Games in wartime: the Ukrainian league started a special season

Half a year after the invasion of the Russian occupier and just in time for Independence Day, the Ukrainian league returned to activity - without an audience and with alarms, in order to try to convey that life goes on and that victory is on the way.

Michael will prepare about football at the same time as the shooting and the message that is conveyed to the Russians through the football field

Michael Yochin

25/08/2022

Thursday, August 25, 2022, 5:00 p.m

• Share on Facebook

• Share on WhatsApp

• Share on Twitter

• Share by email

• Share in general

• Comments

  Comments

Tikteknu: today's summary clip, 25.8 (Sport1)

The meeting between Roch Levov and Metalist Kharkov started on Wednesday at 15.00.

The final whistle sounded around 19.30.

A league game doesn't usually last four and a half hours, but this is no ordinary league - this is the Ukrainian league that returned during the war and held the first round in the middle of the week, perfectly timed to mark Independence Day and send a clear message to the Russian conqueror - life goes on, and victory is on the way.

The battle between Roch and Metalist was the only one that took place on Independence Day itself, in the modest Ukraine Stadium, and the Russians did their best to spoil the plans.

Three times the match was stopped because of air raid alarms, and the players went down to the shelter together.

The first time occurred in about the 43rd minute, and president Roch Harihuri Kozlovski refused to leave the honor stand.

"Let them at least complete the first half," he shouted at the referees who rushed to obey the orders of the security forces.

The second half was stopped twice and at one point there was concern that it would not be possible to complete the game - but the players were determined to stay until the end.

This was the real achievement, as Metalist took the points with a dramatic 1:2.

This is how the 2022/23 season opened in Ukraine

twitter twitter

The decision to start a new season on Ukrainian soil was not trivial.

The previous season was stopped in the middle - the second round was supposed to start on February 25, while the Russian invasion started on February 24, and that's where it all ended.

The teams found it difficult to function in conditions of uncertainty, most of the foreigners chose to leave, the players scattered everywhere and trained alone, and over time, Ashar Donetsk and Dynamo Kyiv managed to organize a tour of exhibition games throughout Europe designed to encourage the people and also to transfer all the proceeds to the army.

After that, the Ukrainian national team's attempt to qualify for the World Cup took the full attention, and this adventure ended in tears, because the victory over Scotland in Glasgow was accompanied by a loss to Gareth Bale's Wales in Cardiff.

This fiasco left a feeling of emptiness, but the players and fans already knew then, in June, that the league was expected to resume.

This was done with the firm support of President Volodymyr Zelensky.

This was no small matter and many questions arose and caused controversy.

Some argued that it would be better to move the games to neighboring countries, mainly to Poland, in order to ensure that they would take place without risk, but this option was rejected outright.

There were also those who argued that there was no point in playing without an audience because the games were meant for the fans, but that didn't make sense either.

The option that seemed the most sane in insane circumstances was chosen - games without an audience on Ukrainian soil, with shelters ready for times of need.

A significant number of teams had to move their games to other cities, but this is not a new rule in Ukraine - because Shakhtar and Zuria Luhansk have already done so since the beginning of the military conflict in 2014.

They are currently playing in Kyiv, and were joined by Chornomorets Odesa, Kryvbas and Metalist 1925 Kharkov (yes, there are two clubs named Metalist from the city of Kharkov, that's a topic for a separate story).

Metalist Kharkiv, Vorskla Poltava and Minai will play in Uzhhorod, and Res Rivne temporarily moved to Lutsk.

One of the few foreigners who came to Ukraine.

Patrick Van Leeuwen (Photo: Danny Maron)

The organizational difficulties are obvious, but in Ukraine they are very satisfied that 14 of the 16 clubs that played last season managed to maintain their activity.

Mariupol and Desna Chernihiv are unable to resume their existence in the meantime, and the former - whose city was completely destroyed in a particularly brutal attack by the Russians - may not be resurrected at all.

On the other hand, Kryvbas, which was promoted from the second division, is recovering vigorously, and proudly presents one of the greatest Ukrainian heroes in the world of football.

