Shakhtar Donetsk

[rurikbird]

FC Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukrainian: ФК «Шахтар» Донецьк) is a Ukrainian professional football club from the city of Donetsk. Shakhtar has appeared in several European competitions and currently is often a participant of the UEFA Champions League. The club became the first Ukrainian club to win the UEFA Cup in 2009, the last year before the competition was revamped as the Europa League. They are one of only two Ukrainian clubs, the other being Dynamo Kyiv to have won a major UEFA competition.
The first success for the team was in 1951, under name of Shakhtyor when it took the third place in the USSR Championship. In the 1960s, Shakhtar under Oleg Oshenkov’s coaching were three-time USSR Cup finalists, winning it twice in 1961 and 1962. The club was nicknamed “The Cup Team” due to Shakhtar’s success in vying for the trophy every year, however the Miners’ more notable achievements occurred later from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s.
In 1975, Shakhtar took 2nd in the USSR Championship and received the right to represent the Soviet Union in European competition. In 1978, Shakhtar finished third in the USSR Championship. A year later, the team finished second and its captain – striker Vitaliy Starukhin – was named the best player and the best forward in the USSR Championship (26 goals scored).
Shakhtar twice, in 1980 and 1983, brought home the crystal USSR Cup to Donbas and in 1983, it won the USSR Super Cup over then-domestic league champions Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk.
In October of 1995, a bombing-assassination took place at the team's stadium, killing team president Akhat Bragin. In the year that followed Rinat Akhmetov took over as president and subsequently invested heavily in the club. In the newly independent Ukraine, Shakhtar along with Dynamo Kyiv became perennial first place competitors. In 1999, a Shakhtar Football academy was opened and now hosts football training for roughly 3000 children.
In 2009, they became only the second Ukrainian team to win a European competition (and the first since independence), and the first to win the UEFA Cup, beating Werder Bremen in the final, with goals from Brazilians Luiz Adriano and Jadson. This also made them the last UEFA Cup winners before the tournament was rebranded as the UEFA Europa League.

Coach Mircea Lucescu, President and owner Rinat Akhmetov and team captain Daijo Srna with UEFA Cup in 2009.

 

[rurikbird]

This was from wiki, now here's my take. Shakhtar was a team with some decent traditions and history, but they were always in Dynamo's shadow in Ukraine and USSR. They were never champions of USSR, but have won the Cup several times and were known for their "cup spirit". When Akhmetov, who is one of the richest people in the world (#39 according to Forbes) and possibly a mafia boss took over in 1995 (after the former president was blown to pieces during the game in Shakhtar's stadium), he vowed to challenge Dynamo's dominance of Ukrainian football. It took 7 years since then to win the first championship in the history of the club, the second came 3 years later after that, but since then Shakhtar have become a dominant force themselves and now it's Dynamo who is trying to catch up with them.

Almost all of the successes were achieved with Romanian coach Mircea Lucescu, who came in 2004 after coaching Inter and several Turkish teams. He is still in charge. The club's strategy in recent years is to buy some of the most promising young attacking players from Brazil and complement them with defensive players from Ukraine and other Eastern European countries. Shakhtar has the best and by far the most well-financed youth academy in Ukraine and with time, more and more products of the academy are getting promoted to the first team, sometimes even competing with the Brazilians for places in attack. The academy is set up following the Dutch model and is currently headed by Patrick van Leeuwen, who came from the academy of Feyenoord.

A big (and well-deserved) point of pride for Shakhtar is the new stadium, called Donbas Arena. It opened in 2009 and has a capacity of over 52 thousand. It's considered the best stadium in Eastern Europe and Shakhtar also has the highest average attendance of any team in Eastern Europe. Shakhtar is one the few clubs in Eastern Europe who take fan relations seriously and have invested time and resources to cultivate the fan base over the years. Unfortunately I haven't been to the new stadium myself, but people say people routinely come to see Shakhtar with families and children, whereas most of the other clubs in Eastern Europe are dominated by an increasingly radical hooliganism culture.

