Artem Chobanian
The new season, full of expectation begins on July 19th in Ukraine. Ukrainian fans already forgot about last season, a wonderful season domestically, but one where again Dynamo Kyiv and Shakhtar Donetsk failed again in Europe. However, several major changes have occurred in and around football in Ukraine and I hope they will lead to better results and significant progress in the standard of play.
What can we expect from the teams and authorities in Ukraine and, is there a chance for the best Ukrainian clubs to replicate the performances of their near neighbours CSKA Moscow and Zenit St Petersburg in Europe?
Firstly, the Ukrainian football league is now called the Premier League since June 2008. You can find a detailed description of this event in the article Ukraine Premier League Solves Nothing. As it is clear from the title, there are enough issues yet to be solved before we can say the Ukrainian league really becomes Premier.
This January Dynamo Kyiv invited a famous Russian coacj Yuri Semin to head the team and help it to become a grand club in Europe. The task is very difficult for Semin. First, because of the coming Euro 2012 and the construction of a new stadium Dynamo has limited funds and Semin could not afford to sign some very good players he was thinking of buying.
Then, he got rid of some of the useless and old players and decided to gamble on Dynamo’s young talent. The last games of the previous season proved those youngsters could become fine players, but they will need time and understanding to develop. Semin realises that. Fortunately, Dynamo president Ihor Surkis understands that too. All Kyiv fans can’t wait to see Dynamo in this year Champions League and hope that the “new blood” will make a real difference.
There is a quite different situation at the other big club, Shakhtar Donetsk. For the three previous years Shakhtar showed wonderful performances both at home stage and in European competition. Most of the pundits here in Ukraine admit they have been very unlucky all these years. However, Shakhtar’s president Rinat Akhmetov was very clear in his interviews preceding the new season: he admires Mircea Lucescu, his mutual understanding with the players, but the team have to show much better results in the European arena otherwise he will have to decide to do something radical.
Everyone understands he most probably means that he will make changes to the coaching staff in that event. Last year Shakhtar spent $100 million on new players, but during the season had to say goodbye to Cristiano Lucarelli and Nery Castillo, the players Lucescu thought would take his club to previously unseen heights, but in fact, their mid-season departure meant the coach had to change the club’s formation and style twice. Somehow, unlike Dynamo, Shakhtar have never achieved any significant success in European tournaments, though Akhmetov and his team are very ambitious. This year many Shakhtar players have said they must become use the experience they have gained so far, and also stated that they don’t believe their Champions League dream is dead.
The two next biggest clubs in the land, Metalist Kharkiv and Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk have not made any serious purchases and though there’s still time before the end of summer, the press secretaries of the clubs state their bosses think they already have enough good players that can help Metalist and Dnipro get to at least the UEFA Cup group stage.
Unfortunately, despite Metalist’s wonderful performance last season, this club (and all others!) cannot afford to sign even one very good player to help the team become competitive in Europe. Of course, there are compelling reasons for this like the poor political and economic situation in Ukraine, and more specifically corruption within the sport authorities, etc.
Apart from the sad news mentioned above, I’d like to mention that on July 16th Shakhtar challenged Dynamo in the pre-season curtain raiser the Supercup. Frankly, after the Euros I didn’t expect something extraordinary, though these two clubs always fight on the pitch, trying to prove time and again which team is best. But I was wrong and I was/am happy. I underestimated the clubs’ preparations for the match and the game was exceptionally good!
Shakhtar were better, but Dynamo attacked so vigorously that they could have scored at least three times. Both teams were unlucky though. After two fiercely contested halves of football, the game was drawn 1-1. According to an agreement between the teams the penalty shootout took place after the completion of normal time. Shakhtar’s fourth choice (!) goalkeeper Rustam Hudzhamov managed to catch a shot by Pape Diakhaté and Shakhtar won.
That game has now put hope in the hearts of the Ukrainians fans that at least the two greatest Ukrainian clubs will fight in the Champions League with their heads held high. Perhaps they will also raise the profile of Ukrainian football and represent it in a better way than they have in recent seasons.
This season is very important for Ukraine and its citizens. It’s a Slavic tradition to hope for the best even if the past was awful and there are no reasonable grounds for the positive results now. But I am sure we won’t have to wait too long until Ukrainian clubs rise to a level where they are both respected and feared by their peers. Eastern European football in general is on the way up!
