Football Returns to Ukraine

Six months ago, the start of the war with Russia stopped all football in Ukraine. However, a new season of Ukraine’s premier football league started in Kyiv on Tuesday. The country of 44 million people is hoping for some normalcy.

In the past decade, the Olympic Stadium in Kyiv hosted some of the biggest football games in Europe. Yesterday, it hosted the first match of this season between Shakhtar Donetsk and Metalist 1925 from Kharkiv. Both teams are from cities that are now the frontlines of the war.

For safety reasons, no fans were allowed in the stadium for the game. There were also safety rules for players and staff. In an emergency, everyone would have gone to a bomb shelter.

In addition to the start of a new football season, this is an important week for Ukraine. Wednesday, August 24, is Ukraine’s Independence Day. Since 1991, the country has normally celebrated independence from the Soviet Union on this day.

The last professional football match played in Ukraine was in December last year. The Ukrainian Premier League stopped for their winter break, but did not restart in February as planned because of the invasion by Russia. The invasion started on February 24th, one day before the scheduled restart of the football season.

This season, only 16 teams will play in the league. Two teams not playing this season are Desna Chernihiv and Mariupol which are from cities that were destroyed.

All of the games will be played in and around Kyiv and west of Kyiv.