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Ukrainian Clubs Seeking Asylum in Other Countries for European Competitions

Due to the war, Ukrainian clubs that have qualified for continental competitions cannot play in their home stadiums, but have to use the asylum of other countries. SC Dnipro-1 chose Slovak Košice.

In the Košice football arena, which was renovated last year for the sum of 22.42 million euros (about 530 million crowns) and this year its capacity increased from 5,836 seats to 12,658, it welcomed Greek Panathinaikos Athens in the fight for the Champions League. The second team of the Ukrainian league from last year did not succeed. After a 2:2 draw in Greece and a 1:3 loss in the second leg, they qualified for the Europa League.

In it, he ran into Slavia and failed again. First, he lost clearly 0:3 in Prague, then the rematch in Košice ended in a 1:1 draw. The Prague vice-champion thus advanced to the fourth preliminary round of the Europa League, where they will face another Ukrainian team, namely Zorja Luhansk.

Foreign asylum seeker

SC Dnipro chose Slovakia’s Košice for asylum last August. UEFA regulations clearly state that Ukrainian clubs must play their matches in European competitions abroad, where there is no threat of being affected by a war conflict. Zorja Luhansk chose Polish Lublin, Dinamo Kyiv Romanian Bucharest, Shakhtar Donetsk uses the Polish Army Stadium in Warsaw.

The team from Dnipro needed to find a refuge last year for the European League play-off against Cyprus’ Larnaca. In August 2022, the management signed a memorandum of cooperation with representatives of the Košice Football Arena, which operates the stadium. “I am pleased that we will be playing a lot in Košice,” welcomed the agreement, club director Andrij Rusol.

SC Dnipro-1 matches in Košice

Europa League – Play Offs

Dnipro – AEK Larnaka 1:2, 18. 8. 2022

Conference League – Basic Group

Dnipro – Alkmaar 0:1, 8/9/2022

Dnipro – Vaduz 2:2, 6 October 2022

Dnipro – Apollon 1:0, 27. 10. 2022

Conference League – Playoffs

Dnipro – AEK Larnaka 0:0, 23. 2. 2023

Champions League – Qualification

Dnipro – Panathianikos 1:3, 25. 7. 2023

And he added hope that it won’t be just one match. “We are a young and aggressive football club with high ambitions. This season will be our first in UEFA competitions, so we will make history together. Performance in the European League is very important for us, especially in this difficult period for our country,” he emphasized in a short speech at the ratification of the document.

The Košice stadium was also attractive to the Ukrainian club because it was newly renovated and boasts the best grass area in Slovakia. In order to obtain the coveted UEFA IV certificate. category, his task was only to increase the capacity of the walkways to the required value. This was achieved this year.

Even though the asylum seeker did not succeed against Larnaca, the memorandum spanned the Conference League, in which Dnipro reached the spring part.

Two tenants

Together with the Ukrainian team, the Košice football arena is also used by the local club FC Košice, which was established in May 2018 after the breakup of FC VSS Košice through the merger of TJ FK Vyšné Opátske and FK Košice-Barca. In the past season, he won the second highest Slovak competition and advanced to the Nike League.

Although he has again penetrated the elite and once again spreads the glory of Košice football (the former Czechoslovak federal league was played by Lokomotiva and VSS/VSŽ), he has no advantages against the Ukrainian tenant. “We also have a contract with the joint-stock company that operates the stadium,” says club manager Roman Šimko.

A foreign asylum seeker does not interfere in any way. “We only clear the dressing room during European competition matches, which is a matter of three days,” says Šimko, the only limitation. “Last year, it was more complicated, because he lived in the stadium for one season. But this year he trains and prepares in Ukraine, he also often stays abroad,” says the representative of the Košice club management.

Although the clubs are separate entities and nothing connects them apart from a common stadium, they manage to find a form of cooperation. “We help Dnipro with marketing, ticket distribution, in the media field, our employees take part in this,” notes Šimko.

There are good relations between the two tenants, they can be described as friendly. After all, FC Košice’s club colors are yellow and blue. Probably some symbolism…

Home in Uzhhorod

Dnipro does not play in Košice, the highest Ukrainian competition of the Premier League, which despite the war continues with sixteen participants. Initially, four stadiums were approved in which the matches could be held, Dnipro chose Uzhhorod, which was also shared with Metalist Kharkiv, Vorskla Poltava and Zorya Luhansk last year.

The largest city in the Transcarpathian region, with 115,000 inhabitants, belonged to Czechoslovakia during the First Republic, and was annexed to the Ukrainian Soviet Republic after World War II. For the club, which stayed in Košice last season, Uzhhorod had an immense advantage in the short distance of less than a hundred kilometers by road.

The team did not use the stadium where SK Rusj Uzhhorod played in the federal Czechoslovak first league in 1936/1937 and the Czechoslovak representative Olexi Bokšay played for him, it was demolished and a military barracks was built in its place. The Avanhard Stadium is a modern stand (last rebuilt in 2005) with a capacity of 12,000 seats.


2023-08-17 23:17:13
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