Overall, Shakhtar is a wealthy and well-run club. The mafia has all but merged with the corporations and the government now (in Ukraine as well as neighboring countries) and became quite good at Western techniques of corporate management and public relations. Every story about Akhmetov's possible mafia roots in the Western press got retracted due to threat of lawsuits and lack of clear evidence. Akhmetov loves the club passionately and is deeply involved in all football matters; unlike many such oligarch owners, he is also a smart manager who hires top professionals for key positions and usually doesn't lets his passion cloud his judgement. He has made some mistakes in the early years of his reign, but quickly learned from them; I think his management style compares favorably with Abramovich or sheikh Mansour. He is wealthier them both of them too, but less well known because he invested in a club close to home rather than abroad.

Personally, I am not sure that at this point I can consider myself a fan of Shakhtar in the full sense of this word. It's a team from the region where I grew up, so naturally I supported them when I used to live there - and I also liked the ambition of that project to overthrow Dynamo's dominance of Ukrainian football, that was completely unchallenged for many years before. I like the underdog. Now that Shakhtar themselves are a top dog, I somehow don't feel the same passion for them anymore. However, I still follow their games in Champions League and derby games against Dynamo.

In terms of potential transfer targets among Shakhtar players, the first thing to know is Shakhtar sell players only when they can make a nice profit. They invest in young players and sell them around their peak value. It's unlikely to find any bargains there. Still, many good players have passed through Shakhtar and many are there now, so it might be useful for me to highlight one or another player for you guys from time to time.

 

[rurikbird]

The first such player is the biggest sensation of this season in Ukraine, Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

He is an attack-minded CM from Armenia, 23 years old. This is going to be his 2nd full season at Shakhtar. Last year I thought he was pretty good - finally a non-Brazilian who can hold his own in attacking (or rather semi-attacking) position. This year, it's something else entirely. In 7 games of Ukrainian Premier League that were played so far, he scored 11 goals. Again, he is a central midfielder, not a striker. He defends, he tackles, runs around... It becomes even more amazing if you consider that Ukraine has always been a very low-scoring league. Last year, the league top scorer had only 14 goals (season in Ukraine is 32 games long). Mkhitaryan has scored 11 in just 7 games already - all from open play, no penalties, no free-kicks. Also added 3 assists so far. He is bombing forward like a young Gerrard, and so far, is completely unplayable. Well, judge for yourself:


View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhoJ5LTtMAE


Any chance Shakhtar will sell him this season? Not before hell freezes over. But if you have a chance to watch any Shakhtar games during this CL, watch this lad!

 

[rurikbird]

BTW, he speaks 5 languages: English, Russian, Portuguese, French and Armenian. Lucescu says he is one of the most intelligent players he's ever worked with and as a coach he almost never has to make any serious criticisms or tactical corrections during or after the games. "He always interprets the tactical plan correctly".

 

[LeTallecWiz]

SIGN SIGN!!!

 

[Whitey85]

Some great finishes in that vid rbird. Also some great 3rd man runs beyond the forwards.

Does Douglas Costa still play for these? If so hows he getting on?

 

[irishred]

Never heard the name before but he looks a great prospect, props to Rurik. As you say he's got a good knack of running from deep to score and with some sublime finishes aswell.

 

[rurikbird]

Mkhitaryan scored both goals against FC Nordsjelland in Shakhtar's opening Champions League game. The Danes mostly dictated the play, but couldn't create enough real chances. I disagree with KHL, Shakhtar are set up more for possession and domination rather than counter-attack, they just couldn't do it against Nordsjelland. Quick counter-attacks was the only thing that was working and fortunately for them, Mkhitaryan converted 2 of them into goals.

 

[the_khl]

Mkhitaryan scored both goals against FC Nordsjelland in Shakhtar's opening Champions League game. The Danes mostly dictated the play, but couldn't create enough real chances. I disagree with KHL, Shakhtar are set up more for possession and domination rather than counter-attack, they just couldn't do it against Nordsjelland. Quick counter-attacks was the only thing that was working and fortunately for them, Mkhitaryan converted 2 of them into goals.

I'll take your word for it mate, it just seemed to me that their players are very fast and often looking for the long surging pass from the pass (from Rakyietsky (sp)).

Haven't seen much of them before but if you are indeed right I must admit I am even more surprised with the ammount of possession for the Danes then, despite them not doing much dangerous with it mind.

