Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – Ukraine on Tuesday launched its new football season despite Russia's ongoing invasion, in an apparent attempt to give a morale boost to the war-ravaged nation. In the first match of the Ukrainian Premier League, Shakhtar Donetsk drew 0-0 with Metalist 1925 from Kharkiv at the Olympiysky stadium in Kyiv. In an […]

Demydiv (Ukraine) (AFP) – As Ukraine's football season kicked off on Tuesday despite the ongoing Russian invasion, players from a Mariupol club are hoping to do their devastated city proud after a dramatic escape from their home. FSC Mariupol are warming up in the tiny village stadium of Demydiv 20 kilometres (12 miles) north of […]

Cardiff (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Ukraine's World Cup dream is over after a cruel 1-0 defeat to Wales in Sunday's play-off final left a nation ravaged by war without the release of seeing their country compete in Qatar later this year. Heads bowed, the Ukrainian players were still saluted like heroes from the small band of […]

Cardiff (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Wales manager Rob Page said it was "business as usual" despite facing war-torn Ukraine as they aim to reach a first World Cup since 1958 in Sunday's play-off final. Ukraine beat Scotland 3-1 on Wednesday in their first competitive match since Russia's invasion in February. However, Page stressed that his […]

Kiev (AFP) – Oleksandr Petrakov, who managed Ukraine's youth football team to victory at the Under-20 World Cup in 2019, was named acting coach of the Ukrainian national team on Wednesday. Petrakov, 64, who has coached various Ukraine youth teams for the past decade, takes over from Andriy Shevchenko, who managed Ukraine for five years […]

Kurakhove (Ukraine) (AFP) – As football fans prepare for the climax of the Euro 2016 tournament in France, battle-hardened Ukrainian troops are playing their own tournament against locals near the front in the war-scarred east. "After completing your watch at the front with a machinegun in your hands, standing knee-deep in mud in the trenches, […]

Imagine stepping on to a soccer pitch knowing that it could possibly be the last game of your life. Imagine kicking off knowing that you and your teammates are the only beacons of hope in a Nazi-occupied city. Imagine scoring a goal knowing that victory could have potentially tragic consequences. Imagine playing the match without […]

While the conflict in Ukraine is obviously much bigger than the game of soccer, the nation’s unrest is now affecting the country’s top soccer league. The Ukrainian Premier League was ranked by UEFA as the 7th best soccer league in Europe in May of 2013, and the league’s top club at the moment, Shakhtar Donetsk, is […]