DONETSK: LIFE AFTER SHAKHTAR

Five years after their heroes had to flee, the city has a new team to cheer

It’s now half a decade since Champions League regulars Shakhtar Donetsk were forced to leave their home city, but a new Donetsk team are being represented on the international stage.

War in the Donbass region forced Shakhtar to flee to Lviv in 2014, before further switches to Kharkiv and Kiev. The city of Donetsk is now administered by pro-russian separatist forces, leaving it in football limbo with no team in the Ukrainian league and unable to join the Russian league.

Instead, the Donetsk People’s Republic has joined CONIFA, a football federation for minorities and stateless regions around the globe. CONIFA held their latest World Cup in England last summer, and this month they’re holding their own version of the European Championship – featuring a tournament debut for Donetsk.

The 2019 CONIFA European Cup is taking place in Artsakh - a disputed region in the Caucasus, fought over by both Armenia and Azerbaijan during a brutal war between 1988-94 and home to the giant We Are Our Mountains monument (right).

Donetsk’s neighbours Luhansk are also entering the event for the first time: they lost their football club when pro-russian forces took over and Zorya Luhansk had to flee west.

The disputed territory Crimea is now part of CONIFA, although the team are not yet ready to participate in a tournament.

This year’s CONIFA European Cup was scheduled to feature 12 teams including Sapmi and Szekely Land, but Sardinia have since withdrawn. CONIFA World Cup winners Karpatalya will also be absent – representing the Hungarian minority in Ukraine, their World Cup win caught the attention of the Ukrainian government, who condemned them as ‘sports separatists’.

The players were banned from playing for Ukrainian clubs and their names published on a website about people regarded as ‘enemies of Ukraine’, prompting Human Rights groups to campaign on their behalf. A newly-formed Kernow team, representing Cornwall, have joined CONIFA with a view to appearing in their competitions at a later date.

They took on English-based Somalians Barawa in a recent friendly, while fellow CONIFA members Yorkshire thrashed Somaliland 6-2 at Athersley Recreation near Barnsley.

However, Surrey succumbed to a 3-2 defeat at home to the Chagos Islands in Merstham.

There are no easy games in international football... Chris Flanagan