Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukrainian:Футбольний клуб Шахтар Донецьк) is a Ukrainian professionalfootball club that was based in the city ofDonetsk until 2014 when, due to theWar in Donbas, the club was forced to move toLviv, and played matches in Lviv (2014–2016) and inKharkiv (2017–2020) whilst having its office headquarters and training facilities inKyiv.[1] In May 2020, Shakhtar started to play home matches atNSC Olimpiyskyi in Kyiv.[2] Since the beginning of the 2023–24 season, Shakhtar has played home matches once again atArena Lviv.
Shakhtar has appeared in several European competitions and is often a participant in the UEFA Champions League. The club became the first club in independent Ukraine to win theUEFA Cup in2009, the last year before the competition was revamped as the Europa League. FC Shakhtar Donetsk is one of two Ukrainian clubs, the other beingDynamo Kyiv, who have won a major UEFA competition.
The club formerly played its home matches in Donetsk at the newly builtDonbas Arena, however due to theRusso-Ukrainian War in 2014, the team were forced to relocate 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) to the west in Arena Lviv in the interim.[3] Following the winter break of the2016–17 season the club then moved again to theMetalist Stadium inKharkiv (250 kilometres (160 mi) to the northwest of Donetsk) early in 2017.[1] In May–July 2020 Shakhtar played home matches atNSC Olimpiyskyi in Kyiv.[2]
Shakhtar Donetsk is one of Ukraine's most popular football clubs,[4] and is particularly favoured in the easternDonbas region.[4] On 28 October 2021, Shakhtar had 1.4 million followers on Facebook, the highest in Ukraine.[5]
The club draws its history from the very start of the Soviet football league competitions and is one of the oldest clubs in Ukraine. The club was a member of the SovietVoluntary Sports Society of Shakhtyor, having connections with other Soviet teams fromKaraganda (Kazakhstan),Soligorsk (Belarus), among others. In the late Soviet period, Shakhtar was considered a tough mid-table club of theSoviet Top League and a cup competition specialist after winning theSoviet Cup two years in a row in 1961 and 1962.
The team has played under the following names: Stakhanovets (1936–46), Shakhtyor (Shakhtar) (1946–92), and FC Shakhtar (1992–present).
The club has a meaningful association with theDonets Basinunderground coal-mining usingvertical mining shafts, calledSchacht in German. This was taken over into CyrillicШахтн, end re-transcribed into Latin letters as, for example,shakt in English use. As part of the so-calledStalin industrialisation andStakhanovite movement, in 1936 the local football teams of Dynamo sports societies of Horlivka and Stalino (today Donetsk) established a joint team that represented the mining volunteer sports society Stakhanovets (later Shakhter). The team was transferred from the sports society for theNKVD to a trade union "volunteered sports society" (DSO).
Following theWorld War II, the DSO Stakhanovets changed its name to DSO Shakhter which in the Ukrainian SSR had its local corresponding nomenclature as DSS Shakhtar. The word "Shakhter" or "Shakhtar" means a coal miner working at asub-surface mine, shafted mine, shakhta is a derivative of shaft.
During thedissolution of the Soviet Union (1989–1992), the Donetsk club was reorganized and commercialized as a professional football team. It also made its Ukrainian name as its only name, Шахтар Донецьк, withShakhtar Donetsk in English,Schachtar Donezk in German andSzachtar Donieck in Polish, the latter two being languages of countries that hosted international "home" games for the club due to the situation since 2014.
