If any European soccer club deserves some luck to get a lucrative place in the Champions League, it's surely Shakhtar Donetsk. Recent results in the Champions League, plus the Greek and Scottish leagues at the weekend, favored Shakhtar in the often complex qualifying path for next season.
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Shakhtar’s Alisson, center left, and Crystal Palace’s Adam Wharton challenge for the ball during the Conference League semifinal second leg soccer match between Crystal Palace and Shakhtar Donetsk, in London, Thursday, May 7, 2026. Crystal Palace’s head coach Oliver Glasner, left, speaks with Shakhtar’s head coach Arda Turan prior to the Conference League semifinal second leg soccer match between Crystal Palace and Shakhtar Donetsk, in London, Thursday, May 7, 2026.
Shakhtar players draped in Ukrainian national flags prior to the Conference League semifinal second leg soccer match between Crystal Palace and Shakhtar Donetsk, in London, Thursday, May 7, 2026. Shakhtar Donetsk’s Soccer Club owner billionaire Rinat Akhmetov, top center, gives autographs to fans ahead of the Conference League semi-final, first leg soccer match between Shakhtar and Crystal Palace in Krakow, Poland, Thursday, April 30, 2026.
Ukrainian fans cheer their team ahead of the Conference League semi-final, first leg soccer match between Shakhtar and Crystal Palace in Krakow, Poland, Thursday, April 30, 2026. Ukrainian fans cheer their team ahead of the Conference League semi-final, first leg soccer match between Shakhtar and Crystal Palace in Krakow, Poland, Thursday, April 30, 2026.
Shakhtar’s Alisson, center left, and Crystal Palace’s Adam Wharton challenge for the ball during the Conference League semifinal second leg soccer match between Crystal Palace and Shakhtar Donetsk, in London, Thursday, May 7, 2026. Shakhtar’s Alisson, center left, and Crystal Palace’s Adam Wharton challenge for the ball during the Conference League semifinal second leg soccer match between Crystal Palace and Shakhtar Donetsk, in London, Thursday, May 7, 2026.
Crystal Palace’s head coach Oliver Glasner, left, speaks with Shakhtar’s head coach Arda Turan prior to the Conference League semifinal second leg soccer match between Crystal Palace and Shakhtar Donetsk, in London, Thursday, May 7, 2026. Crystal Palace’s head coach Oliver Glasner, left, speaks with Shakhtar’s head coach Arda Turan prior to the Conference League semifinal second leg soccer match between Crystal Palace and Shakhtar Donetsk, in London, Thursday, May 7, 2026.
Shakhtar players draped in Ukrainian national flags prior to the Conference League semifinal second leg soccer match between Crystal Palace and Shakhtar Donetsk, in London, Thursday, May 7, 2026. Shakhtar players draped in Ukrainian national flags prior to the Conference League semifinal second leg soccer match between Crystal Palace and Shakhtar Donetsk, in London, Thursday, May 7, 2026.
Shakhtar Donetsk’s Soccer Club owner billionaire Rinat Akhmetov, top center, gives autographs to fans ahead of the Conference League semi-final, first leg soccer match between Shakhtar and Crystal Palace in Krakow, Poland, Thursday, April 30, 2026. Shakhtar Donetsk’s Soccer Club owner billionaire Rinat Akhmetov, top center, gives autographs to fans ahead of the Conference League semi-final, first leg soccer match between Shakhtar and Crystal Palace in Krakow, Poland, Thursday, April 30, 2026.
GENEVA — If any European soccer club deserved some luck to get a lucrative place in the Champions League, it was surelyNow the new champion of Ukraine will skip the jeopardy of three Champions League qualifying rounds in July and August to go directly to the elite 36-team main phase starting in September. That should earn at least 35 million euros in UEFA prize money for a club deprived of revenue during a“I think we deserve to be there in the Champions League,” Shakhtar CEO Sergei Palkin told The Associated Press on Tuesday in a telephone interview.
“We are sending a message that our club continues to represent Ukrainian football with dignity. ” Shakhtar’s success is both “a statement from our clubs” and “moments of pride” for Ukrainian people, Palkin said. So it’s a big thank you from Ukraine to Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain, and also to AEK Athens, Heart of Midlothian and Celtic.
The short version: Shakhtar had to win the Ukraine Premier League; neither Olympiakos nor Rangers could win their domestic titles; the Champions League winner had to be already qualified for next season’s edition. In Greece, Olympiakos drew its game while leader AEK Athens won to clinch the title. Shakhtar’s 4-0 win at Poltava sealed its 16th league title. But that no longer gets the direct Champions League entry typically earned before the war when Ukrainian soccer was stronger and richer.
There was a back-door entry. When the Champions League is won by a team already qualified for next season — likeon May 30 — the entry kept for the title holder is reallocated to the national champion in qualifying rounds with theThat was Shakhtar — No. 45 with 56.25 ranking points, boosted by reaching the Conference League semifinals — while No. 36 Olympiakos and No. 38 Rangers failed to win their national leagues.
“It’s almost one month we were on the pulse trying to understand what we tracked in the Greek league and the Scottish league,” Palkin said. Shakhtar’s past success, winning the UEFA Cup in 2009 and reaching the Champions League quarterfinals in 2011, has been with a core of Brazilian talent: Willian, Luiz Adriano, Fernandinho and Fred.
“We are not selling them comfort, they understand that,” Palkin said of a team that plays domestic home games in Lviv and UEFA competition games in Krakow in neutral and neighboring Poland. It is, Palkin insists, like being with a Brazilian family in Ukraine: “They will be in their environment, with their language and culture.
”Arda Turan, the 39-year-old former Galatasaray, Atletico Madrid and Barcelona midfielder, came one year ago to revive a Shakhtar team that finished a surprising third in the league.
“He is a coach with our DNA. We understood what kind of football he played,” said Palkin, praising Turan as a good motivator of a young squad.. Today spectators are still limited for security reasons by the ability to protect them in shelters from Russian missile attacks. Shkahtar drew crowds of about 2,500 in Lviv to start the season and about 4,200 saw Shakhtar beat defending champion Dynamo Kyiv 3-1 in November.
“Our strategy is to increase the geography of our games,” Palkin said. “Ten million people left Ukraine and our fans are everywhere. ”Dunbar is an Associated Press sports news reporter in Geneva, Switzerland. He focuses on the governing bodies, institutions and politics of international sports.
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