Shakhtar is a unique club
Wednesday, February 14, 2024
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FC Shakhtar CEO Serhii Palkin gave an interview to international journalist and presenter Pedro Pinto for Stats Perform Agency
– Serhii, we are coming up on the second anniversary of the start of the war against Ukraine. Such a devastating time for the country, for your people and, of course, for the club as well. Pertaining to your job, how would you describe these times and how much has this turbulent period affected you?
– You know, since the moment the war started, everything has changed. Our style of living has changed, everything has changed. The whole life of Ukrainian people has changed completely from the moment the war started. And everybody in our country, let’s say, reorganized their lives, including our club and Ukrainian football. Therefore, if you compare our life with the life of European football clubs, it is completely different, and it is much harder for us to reach the same results in comparison with European teams – because of war, because of many obstacles that we deal with. In normal life, a football player, for example, wakes up, has breakfast with his family, goes to the training session, then returns to his family, etc. In our situation, we have a completely different lifestyle because our players live in a hotel, apart from their families. They just see the hotel, the training pitch, then the hotel again, the training pitch again. If you look at our European games, Ukrainian games, when we play in Ukraine we travel everywhere by bus, which takes hours, because it is impossible to travel by plane in our country at this moment. If we are talking about games abroad, it can take us almost two days to reach our final destination. You can imagine that when our players arrive at this final destination, their physical and mental condition cannot be compared to that of our opponents, in all aspects they have more prospects and more chances to beat us even before the game starts. Therefore, when our guys win, when they show attractive and beautiful football, I treat them like heroes, because it is very difficult for them to show good football and positive sports results. If you summarize everything, it becomes clear that we are living through very tough and difficult times. And I hope and believe that they will end as soon as possible.
– Surely, it was the toughest role that you have ever played in your professional and personal career. How would you describe it for us and how much did it change you? How much did you have to adapt in order to be able to deal with these circumstances?
– First of all, when you address me personally and ask about leadership, I want to emphasize that we have all changed our principles of leadership: starting from the president of our club and finishing with management, players, technical staff and all other employees of our club. I believe that even in this time we are quite successful, because we are one team, a real team, all together: squad, management, president. We stayed together for many years, I have been working with some directors for 15 years, I have been in the club for 20 years. I do not need to teach them, our employees, our directors how to manage the process in critical and crisis times, because we have been together for so long that we all understand each other without any words. And most importantly, we understand the DNA of our club. Therefore, I believe that because of this we are successful today.
– When you look back at the last 12 months, what are you most proud of? What were you personally, the club, the staff, the players able to achieve?
– First of all, I am proud that we won the Ukrainian Championship. We won a lot of Ukrainian Championships. Why was the victory last year the most important one? Because we won this championship during the war. And it is, let’s say, a priceless championship for us. Because if you look at how we started, at the beginning of the season no one in Ukraine believed that we would become champions, because we lost half of our squad, the coaching staff, we started to build the team from scratch. And all football experts said that there is no chance that Shakhtar will become the champion. But they do not know that we have an excellent team not just on the pitch but also off the pitch. Therefore, all together we made very quick and successive decisions. And after some time we realized that these decisions were right. From my point of view, when we made the decision to sign a new coach, to bring in new players and our former Ukrainian players or bring back some players, we had to make these decisions taking into account the whole situation that we had. Therefore, for us and for me personally, this championship is the biggest achievement of the last year.
– From an international perspective, it would be fair to say that many people were impressed with your victory over Barcelona. This is definitely one of the highlights of 2023 for you?
– In terms of image, this is an unbelievable result, especially for Ukrainian people, for our soldiers. It was one big breath of fresh air. You see, people in Ukraine wake up every morning and read the news, most of this news is negative, almost 99% of this news is negative, because we are at war – it is difficult to have something positive in this situation. And it is difficult to live two years in such circumstances. Therefore, when we achieved such result, when Ukrainian boys, Ukrainian players went and defeated Barcelona abroad... Because everyone understands that, although we call these matches home games, they are away games. And when we win such matches, it is a very big achievement for our club and for our Ukrainian people, because we bring positive emotions to our population, and that is the most important thing. Yes, for our club it is a good result, but, most importantly, it is very positive news for our people. Because they understand and believe that Ukrainian people can do a lot, even in these hard times. And it is very important. Because sometimes emotional support is much more important than financial support. This emotional support can change people, change their actions. Therefore, it was very important for us primarily because of this reason.