The Shakhtar club was originally formed on a decision of theAll-Union Council on Physical Culture and Sports of 3 April 1936. It was initially namedStakhanovets, meaning "the participant ofStakhanovite movement", which derived fromAleksei Stakhanov, a coal-miner in theDonbas and propaganda celebrity in 1935. The first team was based upon two other local teams, the participants of the All-UkrainianSpartakiads:Dynamo Horlivka andDynamo Stalino. The first game was againstDynamo Odesa as part of the1936 Cup of the Ukrainian SSR (at that time known as Ukrainian spring challenge) and took place on 12 May 1936 at Balitsky Stadium inHorlivka (the first home stadium). The team that played as Stakhonovets Horlivka lost 3–2 after scoring the first goal by Mykhailo Pashchenko,[a] the second goal belonged to Boris Terentiev.[7]
Its first league game inGroup V took place on 24 May 1936 againstDynamo Kazan was even more disappointing, which miners lost 4–1. Stakhonovets that had on its roster 15 players left forKazan by train on 20 May.[7] Beside players, as part of delegation there were representative of regional council of physical culture Gololobov and republican referee I.Rozanov.[7] The team returned to Stalino on 28 May and the same day Gololobov in interview to newspaper "Stalinskiy rabochiy" told that "... the game in Kazan with local "Dynamo" was witnessed by 3,000 spectators.[7] With the first minutes, the field hosts offered a high pace.[7]
The "Miners", who were road weary, could not respond with the same. On the 13th minute they conceded the first goal and by the end of first half, two more.[7] In many respects the reason was poor performance of right halfback Kutsev (who played instead of K.Pashchenko) and right outside forward Korotynsky.[7] Through their flank Dynamo players successfully attacked.[7] In the first half Stakhanovets forwards looked bleak and uncertain.[7] In the second half the game equalized and on 55th minute Fedor Manov opened score to Donetsk team goals.[7] Final score is 4–1 in favor of the hosts."[7]
Nonetheless, the selective job conducted constructively by the club's administration allowed the club to compete successfully at the top level by the end of the 1930s. During thewar championship of 1941, which was interrupted unexpectedly, the club defeated Soviet championsDynamo Moscow and after about ten games were placed in fifth in the league. In the last game of that championship, played on 24 June, two days after the start of theGreat Patriotic War,[8] which they lost at home toTraktor Stalingrad.[9] During the war many players went to frontlines and perished among which are Ivan Ustinov, Ivan Putyatov, Volodymyr Shkurov, Ivan Horobets, Mykhailo Vasin and others.[6] From the pre-war squad in 1945 there were left only three players Georgiy Bikezin, Mykola Kuznetsov, and Petro Yurchenko.[6]
The All-Union coal mining society of Stakhanovite (Stakhanovets) had changed its name in July 1946 toShakhtyor (Shakhter) and so did the Sports Society of Donbas Miners. The term Shakhtar or Shakhter (Russian variation) is occupational referring to a miner working in a subterranean mining shaft (seeshaft mining), the word "shakhtar" is a local adaptation and derivative of shaft. In the Soviet Union, due to an elevated risk working underground, a subterranean mining job was more compensated in relation to other unskilled work and always in demand.
In 1950,Viktor Fomin was namedUkrainian Footballer of the Year, despite the club finishing only 11th in the league. The first success for the team was in 1951, when it achieved third place in theUSSR Championship. The most notable player of that achievement was thestrikerAleksandr Ponomarev, who came to finish his football career inDonbas, the region he was born in, and was named Ukrainian Footballer of the Year for 1951. Despite the latest achievement, Shakhtar was relegated at the end of the 1952 season and as part of the re-organization of the team, former playerAleksandr Ponomarev became the head coach of the club. In 1954, Shakhtar under Ponomarev won theClass B League, thus sealing a return to the top league.
Cup triumphs and establishment in the Soviet League
A star in the Shakhtar Walk of Fame in honor ofOleg Oshenkov, who as manager twice led Shakhtar toSoviet Cup victory.
In 1958, the players of the club received fewer yellow and red cards than any other team in the championship, for what theSovetsky Sport newspaper awarded the club with the "Fair Play Award."[10]In the 1960s, Shakhtar, underOleg Oshenkov's coaching, were three-timeUSSR Cup finalists, winning it twice in 1961 and 1962. Among the players playing for the club then where defendersViacheslav Aliabiev andVladimir Salkov. The club was nicknamed "The Cup Team" due to Shakhtar's success in vying for the trophy every year. The Miners' more notable achievements, however, occurred later from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s.
