Hamburg's CFO Eric Hoover spoke about the agreement with Shakhtar to host the Miners' home matches in the Champions League and Europa League at the Volksparkstadion.
"We started negotiations with Shakhtar in May last year, as we felt that we had a certain duty to the Ukrainian population of Hamburg. We have already held a charity match 'We are all Ukraine' at the Volksparkstadion. Today, there are about 1 million people living in and around the city with ties to Ukraine.
In addition, there is a connection between Vitali Klitschko and Hamburg. All in all, we felt we had an obligation. As a result, we decided that it would be right to make a big commitment to our colleagues from Donetsk.
We made them because the people of Hamburg reacted very positively to the matches. It was also a good financial arrangement for Hamburg, but it was not our main goal. "Hamburg did not take part in setting the prices for Shakhtar's matches, but it is obvious that they were set solely on the basis of demand. Despite the fact that the category A tickets cost 172 euros each, they sold out," Hoover said.