– Looking ahead to 2024, what are your main aspirations? I can imagine that they include retaining your national league title, but obviously, looking at Europe, you are still playing in the Europa League.
– First of all, if we talk about our goals in more detail, then in 2024 we must win the Ukrainian Championship and the Ukrainian Cup. Not should, must. Considering our role, our position, our situation, we must win the Ukrainian Championship. If we are talking about the European competitions, the Europa League, the next game is against Marseille. The most important thing for me is to show attacking and attractive football. Because, as I said already, it is very mentally and physically difficult for us to play matches that take place abroad. And everybody understands that anybody can lose or win, but for me the most important thing is to show our style and our football, attractive and beautiful football. And in that case, even if we lose, everyone will understand – our fans will understand, Ukrainian people will understand. The most important thing is to go in line with our strategy and style of play.
– What are your thoughts on the new coach, Marino Pusic? How would you describe him as a coach and as a person and what kind of impact has he had on the team?
– He is the most fundamental coach we had in my 20 years at the club. I call him fundamental, because, in my opinion, he is not just focused on the first team, on their results and development, but sees the whole picture and understands what the club means, understands the whole picture: how the Academy works, how the scouting department works, how everything works together. And this is very important for me, because it is very easy to work and achieve results with this kind of coach. He deeply understands all processes, and he is ready to help and is helping with some of them. This is one side of Marino, and the other side, if we talk about football, tactics and style of football, he is, in my opinion, at the top level. His slogan is similar to ours: “attacking and attractive football”. And this is the most important thing. We want to attack, we do not want and he does not want to win just for the sake of winning, to get a result and that is it. No. Sometimes we can lose, but showing very good football. And this is his philosophy and our philosophy, and that is why we work together as one team. I feel like I have known him for many years. For you to understand, we signed him the day before the game against Barcelona. We signed the contract, and in five minutes the players came in for introduction of the new coach, and after that he was already preparing them for the game against Barcelona. It is very difficult to do. Normally I never stay in that meeting room with the players, but that time I said I wanted to stay and listen to what he had to say to them. He speaks English, but some of our players do not know it very well. But even those players understood what he wanted, and I, even not being a player, completely understood how to play against Barcelona. And for me it was one more proof that we made the right decision to sign him. Because, first of all, he is a very good motivator, which is very important, especially in this period for our players. It is very important. He also understands the players and can bring them together. And when I see how he manages relationships between players, I realize that he deeply understands the psychology of players and how to communicate with them. It is very important for us. And I believe that with him we will achieve very good results.
– The January transfer window closed a few days ago, and it was quite a significant one for Shakhtar, because you were able to bring in a couple of really talented young Brazilian players. Of course, this was the part of your model for a long time, but then it was affected by COVID-19 and the war. How were you able to convince these players to sign for Shakhtar? How difficult was it and how important was it for the club to be active and bring in reinforcements?
– First of all, we need to emphasize this investment itself, because some people can say: “you are investing in such difficult times, you have a war”, etc. I can say that yes, we have a war, we have a very bad situation in Ukraine, a very bad situation in Ukrainian football, but everyone dreams and everyone tries to change our Ukraine, starting with ordinary simple human things and finishing with football. We cannot allow this situation in Ukrainian football continue, we need to invest in Ukrainian football, develop it – even in wartime. It is very important, because this is the image and face of Ukraine, we cannot continue like this. I do not want us to go abroad and lose 0-5, 0-7, it is not possible. I do not want our fans and our people to lose the chance to see Champions League games in Ukraine in one or two years. But we have such risk that we will lose the rating and face the fact that our fans will no longer see the Champions League. We cannot allow this. We need to save our Ukrainian football, we need to maintain the current rating of Ukraine. Therefore, we want to build a very strong team to show very attractive and good football, to develop Ukrainian football. And even, for example, when you read the chats of our fans, most of them say that it is difficult to bring foreign players to Ukraine now. But because of the level of our brand, because the foreign players trust our club, see our level, they see that, although I cannot give any guarantees, we can do our best to provide protection and safe environment for our players. And we are doing it. Speaking of Kevin, I have been negotiating with him and the club for a year. This is the first time in my life and career that negotiations with one player lasted almost a year, even more. These were tough negotiations, we spent a lot of time convincing the parents of the player that he will come here and everything will be OK. He contacted our existing players, they communicated, explained where we play. We sent photos of our training camp, training grounds, etc. We explained to him the situation in Ukraine, all the details, because we need to be open, and they need to understand how everything works here. Yes, everybody thinks about safety and protection – it is the most important thing, and it is also the most important thing for us. Therefore, we have created environment which allows us to protect players as much as possible.