A star in the Shakhtar Walk of Fame in honor ofVitaliy Starukhin, considered by many fans the greatest player in the history of Shakhtar.[11]
Despite the departure of the team's leader midfielderAnatoliy Konkov, in 1975, Shakhtar under management of former playerVladimir Salkov, earned second place in theUSSR Championship and received the right to represent the Soviet Union inEuropean competition. At the end of the season, Shakhtar received theProgress Cup for making the biggest progress from previous season in the league. They received the award again in 1977. In 1978, Shakhtar finished third in the USSR Championship.[12]
In 1979, the team finished second in the league campaign and its captain—strikerVitaliy Starukhin—became the top scorer in theUSSR Championship with 26 goals scored, also being namedSoviet Footballer of the Year. The club was only two points away from the first place, despite having important players leaving the club before the season, and other important players receiving injuries.[12]
Other important players besides Starukhin at the time wereMykhaylo Sokolovskyi, who went on to set a caps record for the club (for what he received the Club Loyalty Award in 1987), defendersViktor Zvyahintsev andValeriy Horbunov, who both made it numerous times to the 33 Top Players of the Soviet Championship lists, and goalkeeperYuriy Dehteryov, who was named Soviet goalkeeper of the year and took third place forSoviet Footballer of the Year in 1977.[11]
Shakhtar twice, in 1980 and 1983, brought home the crystal USSR Cup to Donetsk and in 1983, it won theUSSR Super Cup over then-domestic league championsDnipro Dnipropetrovsk. Shakhtar reached the1983–84 European Cup Winners' Cup quarter-final, and strikersViktor Hrachov andSerhiy N. Morozov became joint top scorers of the tournament. In 1987, Shakhtar received the fewest yellow and red cards in the championship, for which the club was awarded the "Soviet Top League Fair Play Award" byMan and Law magazine.[13] Between 1982 and 1988, Shakhtar received the "Together With The Club" award five times, an award given for good organization of home games and behaviour of the home fans.[14]
First decade in independent Ukraine – the beginning of the Akhmetov era
In the newly independent Ukraine, Shakhtar, along with Dynamo Kyiv, became perennial first place competitors. A bombing-assassination took place at the team's stadium, killing club presidentAkhat Bragin in October 1995.[15] In 1996,Rinat Akhmetov took over as president and invested heavily in the club.[16]
Despite Shakhtar not being a strong contender for the championship at the time, finishing second many times with a large point gap from the first-place position, they won theUkrainian Cup three times, in1995 (under the management of former playerVladimir Salkov),1997 and2001. In the1997–98 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, Shakhtar were eliminated after a 5–2 aggregate loss toVicenza, losing the first and second legs. Important players at the time were defendersSerhiy Popov andMykhaylo Starostyak, goalkeeperDmytro Shutkov, strikerOleh Matvyeyev (who was top scorer of the Premier League in the 1996–97 season), andmidfieldersHennadiy Orbu,Valeriy Kryventsov andIhor Petrov. Most of the players playing for the team of the time came through the team's youth ranks.
Shakhtar's jersey with DCC instead of SCM
Towards the end of the decade, the team finally started to look like a team able to become champion. In 1999, a Shakhtar football academy was opened and now hosts football training for roughly 3,000 youth. In 2000,Andriy Vorobey was named Ukrainian Footballer of the Year byKomanda, the first Shakhtar player in independent Ukraine to do so, and became the top scorer in the2000–01 Vyshcha Liha. That year, Shakhtar competed in theUEFA Champions League for the first time, drawn in a group with Lazio, Arsenal and Sparta Prague. They finished third in the group, qualifying for theUEFA Cup after a 3–0 home win against Arsenal.
The club won its first ever Ukrainian Premier League title in the2001–02 season under coachNevio Scala, winning by a single point over Dynamo Kyiv. They were also victorious in the2001–02 Ukrainian Cup, defeating Dynamo 3–2 after extra time in thefinal.[17] Among the key players at the club at the time were captaindefensive midfielderAnatoliy Tymoshchuk, striker Andriy Vorobey, midfielderHennadiy Zubov and defenderMykhaylo Starostyak. At the end of the season, Tymoshchuk, who emerged as the club's leader on the field, was named Ukrainian Footballer of the Year byKomanda andUkrainskiy Football.
