How the Ukrainian Premier League restarts in wartime

On Tuesday, the Ukrainian Premier League, which will be played behind closed doors for security reasons, officially restarted in Kiev and Lviv, two of the cities considered the safest and with facilities suitable for hosting clubs. "The decision to hold a football championship during a war is not only about sport. We want to show the tenacity of our people, their spirit and our desire for victory. It is a unique initiative in history: football, against war, during a war," said federation president Andriy Pavelko. 

It starts again in the week in which Ukrainian Independence Day is celebrated after the final suspension came in February in an obviously surreal atmosphere where referees have been instructed to handle all kinds of eventualities, while stadiums have been equipped with sirens and shelters in the immediate vicinity. Historically, football has always stopped during wars but "to start playing football again in Ukraine is a test of courage", said Oleksandr Drambayev, a former Mariupol player.

An act of courage to regain some of the normality lost and trampled on by the Russian invasion and which has undoubtedly turned the world of sport upside down in the nation of President Volodymyr Zelens'kyj and beyond. The first match that saw the return of football was between Shakhtar and Metalist, the teams from Donetsk and Kharkiv, two of the cities largely affected by the bombings. It started at noon and ended in a draw but beforehand the federation organised a short ceremony to remember all the victims of the invasion accompanied by a minute's silence. 

All days will be subject to change because some of the teams have decided to stay in their own cities to train despite the fact that some of them are not in extremely safe areas. The clubs competing for the title will still be 16, as in previous editions, but this year only Shakhtar Donetsk and Dinamo Kiev, the nation's two most emblazoned teams, will play in the Champions League. This decision was taken by UEFA, who, in addition to blazon, based their choice on last year's ranking, while Dnipro, Zorya Luhansk and Vorskla Poltava will compete in the Europa and Conference League respectively.