– Recently you sold two top players to two big European clubs: Mudryk to Chelsea, Trubin to Benfica. How important is it for financial sustainability of your club that you manage to identify young talent, develop it and sell it to big clubs in Europe?
– You know, when we make a decision to sell players, we understand that they have reached the top in our club and it is time for them to move forward. We could not keep them any longer. You are right, we sold them for quite good money, and this money helps us run the club today, helps us invest in new players and pay back our debts, because when the war started we had about EUR 40 million in debt for the players who we bought before that, and we need to give this money back, because FIFA insists on it, despite the fact that they released all our foreign players.
– I have to ask you about who is going to be the next big star to come out of Shakhtar and sign for a big European club?
– I would like to emphasize that we actually have very good young players: Bondar, Bondarenko, Konoplia, Sikan, Riznyk. All of them have big chances, all of them are developing quite well, and I believe that they will become stars in the future. But we can say that the leading role in this team belongs to Sudakov, because at this moment he is a key player. I already told you that many European clubs are interested in him, and I think that in half a year or a year he will 100 percent be in one of the top European clubs. In my opinion, he is actively developing, progressing, and you can see him becoming a real leader on the pitch, taking into account his young age. And it is very important.
– Selling players is obviously very important for the revenue of the club. How do you look at alternative sources of revenue, exploring new markets, new commercial relationships perhaps, new regions?
– First of all, a couple of weeks ago I had a meeting with Interbrand – it is a well-known worldwide company that develops strategies for clubs and companies. Many years ago, as far as I remember, in 2006 or 2007, they developed a logo, values, missions, vision for us. Why did I return to them? Can you imagine, in 2007, they developed the brand essence and the mission of our club, which are still valid, after the many obstacles that we faced. We left our city, Donetsk, one war started, then a full-scale war started, but the brand essence, missions and all values are still valid. For example, our slogan sounds like “Beyond boundaries”, and our mission is “To redefine the boundaries and standards of excellence in football”. And this is what we always do: we redefine the boundaries, we try to be beyond the boundaries, because it is already in our DNA, and we need to always be leaders in all aspects of our life – it does not matter what kind of environment we are in and what is happening around us, whether there is war or peace, or quick-changing circumstances. So I returned to them and we had a long meeting. I asked them to develop a strategy for our club, taking into account this unique situation. Because if you look at the football history, you will understand that we are the only club with this kind of history in the world. A club that has been operating and playing for almost 10 years without a hometown, without fans who live all over the world, and continues to show results. We understand that today it is difficult to get money from the Ukrainian market, because television does not give anything, we play without spectators, sponsors have almost disappeared, etc. We understand that the sole source of income is abroad. Yes, we understand that we have transfers, bonuses from UEFA, no one argues with that, but we need to invest and achieve financial results in markets where such financial results are possible. That is why I am very happy that we play in Hamburg, because during almost all games the stadium is full. The financial results of these matches are excellent. In my opinion, this is the best decision we have made. Now we are trying to develop commercial football schools. For example, we now opened one school in Warsaw, then we want to go beyond Europe to move in this direction. And when I discussed all these issues with Interbrand, I emphasized all these aspects, and after our conversation they said that I was right, that we are a unique club and should use this situation, our uniqueness, that we should change the strategy and adapt it to the environment we live in. Therefore, now we are on the way of formation of a new strategy of the club.
– One of the ways you have tried to raise funds has been by playing friendlies with international clubs. There was one match in London against Tottenham, the other was held in Japan against Avispa Fukuoka. How important are these games and will you try to play more of them in 2024?
