The morning has faded into low, wispy cloud. Beneath it, Shakhtar Donetsk’s players are training. It is a light session for those who did not start against Veres Rivne the day before, so Arda Turan watches from the sidelines alongside the director of football, Darijo Srna. A stray ball flies toward them, and Srna, after juggling it up, curls it into the goal with a familiar right-footed arc. “Modric!” Turan exclaims. But both men are football legends in their own right, and as they continue joking before Srna rushes off to take another phone call, it occurs that this happy scene could be playing out almost anywhere else. Nearby, just beyond the team’s accommodation, a lake shimmers under the rising sun.
It hides the fact that, around dawn, air raid sirens shattered the peace for everyone in sight. Even here, at Shakhtar’s idyllic spa hotel base 15 minutes outside Lviv, no one is safe from the threat of Russian rockets and drones. In Rivne, three hours’ drive to the northeast, another alarm had sent players and staff down to the stadium’s shelter. The second half was delayed by 20 minutes, and that—no matter where in the country you are or how vivid the autumn colours—is a weekly reality.
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So is a travel schedule that any other Champions League club would dread. Shakhtar are about to hit the road yet again, because there is still no chance of playing European games in Ukraine. This season they will host matches in England for the first time, with Stamford Bridge winning a beauty contest among three venues in the capital. If the border crossing into Poland is unforgiving, the journey could take up to 18 hours. The Guardian has been invited to join their trip to London for Wednesday’s game “at home” to AEK Athens.
“It has good feelings for me and inshallah it will for our players too,” a beaming Turan says, a few hours before setting off in a convoy of people carriers. He has transformed Shakhtar since his appointment as head coach in May 2025 and has been reminding anyone who will listen of his semi-final goal against Chelsea in 2014, when an Atlético Madrid side at the peak of their powers produced a classic away performance. Alisson, one of Shakhtar’s forwards, was unaware of Arda’s heroics and has been made to learn quickly. But there is always a serious point. “It’s an iconic stadium but it’s not our home,” Turan says. “If you don’t have a home stadium at this level it’s very difficult, ask any other club. But we have a dream and inside we have great power.”
They will need all of it for the trip. Shakhtar have become used to packing up, regrouping and taking their roadshow to locations in Poland, Germany and Slovakia for their “home” matches on the continent. But it does not get easier, and with parts of Ukraine under intensified attack from Russia, there is no immediate prospect of a happy ending.
Newertton, one of Shakhtar’s many Brazilians, is unfazed by the journey at Rzeszow airport. Photograph: Courtesy of Shakhtar Donetsk
“In the first year playing games away we felt more enthusiastic,” says Vitaliy Khlivnyuk, Shakhtar’s director of sports management. “And we continue, but with each year it becomes harder and harder for everyone. It’s like if you didn’t sleep for one day, you can recover. You didn’t sleep for two, you already feel worse. The third, it’s something else. It accumulates. Physically you can get over it but mentally it’s really tough.”
Khlivnyuk half-jokes that his office has become a “panic room” for the endless last-minute hitches and logistical challenges of running a club in wartime. Today’s quandary is a case in point: Shakhtar need new residency permits for their foreign players and staff, but the appThe application system has been taken offline by Russian bombs in Kyiv. According to the rules, there is little time for a workaround.
Kyiv, where Shakhtar were based more regularly until three years ago, is an increasingly dangerous place. “Now it has the kind of atmosphere where the birds don’t sing,” says Khlivnyuk, drawing an unhappy parallel with the early days of the invasion of Donetsk in 2014. Domestic matches are still played in Kyiv but the entire league may soon need to relocate to the country’s west.
At lunch one of Shakhtar’s bus drivers, Oleksandr, readies himself for the task ahead. He has long since lost count of the miles accrued during two and a half years on the payroll, but remembers travelling 930 miles to Slovenia for a Conference League game last season. On one trip, Shakhtar were held up at the border for eight hours. He has set today’s departure time for 1pm. Three of the squad play-fight by the dessert buffet and then, realising time is tight, hurry downstairs to collect their belongings.
The players and coaching staff travel in a group of smaller vehicles, four or five to each. Shakhtar introduced that extra concession to comfort a year ago, receiving a favourable response. Other club employees follow on a larger coach, the vehicles winding through low-slung villages and past glinting domed churches. Crumbling Soviet signs are reminders of a complex past; a couple of modest cemeteries bring the present starkly into view.
Passengers’ names are taken before arrival at the Krakovets border crossing, which is reached in just under two hours. Many of the players leap out to stretch their legs. Kauã Elias, among the brightest talents in Shakhtar’s modern crop of exciting Brazilians, has been playing Fifa video games with a carload of his compatriots. “Before I came here I didn’t know about this travel situation, but it’s just something we have to do,” he says. “It’s normal now. My friends always want to know how it is for me playing in a country with a war, but this bus travel is the only real difference. Having so many other Brazilians for company helps a lot.”
