of Shakhtar Donetsk and Metalist 1925 Kharkiv — teams from eastern cities that are fighting for their very existence.
No fans were allowed in the 65,000-capacity downtown stadium for the 1pm local time kickoff and the players were to be rushed to bomb shelters if air-raid sirens sounded.
Photo: Reuters
“We have rules in case of an alarm and we should go to be underground,” Shakhtar captain Taras Stepanenko said on Monday in a telephone interview. “But I think the teams, the players will be proud of this event.”
“We are ready, we are strong and I think we will show to all the world Ukrainian life and will to win,” the national-team veteran said.
The game ended tied 0-0.
The Ukrainian Premier League returned with the blessing of the nation’s leaders and in a week heavy with meaning.
Yesterday was National Flag Day and today is Independence Day, celebrating freedom from control by Moscow that the former Soviet Union republic declared in 1991.
No competitive soccer has been played in Ukraine since mid-December when the league paused for a midwinter break. Games were due to resume on Feb. 25, until the Russian military invasion started one day earlier.
The 16-team league restarts without Desna Chernihiv and Mariupol, teams from cities that have experienced brutal destruction.
All games were to be played in and around Kyiv and further west, and would be shown domestically. The concept of home-field advantage might have been gone for most teams, but simply playing on Ukrainian soil — other games yesterday were to be played in Kyiv, Uzhhorod and Kovalivka — is remarkable.
Ukrainian clubs fulfilling their games in UEFA’s European competitions in the past few weeks played in neighboring Poland and Slovakia, or Sweden, to ensure the safety of opponents such as SL Benfica and Fenerbahce SK.
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