 

[the_khl]

BTW, he speaks 5 languages: English, Russian, Portuguese, French and Armenian. Lucescu says he is one of the most intelligent players he's ever worked with and as a coach he almost never has to make any serious criticisms or tactical corrections during or after the games. "He always interprets the tactical plan correctly".

He looks a right poacher to me - a rare breed this day and age.

Very interesting prospect will be exciting to see how he fares against Juve and Chavs.

 

[the_khl]

Having watched the game Rurik, what's your opinion on central defender Okore?

 

[rurikbird]

He stood out. But one game frankly is not enough to make any judgements. I'll try to follow him more closely in the return fixture.

 

[rurikbird]

He looks a right poacher to me - a rare breed this day and age.

Very interesting prospect will be exciting to see how he fares against Juve and Chavs.

Yes. A midfield poacher. Pretty rare type.

 

[rurikbird]

Another goal by Mkhitaryan against the 3rd best team in Ukraine:

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5gIvhVNpl4&feature=youtu.be

 

[rurikbird]

And here are the goals against Nordsjelland in the Champions League:

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ao40Zea6AZA


View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jBNj7T5jKk

 

[keniget]

I have a question that you may have answered in the past.

Why is that Srna has never gotten a move? Mentality and attitude? He's always had the talent from what I've seen.

Also - how's Willian doing? I saw him a few years back live and he looked an exciting prospect but Chelsea interest aside, he doesn't look like he's going anywhere either.

 

[rurikbird]

Why should he move? No Western club will pay him more money than he is currently earning. He gets to play in the Champions League every year, guaranteed. And he is the club captain, fans love him and he enjoys mentoring young players. I can see him moving only if he gets a once-in-a-lifetime offer from, say, Barca or Real, otherwise there is no real incentive to leave the comfortable spot he is in now.

Overall, the trends have shifted in recent years. Russian and Ukrainian clubs stopped being sellers and became buyers. A few years ago I would never imagine that players like Eto'o or Hulk or top-tier coaches like Spaletti would move to Eastern Europe. It was inconcievable. Now it's the reality. Which is kind exciting, although I wish this money was spent improving ordinary people's quality of life rather than on buying expensive footballers.

 

[the_khl]

I have a question that you may have answered in the past.

Why is that Srna has never gotten a move? Mentality and attitude? He's always had the talent from what I've seen.

Also - how's Willian doing? I saw him a few years back live and he looked an exciting prospect but Chelsea interest aside, he doesn't look like he's going anywhere either.

Rurik pretty much covered all of this splendidly but here's my five cents with regards to Willian.

He looks a very decent type that can operate from midfield and onwards. Shoots with the power of few despite his tender nature and certainly has got more than a few tricks in the bag. He doesn't stand out like a world beater however, at least not from what I've seen, why I reckon he's still with Shaktar.

Another good Season perhaps with Shaktar progressing to the latter stages of the ChL I believe he's one of the players that could indeed end up at a top club.

Right now his prize tag would be too excessive even for the richest of clubs compared to what they'd expect to get.

 

[keniget]

Why should he move? No Western club will pay him more money than he is currently earning. He gets to play in the Champions League every year, guaranteed. And he is the club captain, fans love him and he enjoys mentoring young players. I can see him moving only if he gets a once-in-a-lifetime offer from, say, Barca or Real, otherwise there is no real incentive to leave the comfortable spot he is in now.

Overall, the trends have shifted in recent years. Russian and Ukrainian clubs stopped being sellers and became buyers. A few years ago I would never imagine that players like Eto'o or Hulk or top-tier coaches like Spaletti would move to Eastern Europe. It was inconcievable. Now it's the reality. Which is kind exciting, although I wish this money was spent improving ordinary people's quality of life rather than on buying expensive footballers.

Appreciate all of the above but I as under the assumption that clubs like Shaktar aside (who have always been able to spend relatively big), the money has only really started to pour in during recent years. And a from a sporting perspective surely the top leagues have got to be a big attraction - perhaps I undervalue all the other things too much.

Srna has been around for a long time though and given his versatility and talent I always thought he'd have gotten a good move somewhere. I guess as he started approaching 30 it was always going to be less and less likely. I

 

[rurikbird]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/oct/22/henrik-mkhitaryan-shakhtar-donetsk