Ukrainians in London rally behind Shakhtar as Stamford Bridge hosts Champions League fixtures
On 14 October 2026 in London, Ukrainians are uniting behind Shakhtar Donetsk as the club prepares to play a Champions League home match at Stamford Bridge against AEK Athens on Wednesday.
Artem Genne, who remembers standing on the Donbas Arena pitch before Shakhtar faced Chelsea in 2012, is among supporters who were displaced after Donetsk was captured in 2014 and who now follow the club from across the UK. Shakhtar have staged home matches in Kyiv, Lviv and Kharkiv, and played European fixtures in Poland, Slovenia and Germany since the conflict began; this season their Champions League home games will take place at Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge. Genne, who lives in the West Midlands, said he aims to attend all four of Shakhtar’s Stamford Bridge fixtures, starting with AEK Athens.
Supporters point to strong turnouts for Shakhtar in England: the club’s allocation for Crystal Palace sold out in an hour, and when tickets went on sale for the away leg against Crystal Palace in last season’s Europa Conference League semi-final and for the Arsenal match in the 2024-25 Champions League campaign, allocations also sold out in an hour. Dima Prasolov, who left Donetsk for Kyiv after the war began and now lives in Kent, said he was “ecstatic because it's the first time in about 15 years that I will be able to buy some sort of a season ticket for Shakhtar.”
Many Ukrainians cannot travel to London because of visa and financial barriers: one fan, speaking anonymously, said, “That sort of money for some Ukrainians is a monthly income. And no-one has time in Ukraine now to wait a few months for a visa. So the poor thing is we want to support the team, but we can't go to support because the regulation in England is crazy now.” The same fan added that when Shakhtar play “it's like a big family. It's more than rivalry because they represent Ukraine. Ukraine is always the first place. Then comes football.”
Shakhtar’s chief executive, Sergei Palkin, described the broader human cost behind the matches, saying: “Every day when our team goes to the pitch, it's much more than football because behind it we have a lot of challenges every day. It's a human question, a mental question, a family question for our players, for the academy and so on. The most difficult and important challenge is uncertainty. You wake up in the morning and you don't know what's going to happen today or tomorrow.” He also said: “Part of our role when we play in London and other cities in Europe is to send these messages and remind people what's going on.”
Palkin reported recent operational impacts, noting Shakhtar moved their under-12 team to a safer area of Kyiv after recent attacks and that their women's side had a match disrupted by a nearby drone strike. He said the club is hoping for an average crowd of 30,000 supporters at Stamford Bridge across the four home fixtures and outlined plans to engage the local Ukrainian community: “We have a very good connection with the Ukrainian diaspora in England. We will do activities with Ukrainian children living in London. We will come to schools, bring them to training sessions and connect them with the team. For Ukrainian people living here, it's a good connection to Ukraine.”
Fans and organisers are also using the London fixtures to stage cultural and fundraising events; Genne said there are “constantly events like concerts with Ukrainian artists and they fund-raise for med kits, for equipment, for everything.” Amir, a supporter who left Donetsk at 15 and now lives in London, said: “I think it is a beacon of hope. Seeing Ukrainian sportsmen succeeding internationally gives a lot of reassurance and a sense of power to the Ukrainian people. ... In a way it is quite important the club that is from Eastern Ukraine which is currently occupied by Russia is the club representing Ukraine internationally. It is important internationally as a reminder of the regional roots of Shakhtar and of Donetsk overall.” London has welcomed many of the roughly 265,000 Ukrainians who took refuge in the UK.
Wednesday's match against AEK Athens will be followed at Stamford Bridge by visits from Real Madrid, Sporting and Fenerbahce during Shakhtar's Champions League group campaign, offering supporters further opportunities to watch the club play on a high-profile European stage.