ManagerMircea Lucescu took over Shakhtar in 2004 and has led them to becoming the dominant force in the league.
After multiple managerial changes, in 2004 the RomanianMircea Lucescu was invited to build a team in Shakhtar. After ten days at the club, he won the2003–04 Ukrainian Cup and after three months, for the first time in club history, the club made it to theUEFA Champions League group stage, which won him the 2004Romania Coach of the Year title.[11] The strategy chosen was looking for young talented players in Brazil, which was to form the base of the attack, while the defence would supplied by largely Ukrainian talent in order to adjust to rules forcing teams to have a certain number of local players on the field.[18][19]
The large amount of Brazilians arriving at the club earned Shakhtar the nickname "the most Brazilian club in Europe".[20][21][22][23][24][25] They won their second Premier League title in the2004–05 season, but lost to Dynamo Kyiv in the inauguralUkrainian Super Cup tournament in 2004. They finished as runners up in the2004–05 Ukrainian Cup, losing to Dynamo in a penalty shoot-out thefinal.[26]
They retained the Premier League crown in the2005–06 season and managed to avenge the defeat to Dynamo in the previous Super Cup by defeating them on penalties to win their first-ever Super Cup title.[27] At the end of the season, Anatoliy Tymoshchuk was named Ukrainian Footballer of the Year for byUkrainian Football for the second time, becoming the first Shakhtar player to be named so more than once. Brazilian strikerBrandão became the league's joint top scorer.
Shakhtar appeared in all three editions of theChannel One Cup, winning the 2007 edition and finishing runners-up in 2008. Having missed out on the league title in2006–07,[28] Shakhtar regained the title in2007–08, also being victorious in theUkrainian Cup after defeating Dynamo Kyiv 2–0 in the final.[29]Shakhtar's attendance levels at league matches have continually risen over the years to a point where they averaged 36,983 spectators over the2011–12 Premier League season.
Team captainDarijo Srna, one of the greatest players in the history of the team[11] and considered by some "theicon of Shakhtar."[30]
In 2009, they became only the second Ukrainian team to win a European competition (and the first since independence), and the first to win theUEFA Cup after defeatingWerder Bremen in the final, with goals from BraziliansLuiz Adriano andJádson.[31] The victory earned the playerMariusz Lewandowski the 2009Polish Footballer of the Year award. This also made them the last UEFA Cup winners before the tournament was rebranded as theUEFA Europa League.
Before the start of the 2009–10 season, Shakhtar won the friendlyUhrencup tournament. Shakhtar won the Premier League title in the2009–10 season,[32] goalkeeperAndriy Pyatov was named Ukraine Premier League MVP byKomanda, and Manager Mircea Lucescu was named Romania Coach of the Year for the second time. The2010–11 season was a very successful one for Shakhtar. They reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League, their then-best-ever performance in the competition.[33]
CaptainDarijo Srna was chosen to be part of the Champions League Team of the Season as voted by fans.[34] They also won a domestic treble with victory in the Premier League,Ukrainian Cup and the Super Cup.[35] The successful season did not go unnoticed by the experts, and in 2011, theIFFHS gave Shakhtar a special award for making the biggest progress of the decade among football clubs.[36][37]
They went on to win thePremier League andUkrainian Cup in the2011–12 season.[38] Shakhtar playerYevhen Seleznyov topped the goal scoring charts in the league, with 14 goals, midfielderHenrikh Mkhitaryan was namedArmenian Footballer of the Year, and manager Mircea Lucescu was named 2012 Romania Coach of the Year, receiving the award for the third time. The main players at that time were captain Darijo Srna, defenderYaroslav Rakitskyi, Armenian midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan (who was named Armenian Footballer of the Year twice while playing for Shakhtar) and Brazilian midfieldersFernandinho andWillian.
In the2012–13 season Shakhtar won thePremier League,Cup andSuper Cup. Henrikh Mkhitaryan became the top scorer of the league, setting a Ukrainian championship record of 25 goals. He was also named the Ukraine Premier League MVP byKomanda, Armenian Footballer of the Year and theCIS Footballer of the Year for 2012.
