Young Boys face Shakhtar Donetsk in the fourth round of the Champions League. Football is only a minor matter for the Ukrainians during times of war. Ukraine expert Thomas Grimm explains.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- Swiss football official Thomas Grimm was league president in Ukraine for two years.
- In an interview with blue Sport, Grimm reveals what the biggest challenges are for Ukrainian footballers.
- Of course, you can't get the war out of your head in Ukraine, but football is an important distraction, explains Grimm.
Thomas Grimm knows YB opponents Shakhtar Donetsk very well. After all, the Swiss official was president of the Ukrainian football league from 2018 to 2020. Ahead of the Champions League match between Young Boys and Shakhtar Donetsk, Grimm talks to blue Sport about the situation in Ukraine and explains what the war means for the country and its footballers.
Tonight, Shakhtar Donetsk play against Young Boys in the Champions League. Do people in Ukraine even watch such games in the current situation?
The people who have the opportunity to watch Shakhtar do. And it's true, the war is there, you can't get it out of your head, but it's still a distraction for people because life has to go on somehow and you have to be able to deal with the situation.
What do you mean, being able to deal with the situation?
You have to be able to live with the fact that you have to go to the bunker or air-raid shelter every night because of a siren alarm. You have to hope that if another drone attack comes, you won't be in the wrong place at the wrong time. But it's still a distraction for these people. The European Championship, for example, was very important for the Ukrainian people because they had such good performances there.
Do professional footballers from top Ukrainian clubs have to fear that they will be involved in the war?
I don't think so. The top footballers in particular should be spared unless they volunteer. It's also about the fact that they draw attention to Ukraine when they are abroad. In addition, the majority of national team players play for Shakhtar and Dynamo Kiev. So it wouldn't be a good idea in terms of sporting policy to draft them. What's more, footballers are of course no good as soldiers on the front line. Footballers would certainly make bad soldiers.
What are the most serious cuts to professional football in Ukraine at the moment?
I think there's almost an endless list, because it's not like it was before the war. The infrastructure alone, many stadiums were bombed and can no longer be used. The clubs had to move to the west of Ukraine. There are still restrictions on the number of spectators allowed into the stadium. You still have to expect that the stadiums will have to be evacuated within a very short time with a siren alarm. In addition, there is logically a lack of money. There is no television station that has bought the rights, and the sponsors are not there either.
Why do you keep the league going despite all these problems you mentioned?
I think it's important for Ukraine, for the Ukrainian people, that they can watch football. But on the other hand, of course, it's not like an industrial plant where you can shut down the machine and start it up again after two years. The question also arose after the war started in February 2022. Logically, we had to interrupt or cancel the championship. But we said that if Ukrainian football was to have a certain future, we had to somehow keep the league going, because otherwise a whole generation of footballers would disappear.
How can the clubs survive financially in these times?
Those that play in the league can only survive, of course, because they benefit from participation in the UEFA Cup competitions and that they still have owners - businessmen - who try to keep the business alive. But purely through match revenue, so on average you have about 1000 spectators, there's not much money to be made at the moment.
What is the spectator situation like at the moment?
It varies from one part of the country to another. Before a match is played, the local authorities have to give their approval. They also decide how many people can be in the stadium. It's just that you get used to the bad things. People are simply used to the fact that they have to expect to have to go to the shelter when the sirens sound, whether it's in the supermarket or at a football match.
How is that emotionally for you, knowing the country, the league and the footballers so well?
It's very difficult for me. Especially at the very beginning, when I saw the cities I knew very well being destroyed. I had to watch as my people were constantly in danger. That really put a strain on me because I knew every single one of them. I knew they were highly motivated and very well trained. And in the next five to ten years, things will come to a standstill. The development they would like to see would be towards the West. It never occurred to them to rejoin Russia now. For the modern, new Ukraine, there was clearly only the path towards the West. The fact that Mr. Putin from Moscow is now setting a different path still bothers me.
