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Ukraine's Shakhtar Donetsk will play their home Champions League games in Germany this season at the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg. Shakhtar's home games were held in the Polish capital Warsaw last season because of the Russian invasion. UEFA has agreed the team can play in Hamburg. It is likely to attract the support of Ukrainians who have been displaced during the war and are living in Germany and other countries.
The Volksparkstadion is home to Hamburger SV, which is a second-division team since 2018. It is also a venue for the European Championship in Germany next year. The stadium has a 57,000 capacity for German league games, including some standing terraces, or 51,500 in all-seater international games.
Hamburg will host Shakhtar Donetsk's Champions League home games for this season
"First of all, we want to thank Warsaw and the Polish people for the support they gave us during the matches of the previous European season in Poland," said Shakhtar's commercial director, Dmytro Kyrylenko.
"We considered the possibility of hosting the Champions League home games among several options for the new season and settled on Hamburg. We are sure that the matches at the Volksparkstadion will be held at the highest level and will gather in the stands both local football fans and thousands of Ukrainians who are currently temporarily living in Germany and other European countries."
"Hamburg is very happy to support Shakhtar. We are delighted that Volksparkstadion will be the venue for top international games," added Hamburg board member Jonas Boldt.
Shakhtar qualified for the 2023-24 Champions League after winning the Ukrainian Premier League last season. The draw for the group stage is on August 31. The Ukrainian side finished third in their Champions League group last season. Then they were knocked out of the Europa League in the round of 16 by Feyenoord.