Igor Surkis: "Our priority is the interests of the fans"

Dynamo President Igor Surkis in a comment for the official site club commented on the situation around the creation of a "single pool" of the Ukrainian Premier League.

- At the moment, the situation is as follows - 4 clubs do not agree with the conditions that are proposed as part of the creation of a "single pool". I will speak only on behalf of Dynamo, I did not communicate with any of the other clubs that did not agree. I know about their opinion only from interviews and news.

The position of the Dynamo football club is as follows: now, when there is a war in our country, when all of Ukraine is fighting against the Russian invaders, the opportunity to watch football matches of the national championship should be free, as accessible as possible. So that absolutely everyone who is interested in football, who is interested in Dynamo matches, will have the opportunity to watch them.

Therefore, in the process of negotiations, we announced one and only condition - give the opportunity to broadcast Dynamo's home matches on one of the national channels and on our Youtube channel with a delay of a certain number of minutes. That's it, there are no other conditions from us. Moreover, for us this is a matter of principle, at least during the war.

This question is of fundamental importance right now. Our priority is the interests of the fans, namely the availability of watching our matches and the ability not to spend money on it.

So that this is not just words, I will give a specific example. The second leg with Sturm in the Champions League qualification on the 2+2 channel with a delay of 15 minutes was watched by 3 to 3 and a half million people (there is no exact figure, but there is a minimum and maximum value). The same match collected about 350 thousand views on Setanta. Approximately the same figures in the match against Fenerbahce in Istanbul. This is the main reason for our position - we want any fan to be able to watch Dynamo matches.

We are initiating fundraising during the broadcasts of Dynamo home matches in order to transfer them for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and for humanitarian organizations. In the same way, we have already raised money during the broadcasts of our charity matches, and we will continue to do so.

For Dynamo, sports results are now in the background. First, help to Ukraine. The team defeated Fenerbahce in overtime and immediately went to England to play against Everton and continue the series of charity matches. It was a hard road, a difficult match, then another flight and all this before the fight against Sturm. Because social responsibility is now more important than anything else.

We are ready to support the idea of ​​a “single pool”, but at the same time we want the interests of the fans and the situation in the country to be taken into account,” said Surkis.