{"id":25206,"date":"2022-08-24T13:52:43","date_gmt":"2022-08-24T13:52:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/football-restarts-in-ukraine-amid-bomb-shelters-soldiers-and-an-empty-stadium"},"modified":"2022-08-24T14:16:30","modified_gmt":"2022-08-24T14:16:30","slug":"football-restarts-in-ukraine-amid-bomb-shelters-soldiers-and-an-empty-stadium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/football-restarts-in-ukraine-amid-bomb-shelters-soldiers-and-an-empty-stadium","title":{"rendered":"Football restarts in Ukraine amid bomb shelters, soldiers and an empty stadium"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Mozambique. <\/strong><\/span>In an empty Olympic Stadium, with bomb shelters prepared and Russia\u2019s threat still looming, top-flight football returned to Ukraine on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Shakhtar Donetsk and Metalist Kharkiv drew 0-0 as the Ukraine Premier League restarted six months after it stopped.<\/p>\n

Initially, matches will only be played in Kyiv, its outskirts and two western provinces near the border.<\/p>\n

President Volodymyr Zelensky encouraged the return of top-flight football as a morale-boosting show of defiance.<\/p>\n

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, a day before the second half of the 2021-22 season was scheduled to begin.<\/p>\n

That season was eventually cancelled as the death toll rose on both sides of the conflict. Shakhtar have since played friendlies around the world in an attempt to campaign for peace.<\/p>\n

However, their draw against Metalist marked the first day of the domestic 2022-23 season and coincided with Ukraine\u2019s Day of the National Flag.<\/p>\n

The possibility of Russia intensifying its attacks has also been raised by a car bombing that killed the daughter of a key ultra-nationalist political figure on the outskirts of Moscow. The symbolism of the match in Kyiv was clear well before kick-off.<\/p>\n

Shakhtar and Metalist\u2019s players, along with the match officials, came out of the tunnel draped in Ukraine flags before lining up to hear an address from President Zelensky on the stadium\u2019s big screen.<\/p>\n

A Ukrainian soldier ceremonially kicked off the match and some players were in tears before the action got fully underway. Military officials, as will be the case at every game in the new season, were in attendance ready to evacuate players and officials to shelters if air-raid sirens were heard. In fact, the match passed off uninterrupted, with Shakhtar dominating for the most part.<\/p>\n

Midfielder Mykhailo Mudryk hit the crossbar for the 13-time champions, but they were also thankful for a superb first-half save from goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin to keep them from falling beyond.<\/p>\n

Players line up before kick-off before Shakhtar Donetsk against Metalist Kharkiv<\/p>\n

The players stood for the national anthem and a video address from president Volodymyr Zelensky before the match<\/p>\n

Many of Shakhtar\u2019s overseas players have moved away after rules were relaxed over transfers out of Ukraine. However, others, such as Burkina Faso striker Lassina Traore, have stayed.<\/p>\n

Brazilian defender Lucas Taylor has even headed the other way, taking his place in the starting line-up after signing on loan from Greek club Paok on Monday.<\/p>\n

Kyiv\u2019s Olympic Stadium, which hosted the Euro 2012 final, displayed a large banner in support of Ukraine\u2019s United 24 fundraising drive, with the players warming up in T-shirts dedicated to a new \u2018Pitch In For Ukraine\u2019 campaign aimed at sports fans around the world. The 16-team league will restart without Desna Chernihiv and Mariupol FC.<\/p>\n

Chernihiv, close to the border with Belarus, has been badly damaged after a siege lasting nearly six weeks, while Mariupol lies in ruins and Russian hands.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are living for this moment,\u201d Shakhtar football director and former Croatia right-back Darijo Srna told BBC\u2019s World Football podcast. \u201cThese people deserve to be happy. They are not bad, they are not jealous, they don\u2019t want anything that is not theirs. They\u2019re just fighting for themselves, for their children and for their land.\u201d<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Mozambique<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Mozambique. In an empty Olympic Stadium, with bomb shelters prepared and Russia\u2019s threat still looming, top-flight football returned to Ukraine on Tuesday. Shakhtar Donetsk and Metalist Kharkiv drew 0-0 as the Ukraine Premier League restarted six months after it stopped. Initially, matches will only be played in Kyiv, its outskirts and two western […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":25205,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,8,17,16],"tags":[233,281,283],"class_list":["post-25206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-homepage-english","category-sport","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-mozambique","tag-mozambique"],"yoast_head":"\nFootball restarts in Ukraine amid bomb shelters, soldiers and an empty stadium - Mozambique<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In an empty Olympic Stadium, with bomb shelters prepared and Russia\u2019s threat still looming, top-flight football returned ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/football-restarts-in-ukraine-amid-bomb-shelters-soldiers-and-an-empty-stadium\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Football restarts in Ukraine amid bomb shelters, soldiers and an empty stadium\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In an empty Olympic Stadium, with bomb shelters prepared and Russia\u2019s threat still looming, top-flight football returned ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/football-restarts-in-ukraine-amid-bomb-shelters-soldiers-and-an-empty-stadium\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mozambique\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-24T13:52:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-24T14:16:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/sites\/64\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_6-6306329ec2d23.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"654\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/football-restarts-in-ukraine-amid-bomb-shelters-soldiers-and-an-empty-stadium#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/football-restarts-in-ukraine-amid-bomb-shelters-soldiers-and-an-empty-stadium\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Football restarts in Ukraine amid bomb shelters, soldiers and an empty stadium\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-24T13:52:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-24T14:16:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/football-restarts-in-ukraine-amid-bomb-shelters-soldiers-and-an-empty-stadium\"},\"wordCount\":568,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/football-restarts-in-ukraine-amid-bomb-shelters-soldiers-and-an-empty-stadium#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/sites\/64\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_6-6306329ec2d23.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Mozambique\",\"Mozambique\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"homepage-english\",\"sport\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/football-restarts-in-ukraine-amid-bomb-shelters-soldiers-and-an-empty-stadium#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/football-restarts-in-ukraine-amid-bomb-shelters-soldiers-and-an-empty-stadium\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/football-restarts-in-ukraine-amid-bomb-shelters-soldiers-and-an-empty-stadium\",\"name\":\"Football restarts in Ukraine amid bomb shelters, soldiers and an empty stadium - 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