– This is part of our new strategy. I believe it should be included in the document that will be developed by Interbrand. The point being that friendly matches are a significant part of our development, because it is very important for us to play these games in order to raise funds for aid and donations to help Ukrainian people, Ukrainian soldiers, refugees, all those affected by this war, including soldiers with very severe injuries. There are many other aspects, so for us these matches are the prerogative number one. And we continue to work in this direction, we are trying to find other clubs that will agree to play these games, because it is very important for us.
– Shakhtar, of course, has a long history in European football and UEFA competitions. I want to ask you about the European Super League. They have tried to revive it a couple of times. Where do you stand on this and how important is it that the main football stakeholders are united against it?
– You know, it is difficult for me to discuss this. First of all, when the news broke that A22 had won in court, in two hours we already issued a statement from the club that we support UEFA and president of UEFA Aleksander Ceferin. And many clubs, as I understand, almost 90% of them, did the same by publishing statements on their websites. We also have a special group in WhatsApp. So everybody supports UEFA. I do not understand the Super League, I do not understand its essence and why we need to change anything, if we have an organization called UEFA and under its umbrella we have quite good, well-structured competitions. Because if you compare with how it was 10 years ago, today they have changed a lot for the better and they always raise the amount of money that we receive, they increase the number of games, increase the number of competitions, for example, there is the Conference League, which we did not have before. They involved a lot of clubs, covered almost all leagues, not all clubs, but the number of clubs participating in European competitions has increased significantly. Therefore, I do not understand why we need to change anything. For me, the most important thing that UEFA does is the involvement of European clubs in European competitions and their financial support. And for everything I mentioned, all numbers are only increasing. Therefore, I do not understand why we need to pay attention to these, in my opinion, unserious issues. Maybe they are serious for very rich clubs, but we do not have just 25 clubs in Europe, we should pay attention to the whole football community and, most importantly, promote the development of football across Europe. Otherwise, there is no sense. Otherwise, A22 pushes us to such a point that you do not have to go to the stadiums, just switch on the TV and watch the top clubs play against each other. And that is it? These clubs are rich and they become even richer while others disappear. Some even disappear because for them receiving such bonuses from UEFA is a very critical issue from a financial point of view. Therefore, first of all, I am for football, I support football as a game, and we need to promote it, promote this idea. But what we are talking about now, the Super League, it is not about the game, it is just about money, purely about money.
– You know, since the moment the war started, everything has changed. Our style of living has changed, everything has changed. The whole life of Ukrainian people has changed completely from the moment the war started. And everybody in our country, let’s say, reorganized their lives, including our club and Ukrainian football. Therefore, if you compare our life with the life of European football clubs, it is completely different, and it is much harder for us to reach the same results in comparison with European teams – because of war, because of many obstacles that we deal with. In normal life, a football player, for example, wakes up, has breakfast with his family, goes to the training session, then returns to his family, etc. In our situation, we have a completely different lifestyle because our players live in a hotel, apart from their families. They just see the hotel, the training pitch, then the hotel again, the training pitch again. If you look at our European games, Ukrainian games, when we play in Ukraine we travel everywhere by bus, which takes hours, because it is impossible to travel by plane in our country at this moment. If we are talking about games abroad, it can take us almost two days to reach our final destination. You can imagine that when our players arrive at this final destination, their physical and mental condition cannot be compared to that of our opponents, in all aspects they have more prospects and more chances to beat us even before the game starts. Therefore, when our guys win, when they show attractive and beautiful football, I treat them like heroes, because it is very difficult for them to show good football and positive sports results. If you summarize everything, it becomes clear that we are living through very tough and difficult times. And I hope and believe that they will end as soon as possible.
– Surely, it was the toughest role that you have ever played in your professional and personal career. How would you describe it for us and how much did it change you? How much did you have to adapt in order to be able to deal with these circumstances?
– First of all, when you address me personally and ask about leadership, I want to emphasize that we have all changed our principles of leadership: starting from the president of our club and finishing with management, players, technical staff and all other employees of our club. I believe that even in this time we are quite successful, because we are one team, a real team, all together: squad, management, president. We stayed together for many years, I have been working with some directors for 15 years, I have been in the club for 20 years. I do not need to teach them, our employees, our directors how to manage the process in critical and crisis times, because we have been together for so long that we all understand each other without any words. And most importantly, we understand the DNA of our club. Therefore, I believe that because of this we are successful today.
