Shakhtar base themselves in London for Wednesday’s Champions League tie at Stamford Bridge — ‘We’re here to show the world that we are alive’
Shakhtar Donetsk have set up a temporary base in London to play Wednesday’s Champions League “home” match against AEK Athens at Stamford Bridge, travelling from western Ukraine via a cross-border convoy and charter flight.
The squad trained near Lviv at a spa hotel 15 minutes outside the city, where players who had not started against Veres Rivne completed a light session watched by head coach Arda Turan and director of football Darijo Srna. Air raid sirens sounded around dawn and, elsewhere in Ukraine — in Rivne — a second-half delay of 20 minutes after a shelter alarm underlined why the club cannot stage European fixtures at home.
Turan, appointed as Shakhtar head coach in May 2025 and a scorer in Atlético Madrid’s 2014 Champions League semi-final, said the prospect of playing at Stamford Bridge was positive: "It has good feelings for me and inshallah it will for our players too.” He added that the stadium was “an iconic stadium but it’s not our home,” and stressed the difficulty of operating without a home ground at this level.
Director of sports management Vitaliy Khlivnyuk described the cumulative mental toll of constant travel: "In the first year playing games away we felt more enthusiastic," he said, adding that the burden “becomes harder and harder for everyone.” He said his office had become a "panic room" for wartime logistics after the club discovered residency-permit applications for foreign staff could not be processed because the system had been taken offline by Russian bombs in Kyiv.
Driver Oleksandr, who sets departures and recalled a 930-mile trip to Slovenia for a Conference League game, led a convoy that reached the Krakovets border crossing in just under two hours before heading to Rzeszow airport. Brazilian youngster Kauã Elias said the travel routine had become “normal now” and described the support among his compatriots, noting the group meet weekly to cook churrasco; Elias added: “So going there with Shakhtar is a dream in the same way. We’re very happy to play in London this year.”
Border formalities on the Ukrainian and Polish sides took an hour and a quarter, and the party reached Rzeszow airport about four hours after leaving Lviv, where a small number of fans secured shirts to sign. Administrative problems persisted: one player’s electronic travel authorisation initially failed because the system misread his passport name, prompting a rushed reapplication that allowed him to board. Turan made a video call before departure and said: "I feel 100% part of this family and this story. Sometimes when I see children smiling at us I can tell they have home, and if I feel I’ve helped that then it’s the greatest thing for me."
Shakhtar’s charter flight left with Gatwick around two and a half hours from departure and was described as a nine-hour expedition, after which the team reached their west London hotel within about 90 minutes. Srna said the schedule was demanding — "We now have nine games in 29 days, three of them in the Champions League, and have to travel home too" — and outlined the club’s wider messaging: shirts will carry the "Invest in Ukraine" campaign, the club hopes for at least 25,000 supporters for the AEK match, and the home group includes a January visit from Real Madrid; Srna added: "If you come along and support Shakhtar, you’re supporting Ukraine." He also said: "This team need support and need emotion, because we are living under sirens and bombs. We’re here to show the world that we are alive, strong, united and will fight to the end."
The squad will return to Ukraine on Thursday before preparing for Saturday’s league fixture with Kolos Kovalivka; Khlivnyuk said the players must continue despite the strain, concluding: “Many of our citizens are struggling more than us. When you know that a win or draw can be a spot of light in this darkness, you will always do it.”