New Ukrainian Premier League Season Begins With Bomb Shelters In Every Stadium

The Ukrainian Premier League returned on Tuesday when the new season got underway - six months after the country was invaded by Russia.

Last season had ended 12 rounds of fixtures early in February when it was suspended and eventually abandoned following the invasion.

Tuesday's Ukrainian Premier League games were actually the first since December 2021 - when last season's winter break began.

The first match of the season saw Shakhtar draw 0-0 with Metalist 1925 Kharkiv.

Like last season, the 2022/23 Ukrainian Premier League consists of 16 teams.

Mariupol and Desna Chernihiv have been replaced after their infrastructure was especially damaged by the war.

Metalist Kharkiv and Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih have taken those vacant places after being in the top two spots in Ukraine's second division when soccer was suspended in February.

But while the general format of the league remains the same, a lot has changed.

Nearly all non-Ukrainians have departed after FIFA ruled earlier this summer that foreign coaches and players in Ukraine could suspend their contracts until June 2023.

Games are all being played behind closed doors in stadiums within western Ukraine.

Every stadium must include a bomb shelter for players and officials to take cover when air raid sirens sound.

These sirens can currently be heard on most days, so it is highly likely that matches will be interrupted by them.

Shakhtar Donetsk and Metalist Kharkiv drew 0-0 on Tuesday at Kyiv's Olympic Stadium - which hosted the UEFA Champions League final in 2018 

IMAGO/Focus Images/Paul Chesterton

Speaking to the Associated Press on Monday, Shakhtar captain Taras Stepanenko said: "We have rules in case of an alarm and we should go to be underground.

"But I think the teams, the players will be proud of this event.

"We are ready, we are strong and I think we will show to all the world Ukrainian life and will to win."