– When you look back at the last 12 months, what are you most proud of? What were you personally, the club, the staff, the players able to achieve?
– First of all, I am proud that we won the Ukrainian Championship. We won a lot of Ukrainian Championships. Why was the victory last year the most important one? Because we won this championship during the war. And it is, let’s say, a priceless championship for us. Because if you look at how we started, at the beginning of the season no one in Ukraine believed that we would become champions, because we lost half of our squad, the coaching staff, we started to build the team from scratch. And all football experts said that there is no chance that Shakhtar will become the champion. But they do not know that we have an excellent team not just on the pitch but also off the pitch. Therefore, all together we made very quick and successive decisions. And after some time we realized that these decisions were right. From my point of view, when we made the decision to sign a new coach, to bring in new players and our former Ukrainian players or bring back some players, we had to make these decisions taking into account the whole situation that we had. Therefore, for us and for me personally, this championship is the biggest achievement of the last year.
– From an international perspective, it would be fair to say that many people were impressed with your victory over Barcelona. This is definitely one of the highlights of 2023 for you?
– In terms of image, this is an unbelievable result, especially for Ukrainian people, for our soldiers. It was one big breath of fresh air. You see, people in Ukraine wake up every morning and read the news, most of this news is negative, almost 99% of this news is negative, because we are at war – it is difficult to have something positive in this situation. And it is difficult to live two years in such circumstances. Therefore, when we achieved such result, when Ukrainian boys, Ukrainian players went and defeated Barcelona abroad... Because everyone understands that, although we call these matches home games, they are away games. And when we win such matches, it is a very big achievement for our club and for our Ukrainian people, because we bring positive emotions to our population, and that is the most important thing. Yes, for our club it is a good result, but, most importantly, it is very positive news for our people. Because they understand and believe that Ukrainian people can do a lot, even in these hard times. And it is very important. Because sometimes emotional support is much more important than financial support. This emotional support can change people, change their actions. Therefore, it was very important for us primarily because of this reason.
– Looking ahead to 2024, what are your main aspirations? I can imagine that they include retaining your national league title, but obviously, looking at Europe, you are still playing in the Europa League.
– First of all, if we talk about our goals in more detail, then in 2024 we must win the Ukrainian Championship and the Ukrainian Cup. Not should, must. Considering our role, our position, our situation, we must win the Ukrainian Championship. If we are talking about the European competitions, the Europa League, the next game is against Marseille. The most important thing for me is to show attacking and attractive football. Because, as I said already, it is very mentally and physically difficult for us to play matches that take place abroad. And everybody understands that anybody can lose or win, but for me the most important thing is to show our style and our football, attractive and beautiful football. And in that case, even if we lose, everyone will understand – our fans will understand, Ukrainian people will understand. The most important thing is to go in line with our strategy and style of play.
– What are your thoughts on the new coach, Marino Pusic? How would you describe him as a coach and as a person and what kind of impact has he had on the team?
– He is the most fundamental coach we had in my 20 years at the club. I call him fundamental, because, in my opinion, he is not just focused on the first team, on their results and development, but sees the whole picture and understands what the club means, understands the whole picture: how the Academy works, how the scouting department works, how everything works together. And this is very important for me, because it is very easy to work and achieve results with this kind of coach. He deeply understands all processes, and he is ready to help and is helping with some of them. This is one side of Marino, and the other side, if we talk about football, tactics and style of football, he is, in my opinion, at the top level. His slogan is similar to ours: “attacking and attractive football”. And this is the most important thing. We want to attack, we do not want and he does not want to win just for the sake of winning, to get a result and that is it. No. Sometimes we can lose, but showing very good football. And this is his philosophy and our philosophy, and that is why we work together as one team. I feel like I have known him for many years. For you to understand, we signed him the day before the game against Barcelona. We signed the contract, and in five minutes the players came in for introduction of the new coach, and after that he was already preparing them for the game against Barcelona. It is very difficult to do. Normally I never stay in that meeting room with the players, but that time I said I wanted to stay and listen to what he had to say to them. He speaks English, but some of our players do not know it very well. But even those players understood what he wanted, and I, even not being a player, completely understood how to play against Barcelona. And for me it was one more proof that we made the right decision to sign him. Because, first of all, he is a very good motivator, which is very important, especially in this period for our players. It is very important. He also understands the players and can bring them together. And when I see how he manages relationships between players, I realize that he deeply understands the psychology of players and how to communicate with them. It is very important for us. And I believe that with him we will achieve very good results.