Coach Yuriy Varnidov, who guided Sheriff Tiraspol to the group stage of the Champions League last season and beat Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu, left the Maldives at the end of February to join the army at the age of 56. Now, after giving his all for several months and taking a complete break from the game, he returned to the bench at Cribbas and stated : "Football is very important to our people, our soldiers and our warriors. It is a national mission."

This is the approach that guided the president of the association Andrey Pavelko.

"Football may be a breath of fresh air that will emphasize what we are fighting for. The nation needs signs of freedom and normalcy, to see that we have a future. We believe that this will contribute to the morale of the people. Everyone who will participate in these games - the players, the coaches and the referees - will go down in history and be able to tell about it to their grandchildren," he stated.

"We have to get on with life," stated national captain Oleksandr Zinchenko from London, where he plays for Arsenal.

The message is important here, so ideas that overemphasized the state of emergency were rejected.

Officials in the association proposed, for example, to keep the location of the games a secret, so that the Russian enemy would not bomb the stadiums, but this is exactly the opposite of what is required.

Therefore, the opening game between Shakhtar and Metalist 1925 was scheduled to take place on Tuesday precisely at the Olympic Stadium in Kyiv.

The magnificent and huge facility, which hosted the final of Euro 2012 and the final of the Champions League in 2018, looks derelict when the stands are empty, but it is the national symbol, and it was decided that it was the right thing to do.

A soldier who fought and was wounded in Mariupol was honored to take the opening kick, after the players listened to the national anthem wrapped in the yellow-blue flag of the Motherland and listened to Zelensky's words projected on the big screen.

The fighter Yaroslav Golik with the opening kick of the season in Ukraine

twitter

He was in the Champions League, since then he joined the army and returned to coach in Ukraine.

Varnidov

twitter

Shakhtar opens the season with a squad that does not even mention the tradition that has taken root over the past two decades.

She is used to basing the link and attack on Brazilian talent, but they have left, along with Manor Solomon who is currently on loan at Fulham, and almost all the players are now Ukrainian.

In the lineup against Metalist 1925, however, two foreigners appeared - the Brazilian defender Lucas Taylor who was just now on loan from PAUK Thessaloniki, and the Croatian midfielder Nevan Jurasek who came from Dnipro at the request of coach Igor Jovicevich.

The 48-year-old Croatian replaced on the lines the Italian Roberto de Zerbi who chose to leave after a long deliberation.

The claimant to the crown looked rusty in the first round and ended in a 0:0 draw, when young goalkeeper Anatoly Trubin prevented a loss with a brilliant save.

Unlike De Zerbi, Mircea Lucescu, the 77-year-old Romanian coach of Dynamo Kyiv chose to stay.

After the outbreak of the war, the legendary mentor took care of hosting the team in Romania, and now he is ready to lead his apprentices in the different conditions, even if running to shelters can be quite challenging at his age.

His image in Ukraine, which he built during his wonderful term at Shakhtar, was damaged in the past due to statements that "the Russians and Ukrainians are one nation", and especially due to his agreement to coach Zenit, the project of the Russian regime, in the 2016/17 season, but this year he erases the sins from his mind, and stands out As a national hero for everything.

The save that prevented a loss

twitter

Another intriguing foreign coach, who started working in Zuria this summer, is ex-Maccabi Tel Aviv, the Dutch Patrick van Leeuwen.

He lost in the Conference League qualifiers to Universiade Craiova, thus avoiding an intriguing meeting with Hapoel Beer Sheva, but in the opening round in Ukraine, Zuria beat Vorskla 1:3, and is temporarily leading the table.

Who knows, maybe Zoria will even be able to persist in this.

The weakening of the two great empires - Shakhtar and Dynamo - gives the possibility of a much closer and less predictable struggle at the top.

The level of football will not be supreme, but that is not the main goal at the moment.

If the Ukrainians manage to manage the league for a long time in war conditions, it will be a considerable achievement of consciousness.

If all the clubs hold up financially, that will be good news, and as of now this is not guaranteed at all - Minai's opening match against Vars Rivne has already been postponed in the first round due to the fear that the host will not be able to meet its obligations and will be forced to disband.

Above all, there is hope that the grim reality will change soon, Putin's forces will be defeated, and the games will be able to take place normally.

With an audience, without alarms and without shelters.

• sport

• world football

Tags

• Ukraine