Shakhtar Donetsk captain Mykola Matviyenko has written an open letter to football fans in London ahead of the Ukrainian side's Champions League home games at Chelsea's Stamford Bridge this season.
The Ukrainian champions will play at least four "home" matches at the London stadium, facing Greek side AEK Athens, Portuguese powerhouses Sporting, Turkish giants Fenerbahce and European royalty in Real Madrid.
Letter to fans
"Dear football fans," Matviyenko wrote. "On behalf of everyone at Shakhtar Donetsk, thank you for welcoming us to your city as we host our UEFA Champions League matches at Stamford Bridge this season. London is one of the greatest football cities in the world, and we are pleased to make it our home for our European campaign."
He recalled the club's former home ground, the Donbas Arena in Donetsk, where matches attracted more than 50,000 fans, and where Shakhtar competed with Arsenal, Roma, Juventus and Barcelona.
Impact of war
"Due to the war that came to Ukraine in 2014, our lives changed dramatically. We lost our city, our stadium, our home. But we have never stopped competing," Matviyenko wrote. The team has been forced to play every match away from Donetsk for more than 12 years, in four home stadiums across Ukraine, and since the full-scale invasion by Russia in 2022, European home matches have had to be played outside the country.
Matviyenko said the team received warm welcomes in Poland and Germany, and expects the same in the United Kingdom. He noted that journeys to home matches in London will last around 12 hours, as the team travels by bus and plane through Ukraine and Poland.
Appeal to supporters
"For people across Ukraine, everyday life is far from normal. Whatever difficulties we face as a team, we are lucky by comparison, and they are nothing next to the sacrifices our citizens and soldiers are making," he wrote.
Matviyenko invited football fans in London, including the Ukrainian community, to support Shakhtar at Stamford Bridge, promising "a team that never gives up, that always tries to play beautiful football and gives fans unforgettable emotions."