– The January transfer window closed a few days ago, and it was quite a significant one for Shakhtar, because you were able to bring in a couple of really talented young Brazilian players. Of course, this was the part of your model for a long time, but then it was affected by COVID-19 and the war. How were you able to convince these players to sign for Shakhtar? How difficult was it and how important was it for the club to be active and bring in reinforcements?
– First of all, we need to emphasize this investment itself, because some people can say: “you are investing in such difficult times, you have a war”, etc. I can say that yes, we have a war, we have a very bad situation in Ukraine, a very bad situation in Ukrainian football, but everyone dreams and everyone tries to change our Ukraine, starting with ordinary simple human things and finishing with football. We cannot allow this situation in Ukrainian football continue, we need to invest in Ukrainian football, develop it – even in wartime. It is very important, because this is the image and face of Ukraine, we cannot continue like this. I do not want us to go abroad and lose 0-5, 0-7, it is not possible. I do not want our fans and our people to lose the chance to see Champions League games in Ukraine in one or two years. But we have such risk that we will lose the rating and face the fact that our fans will no longer see the Champions League. We cannot allow this. We need to save our Ukrainian football, we need to maintain the current rating of Ukraine. Therefore, we want to build a very strong team to show very attractive and good football, to develop Ukrainian football. And even, for example, when you read the chats of our fans, most of them say that it is difficult to bring foreign players to Ukraine now. But because of the level of our brand, because the foreign players trust our club, see our level, they see that, although I cannot give any guarantees, we can do our best to provide protection and safe environment for our players. And we are doing it. Speaking of Kevin, I have been negotiating with him and the club for a year. This is the first time in my life and career that negotiations with one player lasted almost a year, even more. These were tough negotiations, we spent a lot of time convincing the parents of the player that he will come here and everything will be OK. He contacted our existing players, they communicated, explained where we play. We sent photos of our training camp, training grounds, etc. We explained to him the situation in Ukraine, all the details, because we need to be open, and they need to understand how everything works here. Yes, everybody thinks about safety and protection – it is the most important thing, and it is also the most important thing for us. Therefore, we have created environment which allows us to protect players as much as possible.
– Recently you sold two top players to two big European clubs: Mudryk to Chelsea, Trubin to Benfica. How important is it for financial sustainability of your club that you manage to identify young talent, develop it and sell it to big clubs in Europe?
– You know, when we make a decision to sell players, we understand that they have reached the top in our club and it is time for them to move forward. We could not keep them any longer. You are right, we sold them for quite good money, and this money helps us run the club today, helps us invest in new players and pay back our debts, because when the war started we had about EUR 40 million in debt for the players who we bought before that, and we need to give this money back, because FIFA insists on it, despite the fact that they released all our foreign players.
– I have to ask you about who is going to be the next big star to come out of Shakhtar and sign for a big European club?
– I would like to emphasize that we actually have very good young players: Bondar, Bondarenko, Konoplia, Sikan, Riznyk. All of them have big chances, all of them are developing quite well, and I believe that they will become stars in the future. But we can say that the leading role in this team belongs to Sudakov, because at this moment he is a key player. I already told you that many European clubs are interested in him, and I think that in half a year or a year he will 100 percent be in one of the top European clubs. In my opinion, he is actively developing, progressing, and you can see him becoming a real leader on the pitch, taking into account his young age. And it is very important.
– Selling players is obviously very important for the revenue of the club. How do you look at alternative sources of revenue, exploring new markets, new commercial relationships perhaps, new regions?
