Ukraine plays football despite war: "We have to show the enemy that we are unbreakable"

Created: 10/11/2022, 6:00 p.m

By: Andreas Schmid

A stadium destroyed by war: the Olympic Sports Training Center in Chernihiv.

© picture alliance/dpa/Ukrinform

Large parts of Ukraine are scarred by war.

Nevertheless, professional football has been played there again since August.

The fear of being attacked is always present.

Kyiv – A game lasts 90 minutes: Germany's world champion coach Sepp Herberger coined this sentence.

Four hours and 25 minutes elapsed between kick-off and final whistle in the Ukrainian football league in August.

The game between Ruch Lviv and Metalist Kharkiv had to be interrupted three times due to air raid alarms, players and club officials fled to a nearby air raid shelter.

This is one of the security requirements under which the Ukrainian Premjer Liha restarted six months after the start of the war.

It's a season in unprecedented circumstances.

Ukraine: "Football Against War, Football For Peace"

"It will be a unique competition," said the head of the Ukrainian Football Association, Andriy Pawelko, before the start of the season.

"Football against war under the conditions of war, football for peace." Because Russian attacks are threatening especially in southern and eastern Ukraine and some stadiums were destroyed there, all games will be played in Kyiv or in the west of the country.

It is unclear how the recent Russian attacks on Kyiv will affect the league.

Spectators are not allowed at the games, many Ukrainian ultras have joined the army.

The clubs Sorja Luhansk and Shakhtar Donetsk are already used to switching to foreign arenas.

For years they have not played in Donbass, but in Lviv or Kharkiv due to security concerns.

The clubs Desna Chernihiv and FK Mariupol, on the other hand, are not included.

The club facilities have been destroyed, some players and club officials have gone to war.

Football is out of the question in these places.

Chernihiv on the Belarusian border is repeatedly hit by Russian missiles, and according to the United Nations, the bombed-out Mariupol is the "place with the highest mortality rate in Ukraine".

In the financially weaker lower leagues, even more clubs are missing.

The football stadium was also destroyed in Bakhmut in the Donetsk region.

© IMAGO/Anna Opareniuk

Football despite the Ukraine war: "We have to show the enemy that we can't be broken"

For the remaining clubs, everyday league life is a bit of normality. War distraction through sport.

"In such a situation, it's important to keep playing football and to show the enemy that we can't be broken," a representative of the first division club Kolos Kovalivka told our editorial team.

The SK Dnipro 1 club said at the request of the

of

: "Football is one of several things that help our people to get through difficult times: for the civilian population and for the soldiers.

Football reminds the soldiers of a peaceful life, of their families and helps them stay strong and keep fighting.”

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Football in Ukraine: "The most important thing is that we win the war against Russia"

Kolos Kovalivka from the Kyiv region is one of the few clubs playing in their own stadium.

"But that's not the most important thing," he said before getting political: "The most important thing is that we win the war against Russia." FC Oleksandriya's response also contains antipathy towards Russia.

"Fortunately, our stadium and the club's infrastructure were not damaged by the enemy." However, the club from central Ukraine can only play at home if the opposing team agrees.

This has not been the case with previous games due to security concerns.

Dnipro, on the other hand, only has “away games” anyway.

In the league, the club from the southeast starts in Uschgorod in the west, more than 1000 kilometers from home, in the Uefa Europa Conference League they compete in Slovakia.

The European football association Uefa does not allow international matches on Ukrainian soil.

That's why Shakhtar Donetsk and Dynamo Kyiv are playing their European games in Poland.

A league game by Dnipro has already had to be interrupted.

The players waited in the air raid shelter.

© SC Dnipro-1 /Sergiy Kozin (fkn)

Football despite the Ukraine war: The league will also be continued for economic reasons

The fact that the league will continue is probably also due to economic aspects.

Another pause in the game could have fatal consequences.

Leaving players, lack of income, lack of development.

"If we miss a season or even several, it will be very difficult to revive football in Ukraine," said Dnipro.

"We could miss a lot."

The clubs are already feeling the effects of the war.

Due to a special rule by Uefa, foreign players could suspend their contracts and switch mid-season.

The football association argued with the security of the professionals, who must be guaranteed the exercise of their profession.

In the normal transfer window, the Ukrainian teams also had few arguments for remaining in a war-torn country.

Some players therefore changed below their market value.

The already financially ailing clubs lost important transfer fees.

The top teams Dynamo Kyiv and above all Shakhtar Donetsk, the only Ukrainian champions of the past 30 years, depend on player transfers to the top European leagues.

The smaller teams, on the other hand, need even the smallest transfer fee.

This also has consequences for the players who stayed.

"Salaries have dropped significantly," football commentator Wiktor Wazko told Austrian magazine

.

"At the same time, the demand for good Ukrainian players has increased, and the most foresighted managers may conclude that even in wartime, you can develop new players who will bring in transfer fees after the war." Football is also in wartime shaped by economic interests - although this season in Ukraine is certainly about more than 90 minutes.