In Lviv they all meet once a week to cook churrasco; Marlon Gomes has the best knack for it, according to Elias. The prospect of Stamford Bridge is plenty to chew on. Wednesday’s match is, at least in part, the culmination of a lifelong ambition. “Since I was a kid I dreamed of playing there for Chelsea,” Elias says. “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 take an hour and a quarter. It rarely gets smoother on this particular crossing. On one occasion, an overenthusiastic young immigration official demanded that all of Shakhtar’s vehicles were emptied and their contents searched one by one. The buses begin coursing through the corn fields of south-east Poland; 10 minutes later a vast snake of lorries, led by a police escort, passes in the opposite direction. All of life, and life support, must take the slow road to enter Ukraine now.
Shakhtar arrive at Rzeszow airport four hours after leaving Lviv. There are shirts to sign with a handful of fans who have caught wind of their presence. As usual, late administrative dramas have materialised too. One player has discovered that his electronic travel authorisation to enter the UK did not work; the system had seemingly misread the name on his passport. A rushed reapplication later, and his safe passage is ensured with half an hour to spare before boarding.
Turan makes a video call while waiting forThe flight is underway; one of his assistants is watching Chelsea play Bournemouth, while another is editing footage from the 3-0 win over Veres. “There’s time to do it all on these trips,” Turan says. He’s working his way through episodes of Mobland when there’s downtime.
This magnetic, emotional figure has fully committed himself to Shakhtar. “I feel 100% part of this family and this story,” Turan says. “Sometimes when I see children smiling at us, I can tell they have a home, and if I feel I’ve helped make that happen, then it’s the greatest thing for me. It’s something more important than football. I want to raise the voice of the people here. We live in war but we will never accept it, and I will always continue to bring it up. Football is sometimes everything in life, but sometimes it’s nothing.”
London, or at least Gatwick airport, is only two and a half hours away when Shakhtar’s chartered plane departs. Srna sits across the aisle from Turan in row one. “We now have nine games in 29 days, three of them in the Champions League, and we have to travel home too,” he says. “It’s a very difficult thing to understand if you don’t experience it with us.”
Shakhtar hope at least 25,000 fans will attend the AEK game, perhaps the lowest-profile home match of a quartet that will conclude with Real Madrid’s visit in January. The club’s connections with London extend beyond football: Metinvest, its sister company, provided 5,000 tonnes of steel that built the Shard, the capital’s tallest building. On the pitch, they will wear shirts highlighting the “Invest in Ukraine” campaign driven by their owner and sponsor SCM.
There is hope of progress to the playoff round after a useful draw at PSV Eindhoven on the opening matchday. “If you come along and support Shakhtar, you’re supporting Ukraine,” Srna says. “This team needs support and needs 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.”
At the back of the plane, Shakhtar’s Ukrainian contingent are playing cards. “On some of these long trips I feel like a squished lemon by the end of the day,” says the midfielder Dmytro Kryskiv, turning away from the pack. “But there are others that are easier, and this feels like one of them, travelling to Stamford Bridge for the Champions League.”
Kryskiv thinks there is “something special connecting the team”, driven by the mercurial Turan. They disembark after a nine-hour expedition and, within 90 more minutes, will be settled into their west London hotel. For modern-day Shakhtar it gets no easier than this. On Thursday they must make the return journey before preparing for Saturday’s league game with Kolos Kovalivka.
“But we have to continue to play,” Khlivnyuk concludes. “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.”
Frequently Asked Questions
Here is a list of FAQs based on Shakhtar Donetsk setting up a base in London
Beginner Questions
What is Shakhtar Donetsk
It is a major professional football club from Donetsk Ukraine They are one of the most successful teams in Ukrainian history
Why are they setting up a base in London
Because of the war in Ukraine they cannot play or train safely in their home city London gives them a safe place to work and play
What does setting up base mean
It means the club is making London their temporary home They will train live and manage the team from there instead of Ukraine
Are they moving to London permanently
No This is a temporary move because of the war They plan to return to Ukraine when it is safe
What does Were here to show the world that we are alive mean
It means the club wants people to know that despite the war they still exist they are still playing football and Ukraine is still standing
Intermediate Questions
Where in London will Shakhtar train and play
They will use training facilities in the London area They may also play some matches at local stadiums or nearby venues
Will they play in the English Premier League
No They will still play in Ukrainian competitions and European tournaments London is just their base for training and operations
How will this affect their players and staff
It gives them a safer environment to live and work It also makes it easier for them to travel to international matches
What are the benefits of basing in London
London has worldclass training facilities easy travel connections to Europe and a large Ukrainian community for support
What are the common problems they might face
They may struggle with travel back to Ukraine for domestic matches adapting to a new culture and being away from home and family
How can fans support Shakhtar while they are in London
Fans can attend their matches follow them on social media buy official merchandise and share their story to raise awareness about Ukraine
Advanced Questions
How does this move affect Shakhtars participation in UEFA competitions
It makes travel easier for European matches UEFA has allowed Ukrainian clubs to play home games at
