The Ukrainian championship resumes on Tuesday August 23, six months after its interruption following the invasion. A political symbol more than sports. The government has taken action draconian security measures to ensure the smooth running of the meetings.
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It was Sunday December 12, 2021, defender Oleksandr Chornomorets gave victory to his Kolos Kovalivka team in the dying seconds of stoppage time. It was the last match of the first leg of the match.e the Ukrainian “Premier-Liha”. After a two-month break, the championship was to resume on Friday, February 25. On the 24th, Russia launched its offensive in Ukraine, and the 2021 – 2022 season never resumed.
Six months after the start of the war, the championship therefore officially resumes this Tuesday, August 23 with an opposition between two clubs in the region of Donbass for the first day: Shaktar Donetsk and Metalist Kharkiv.
But this recovery is taking place with the constraints inherent in a country at war. The matches will be played without spectators and will be played either in the Kyiv region or in western Ukraine. Each stadium will have to have an anti-aircraft shelter and the military will be present at each match to ensure the safety of the teams.
If the sirens sound because of the air raids, the match will be interrupted and the players as well as the technical staff will have to take refuge inside the changing rooms. This is what the matches of the Ukrainian championship for the 2022-2023 season should look like.
Not all Ukrainian elite clubs will return to competition. FC Mariupol will not be there: the port city in south-eastern Ukraine has been bombarded relentlessly and is now occupied by the Russians. Desna Tchernihiv, who participated in the Europa League in 2020-2021, will also stay at home, the fault of a stadium completely destroyed by the bombings.
Crater from a Russian missile at the Yuri Gagarin stadium in Chernihiv. Amongst the biggest I have seen. #Ukraine pic.twitter.com/Sh2JmqtpOw
—Tim Judah (@timjudah1) April 11, 2022
On the other hand, Shaktar, the club from Donetsk, in the heart of the Donbass region, moved to kyiv and Kharkiv in 2014, at the start of clashes between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists. And will assume his role as the big favorite in the title race with Dynamo kyiv.