Champions League

I spent the night with Shakhtar fans at Stamford Bridge – here’s why it was the ultimate feel-good experience

3-1: The Shakhtar goes back against the AEK in Stamford Bridge

Why are Shakhtar Donetsk playing home matches at Stamford Bridge? Everything we know

Champions League: Why Shakhtar Donetsk will play home matches in Chlesea Stadium

Joining Shakhtar as they make base in London: ‘We’re here to show the world that we are alive’

How Ukrainians are uniting behind Shakhtar in London

Shakhtar have submitted a list of 29 players for the league phase: three goalkeepers (Fesiun, Riznyk, Bahlai), eight defenders, fourteen midfielders and four forwards, with Marlon Santos, Pedrinho, Lassina Traoré and Kauã Elias among the senior players. Bahlai, Newerton, Tsukanov, Smetana and Mendoza are registered on list B. The first match will be at PSV on 10 September.

The Shakhtar Social foundation has described the international “Pace for Health” sports camp, supported by the European Union's Erasmus+ Sport programme, which in July brought together thirty young footballers, most of them internally displaced, in Catania and Palermo, Sicily. The programme included daily training, adapted activities and a visit to the Renzo Barbera stadium, with the help of FC Palermo and local authorities.

Shakhtar's U21s beat Polissia Zhytomyr's 2-1 on 2 September. “It was a very difficult match, in the first half we were not good in some situations, but it was good to score early, that gave us the momentum to keep going,” explained forward Yevhen Harmash.

Trabzonspor tried to secure Arda Turan's release, but Shakhtar's board decided not to discuss parting with their head coach, who arrived in July 2025 and has 35 wins, 11 draws and 9 defeats in 55 matches.

Shakhtar will play their Champions League home matches at Stamford Bridge, in London, the war preventing them from playing in Ukraine; their opponents are Real Madrid, Inter, Sporting CP, PSV, Fenerbahçe, RB Leipzig, AEK Athens and Slovan Bratislava.

The club has opened ticket sales for Shakhtar v Chornomorets, on Sunday 14 September at 18:00 at the Arena Lviv for matchday 6 of the league: seats from 200 hryvnia, VIP seats at 700 and skyboxes at 1,200 per place, with dynamic pricing that rises with demand. Tickets are in the holder's name and the regulations set out the evacuation procedure to the shelters in the event of an air-raid alert.

The club has also put on sale tickets for the trip to Eindhoven, for PSV v Shakhtar.

Beaten 0-2 by Polissia Zhytomyr in the league, Arda Turan spoke of the “saddest day” since he arrived at Shakhtar, acknowledging mistakes in his selection and his game plan.

Still without their own stadium because of the war, Shakhtar Donetsk will play their 2026-27 Champions League home matches at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea's stadium, according to an announcement on 21 August 2026.