ATHENS, April 10: Wearing the names of heavily bombarded cities on its jerseys, Ukrainian soccer club Shakhtar Donetsk opened a series of charity games on a government-backed “Global Tour for Peace” with a 1-0 loss at Greek league leader Olympiakos on Saturday.
The tour aims to raise money for Ukraine’s military in the war against Russia, and also help Ukrainian refugees displaced by the war.
Shakhtar is also set to play Fenerbahce, Hajduk Split and Lechia Gdansk, with other opponents still to be confirmed. Soccer clubs around Europe have been offering to play games against Ukrainian clubs and host youth players after soccer in the country was shut down when Russia invaded in February.
Shakhtar was already displaced from its original home of Donetsk in 2014.
At Karaiskaki stadium in Piraeus on Saturday, Shakhtar players replaced their names on the back of their jerseys with those of cities bombarded by Russian forces, including Mariupol.
“The names of those cities, where so many people died, will remain forever in our hearts. The guys were crying in the locker room after the game,” Shakhtar captain Taras Stepanenko said.
“We thank Olympiakos for giving us the opportunity to play the game … We hope we passed our message against war and for peace.”
Olympiakos coach Pedro Martins said he hoped Ukrainian teams “will soon return to European competitions and Ukrainians (will return) to normality.”
Shakhtar, which had been playing in Lviv and Kharkiv before the war, had not played a game since December, and Stepanenko said his team did well given the lack of preparation. Players trained in Turkey before flying to Greece. All foreign players have been released and replaced by players from the youth academy, Stepanenko said. (AP)
