Chelsea and Shakhtar Donetsk struck a deal earlier this year to stage the latter’s Champions League matches at Stamford Bridge this season, giving the nomadic team from the war-torn region (since 2014) in Ukraine a proper European home, at least temporarily. It’s an especially appropriate arrangement given Chelsea’s former ties to Roman Abramovich.
“At this point we are not representing just Shakhtar Donetsk. We are representing the whole country. For us, it’s also to support Ukrainian people who left their homes and moved to London, to England. And therefore, these games completely change context. It’s very important every time to send messages to support Ukraine.”
-Sergei Palkin, Shakhtar CEO; source: Politico
The first of (at least) four games that Shakhtar will play at the Bridge is tonight, as they take on Greek Super League champions AEK Athens. The other three games will be against Sporting CP (including Chelsea loanee Jesse Derry) on November 3, Fenerbahçe (including N’Golo Kanté, Romelu Lukaku, and Nathan Aké) on November 25, and Real Madrid (including Marc Cucurella, Antonio Rüdiger, Thibaut Courtois, and, should he still be there by then, José Mourinho) on January 27. A nice slate of matches for West London.
Date / Time: Wednesday, October 14, 2026, 20.00 BST; 3pm EDT
How to watch: TNT Sports 8 / HBO Max (UK); Paramount+ (USA); elsewhere
Chelsea are only running logistics for these events, with all ticketing handled by Shakhtar. That said, there are tickets still available for tonight’s game (not just hospitality), for example, so it shouldn’t be too hard to go if you are interested, able, and willing. European nights at the Bridge are still European nights, especially at slightly reduced prices compared to the normal fares.
Shakhtar are currently managed by the legendary Arda Turan, and feature a number of Brazilian talents as usual. Any new Willians among them?
