SHAKHTAR DONETSK have confirmed they will play their Champions League home fixtures over 1,500miles away from their own stadium.
The Ukrainian giants will be hosted at the Veltins-Arena in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, for next season.
The Schalke stadium is currently one of the selected ones for Euro 2024.
The club confirmed the decision on social media.
It wrote: “Our new European Cup home.
“Shakhtar will play the home games of the Champions League for the 2024/25 season in Gelsenkirchen in the Veltins-Arena.”
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Club CEO Serhii Palkin has hailed the deal and argued that the decision was made due to the club’s support in the country.
He said: “We are glad to hold our Uefa Champions League matches at one of the best stadiums in Germany.
“The positive experience of the last season shows that Shakhtar has a strong support of the fans in this country – both local residents and Ukrainian refugees.
“This factor is of great importance to our club.
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“We thank the management of Schalke 04 and the city of Gelsenkirchen for solidarity and do not doubt the mutually beneficial cooperation.
“We are looking forward to the Uefa Champions League matches.”
The move to the Veltins-Arena is a massive 1,582 miles from the club’s original home.
Shakhtar have not played in their home stadium in Donetsk for a decade.
The abandoned Donbass Arena was the old home of Shakhtar but it was damaged by reported artillery shelling in August 2014 and has not been used since.
Two months later, more artillery shelling damaged the 52,000-seater stadium, but this time, it was to a much worse extent.
Both the east and west sides were caught up in the crossfire, causing at least one large glass panel to fall and almost hit a young girl.
And there was to be further damage years later when the stadium’s infrastructure was hit once more in March 2022.
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Due to years of neglect, the venue has entered a state of pitiful decline both inside and out.
Since 2014, Shakhtar has been playing at the Olympiyskiy Stadium in Kyiv.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