Prior to the 2013–14 season, many of the club's main players were sold after Shakhtar accepted high bids for them – Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Fernandinho and Willian brought the club over €100 million. Shakhtar spent the following summer trying to integrate new young players into the team, who along with the remaining players were to form the backbone of the renewed Shakhtar.[41][42][43] Despite selling its leaders, before the 2013–14 season, Shakhtar set a new record for East Europe for number of season tickets sold.[44] Before the beginning of the 2013–14 season, Shakhtar won two friendly tournaments inAbu Dhabi, the Match World Cup, and the Super Cup of Champions played against Russian championsZenit Saint Petersburg.[45]
In the mid-season break, Shakhtar won the2014 United Supercup (the second edition of theUnited Tournament), a tournament between the top-two placed clubs of Ukraine and of Russia,[46][47] which strengthened Shakhtar's status as the strongest club in Eastern Europe.[43][48][49] At the end of the2013–14 season, Shakhtar won the Ukraine Premier League, whileLuiz Adriano was the league top scorer. Shakhtar also won the 2014 Ukrainian Super Cup, holding the trophy for the sixth time. Manager Mircea Lucescu was named the 2014 Romania Coach of the Year, receiving the award for the fourth time.
Due to the war in Donbas, Shakhtar had to temporarily move and play its games inArena Lviv,[50] resulting in very low attendance.[51] As an anti-war protest, the players of Shakhtar refused the initiative to wear the "Glory to the Ukrainian Army" shirts.[52] In the2014–15 UEFA Champions League, Shakhtar finished second in the group stage, therefore qualifying to the next stage. Striker Luiz Adriano equaled bothLionel Messi's record of five goals in a Champions League match andCristiano Ronaldo's record of scoring nine goals in the group stage; as a result,UEFA named him MVP of the competition's group stage.[53] Shakhtar finished the season second in the2014–15 Ukrainian Premier League after playing the whole season away from Donbas, withAlex Teixeira finishing as a joint top scorer in the league. At the end of the season,Douglas Costa was sold toBayern Munich,[54] while Luiz Adriano moved toMilan.[55]
During the2015–16 Ukrainian Premier League, on 16 October, Shakhtar beat Dynamo Kyiv 3–0 in Kyiv and set two new records. One record was that for the first time during aKlasychne derby game in Kyiv a team scored three goals. The other record was that for the first time Shakhtar had moreKlasychne derby victories, 26, than Dynamo.[58] In the middle of the season, Alex Teixeira moved to Chinese clubJiangsu Suning for a fee of €50 million,[59] breaking both the Asian and Ukrainian[60] transfer record.[61][62] The club finished the 2015/16 season as runner up andMarlos was recognised best league player by Komanda. After the 2015–16 season, long-time manager Mircea Lucescu moved on to Zenit Saint Petersburg; he was replaced by the PortuguesePaulo Fonseca, previously ofBraga.
Following the winter break of the2016–17 season, a season when the club won the league, the cup, and the supercup, the club moved to theMetalist Stadium inKharkiv (241 km to the north of Donetsk).[1] In 2017–18, the club won the league and the cup again, withFacundo Ferreyra becoming the league top scorer andMarlos the league assist leader. In the 2018–19 season, the club won Ukrainian Premier League for the third time in a row.[63] In 2019–20, Shakhtar retained their league title for the fourth time in a row. They also reached the semi-finals of the2019–20 UEFA Europa League.[64]
On 29 August 2009, the construction of its new stadium,Donbas Arena, was accomplished, and the stadium was opened. Located in theCity Park of Culture and Recreation, it has a capacity of 50,149 and has been honored with aUEFA five-star rating, the highest rating achievable.
Shakhtar's old home, theCentral Stadium "Shakhtar", which was built in 1936 and reconstructed four times, had been used byShakhtar Donetsk Reserves. The stadium received some major renovations, including the installation of bench seats in 2000 when Shakhtar made it to theChampions League Group Stage.
