Ukraine club set to get lucrative Champions League upgrade
Shakhtar Donetsk are heading directly to the next Champions League group stage after Villarreal were eliminated in the semifinals yesterday.
Amid so much turmoil in Ukrainian football, the upgrade should guarantee tens of millions of euros in Champions League prizemoney next season for Shakhtar, who have been touring Europe playing charity games in exile from Russia’s invasion.
Villarreal’s 5-2 aggregate loss to Liverpool ensured the title will be won by a team that already qualified for next season’s Champions League through their domestic league finish. Real Madrid and Manchester City play in the other semifinals second leg today.
The entry in next season’s competition that UEFA protects for the defending champion can now pass to the highest-ranked national league that does not already have a direct place in the group stage starting in September.
That country is No 12-ranked Ukraine and their top club is Shakhtar, who had been scheduled to enter the playoffs round in August.
Shakhtar led the Ukraine Premier League standings when the season was abandoned last month with no official title to be awarded. Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, one day before the league was to resume after a two-month winter break.
The financial security offered by Champions League football should help Shakhtar find stability amid uncertainty for Ukraine sport.
It is unclear how many players, especially from abroad, it can retain and sign for next season, or where the squad will practice and play.
Still, Shakhtar have been living with uncertainty in exile for eight years. The team have not played in Donetsk since 2014 when forced out by Russian-backed conflict in their home region of eastern Ukraine. It is now the scene of intense fighting in the third month of the war.
UEFA removed Russian clubs from next season’s European competitions because of the war, and that also helped upgrade Shakhtar.
Russian champions Zenit St. Petersburg’s group-stage place was this week awarded to 11th-ranked Scotland, lifting Ukraine up to be next in line if Villarreal did not win the Champions League.
Zenit could join Russian appeals to the Court of Arbitration for Sport against UEFA and FIFA barring national and club teams from international competitions.