Shakhtar Commercial Director Dmytro Kirilenko spoke about the club's preparations for the clash and the likely venue for the Pitmen's home match in the Ukrainian Championship against Dynamo.
Ilya Zabarny and Lassina Traore. Photo: fcdynamo.com— Dmitry, earlier it was reported that the match between Shakhtar and Dynamo in the 7th round of the UPL could take place in London. Is there already a solution?
- Unfortunately, after lengthy negotiations, we decided not to hold this match in the capital of Great Britain. We made every effort and had a great desire to implement this initiative, but circumstances turned out differently and prevented us from playing Dynamo in London.
- How were the negotiations on holding this match?
- At the first stage, we received the consent of all the participants of this event - our opponent, the Premier League, the UAF. After that, negotiations began with the West Ham stadium, and in parallel with other clubs. Even then, the British had fears that a month would not be enough to prepare for such a match. But we still continued negotiations. Unfortunately, then a tragic event occurred that paralyzed the whole of Great Britain - the death of Queen Elizabeth II. The process was stopped for two weeks.
- Were there any alternatives?
— Now we have continued negotiations. Moreover, we tried to negotiate with Chelsea to hold the match at Stamford Bridge, but it is not possible to organize such an event at a high level in such a short time. Even the British themselves said it was difficult to do.
— What was the main difficulty?
— We didn't have enough time. It is impossible to organize a match at a high level in such a period of time. In addition, we planned to transfer the income from the match to the United24 fund, but, given the high costs and the circumstances listed above, we do not see an opportunity in income.
- Can the second round match between Dynamo and Shakhtar take place in the UK?
- Undoubtedly! If Dynamo wants to play their home match against Shakhtar in London, we are ready to help them in every possible way. We already have certain developments, which we will be happy to share, because the main goal of such a match is to help Ukraine. We would like to thank Dynamo Kyiv for agreeing, as well as the UAF and UPL. In addition, we thank the Ministry of Sports of Ukraine represented by Minister Vadim Gutzeit and United24 Ambassador Andriy Shevchenko for supporting our initiative, assistance and efficiency.
- Where will Shakhtar now host Dynamo in the Ukrainian Championship on October 15?
- So far, there is no exact answer to this question. We are considering two options - either in Warsaw or in Lviv.
