Home games of Shakhtar Donetsk
Champions League is played in Hamburg
08/18/2023, 10:45 am
Hamburger SV welcomes high-ranking visitors: In the upcoming season, the Champions League will be played in the Volksparkstadion because Shakhtar Donetsk plays its home games there. Because of the Russian war of aggression this is impossible in their own arena. The Ukrainians could meet German opponents.
Champions League in Hamburg’s Volksparkstadion: The Ukrainian soccer champions Shakhtar Donetsk will be playing their top class home games next season on the Elbe. This was confirmed by both Donetsk and Hamburger SV. UEFA has agreed that at least the three games in the group stage will see European football in the Hanseatic city.
Shakhtar cannot play in their home Donbass Arena due to the Russian war of aggression and had switched to Warsaw last season. Scheduling problems now required a new venue for Donetsk.
“Following our initiative with the successful benefit game in the summer of 2022, it is gratifying that we can support Ukraine in the long term and in this case Shakhtar and that Hamburg will be the venue for top international games,” said HSV board member Jonas Boldt. HSV takes over the complete organizational implementation of the game days for the Ukrainians and receives a share of the turnover in return.
Shakhtar was also pleased with the solution. “After considering several options, we quickly decided on Hamburg as the venue,” said Dmytro Kyrylenko, commercial director of the club: “We are convinced that the games in the Volksparkstadion will be played at the highest level and that both local football fans and thousands of Ukrainians who are currently living temporarily in Germany and other European countries will gather in the stands.”
The group stage draw is scheduled for August 31st. Then it will be clear which top European clubs will come to the 57,000-seat stadium in Hamburg. Donetsk is in pot three. The German opponents Bayern Munich from pot one, as well as Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig from pot two and Union Berlin from pot four are also possible opponents. The group phase starts on 19./20. September.