Amascot mole (moles is a nickname for the club) will entertain spectators during the home matches. Shakhtar are rated 40th by the average game attendance, being the top Eastern European club on the rating charts.[65] Before the 2013–14 season, Shakhtar set a new record forEastern Europe for number of season tickets sold, selling 27,000 season tickets, which means 52% of the seats in Donbas Arena belong to season ticket holders.[44]
Shakhtar Donetsk has its training facilities for its first team, reserve team, and youth academy, all located atKirsha Training Centre.
Due to the war conditions in theeastern Ukraine, Shakhtar temporary venue for its home matches has changed several times, while it was announced that the team will use training facilities inKyiv.[67] It was clarified that its training facility is the Training base of Olympic Preparation "Sviatoshyn" located 20 km (12 mi) away from Kyiv and belongs to the Ukrainian Federation of Trade Unions.[69][70][71]
The club used to field a couple of reserve teams that competed at a professional level. By 2015, all reserve teams, such asFC Shakhtar-2 Donetsk andFC Shakhtar-3 Donetsk were withdrawn from professional competitions. The club, however, fields its youthShakhtar U-21 team in the youth championship ofUkrainian Premier League. Shakhtar also has its football academy that fields four teams in a special youth league designated for teenagers. Since 2012, the club has also had a team for the U-19 championship of the Ukrainian Premier League.
During theSoviet times, the club used to have one youth team named Shakhter-D Donetsk that participated in a separate Soviet championship for doubles. Shakhter-D later was reorganized intoFC Shakhtar-2 Donetsk and admitted to theUkrainian First League.
A public billboard in Donetsk in 2009, from the local "Konti" confectionary with compliments for the club
The first logo of the club was designed in 1936; it featured a bluehexagon, with a red 'S' in the middle, crossed over by ajackhammer. In 1946, when the club was renamed, the logo was changed to black and white, with the addition of the club's name. Later, in the middle of the 1960s, their logo depicted two crossed hammers, with "Shakhtar Donetsk" written in the circle. The crest was added to the kit and remained there, except for several seasons at the beginning of the 1990s. The club's name was depicted in the Russian language until the latest logo was chosen. Therefore, some sources have their name written often as "Shakhter" or rarely "Shakhtyor."
In 1989, an artist, Viktor Savilov, on the occasion of the club restructuring, offered a draft variant of a logo with elements of theball and apitch. Sometime later, the logo was remodelled into the present one. The emblem was added to the kit in 1997.[74]
In 2007, during the presentation of the club's new stadium, Shakhtar's new logo was unveiled. For the first time in over 30 years, the crossed hammers, the traditional symbols of the club, were present on the crest. Also, for the first time, the name was written in the Ukrainian language and not Russian.
Since 1961, the official colours have been black and orange.
The first riots associated with Shakhtar fans took place on 20 September 1959 in the match againstCSKA Moscow, when several dozen Shakhtar supporters ran onto the field, and as a result the match was frustrated. In all matches involving Donetsk, many people came that promoted the development of fan movement in Donetsk. Active development of football movement began in the early 1980s. In the early 2000s to the Ukrainian stadiums cameEnglish style –hooliganism. In 2003, during the final of theUkrainian Cup there was a fierce fight betweenDynamo and Shakhtar fans.
The other rivalry was withMetalurh Donetsk. This was another local club and, although not as significant as games against the rivals from the capital, the games between the two Donetsk teams were proclaimed theDonetsk derby. Metalurh went bankrupt in July 2015.[78]
Among the extinguished rivalries are the games againstSpartak Moscow and, particularly, thethird place championsDinamo Tbilisi of Georgia that took place at times during theSoviet Top League. Another interesting rivalry, the Donbas Derby, is withZorya Luhansk, which gathered a significant crowd inLuhansk. During the early Ukrainian championships, another interesting rivalry developed withChornomorets Odesa labelled the "Miners vs. Sailors", which declined with the turn of the millennium due to the inconsistent performance of theOdesa-based club.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Shakhtar Donetsk has participated in European competition since 1976, playing its first game againstBerliner FC Dynamo in theUEFA Cup. Since 1997, the club has participated in UEFA competition annually with variable amounts of success, and first took part in theUEFA Champions League competition in 2000. Shakhtar Donetsk played againstArsenal,Lazio andSparta Prague upon qualifying for the group stage for the first time in2000–01.
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