From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market7 Sep 2026
The chase for Nicolás Arévalo ended with $3.5M changing hands and Metalist out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Market7 Sep 2026
Kyrylo Fesiun hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shakhtar can pretend not to have heard.
Market7 Sep 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A move Nicolás Arévalo would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Nicolás Arévalo is living that version at Shakhtar, and it tends to show in the first month.
Market7 Sep 2026
Obolon pay $33.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Match5 Sep 2026
A bad afternoon for Shakhtar against LNZ
0‑1 to LNZ, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad7 Sep 2026
10 goals and a season average of 7.23. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Shakhtar
Irakli Azarovi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Alisson is the division's best young player this month
At 20 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Shakhtar will try very hard not to make too much of it.
In brief
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Boardroom
Doors closed at Shakhtar
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Player ratings
Pedrinho was unplayable
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Boardroom
The Shakhtar board find $5.0M for the manager
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match26 Aug 2026
Shakhtar march on in the cup
UCSA are out and Shakhtar go through, 1‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match29 Aug 2026
6‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Market31 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shakhtar can pretend not to have heard.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Eguinaldo takes the match ball home
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Kyrylo Fesiun decides it from twelve yards
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Muhamadou Kanteh at 19 — 8.99
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Muhamadou Kanteh did not need any: 8.99, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Market31 Aug 2026
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Saburtalo had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The offer went to Metalist this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Market31 Aug 2026
Shakhtar say no — this time
The offer from Piast for Marlon was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad24 Aug 2026
Oleksandr Lomaha damages knee ligaments — 19 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 19 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market24 Aug 2026
Shakhtar say no — this time
The offer from Standard Liege for Dmytro Riznyk was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Match22 Aug 2026
Shakhtar cannot stop winning
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Metalist have kept their man, and Shakhtar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Alisson beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Shakhtar
Marlon Gomes and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market24 Aug 2026
Eyes on Marlon again
The phone has started ringing about Marlon again, and this time the name on the line is Piast. Shakhtar are listening politely and promising nothing.
Match22 Aug 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Pedrinho’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Shakhtar.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Pedro Henrique was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.55. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad17 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Oleksandr Lomaha
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Shakhtar lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market17 Aug 2026
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Both of them Alisson's — 8.35
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.35, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market17 Aug 2026
Basel come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Shakhtar did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Kauã Elias, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.31
A mark of 8.31 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Match15 Aug 2026
Shakhtar cannot stop winning
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Shakhtar
Marlon Gomes and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Match15 Aug 2026
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Shakhtar and Metalist in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad10 Aug 2026
35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Shakhtar lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match8 Aug 2026
4‑1, and Eguinaldo took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Shakhtar tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Both of them Eguinaldo's — 9.17
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.17, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market10 Aug 2026
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Alan Matturro had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market10 Aug 2026
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Shakhtar have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
No sign of nerves from Alisson at 20 — 7.83
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Alisson did not need any: 7.83, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Shakhtar — 7.45
1 for Valeriy Bondar, marked 7.45, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Market10 Aug 2026
Rukh pay $2.8M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad3 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Oleksandr Lomaha
43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Shakhtar lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match1 Aug 2026
7‑1, and Eguinaldo took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Shakhtar tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A day Eguinaldo will not forget
4 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Eguinaldo, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 10.00
A mark of 10.00 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad3 Aug 2026
17 seasons and 217 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
Squad3 Aug 2026
The match ball belongs to Luca Meirelles, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Market3 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Match1 Aug 2026
Eguinaldo among the goals in a wild afternoon
8 goals in one match, Eguinaldo on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Shakhtar and Poltava.
Market3 Aug 2026
Oleh Ocheretko wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Shakhtar hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.