Shakhtar Donetsk turn to Saudi Arabia for financial boost amid ongoing instability

Shakhtar Donetsk is planning to turn to Saudi Arabia for financial help as the Ukrainian club seeks ways to safeguard its future, according to CEO Serhii Palkin.

The club, frequent participants in the Uefa Champions League, haven’t played a game at home in Ukraine for nearly a decade, and Palkin has engaged Geneva-based sports advisory firm LTT Sports, which has a base in Jeddah, to discuss deals with clubs in the Saudi Pro League including Al Taawoun. The aim is to sign lucrative player transfers and organise exhibition matches in the kingdom next season.

“We’re going to this market as we recognised Saudi Arabia has a lot of money and will host the World Cup soon,” Palkin, who has been with the club for nearly two decades, said in a recent interview from his base in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. “I believe we need to be involved in the whole process.”

Saudi Arabia has invested heavily in sports and entertainment in recent years, and has ambitious plans to transform the Saudi Pro League into one of the leading football competitions in the world. Investment in player transfers – made possible after the Public Investment Fund (PIF) took control of the SPL's four biggest clubs – has seen global superstars including Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema make moves to the kingdom.

PIF is also the majority owner of Newcastle United having taken control of the Premier League club in October 2021, while the World Cup looks bound for Saudi Arabia in 2034.

Shakhtar, who currently play their ‘home’ matches in domestic tournaments in the city of Lviv, close to the border with Poland and sometimes in Kyiv, haven't played a match in their 70,000-seat home stadium in the Eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk since 2014, after fighting first