– First of all, a couple of weeks ago I had a meeting with Interbrand – it is a well-known worldwide company that develops strategies for clubs and companies. Many years ago, as far as I remember, in 2006 or 2007, they developed a logo, values, missions, vision for us. Why did I return to them? Can you imagine, in 2007, they developed the brand essence and the mission of our club, which are still valid, after the many obstacles that we faced. We left our city, Donetsk, one war started, then a full-scale war started, but the brand essence, missions and all values are still valid. For example, our slogan sounds like “Beyond boundaries”, and our mission is “To redefine the boundaries and standards of excellence in football”. And this is what we always do: we redefine the boundaries, we try to be beyond the boundaries, because it is already in our DNA, and we need to always be leaders in all aspects of our life – it does not matter what kind of environment we are in and what is happening around us, whether there is war or peace, or quick-changing circumstances. So I returned to them and we had a long meeting. I asked them to develop a strategy for our club, taking into account this unique situation. Because if you look at the football history, you will understand that we are the only club with this kind of history in the world. A club that has been operating and playing for almost 10 years without a hometown, without fans who live all over the world, and continues to show results. We understand that today it is difficult to get money from the Ukrainian market, because television does not give anything, we play without spectators, sponsors have almost disappeared, etc. We understand that the sole source of income is abroad. Yes, we understand that we have transfers, bonuses from UEFA, no one argues with that, but we need to invest and achieve financial results in markets where such financial results are possible. That is why I am very happy that we play in Hamburg, because during almost all games the stadium is full. The financial results of these matches are excellent. In my opinion, this is the best decision we have made. Now we are trying to develop commercial football schools. For example, we now opened one school in Warsaw, then we want to go beyond Europe to move in this direction. And when I discussed all these issues with Interbrand, I emphasized all these aspects, and after our conversation they said that I was right, that we are a unique club and should use this situation, our uniqueness, that we should change the strategy and adapt it to the environment we live in. Therefore, now we are on the way of formation of a new strategy of the club.
– One of the ways you have tried to raise funds has been by playing friendlies with international clubs. There was one match in London against Tottenham, the other was held in Japan against Avispa Fukuoka. How important are these games and will you try to play more of them in 2024?
– This is part of our new strategy. I believe it should be included in the document that will be developed by Interbrand. The point being that friendly matches are a significant part of our development, because it is very important for us to play these games in order to raise funds for aid and donations to help Ukrainian people, Ukrainian soldiers, refugees, all those affected by this war, including soldiers with very severe injuries. There are many other aspects, so for us these matches are the prerogative number one. And we continue to work in this direction, we are trying to find other clubs that will agree to play these games, because it is very important for us.
– Shakhtar, of course, has a long history in European football and UEFA competitions. I want to ask you about the European Super League. They have tried to revive it a couple of times. Where do you stand on this and how important is it that the main football stakeholders are united against it?
– You know, it is difficult for me to discuss this. First of all, when the news broke that A22 had won in court, in two hours we already issued a statement from the club that we support UEFA and president of UEFA Aleksander Ceferin. And many clubs, as I understand, almost 90% of them, did the same by publishing statements on their websites. We also have a special group in WhatsApp. So everybody supports UEFA. I do not understand the Super League, I do not understand its essence and why we need to change anything, if we have an organization called UEFA and under its umbrella we have quite good, well-structured competitions. Because if you compare with how it was 10 years ago, today they have changed a lot for the better and they always raise the amount of money that we receive, they increase the number of games, increase the number of competitions, for example, there is the Conference League, which we did not have before. They involved a lot of clubs, covered almost all leagues, not all clubs, but the number of clubs participating in European competitions has increased significantly. Therefore, I do not understand why we need to change anything. For me, the most important thing that UEFA does is the involvement of European clubs in European competitions and their financial support. And for everything I mentioned, all numbers are only increasing. Therefore, I do not understand why we need to pay attention to these, in my opinion, unserious issues. Maybe they are serious for very rich clubs, but we do not have just 25 clubs in Europe, we should pay attention to the whole football community and, most importantly, promote the development of football across Europe. Otherwise, there is no sense. Otherwise, A22 pushes us to such a point that you do not have to go to the stadiums, just switch on the TV and watch the top clubs play against each other. And that is it? These clubs are rich and they become even richer while others disappear. Some even disappear because for them receiving such bonuses from UEFA is a very critical issue from a financial point of view. Therefore, first of all, I am for football, I support football as a game, and we need to promote it, promote this idea. But what we are talking about now, the Super League, it is not about the game, it is just about money, purely about money.