Famous Ukrainian football player Volodymyr Homenyuk recounted what happened in 2015 when Metalist did not show up for the Ukrainian Championship match against Dynamo.
Volodymyr Homenyuk— At that time, we hadn’t received salaries for four months. They had been lying to us since winter — saying they would soon reissue things, any day now, tomorrow… They organized training camps, promised, saying everything would be fine. In the end, we just sat down together with the guys — Edmar, Shelayev, and a few others — and decided: we’re not going to show up, but we did it legally. Not that we just didn’t show up and didn’t notify anyone. We formalized this moment legally.
This was a conscious boycott. We just wanted to understand what was happening. You don’t necessarily have to pay us money — just tell us honestly: we don’t have any funds and there won’t be any. Then at least we would understand what to do next, as we were being fed “tomorrow’s promises.” Lawyers told us that we had to attend training — so we did. We weren’t allowed in the general group, but we came, practiced at the base, and then dispersed.
Meanwhile, the club was signing new players. Nothing was settled with us, but they brought in new ones and promised them something. But later, they also got “left behind” and they too went to the federation. It was all the same: they took players — didn’t pay, took new ones — still didn’t pay.
Metalist still owes me $200,000. I won the case in the Supreme Court. But what of it? The club has nothing. Not even a bus — everything is under arrest. The base and stadium are not club property. Only the emblem remains. And this new Metalist — it’s not a successor. They just took the emblem and the name. So what of it? — Volodymyr recounted.
