The city of Donetsk is located in Central Europe and it’s considered to be the center of Donbass region. Donetsk became well-known in the world because of one of Europe’s top football clubs called Shakhtar as well as the Donbass Arena. In CIS countries, it is recognised as a fourth stadium by capacity. The Arena hosted some matches of Euro 2012. Shakhtar has won UEFA Cup, Ukraine Super Cup and Premier League. After the last game at the Stadium on 4th April 2014 notion of “big football” has abandoned Donetsk. All competitions are in the past. Donbass Arena stood silent at the city center forgotten by thousands of fans, missing breath-taking games series and countless journalists.

Does homeland of FC Shakhtar Donetsk still has got a football potential?

The sport is on revival. In 2015 Donetsk Football Union was created. Now, there are a number of leading teams: Donetsk’s teams “Pobeda”, “Oplot Donbassa”, and Makeevka’s teams “Nika” and “Arsenal”.  The first football championship started in 2016. 20 teams took part in the league. The winner was “Nika”. In 2017 “Pobeda” has won main championship. The team has scored 3 goals against “Nika”. And “Oplot Donbassa” became a triple owner of Donetsk Cup. On the 12th November 2017 has the football competition named after Sergey Martynenko has started, with the motto “Football for Peace”.

According to “New Football Program” children and students all over the region ought to have a chance to train their skills besides standard PE, and they will have chance to become champions of their country. Government is also planning to expand influence on sport in Donbass region.

Following results of 2017 football is developing fast, but we still have a lot of work to do. Who knows, maybe Donetsk will take part in the third edition of the ConIFA World Football Cup in 2018.

Tags: Central Europe, ConIFA World Football Cup, Donbass, Donbass Arena, FC Shakhtar Donetsk, Premier League, UEFA Cup, Ukraine Super Cup