The ball is rolling again in Ukraine

War is opposed to Russia It’s still hiding and causing chaos in Ukraine, but football is back in that country after more than half a year off. Specifically, 254 days have passed since the final whistle on Kolos Kovalivka-FC Minaj played on December 12, 2021 until the ball starts rolling this Tuesday at Shakhtar Donetsk-Metalists 1925. The war forced the suspension of the Ukrainian Premier 2021/22, which ends without a champion, and this Tuesday began a new edition that will be played without an audience, in eight stadiums distributed in four cities that are considered safe and have a certain patriotic aroma of labor. courage and move forward despite the fact that the pain of thousands of dead civilians and the damage caused is far greater than the present.

Sample of that patriotism is the interpretation of the song by Mykhailo Khoma quoted is new Shakhtar Donetsk-Metalists 1925 this Tuesday afternoon. The match ended on the scoreboard 0-0, as if football wanted to send a message that, although it returns to Ukrainian territory, it does so with a reduced voice and no desire for its greatest joy to happen, which is not except on purpose.

Eight furlongs in silence

The 2022/23 Ukrainian Premier will be played by 18 teams, but not all of them will be able to play their matches in their respective stadiums. In fact, most are not, because the meetings are held in eight different places shared between kyiv, Lviv, Uzhorod and Kovalivka, all of which are cities far from the front and the points of greatest conflict and are therefore considered reasonably safe today. The eight precincts in question are the Olympic, Lobanovskyi Stadium and Bannikov Stadium in KyivThe Arena Lviv and the Skif in LvivThe Avanhard and the Mynai Arena in Uzhorodand the Colossus in Kovalivka. Kyiv Y Kovalivka is located in the middle of the country and Lviv Y Uzhorod in the west, relatively close to Poland, Slovakia and Hungary and far from Russia.

flag day

The fact that the Ukrainian premier started yesterday and not another day is no coincidence. It just so happens that August 23 is not just any day in Ukraine, but it is ‘Flag Day’. That Ukrainian football returned yesterday in a way is a way of sending an optimistic message to the rest of the world, although in these times it is very difficult due to the circumstances.

Two big victims

Among the 18 participants in this Ukrainian Premier 2022/23 there are no two teams that contested last year’s edition. It’s about Desna Chernihiv and the Mariupol, two clubs that surrendered their place after seeing how their facilities were completely destroyed by the war. Their places were taken by Kryvbas and the Kharkiv metalistwhich is in the second division.